While visiting Dover last week, Barb, the kids, and I took a day trip to Lancaster, Pa. If I'd have known how much I was going to love Lancaster, we would have made plans to spend the night. The reasons that I wanted to go to Lancaster in the first place were to see the Amish farms and to visit a local amusement park. We accomplished both of these things. Unfortunately, Brian and his dad decided not to go. They heard the phrases "Amish buggy tour" and "looking at quilts" and opted out immediately. Not to be deterred, the rest of us left Dover early on Wednesday morning and made the two hour drive to Lancaster. The drive was nice and took a lot of backroads- especially as we got closer to our destination. Before going, I was a little worried that the area would be too touristy and that we wouldn't see any "authentic" Amish people. This was not a problem. The Amish were everywhere. As we approached Lancaster, we passed farm after farm where people were out plowing and working in the fields using horses instead of tractors. I couldn't believe what I was seeing- it seemed like something out of a pioneer movie. But, this is the way of life for this group of people.
Our first stop was at Abe's Buggy Tours where we took a 3-mile ride through the countryside on an Amish-style horse and buggy. As we rode, I took lots of pictures of the farmland. I didn't, however, take pictures of the Amish because they do not like to have their pictures taken and I wanted to respect that. Our driver, Erv, was a Mennonite who had been raised as Amish until he was about fifteen years old (taking his picture was okay). He was able to tell us all sorts of things about these two groups and their way of life. It was very interesting. At one point, a little Amish boy- maybe seven or eight years old- came up on a little bike/scooter thing and Erv started talking to him in the Pennsylvania Dutch dialect of German- which is a language spoken by the Amish. The little boy replied and continued to follow us for a short distance- I think he was trying to play with Owen. It took every ounce of restraint that I had not to take a picture of that boy because he was so cute on his little scooter.
After our tour, we had lunch at Miller's Smorgasbord and then visited Dutch Wonderland- which I will discuss in a later post. Our lunch was great and we were given a table that looked out onto a farm. What a lovely view! I have to say that I have a newfound respect for the Amish. While their way of life is definitely not for me, I respect that they are so dedicated to the ideas that they believe in. I know I've said this already, but I really enjoyed the day in Lancaster. It is truly a unique place, and I am so glad that we were able to spend some time there.
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