I woke up early and drove to Scranton for breakfast. Now I'm looking for a place to call my office for the day.
Zummo's Cafe is on a par with the coffee shops in Dallas! I'm on a roll!
Scranton was/is the home of the TV show The Office and the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company.
It was a long work day so I got a late start towards Lancaster. It was getting dark, I was getting tired so I just pulled to the side of the road in Mahanoy City for the night.
I had to stop at the capitol since I was driving right by. There was a church there, too.
The weather has turned sunny and warm, a perfect start to exploring this area tomorrow.
I drove the final leg to Gettysburg. I went to some of the battlefieds, to the museum, that place where Lincoln gave his address, where he stayed, and walked around there. Watching some of the History Channel documentaries was very interesting. I toured the downtown area on foot and chatted with some of the locals.
At the end of the day I drove to Lancaster. I'll stay here for about four days.
The weather is cooling off again, and mostly cloudy.
I went to church this morning at a reformed church.
To learn more about the Amish, I drove to Strasburg and visited The Amish Village. I took a 90 minute bus tour of the area and visited the farm and Amish style house that they offer.
I've been interested in the Amish's unique life-style and interpretation of Christianity for most of my life.
They are related to the Menonites and come from the Anabaptist movement in Europe.
The Amish Villiage is set up as a miniature Amish farm. They have animals, I didn't get pictures of all of them.
The Amish have their own school system, kids go to school in a one-room schoolhouse, taught by a young un-wed woman, whose teaching career ends at marriage. All of the kids are in a single room, they go to grades 1-8, then have a one-year vocational training. In school they are taught English.
I was interested in their buggies, having almost run over one late at night in Vermont.
The Amish go to church every other Sunday, closing all of their businesses and shops on every Sunday. They meet at each other's homes, carrying the benches in a larger wagon and parking their buggies wherever they can. This was such a gathering.
They have quite a few covered bridges.
And this is of a farm as I was touring by.
This Maps screenshot shows a couple things of interest. The first is the striping of the fields, which is the way the Amish farm. Being very self-sufficient, each family grows multiple crops, including grass for their horses. The second is the Oregon Pike, which I wanted to note. The name "pike" puzzled me until I looked up the etymology. It comes from turnpike, which was originally a road for pedestrians and horses were blocked by a "turn pike".
My oldest brother has some friends who are following a very similar path to mine. They have been about a week behind me for much of the way, and I didn't know about it. Yesteray, my brother informed us that we were about six miles apart here in Lancaster Country. We made contact and met for dinner and conversation. I had a great time!
Another work day, after coffee with my new friends, I'll be off to find my "office of the day".
I got "ducked" today! That's a thing Jeepers do to each other.
I'm staying in Ephrata for another work day.
Today I took some time off in the afternoon to go to the play "David". It was put on by Sight and Sound Theaters. The play was amazing and fantastic.
After work I was able to visit the Valley Forge National Historic Park
This is the house where George Washington took up residence while there. I edpecially liked the teddy bear ranger, he noted that he gets paid to stand around in the sun and talk to people like me.
And this is where his personal guard was stationed. There are four huts, each with 12 bunkbeds. The early Secret Service.
Then I drove south into Delaware.
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