It turned out to be exactly what I expected and at the same time, not at all what I thought it'd be.
There were plenty of farms...
...picturesque covered bridges...
...beautiful flower gardens...
...and Amish people going about their business. As you'd expect.
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| we saw SO MANY young men riding these scooters around |
The unexpected part was the huge crowds of tourists (ahem, just like us I suppose). I figured there would be some tourists or whatever, but not to that extent. Have any of you ever been to Gatlinburg, TN, during peak season? That was the feeling I got when we were in the Lancaster area. Way over commercialized and really kind of ironic when you think about it...the draw is the simple Amish lifestyle and yet, when you get there, it has been turned into the exact opposite. Ugh. We couldn't wait to get out of the middle of it and onto a quiet country road...I can only imagine how the Amish must feel about all of it.
Anyway, busyness aside, we did have a nice day. We ate at one of the "PA Dutch style" restaurants, shopped in one of the bulk food markets, and even stopped at a yard sale a few Amish girls were having in front of their house. At the yard sale, we bought a shoo-fly pie that had just come out of the oven (still warm, yum!), a small handmade lap quilt (for only $15!), and Tristan bought himself a horseshoe (because he "just liked it").
I'm glad we went and saw it for ourselves, but I don't really think we'll be going back. Unless we get a craving for another shoo-fly pie, that is ;)...
It is so interesting that you felt that way about Lancaster. I had the exact same feelings when we went several years ago. So commercialized and so sad really that it is like that. The farms and countryside are beautiful though.
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