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Monday, June 13, 2016

A Saturday Afternoon Drive Through Amish Country

Saturday morning Shawn and I got up early and got ready to venture out for the day.  We were headed north to Montgomery, Indiana, also known as Amish Country.  I've been wanting to take a little road trip for a while, but our weekends are always so busy with other things that we haven't had time to do one yet. So I made sure we had no plans this Saturday except for our road trip!  I wanted to eat lunch at Knepp's Amish Restaurant and then drive around the Amish countryside to take some pictures.  I knew Shawn would go with me, but I offered up the suggestion to drop him off to play golf at Country Oaks while I drove around.  It was a win-win for both of us!  

Our lunch at Knepp's was really good!  In fact, I'm ready to go back there for lunch again!  They have a buffet so it was all you can eat and they had fried chicken, ham, Salisbury steak, ribs, frog legs, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn and green beans, cabbage, stewed tomatoes, homemade dressing, noodles, lots of items for salad, homemade breads and spreads, and more I'm sure I'm forgetting.  And their ever-so-yummy creamy peanut butter spread.  That stuff is so delicious on their homemade breads!  I contemplated buying a jar of it and a couple loaves of bread, but decided not to.  I'm regretting that decision right now!

After lunch I dropped Shawn off at Country Oaks, and I was off on my way to tour the countryside!

I had spent alot of time googling Southern Indiana Amish, Montgomery, Indiana, and looking at the area on Google Earth Maps so I would have an idea of where to go and what to see.  By looking at the maps on Google Earth, I could somewhat figure out what areas looked like Amish homes and what looked like regular English homes so I would know which roads to drive on.  I had wrote down a few roads and stores on those roads to help keep me from getting lost.  And of course I brought the GPS just in case.  

Below is a mural on the side of a building in town.  I saw a few people post pictures of it on the internet so I had to stop for one too!


I started out on the road that ran in front of the Gasthof Village and knew that any of those side roads would work.  I passed by lots of Amish homes on that busy road but there was a car behind me the entire time so I couldn't really stop.  I decided to take the next cross road so that car wouldn't be following me anymore.  

It was a gravel road which was fine with me.  I could drive slower and observe more.  And chances are there isn't much traffic on these roads, so I could stop often for pictures!  And if a car came up behind me, I could just pull over and wave it around me without being rushed.

I loved driving along the roads and seeing their laundry hanging out.  Some on porches, others on clotheslines.  One thing that struck me was that alot of the clothes lines and such were in the front yards.  Those clean clothes had to be getting awfully dirty and dusty from the traffic on their roads.  Granted, there probably isn't alot of automobile traffic to stir up the dust, as I'm sure those horse and buggies weren't kicking up much dust.  But I know how slow I was going on the roads and how much dust was forming just from going slow.


My only hope on this little trip was to see a horse and buggy going down the road.  I honestly don't think I was expecting anything else, I just wanted to be able to photograph a horse and buggy going down the road.  As I was driving along my first road and nearing the intersection, I noticed a horse and buggy galloping down the cross road as it crested a hill.  AHHH be still my heart!!  I was in heaven and was so excited!  I immediately drove at a faster pace to try and meet the horse and buggy near the intersection so I could take some pictures of it, however I was completely dusting myself out and had to slow down so that when I did get to the intersection, I didn't dust them or myself out and could roll the window down to take some pictures.  My next trip there will probably be after a rain too so there isn't so much dust.  HA!  Throughout my travels today I saw alot of horses and buggies out and many different types of buggies!


Another thing I saw alot of  was big beautiful horses, and lots of smaller baby horses!


I saw a few ladies out mowing the grass.  I felt sorry for them because it was so hot outside on Saturday!



This horse and buggy was tied up to a post at Dinky's Auction House.  That is a place I would definitely like to visit.  On Friday nights, they have 4 or 5 auction rings with auctions going on in all of them.  I've read it's quite the experience.  


There was lots of big farms too!




At this farm, I pulled over under a shade tree and watched these little guys play and pester each other.  The donkey gave the horse a back kick a time or two as well!






This girl was out washing and shining up her buggy ;)


An interesting clothesline on a pulley system.  I didn't drive down the road that ran beside this house, but judging from the size of the house and the amount of the clothes, this is one of the larger families.




Do you see the little kitty in this picture?  


I call this one 'turtle planking'!


