Amish Country PA - Leg 3

6/29/14 Sunday We departed Trap Pond app. 9:45AM and arrived at Beacon Hill Campground just outside of Intercourse PA about 1:30PM. This is a fairly small 50 site CG with a minimum age of 16. It is a very well maintained neat CG just across the street from a large Amish Farm. Our site 31 has a nice wood patio and a shade tree - so do some don’t. The parking area is clean gravel and they actually have Wi-Fi that works in a CG. After eating and resting for awhile we drove around the area to kind of get a feel for the place and later stopped at Crackle Barrel for dinner since all the local non-chain restaurants were closed for Sunday. The farm land here is beautiful. The crops have been planted and are about half full grown and are nice and green. The roads are so clean from trash and the houses and yards are all well kept. The Amish were out in their buggies with their families, the young people were in the yard playing sports and enjoying themselves. We are looking forward to the Amish homemade bread, cheese, ice cream and pretzels while we are here. Late in the evening we were sitting on the deck reading and the fire flies came out - I have never seen so many in one area.

Site 31

Lower section of CG

Upper Section of CG

6/30/14 Monday We walked down the road to the village of Intercourse before breakfast and stopped at a coffee shop and got a latte and blueberry muffin (one of my weaknesses). Then we stopped at a local meat store - Stoltfus Meats and checked out their meats and cheeses. They had samples out so we got to try some. We bought a package of the ring bologna and some sausage. We returned to the CG and sliced the bologna, cooked an egg and put it between a biscuit we got a Crackle Barrel last night - mummm. After breakfast we drove up hwy  772 a few miles to check out Mascot Roller Mills and the Ressler Family Home. It was not open yet so we drove up a side road to check an Amish roadside stand - “Countryside Road - Stand” at 2966 Stumptown Road Ronks, Pa. They had lots of local canned goods, fresh homemade bread, shoo-fly pies, the best homemade Root Beer I have ever had, melt in your mouth soft pretzels right out of the oven, local crafts, eggs, local cheese and butter, etc. all at much better prices that you will find at the “tourist spots” in the villages around the area. Then we went back to the mill and did the tour. We were the only ones there so we got a good tour of the mill and the house. The last family that owned it had owned it since 1864 and the last two living in the family did not have any descendants so they set up a foundation to maintain the buildings and grounds and the tours are free to the public. The guide started the mill up and ground some corn into meal to show up how it worked. All the furnishings in the house are original and are left just like the last person to live there left it. A very interesting place. I have always like old mills. The main beam in the first floor ceiling was about 20” square solid black walnut. Across the street a young Amish lady had a road side produce table setup on the honor system. We got some fresh picked string beans, blackberries, fresh potatoes.  She came out and made change for us. Then we drove a few miles to the town of Lititz. We got a quick lunch in an Italian pizza/sub shop before touring the historical Julius Sturgis pretzel bakery. The tour was interesting but the soft pretzel we purchased after the tour was not. It was way to doughy. We took one bit and tossed them in the trash. On the way back we stopped at another road side stand and got some more produce. Like I said the prices are much better than at a regular store or the “tourist spots”. The cheese I priced at one of the tourist stores was three times more for a smaller piece that what I bought at the Countryside Road - Stand.

Mascot Roller Mill

7/1/14 Tuesday We did our morning walk down to the village of Intercourse before breakfast. Then we drove to Strasburg to ride the historic steam train, which is a 45 minute excursion trip. On the way we stopped at one of the covered bridges to get some photos. After the train ride we stopped at Issac’s Grilled Sandwiches for lunch. Very good. We rode through the countryside for awhile and then stopped at a Wal-Mart to pick up a few things before returning to the CG to relax for awhile. After supper we rode through the countryside for awhile.

