Amish Country

We are trying to be much more intentional about family time on the weekends, and specifically going to DO something and MAKE memories on weekends (not just run errands, etc.).  We realized during our moving process that we didn't nearly take enough advantage of what our area of Florida had to offer.  The beach was 90 minutes away!  We should have gone SO much much.  We didn't go see the springs.  We didn't go down to see the manatees, never went to the Keys or the Everglades...  We are really trying not to make the same mistake in Ohio.

So on Saturday we loaded up for a little jaunt (about 45 minutes away) to Amish Country.  Trees are about at their peak color right now, so we were hoping for beautiful scenery, rolling countryside, and fun time together.  We could have found all those things at home or steps from our door (seriously, the corn fields are everywhere), but how fun to get to see something new and  make a memory.

There are some very touristy parts of Amish country.  It kind of felt Gatlinburg-esque in places.  There were some cute looking shops, but we were in search of a more rustic experience.  We drove through the more commercialized area and turned on a road that we hoped would take us "off the beaten path."  It did!  We saw many, many farms, lines of clothes hung out to dry, lots of livestock, harvested fields, fields being harvested while we drove by, and fields still awaiting harvesting, lots of horses and buggies, several bicycle riders, beauuuutiful farmland and foliage.  I'd hoped we could get out and walk around some, but we wanted to be respectful and not gawk and things were spaced a fair distance apart.  So we drove, and we took discrete pictures, and we talked, and we made our memory. :)

Here's to more weekend memories to come!

 leaves on the way up (much more vibrant in person!)

Corn! (what did I tell you?! :))

goats on the roof.... don't know any more than that!

 Need some hay?

Harvesting corn