The Amish Experience

We spent the night at a Historic Inn/Bed and Breakfast in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania so that we could have the entire "simple" experience. However, no television to check the campaign coverage (and no Monday night football) was a little rough! :) We did have an incredible breakfast of apple pancakes and potato latkes prepared by the owners as we enjoyed our meal on the porch!

We started the day by taking a tour of a typical Amish home, then enjoyed a buggy ride with Aaron. He is old-order Amish and helped us learn more about Amish life as the horse pulled us through the farm lands. They have very little connection with the outside world and only attend community owned one- room-schools until the 8th grade. They also do not use electricity, cars or phones and live a very simple and plain existence. Aaron must be more progressive, since he told us that he reads the local paper and went to vote early this morning! Normally, Amish don't allow pictures, but Aaron surprised us and offered to take a picture - so we did! We headed out in the car afterwards traveling to an Amish bakery, then had an Amish lunch at a farmhouse, which was very good.

After leaving the Pennsylvania Dutch area, we traveled on to Wilmington, Delaware. It was raining, so we only viewed the downtown area, including the capital building, pictured above.

We decided to have an early dinner in Baltimore, Maryland which was so much fun!! We had a friend tell us about the "Inner Harbor" (Thanks, Tom) and we were very impressed with the downtown renovation around the waterfront. We walked the entire harbor area with panoramic views and activity everywhere. We had dinner at the Rusty Scupper overlooking the marina glittering with lights. There was live piano music and the food (crab cakes, of course) was absolutely incredible!!

As we arrived into Washington D.C and walked into the Hyatt-Capitol Hill, we realized that in just a few hours, we had seen both extremes of life - The Amish vs. Capitol Hill! To top off the experience, the Hyatt was hosting the Election Watch party for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee right in the lobby! Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid were in the ballroom and media was swarming around the hotel - What chaos!! We joined in for a while - acting as "silent" republicans in a hostile environment - but finally had to go upstairs to watch the final returns without the cheering and yelling!! However, we did go back downstairs, just to share in the final excitement, even though we were disappointed with the returns. As we end the evening, we offer Congratulations to President-Elect Obama!! This was not the outcome we wanted, nor the results we hoped for, but we must accept it the decision and go forward together. We will certainly be praying for wisdom as you lead our country, for clarity of decisions as you select your cabinet and strength of character to make the best decisions for the American people. We hope that God will be in midst of those decisions and may God Bess America!!