This is a good example of the decorative markings on the Amish barns.
Mitchell Among the Amish
For some odd reason, Mitchell suddenly became fascinated by the Amish and lobbied hard for a chance to visit them. So on the morning of July 19, we checked out of our motel and headed for Lancaster county. The irony of this is, very near our home is a large Amish settlement. It's about an hour's drive away in Palentine Bridge, NY. We've never gone there, naturally. Instead, we drove seven hours to southern PA.
Still, it was a pleasure to see the famous Pennsylvania Dutch region of Lancaster county and the incredibly beautiful countryside. We bought another tape tour--this one much less somber and somewhat goofy, with a narrator who kept cracking sophomoric jokes and making poor puns--and drove through the back roads, stopping to point and take pictures like the boorish tourists that we were.
To our credit, we respected their wishes and refrained from taken photographs of them, pointing our camera instead at the buildings and scenery.
This is a good example of the decorative markings on the Amish barns.
This is what it's like down there. Lots of cows, lots of open spaces . . .
. . . I think the boys were glad to see it, but equally glad to not have to live there.
An Amish Cemetery. They bury them pretty close together.
Our tour filled up the morning and lasted into early afternoon. We drove through the towns of Fertility, Bird-In-Hand, Paradise, Strasburg and, naturally, Intercourse, a name which our narrator seemed to find hilarious, ignoring, as most people do, the fact that 'intercourse' simply meant 'conversation' or 'interchange.' But since the town basically makes its living off of its name, I suppose it's wise to keep visitors ignorant of that historical truth.
At the end of the tour we headed back to NY, closing out our summer of field trips.