7/2/14 Wednesday After our morning walk and breakfast we drove toward Bird-In-Hand and stopped at Aaron & Jessica’s Buggy Rides and boarded an Amish buggy. The guide/driver John Stoltfus and the mules Luke and Duke took us on a one hour ride through the farm land and to his farm that his parents purchased in 1929. He has turned the farm over to his youngest son and has been a guide for 6 years. His son rents some land and is paying $300 an acre which is a LOT more rent than I get for my farm land. We toured the barn that was built in the late 1800’s where they keep the milk cows, horses and mules. He explained about the feeding and milking process. The Amish don’t use commercially purchased electricity but use a combination of LP gas, a generator, solar power and air pressure to power they equipment, appliances and provide running water in the house. We drove by one of the local one room school houses were the kids go through the 8th grade. He was kind of funny with some of his comments. As we passed by one farm that had some chickens and pigs he said that is were they are making ham and eggs. He did a good job on the tour and we enjoying the tour very much. After leaving the tour we went to The Good and Plenty Restaurant for lunch. They serve family style or order off the menu. We ordered off the menu and could not eat all the food they brought us so we took about half by to the MH. We returned to the MH and relaxed awhile before riding around some more through the farming area.

7/3/14 Thursday After our morning walk to/from Intercourse and breakfast we went to Countryside Road Stand again to get some more of their soft pretzels, whoopee pies and a shoo-fly pie to take home to our son and his family. The soft pretzels are so good. Then we drove over to Bird-In-Hand Bake Shop. They sell about the same type of bake products but the prices are higher. If you come to this area we recommend the Countryside Road Stand over the Farmers Market or the Bake Shop in Bird-In-Hand. The prices are much cheaper and the products are great.

Then we drove around and checked three local campgrounds: Country Acres, Florys and Country Haven. If we come back we probably will try Country Haven. The CG was higher up that the surrounding farms so the view out over the farms was great. On the way back to our CG we stopped at The Pretzel Factory in Intercourse for the tour. We didn’t try their pretzels. They didn’t look as good as the one from Countryside Road Stand.

7/4/14 Friday Happy Independence Day: We got app. ½” of rain during the night and morning. It stopped after 7AM so we did our morning walk and had breakfast then rode around some. Lena wanted to check out some of the yard sales she say posted yesterday. Due to the rain they were late setting up but we did check out a couple. We were curious if the Amish participated in yard sales and we found out they do because we stopped at one at an Amish farm. The remainder of the day was relaxing, doing laundry and reading and enjoying the 15 degree cooler weather and blustery winds coming off Hurricane Arthur.

7/5/14 Saturday It was still nice and cool this morning app. 59 degrees. We walked to Intercourse and had breakfast at the Stoltfus Meat Market Café. If you come to Intercourse this is a nice market, with lots of fresh meats, cheese, etc. and a nice café. We bought some of their sausage earlier in the week and it was really good. We drove out into the country to a Jersey cow dairy named Lapp Valley Farm that the CG staff had marked on our local map. They sell several products made from the milk, including, whole milk, skim milk, 1% milk, several flavors of delicious ice cream, waffle cones, butter, cheese, etc. They allow you to walk to the barns and take photos as long as you don’t photograph the people without their permission. There were several young calves in individual pens that enjoyed a good head scratching. The main house was 3 stories plus a basement and was built from brick in 1812. The entire farm looked spotless, with lots of flowers around the house, out in the garden and hanging from pots on the retail sales building. We tried two kinds of ice cream and purchased ½ gallon of another kind, plus some milk and butter. After leaving we drove around for awhile and came upon Spring Gulch Camping Resort. We drove in and checked it out. Most of the sites were very shady and up into the hills. It was a very large CG but I guess I am cheep and don’t desire to pay $70-75 per night, plus $3 per night resort fee, plus $2 per child over 6, for a site unless it is really special. But they had lots of activities for kids if you are traveling with kids. They had play grounds, pool, small lake with a sandy beach, etc. We returned to Intercourse and stopped at the local fire department to get lunch. They were having a Pig Roast (being from North Carolina I would have called it a BBQ). After lunch Lena wanted to checkout some more of the yard sales and then we stopped at the Farmers Market in Bird-In-Hand to get another pound of their home smoked bacon. We purchased a pound earlier in the week and it was really good bacon without the normal preservatives. It was like we got on the farm as a kid after Daddy killed hogs and smoked the meat. We will freeze this in small portions and it will last us awhile.

While were relaxing in the motor home someone knocked on the door. It was a teenage Amish girl with a wagon load of fresh baked bread, shoo-fly pies, whoopie pies, raisin breads, cinnamon bread, etc. We had a pretty good stock of local products but I just couldn't resist so I bought some of her products. When she left the CG she had sold about 2/3 of what she had brought.

This is our last night here as we depart tomorrow for the Poconos.