Lancaster county and New York.

Guess this one speaks for it's self

An Amish farm and family wagon

An Amish phone box
A corn crib
A wagon park.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I had a wonderful few days at Windy Harbour, it is such a treat to be able to just sit and read, or stitch or even just sit, and know that there is nothing else you should be doing. I did take some long walks, but I enjoy that anyway. So after playing hookey for a few days I had better get on with the travels.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Our next stop was Lancaster, PA, in the heart of Amish and Mennonite country. We were able to visit the dear lady, Mary, that I had stayed with before, she had retired as well as getting married, we had lunch with her and Abner. He has since died, he was in his 90's and Mary is 75.

She was able to send us to another B & B, this time run by an exceptional Mennonite lady, named Verna. She and two friends has visited Australia the year before and are planning to come again. What a wonderful place it was to stay, Ellmaker House, at Gap, PA, it is a fully restored old stone home, our room was sumptous, the bed so large that we had a step stool to climb into it.

I mentioned to Verna that I had been taken on a tour by a lovely lady called Ada, well she turned out to be her aunt. We quickly set up a tour with her, she is now 82, but so with it and so full of knowledge, it was people like her and Verna that made our trip so enjoyable.
She took us to some quilt, candle and furniture places, all done with no electricity, that is one thing that makes the area unique, no power lines everywhere.

The country side is just delightful,, with farms and their barns, little schools, and quaint villages, and the food, always the food. The phone box pictured above, is one shared by several families, they are not able to have the phone connected to their houses, so they share one like this.

Walter did not want to go to New York, but we had to change trains, so he agreed to stay overnight there, this allowed me to contact my friend Adona. We arrived at 8.30pm on a Sunday, and after we had booked into our hotel, Adona came to meet us, it was very exciting being there again and seeing her.

We took a cab to Times Square, saw Broardway, the cabs, and all the lights, then we walked to a lttle restaurant for dinner. We then took another cab across the Brooklyn Bridge, intending to walk back, so that Walter could seethe Manhattan skyline, but it was a bit far with our limited time.

Instead we stayed in the cab and drove to the corner of 11th and Bleeker where there is the wonderful Magnolia Bakery. Even at 11.30 pm, on a sunday night, it was full of people, so as it was Walter's birthday we bought 3 cup cakes and a candle and proceeded to this little park opposite, where we sat on a bench and sang Happy birthday to him. Something you could only do in New York. After that we walked Adona back to her train station and reluctantly went to bed. Altogether it had been a magical few hours.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~