Monday, May 20 Amish Country to Thomasville, PA

 Monday, May 20

Garden Spot is near Lancaster and right in the middle of Amish country.  The farms are gorgeous and traffic always includes some buggies.

Monday is Laundry Day

We stop for a hug with Mom before continuing on to Beth's sister Anita and her husband Kevin's home near Thomasville, PA - not too far from Hanover/Gettysburg area.  First stop is a bakery called Achenbach's in Leola where Kevin and Anita once took us.  Peanut butter long johns are one of their specialties - delicious - and Anita asks for some orange and cranberry muffins.

Thomasville is about an hour and a half from Garden Spot.  But we take a little detour through Dallastown, where Beth grew up and drive by the farm where she lived till age 10.   Of course it looks quite different and subdivisions and roads have gotten much closer to it, but the basic house and barns are still there - minus the henhouse, which is gone.  

We let GPS take us to Anita's and I suppose it takes the shortest route, through lots of countryside, winding narrow roads and very small towns.   

Last time we saw their house it was in two pieces, as it is a pre-fabricated home and had just been delivered.  Looks much better now, lol, surrounded by grass and trees and flowers.  We get the tour and catch up a bit, and then our niece Vanessa and her 2+ year old son Tanner arrive for a visit.  Anita and Kevin have 5 grandsons (3 different sets of parents), and have turned most of their basement into a play room, complete with bounce house and all sorts of toys, so that's where we head down there and visit.  Tanner is a hoot!  Vanessa and her husband live on a farm, as do his parents, so Tanner learned his colors from tractors - green, John Deer and other brands of blue and red. And he knows which is which!

He also likes to watch bull-riding on tv instead of cartoons!  Look out!  So glad they stopped by!

A pair of killdeer have made a nest and laid eggs in their gravel parking area.  When we got near he/she pretended to be injured and dragged himself away, hoping to distract us from the eggs. 

  

Anita and Kevin also have an RV, so after a terrific salmon dinner, we spend some time planning a little jaunt down to New River Gorge National Park in West Virginia - about a 5 hour drive.  We reserve campsites in a state park, pack a few things and will take off tomorrow along with their German Shepherd named Cody, who's a sweetie.