Amish Country with Sister, Judy

I'm a little late with this blog as I've been home for five days, but better late than never. The ride up to Pennsylvania was LONG, but the car was easier on my back than the truck was. Going up, I hit no traffic whatsoever; a few wrong turns, but nothing catastrophic. I was hoping to leave only a two or three hour drive for Sunday, but it wound up being about an hour longer because the GPS directed me onto the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

The best part of the trip was seeing Judy. We are good travel companions because neither of us can walk, but we were on every road there is in the Amish country. It's so incredibly clean--makes me wonder what's wrong with the rest of the country. There's a glaring difference once you leave the area. We also took a ride up to Jim Thorpe.

Other than the scenery (I've got a few pictures), we gabbed and gabbed and laughed and laughed all day and into the night. Judy and maybe her husband, Frank, are coming down in August to see us. My kids are very excited, and can't wait to see them.

I could have sworn I got a picture of the whole tower.

I took this off the web so you could see it. We came across it by accident.

One thing I found in Kentucky horse country and in the Amish country is that there are not a lot of opportunities for good photos because the roads are narrow and there's no place to pull over. My pictures may be a little out of order--blogger is not letting me put them where I wanted, so--don't know what I'm doing wrong, and I'm sure it must be me.

Every where we went, it was clear that patriotism is important in Pennsylvania. It was Independence day, but still...so much effort is put forth. In the town of Litzit, early morning on the fourth people were putting chairs and blankets out along the streets where the parade was to be. It amazed us because, sadly, where we live--they would be gone way before the parade took place.

I couldn't find the name of this covered bridge and I was trying (knowing I was illegally parked) to get a picture of just the bridge, but this lady decided she wanted to be in the picture and walked right by me. I couldn't wait for her to go through.

We took a ride to Jim Thorpe and took the "scenic" train ride. Not so much. This is the only pretty place we saw and it's blocked by a fence. I had passed through Jim Thorpe many years ago with Rich and I thought I remembered it differently than it is. Of course, that was back in the days when we could walk so Judy and I just saw the very minimal sights to be seen.

One thing we noticed was that Monday is laundry day in the Amish country. Every farm we came across had a clothes line. It brought back memories for me as I had no dryer when my kids were little and remember hanging wash in the coldest and hottest of weather.

And the very old big and little houses along the narrow streets are so pretty.

 

The farms are so pristine and beautiful

I'm hoping to take some weekend trips; probably in the fall. I love meandering through the back roads. I really miss the truck when I come to the dirt roads that call me, but there's still a lot to see.