I saw lots of bicycles in yards while I was out driving around.  The blue bike has a headband light around the handlebars for night time bike riding.


Not sure if the duck is for decoration or if that's the bathhouse maybe?


Bailing hay!  After I took this picture, one of the gentleman turned and waved to me!  For the most part, everyone I drove past was friendly and waived hi to me.  And then there was a few that didn't and when I waved at them, they looked at me like I was ten kinds of stupid.  


If I haven't said it before, I'll say it now - there was lots and lots of pretty horses out!




Who doesn't love a good barb-wired fence picture!  LOL!




This road was probably my fave road!  THREE sets of horses and buggies on one road!  I drove behind them for a while because they were moving pretty fast and I didn't want to speed up and dust them out to pass them.  

See the fresh oil on the road?  I encountered quite a few spots with fresh oil down to cut down on the dust.  I drove even slower through those spots!  LOL!!



After that picture I figured I had better start heading back to the golf course to get Shawn.  I'm glad I had the GPS with me cause at that point, I had absolutely no clue where I was at.  When I first started my drive, I was able to keep up with which roads I have been on and came from, but at one point I just gave up and drove around.  Once I put the golf course in the GPS, I was in a completely different town from where I had started!  HAHA!

There was lots of photo ops that I missed by trying to be respectful about no pictures of their faces and such.  I passed by a couple homes with kids playing outside that I would of loved to have taken a picture of.  I also wished I would of taken a picture of the white vans.  I'd love to be a white van driver!  I wish I would of taken a picture of their gardens.  Almost all of those homes had gardens in their front yards near the roads.  They were all about the same size gardens and were smaller than I would have imagined them being.  In town there is an old grain station and a set of railroad tracks with a walkover bridge that I didn't get pictures of either.  All the more reason to start planning my next trip back there!

After I picked Shawn up at the golf course, we made one more stop before heading home. 

A round barn on the highway leaving Washington.  We've passed this barn before quite a few years ago when we were traveling and I've wanted to go back and take pictures of it every since.  I googled this barn and there is alot of history to go along with it involving the Klu Klux Klan. 





Monday, June 6, 2016

Stace's Staycation :)

It's Sunday and my staycation has come to an end.  This is the first time I've spent an actual week of vacation staying at home since before Shawn and I met, almost 15 years ago.  I had a long list of things I wanted to do - some things got accomplished, and some things didn't :(

One thing I did get was lots of R & R.  Maybe too much since I'm seriously dreading going back to work on Monday.

The neighborhood yard sale was planned for Saturday and I spent time this week gathering up things for the sale, pricing everything, and then setting up the garage for the sale.  I monitored the weather all week and Saturday's forecast was not looking good for the sale.  It ended up being nicer weather during the hours of the sale, which brought out quite a few people.

I got a new summer hair cut on Friday.  It's short and I love it!


We had a cookout with friends on Saturday before Shawn left.  Lots of yummy food, and we made homemade ice cream.  I put the back legs of a patio chair through their deck and went down like a pro.  HAHA!!  Too bad there are no pictures of that!  This picture below depicts a similarity of it!  LOL!


Nothing says summer like the Robinson's grilled hot dogs and homemade ice cream!



Monday morning Shawn left for his vacation to Cobblestone, and it was an entire lazy day of laying on the couch for me and the dogs!




I spent Tuesday running errands - credit union, bank, shoe shopping at Kohls and Macy's, lunch at CKB to use my Secretary's day gift card - I've been craving their buffalo chicken mac & cheese, took some clothes to the consignment store, and got a pedicure using the gift certificate Shawn got me for my 40th birthday.



Tuesday night I took Gavin on a "Not a date" date to the drive-in.  We sat in the front seat of the Explorer and watched Angry Birds.  Good, funny movie!  Gavin's first giggle was when Big Red was falling through the tree and said "oh my giblets" when he racked himself!  LOL!!  Then it was giggles from both of us throughout the movie.  We had chicken strips and taters from the Rebels, and ice cream, hot dogs and popcorn from the concession stand.  I hadn't been to the drive-in in forever and will definitely be going more this summer!






I had more R & R all day Wednesday.  Probably gathered more garage sale stuff.  Made more homemade ice cream because I had been craving it since we had it Saturday.  I filled up a bunch of containers and put them in the freezer, and each night I had a bowl of deliciousness! Nothings better than homemade ice cream with some crushed pineapple in it!



