Day 30 – Amish…ish

Author - Grant
Miles Driven – 156
From – Cleveland (Ohio)
To – New Philadelphia (Ohio)
Via – Lexington (Ohio)

Today’s Photos - http://www.flickr.com/photos/32017704@N03/sets/72157610777619462/
We both entered day 30 in a near giddy state of excitement because today was the much anticipated drive through Amish Country which we anticipated to be a bit like visiting the re-enactment players in Plymouth Plantation only they don’t ever break for lunch or arrive for work hungover as it’s quite simply how the Amish people (or “simple folk” as I now know they prefer to be addressed – all seems a bit self-deprecating) live their lives 24/7. Needless to say we knew absolutely nothing about the Amish people or their way of life before this drive and after a full day driving through the various villages and seeing them conduct their lives, we still don’t really know much. But luckily there is Wikipedia and I now know that this area is the biggest settlement of “simple folk” in the world (presumably outside of Preston), that they began in Switzerland in 1693 and moved to the US in 18th century because of continued persecution and that they still speak Pennsylvanian German (booo) to this day. There is, clearly, a lot more history but a) I didn’t read past the opening paragraph and b) you don’t read this blog to become better at pub quizzes. In fact, you should probably ask yourself why you do read this blog but you might not like yourself very much once you work it out.

Having said all that, we did know that it is not the done thing to take photos of the Amish which provided many comedy moments as we clearly attempted to flout the rule by surreptitiously taking photos but discovering that we would both make horrendous private detectives. We also knew that they shun modernity’s like cars and TV (try not to feint) and it was fascinating to be stuck behind one of their black, Victorian-esque austere looking horse-drawn carriages. And if the driver just happened to have a foot long white beard, well that was just a bonus.

There’s not a huge amount more to report from the rest of the day. I’ve missed out that we took Molly on a walk to a water fall in Mohican State Park that was barely powerful enough to be categorised as a shower. I guess I should also mention that we ended up in New Philadelphia (nothing to do with the big Philly in Pennsylvania) which was pretty Podunk but did have a friendly enough bar where we could eat, drink and be as merry as it is possible to get with a wife who isn’t drinking because she was ill some 48 hours earlier.
Pittsburgh tomorrow. The Steelers are at home on Sunday and I’m still planning to act all surprised when I find this out. Polish an Oscar for me just in case I pull it off…