04 August 2013



No, this is not some "living museum" or historical site, this is the northern Indiana town of Shipshewana.  Home to the Amish.  Their mode of transportation is the buggy, they spurn electricity, they make their own clothes, grow their own food, and they go to church on Sunday for four hours.  Every. Single. Sunday.  Pretty incredible, isn't it?

We made our way up to Shipshewana on a rainy Wednesday.  When we started getting close, the buggies started passing us on the road.  Pablo was in awe.  We wandered around the town, in and out of silly country stores, and then we stopped for a homemade lunch.  Sandwiches on freshly made Amish bread.  We went to the Amish Museum where we might have left more confused than when we arrived.  And while I still contend that part of me would like to be Amish, I think I'll pass, and really I'm not sure that they would let me join anyways.  We put our confusion to bay with some butter caramels and made our way to the  Flea Market to buy rope and seriously considered getting Molly an 8ft tall metal giraffe for the backyard (if only it would fit in the back of the car).  Our final stop took us to the meat and cheese barn.  I could have spent a million dollars there.  Local cheese of all shapes, colors, and sizes.  Pasteurized, unpasturized, blocks, slices, curds.  The place is positively cheesy.  In the end, though, we just selected a smoked swiss and horseradish cheddar.  Smokey smooth and decidedly spicy they were.

Northern Indiana, it was real.  It was fun.  It was real fun.  See you in a little while!

4 comments:

  1. You are really talented with a camera.

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  2. I've only ever seen "Amish style" (I'm not sure what they actually were) people in Canada in passing. I would love to visit a town like this (confusing museum and all). I first learned about the Amish reading an American Girl magazine way back... so fascinating. I would also like to get a hold of some of that cheese...

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    1. American Girl Dolls, yes! So great, so 90s! Shipshewana is yearning for visitors, if you ever pass by this way, I'm sure they would love to have you.

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