Wednesday I also intercepted alot of packages from my online shopping habit!  LOL!!


Thursday was the day I tackled the bathroom upstairs.  Ugh, what a chore!  I'm the worst cleaner, especially in that bathroom.  I scrubbed the sink, walls, toilet and floors.  Redecorated with a new shower curtain and rug.  And replaced the toilet seat.  I still need to replace the seat in the downstairs bathroom.  The couch repair guy also came on Thursday, but it was a waste of time.  He was supposed to be there between 4-7:00 p.m.  He showed up at 3:45 p.m. and faintly knocked on the door.  I only heard him because of the dogs.  He said he was getting ready to tag the door since I didn't answer - I was in the pooper, you weren't supposed to be here until 4:00 p.m.  And then all he did was take pictures of the recliner footstool and tell me that he would have to order a new piece of leather for it and when it comes in, to call back and schedule another appointment for him to come out and fix it.  I was so aggravated!

Thursday evening I had an early dinner with sweet Mandy.  Always good to catch up with her.  Then it was off to Walmart to buy a can of ant spray to take down the ant colony forming on my kitchen counter.  Ugh!  I hate those little black pests!

Friday I was up early to get ready for the day.  I had been craving the buffet from Angelo's in Rockport so I was going their for lunch.  I invited my sister and Gavin, but they didn't want to go - they were lazy!  So I invited my mom.  Only on my way to get her, I saw a sign on the Angelo's door that they were closed for lunch on Friday.  What?!?!  Are you kidding me?!?!  I was deflated!  So instead we went to Wasbi in Owensboro.  I tried to get ahold of Beth to see if Gavin wanted to go but they didn't respond until we were already in Owensboro and then I get this sad faced picture wondering why we didn't come pick him up!  My heart was melting!



Friday evening I visited with some friends for a bit and then back home to put the finishing touches on the yard sale, arrange the garage to keep everything inside incase of the rain the next day, and made signs to hang up for the sale.  Signing is the worst part of having a yard sale in my opinion!


Saturday was the yard sale so I was up at 6 a.m. getting ready for the day.  The sale was from 7-11, so I opened the garage a few minutes before 7 and had a steady stream of customers from that time until around 11.  I sold alot of stuff and made $172, which I didn't think was bad for the little bit of stuff that I had by myself for just that one morning.  Uncle Dave came over as I was starting to box things up so we visited for a while, then he helped me clean up the yard sale mess and put tables up and take stuff off to the Goodwill truck.  It must of been "get rid of everything day" cause it was about 5 cars deep in the drop off area of that truck.  I took Uncle Dave to lunch for helping me.

Saturday after the yard sale and lunch, I was lazy abit more and then got ready to meet my friends Misty and Hazel to play bingo.  I haven't played bingo in forever and felt like such a newbie asking all these questions when we got there.  I couldn't help but crack up laughing at everyone with all of their colored bingo daubers lined up on the tables, and their good luck trolls and charms.  It took me back to the good old days!  Before I met Shawn, I used to go play bingo with Misty and her mom Hazel, and Misty's grandma Ruth, or as I called her Ruthetta.  I had all of those colored daubers too at one time!  LOL!  We all always had the best time playing bingo, laughing and carrying on.   Once year Hazel and I went to stay with Ruth and Ed at their condo in Florida and we went to a bingo hall down there.  Ruth almost got us kicked out for talking to loud!  LOL!!!  I sure do miss you Ruthetta and your silliness!  I didn't win any money at this bingo, which was ok, cause I was just going for the fun of it and visit with friends.  Misty bingo'd though and won $200!

I didn't take any pictures at bingo so I found this one on the internet.
Sunday was my last day off before work.  I started the day off with my breakfast of orange cinnamon rolls.  Since Shawn and Gavin weren't here, I ate as many as I wanted!


 I went to church and realized that "The Problem is the Pattern".  Definitely a great message by my pastor!  After church we went to Allesha's graduation party.  I can't even believe that she has graduated and will be off to college in the fall.  We had a great time at the party with lots of yummy food and cake and ice cream, and visiting with friends and church family!








My Shawniewow also came home on Sunday :)



I was in bed early Sunday evening, I was exhausted and knew I was going to dread getting up with that 6:00 a.m. alarm.

I definitely enjoyed my staycation and would gladly do it again!