Elkhart & Shipshewana

---

Friday, June 26 (Amish Communities Tour):
We started our day by heading towards the American Countryside Market near Elkhart that Manoli wanted to visit. It was quite busy and contained not only a number of interesting shops, but some folks set up out front as a sort of flea market. We didn’t find anything exciting enough to buy, but we did try a breakfast pretzel stuffed with eggs, ham, and cheese. Yum! Next, we decided to check out two different furniture makers that were supposed to have tours where you could watch them make fine hardwood furniture. The first one, Schmidt’s, was pretty empty and the receptionist seemed to have never heard anything about tours, so we moved on. The second furniture place, Lambright Woodworking, wasn’t buy either, and although they were quite friendly to us and said they’d be happy to give us a tour, they weren’t working on anything that day. We browsed thru their store/shop and admired a number of items, then got back on the road. Next, we headed to Shipshewana to check out a number of supposed Amish stores and restaurants there. We weren’t disappointed! On the way there, we went by a place with a Garage Sale sign, so we turned around to go back and check it out. It was apparently run by some Mennonites and had the usual assortment of garage sale items, plus some more unusual stuff. Manoli bought a cute dish to use for chips and dip, I guess, and we checked out the Mennonite-run and Amish-frequented market next door. They were selling several types of cheese, including provolone, chedder, and swiss, all at $1.99 a pound! They also had a local brand of soda at 10 for a dollar! By this time, we’d started seeing a lot more of the Amish and their buggies on the road, much more so than in the Lancaster area. After shopping at the Yoder’s Department Store, we were getting hungry, so we stopped at the Blue Gate Restaurant, another of the Amish family style restaurants. Manoli and I both ordered salads that were excellent and filled with things like mushrooms, corn, peas, etc. They both cost less than $9.95 each and were more than large enough for a hearty lunch. Again, of course, we had to try the Amish peanut butter and apple butter. Last night, we’d already bought several jars of each to take home and for gifts, but since they were on the table… After our late lunch, we strolled along the road, stopping at various shops and watching the Amish folk coming and going. We finally headed back to the KOA, I rented a couple of movies for the night, found a nearby car wash to remove some of the road dirt and bugs from the Jeep, and bought some food and a milk shake for dinner from a little ice cream stand near the KOA. Then, it was dinner and a movie (two actually) for the night. Tomorrow, we start our trip to Hot Springs, Arkansas to look for real diamonds, stopping for the night near St. Louis, so there probably won’t be much to write about tomorrow.

---