Amish Country Blog

It is going to be a beautiful week in Amish Country Northern Indiana! NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmostpheric Administration, pronounced Noah) says we’re supposed to have temps in the 70’s and it will be sunny until Thursday night.  For those of you who come to Amish Country this week, go drive the Heritage Trail, it will be a great time to be out and about. Start early and enjoy a leisurely pace as you go. Everyone on the trail needs to stop at Bonneyville Mill and enjoy being outside for a long period of time. Stretch your legs, fill your lungs with fresh air, and then get on the trail again. 

Stop at the Essenhaus for that handmade and homemade gift. This is one of my favorite places to shop for someone who already has a lot of stuff, and would like something with more thought put into the gift. Also you can head on over to Honeyville and take pictures of some beautiful farms and landscape. In Goshen, stop at the Old Bag Factory and find that perfect item for that hard to buy person on your Christmas list.  I love coming here and looking a dreaming about all the things that I would love to buy. Then head on to Nappanee. By this time, you’re going to want a snack, so stop at the Dairy Queen.  This restaurant was destroyed by the tornado, and was finally rebuilt earlier this year. They bring your food out to your table.  How great is that! Then, as you just think that you can’t be that car any longer (because it going to be so nice), get out and about in Wakarusa. Enjoy the small town atmosphere. Eat at Cook’s Pizza, and find some take along candy at the Wakarusa Dime Store.  When you head back to Elkhart, go walk the Riverwalk and exercise off all the food you ate. It will be a great day.

If you like, go to the web site at Amish Country.org, and take the virtual Heritage Trail.  You can find it by following this link amishcountry.org/heritage.trail.

Have a great time being out and about in Amish Country this week.

Mindy - Amish Country Northern Indiana Contributor

Last weekend was beautiful. The weather was perfect, low 60’s, with lots of sun.  Mina, Michael and I went to a pumpkin farm on Saturday with some friends. The kids had a great time. We had three toddlers, who liked running around the farm and patting pumpkins. At the farm, they had a box of mini pumpkins, and Mina picked up one, said “ooh” and the put it back, and repeated the process about 20 times. We went through the farms pumpkin fantasy land, which dressed pumpkins up as nursery rhymes.  The kids had fun looking at the dressed up pumpkins. We laughed at all the ways pumpkins could be dressed. They even had jailed pumpkins.

Then we went to the Essenhaus.  I didn’t make a reservation, because I thought we wouldn’t need it on a Saturday afternoon, however, it was packed. Thank goodness we only had a 10 minute wait for 6 adults and 3 toddlers. The waitress was very quick.  Even with the kids keeping us busy because they were sleepy, we really enjoyed the food and the time there. I had the chicken and noodles and it was wonderful . I love their chicken and noodles because it tastes so yummy.  Mina loved her noodles, and although the Essenhaus isn’t known for it, she ate a lot of ketchup. The other two toddlers loved the bread, and the apple butter and peanut butter for the bread.  Our meal and service was wonderful. 

By the time we made it home, Mina was asleep, and she slept for 3 hours. It was a great way to spend our day.

Mindy - Amish Country Northern Indiana Contributor