Departed:  Lewisburg, Pennsylvania  8:45 a.m.

Arrived:  Gettsyburg, Pennsylvania  4:45 p.m.

221 miles (mostly in a circle)
Gettysburg KOA Campground

Hey friends,

What a gorgeous day!! We left Lewisburg and headed for Hershey, Pennsylvania and then Amish Country in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.   It was a very lovely ride along the Susquehanna River. It is a very wide river that flows through much of the area we were in today.

We arrived fairly soon to Hershey, Pennsylvania. I had checked online and saw that there were short tours that were free and that you got a free sample of Hershey's chocolate at the end. Perfect.... well apparently everyone else on the east coast thought it would be perfect, too! We turned in and waited for about 10 minutes just to get into the parking lot. Needless to say, wasn't worth that much to us, so we decided just to drive through the town. Here's a few pics of the town,  Hershey Kiss street lights and neat shrubs spelling Hershey.

I had found online last night where you could tour an Amish farm, ask questions, buy fresh bread, homemade items etc. So I entered that address, and we continued on our quest.

We were going down Highway 30 east a very busy thorough fare and I saw that  the Amish Farm was right up ahead. I’m thinking no way, jose…. We’re right in the middle of suburbia, Walmarts, Target, the usual. Well sure enough right across from an Outlet Mall no less here is a “replica” of an Amish Farm complete with covered bridge. That is not exactly what I had in mind. I was thinking rolling hills, “ oh look there’s a little roadside stand with the cute Amish girl in her long dress and bonnet waiting to sell me fresh produce, and homemade bread with jelly.” NOT…. So we pulled in to eat a spot of lunch at the OUTLET Mall (no shopping) and decide to follow a road that Bill had read about being very scenic through Amish Country.  Good Move, daddy-i-o!! We pulled out and found state road 772 and followed it for about 35 miles through the most gorgeous countryside you have ever seen. One silo after another, we saw quite a few Amish farms, which we discerned by the lack of electricity, buggy in the barn, and clothes on the clothesline.  I do believe Pennsylvania is now the favorite state of the week! And they have good roads! Mind you there were quite a few being worked on, which slowed us down a bit, but who’s complaining.  (I told myself before I started writing this that I would try to stay in one tense, that being  past tense,… sorry English teachers , can’t seem to do it!) Here are a few pictures. I was a little embarrassed to be seen taking pictures of them. Didn’t want them to think I was staring….

Another thing we noticed was the Amish girls on bikes, well they really weren’t bikes. It was like a combination bike and scooter. Bike wheels and the scooter stand where the seat would have been. Thank goodness I have a picture so you can understand it better. Actually this is a little boy. I’m guessing the girls couldn’t manage their dresses on the bicycles.

I was too quick on the trigger with this picture!

And then too slow on the trigger with this one!

 And I think this is the town of Lititsa.

An interesting tidbit about the Amish, their cancer rate and heart disease rate is half that of the rest of the country. Could it be all of the “natural products” that they produce themselves or maybe all of the hard work they put in to support themselves off the land. Either way, it’s a good thing. Wonder what would happen if I told Bill no more electricity, and I’m going to have a garden! No point in wondering, neither is  going to happen!!

We drove through quite a few small towns, after leaving Lancaster, went through Intercourse, PA( kind of an ironic name being in the middle of the most conservative people ever)  a very nice little village that was tourist heaven. Then there was  Lititsa, PA, another gorgeous village, which I had the feeling was a college town, but I never saw the college. A lot like Tville, very cute downtown.

 While we were in the Amish countryside we came up behind this guy who was the most talented tractor grass cutter, I have ever seen. We were behind him for quite a ways because there were curves, hills, etc. and we couldn’t pass. He could take the blade right up to the pole he was about to run into pull  up the blade and plop it back down in perfect position right after he passed the pole.( You see it doesn’t take much to keep me entertained while on the road!!)

So by the time we finished our scenic tour we were just about back to where we had started our journey this morning, and were ready to head to Gettysburg. Just get on the 30 west interstate and take off. Now a funny thing about Pennsylvania interstates, they can just stop being interstates with  the placement of a sign!! (however, they are in good shape, which I’ll take any day) So 30 west the interstate turns into 30 west the very busy 2 lane road through untold small towns and it takes about 2 hours to go about 50 miles. But we are here in Gettsyburg at a lovely campground, very shady lots, not on top of each other( which I was afraid of in a touristy area), slide out is out, hookups hooked up and toddie poured! Life is good!

Tomorrow we’ll head to the visitor’s center at the Gettysburg National Park. I may have to do a little boning up on the Civil War tonight. Where is Rick Fenlon when I need him? He is the expert! I think he took his family to every Civil War battlefield he could find one summer!!

And a last note to my teacher friends, have a good day tomorrow, on your first official day at work, ( I think)! Here’s to a great 2011-12 school year!

Happy Camping!

Carla