amish country

On Saturday, I went with my friends Chelynne and Julie to Nappanee to visit Amish Country. Chelynne is really, really into the Amish (don't ask me why), so that's why we went. Nothing like spending your birthday with the Amish. :)

We went to Amish Acres, this antiques/crafts mall (which really didn't have a whole lot), to this cute corner coffee shop, and to Rentown. I'm still not exactly sure what Rentown is. The name indicates it's a town, but it was more like a few "commercial" buildings in one little area, and that was it. The store sold a lot of homemade goods plus stuff we'd find in stores here. Chelynne and I stocked up on big chunks of cheese (I got nearly 3 pounds of colby jack for $4.50!), Bremen-made jams (strawberry rhubarb for me), and some Amish peanut butter for her.

The highlight of the trip (most of all for Chelynne) was visiting an actual Amish family. Let's just say I was a little apprehensive about meeting them. I mean, how awkward can it get?! So here's what happened:

Julie is from Nappanee, so she had her mom do a little reconnaissance work to find some Amish people to visit. We ended up setting up a "meeting" with Ida Mae, Julie's aunt's Amish cleaning lady, at 5 pm. As we drove to Ida Mae's house, we of course got stuck behind a horse and buggy, right before the road we needed to turn down. Of course the horse and buggy turned down that road too, and of course, we passed them. Then we ended up passing the house we needed, so we turned around and drove back, just to find that buggy turning into the driveway of the same house we needed. Not awkward at all. Then we all got out, but not knowing Ida Mae from any other Amish woman in Nappanee, we had to verify that this was actually Ida Mae. Also a little uncomfortable.

I should stop here and mention that also as we got out of the car, another buggy was pulling out of the driveway. It turned out to be one of Ida Mae's daughters going on her first date -- and here we showed up. I kind of felt bad for her. What if he was from a very strict sect and didn't approve of us being there? Not to mention they probably wanted to talk to him before he took their daughter away.

Here's your question of the night. What does an Amish girl do on her first date? The answer: Goes to Applebee's with another young Amish couple.

Back to my story.

Thank goodness Ida Mae was extremely gracious and kind and opened up her home to us. They use natural gas, but no electricity. So there was a refrigerator and a stove, and they use a gas generator to pump their water. Oh, and they do have gas-powered lights -- you flip on a switch and then take a lighter to the bulbs to get them to turn on! They have a lot of normal things in their home -- stamps (like you'd use for scrapbooking), Swiffer mops, Pepsi, and gummy worms. Oh, and they also had an electric coffee maker, but CJ said they've probably rigged it to run on batteries.

So that's it. Can't say it was as awkward as it could have been, but I also probably won't be harassing the Amish anytime again soon.