Pennsylvania Amish area

62º at 6:55 am EDST near Kinzers, PA

There are bears in our park!  This photo is taken from front of our unit, down the hill to next spot.  They haven't moved for some time, but there are two bears on that tree.

This park is called The Loose Caboose, and their office is in an old railroad caboose.  It is on the side of a very steep hill and they have units tucked in roads back off this very winding road up the side of a steep hill.

We had reservation for a campground northwest of Harrisburg for last night, but had that shifted forward so will spend Monday and Tuesday night there while we look around that area.  Be getting this campground and another day we booked a tour with Amish group for 10:00 am today (Monday)  As part of it we went ahead and saw  presentation of "Jacob's Choice".

Wasn't allowed to take photos during presentation, but here is setup I took beforehand.  There were 5 different areas (with the lines vertical) that film was shown on at different times.  The center section opened one time to show an actual wrecked buggy that the film had shown about to happen.

The square in the center of this photo is covered with a netting and "dream sequences" of passed relatives showed up behind it.

At the left of this photo, one of the smaller screens is above and below a wooden structure opened up at one point with action behind the door.   At one point there was a rain storm and the rain misted out over the audience while lightning and thunder struck.  When it was foggy in the scene, a haze came out over the stage.


And, of course, a very good story about a young Amish boy struggling whether to be Baptized and stay with the church.

We then toured a model of an Amish school built on these grounds.  The desks seem to have gotten a little smaller since I sat in one in Lower Lodi School in Nebraska.

Our guide explained the school day the Amish children would have and the various classes they would take, with older kids helping the younger kids.  This school room was set up with the help of a retired Amish teacher.  Most teachers were teenagers and would not continue if they married.

The model Amish home was furnished with samples of clothing.

Walls only had "functional" items on them.

They had a simple coffin in one room, showing how a body would be at the home after embalming and the family would dress the body in white clothing.

Looks fairly simple to build and a lot cheaper than purchased coffins -- maybe I will build one when we get home--just in case.

Kitchen was simple, with heating stove on one side and cooking stove on other.  Table was main gathering area of the house, and the "desk" of the father.

 Lots of kids on this type of scooter.  We were told at the Amish House that they recommended them instead of bicycles as they would be less likely to travel far.

This youngster was pulling a small trailer with his scooter.

Visited with a store clerk that had "Amish Mafia" T shirts in her store about how factual the Discovery Channel program was.  She said she wasn't sure how much was staged for the program, but those activities all went on and she knew most of the people in the show and they were people who lived in the area.

At the last campground we went to a "Smors" session where KOA CEO was present and visited with the different campers.  He was making rounds of the KOA Kampgrounds.

A shoe garden by the model Amish House.  It was said this was not an uncommon thing--to use shoes as planters.

Today we are going on Amish buggy ride and Amish tour of area before we head northeast to Hershey, PA where we hope to get a factory tour and then on to campground north of Harrisburg where we will tour the Capitol tomorrow.

Later, Lynn