Welcome to Goshen!

August 26th, 2011 (Friday)

We safely arrived in Goshen around 5pm, on Thursday. Drove up to Kim's Step-Grandma's (Ruth) house, and she was more than happy to greet us.

That evening we experienced for the first time ever (for both of us) FIREFLIES!!!!

we also saw bunnies, all out on the front lawn of the house.

The rest of the evening was spent repairing our gelatinous bodies to normal.

The next morning we woke up pretty early, had a very pleasant breakfast with Ruth, then had the pleasure of meeting her youngest daughter Laurel (Mauvereen's first time meeting her). She's a wonderful person.

We hopped into Laurel's little mazda, and drove off for our tour of the surrounding area.

We started off at the Old Bag Factory, located just outside of downtown Goshen. It is exactly as it is named, a Bag Factory. The building is no longer in commission for this business but is now setup as an artisan shop, with small shops inside and a museum explaining the history of the building. The company who used to be in the building, manufactured old cloth bags for flour, oats and grain. This is also where Laurel's youngest daughter Ashley is going to be married in September.

We visited a small quilting shop adjacent to the Bag Factory, where a pleasant fellow told us all about the quilts his wife Shirley creates and designs herself. The quilts were just beautiful, and very unique. Not many of them are the traditional quilts from patterns, as Shirley designs them all herself. The cheapest one we saw was $675 where as the most expensive was $5200. They do accept monthly payments if you choose to buy one. And they SHIP! All for the low low cost of....... and now a word from our sponsor.

We weren't able to take any photos, as Shirley's work is very unique and un documented, none of her patterns are written down or for re-sale. We heard A LOT about Shirley.

While at the Old Bag Factory, we also went into a small antique shop, a consignment store, potter and a woodcarving shop. We also met an adorable puppy who was outside waiting for his owner. He was more than happy to share some hugs and kisses with us.

We left the Old Bag Factory, and headed towards the amish town of Shipshewana (Ship-She-Wana).

Along the country roads we got to see a lot of Amish driving their horse and buggies. Driving through the countryside we stopped at one home, as a Horse had gotten their leg and hoof caught in the surrounding wire fence. Just as we arrived we saw the owner come out of their shed with wire cutters, walking slowly to go save the horse.

We saw a lot of Amish homes, and if you don't know the difference between Western World homes and Amish, it's hard to tell. They have magnificent houses, but no electricity, and the dead give away is the clothes line hanging outside. Amish homes don't have any blinds or pull down blinds, so all the windows are bare and open, plus they have large fields for their crops and animals, and one or two buggies in the yard.

We ended up having lunch at an Amish business complex called Essenhaus. The food here is very traditional country meal, lots of gravy and potatoes. Kim got roast beef on noodles and mash potatoes, Mauvereen had roast beef with stuffing and white gravy. Artery clogging goodness...or sorta good. Plus Kim got a massive piece de resistance. Lemon Meringue Pie. om nom nom.

It feels very strange to have modern vehicles and stores then to step back in time with bearded men, bonnetted women who drive by at a quick trot in their horse and buggy, BUT they are equipped with left and right lighted turn signals (battery operated as they shun electricity...we did find out they are allowed cellphones though...but not land lines. This gets confusing)

We actually saw one of the horses look both ways, before turning a corner on a busy street. Smart animals.

We ended up parked and out walking in Shipshewana, where we visited Davis Mercantile which is a large old grain building, which now houses multiple small shops, as well as a merchant who sells seasonal nick nacks. You could get yourself a buggy ride in an authentic amish horse drawn carriage for just $4.

It's a beautiful and quaint little town, very peaceful.

We then headed back to Goshen, hitting up the local Wal-Mart for a few necessities, then back to Ruth's for a nap and supper.

Was a wonderful, busy, long day and looking forward to another one tomorrow,