Family, friends, Amish lifestyle and more...
We left Auburn on July 3rd and headed to a RV park that would be our home for the next two weeks (eventually, we stayed over three weeks). The trip on U. S. Highway 30 across much of Ohio was easy with light traffic. Many windmill "farms" in west central Ohio are located along the highway. There was a good breeze, but very few of the windmills blades were turning. Makes you wonder how efficient they are. By mid-afternoon, we arrived at our destination, Scenic Hills RV Park, located east of Berlin, OH in Holmes County famous for its Amish-Menonite population. Their population in Ohio is now the largest in the world.
We arrived in time to celebrate Independence Day in the area. Linda's sister, Karen, and brother-in-law, Kerry live nearby in New Philadelphia. On July 5th the city had a parade. We grabbed our chairs and went.
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| Linda's sister, Karen, Linda, & brother-in-law, Kerry at Independence Day Parade, New Philadelphia |
Kerry is a county commissioner and a former city councilman as well as a retired dentist. He knows lots of people and keep in touch with them during the parade.
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| Kerry working the parade crowd |
The parade was very good with lots of float, vehicles, people parading, and local business exhibits.
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| Queen and her court on float |
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| Ambulance from the company that still serves the area |
With a day off work, Kerry took time to mow his manicured yard. The Red Maple in the front yard is spectacular.
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| Kerry mowing yard |
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| Red Maple in Metzger's yard |
On Saturday, July 6, New Philadelphia had their fireworks celebration at the wonderful city park. The fireworks were launched from the high school football field north of the park. At the south end of the park is a pond full of waterfowl. There are 100's of ducks and geese in the pond this time of year. When the fireworks explosions started, the waterfowl all headed for the shore at the south end of the pond. We were viewing the fireworks from the south shore. We had some feathered friends during the fireworks.
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| Geese seeking shelter during fireworks |
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| Ducks in the fireworks crowd |
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| Goose passing thru the fireworks crowd |
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| Ducks and geese trying to find a place to hide from the fireworks |
A car show was part of the Independence Day weekend and First Town Days celebration in New Philadelphia. Linda had seen enough cars when we attend the Back to the 50's car show in St. Paul earlier on our trip, so she decided to skip this show. Karen and Kerry weren't that interested, so Tim headed to the park by himself. Tim was surprised how many and the quality of the cars at the show. The '54 Mercury below was gorgeous. Many other cars were also well done.
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| 1954 Mercury Monterey |
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| Continental kit on Mercury Monterey |
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| 1954 Ford sedan similar to Linda's father's car |
Sunday afternoon we made another visit to the park for the last day of First Town Days. Linda and Karen took a break from walking in front of the great train playset in the park.
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| Linda & Karen in front of train playground |
We have followed the RV travel blog,
Living Our Dream for years. The authors, Paul & Margery Zeller are fulltimers and are originally from nearby Pittsburgh. They had been staying at the same RV park for the last few weeks, but were leaving for the northeast the next day. We made arrangements to meet them and go to lunch at a favorite Amish. We arrive late, so we combined lunch with dinner. It was great meeting the Zeller's and comparing notes on our travels and mutual interests.
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| Paul & Margery Zeller with Linda & Tim at lunch |
During our visit Linda's oldest nephew, Robert, and his wife, Kim visited from Weirton, WV. They were on their way home from vacation to Nashville. We enjoyed their visit. Took lots of pictures. Here are a few.
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| Karen, Kerry, Robert, & Kim |
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| Tim, Linda, Karen, & Kerry by the Metzger house |
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| Karen, Kerry, Robert, Kim, Linda & Tim outside Metzger house |
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| Kim making a point to Robert |
After pictures with 4 different cameras, Kerry had enough of his picture being taken.
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| Kerry tired of having his picture taken |
Touring the Amish area in Holmes County is something we always enjoy. Can't get enough of it. Below are some pictures from this beautiful part of the country.
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| Amish work horses |
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| Meticulous Amish home |
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| Amish boys playing baseball |
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| Buggy on country lane near the RV park |
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| Mennonite school |
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| Haystacks |
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| Beautiful flowers |
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| Amish teenagers riding horses....a rare site |
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| Rolling hills of the countryside |
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| Birdhouses |
Auctions are a staple of Amish life. Every week there are at least 4 auctions held in the immediate area. We like to go to watch and sometimes buy. New and used household goods, livestock, fruits, vegetables, baked goods, farm machinery, tools, sports equipment, books are just some of the items sold.
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| Amish in livestock barn watching cattle come in for auction |
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| Cattle arriving at livestock auction |
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| Some steers are headed for a new life |
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| What does my future hold? |
Holmes County and New Philadelphia are about 100 miles south of Cleveland. We like to take in a baseball game each time we're in the area. Cleveland also has a new casino located near Progressive Field, where the Indians play. Sometimes we drop a few dollars there. Kerry couldn't go with us, so Karen, Linda & I headed to Cleveland. South of the city we drove into bad weather, so we got off I-75 to ride out the storm. We pulled into a Sam's Club. After being in the store a short time an announcement was made of the P.A. system that a tornado warning was issued (remember the Tyler's attract bad weather). We were instructed to cluster into the center of the building under main support beams. It blew, rained, and thundered, but no tornado. The all-clear was given and we proceeded to Cleveland. Bad weather hadn't hit the field, so we had great weather that evening to watch the game.
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| Progressive Field in Cleveland, home of the Indians |
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| Linda & Karen entering the field for an Indians game vs Toronto |
One day we made a short drive to Hartville, OH. Hartville lies between Akron and Canton. Our blog friends, Paul & Margery Zeller, wrote a post about their visit to the
Hartville Hardware store. It is a locally owned mega home improvement store, restaurant, and gift store. The hardware store puts a Home Depot, Menards, or Lowe's to shame. The store is huge and well staffed to answer questions and provide guidance.
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| Tim in front of Hartville Hardware |
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| A huge John Deere department |
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| Large power/bench tool section |
Inside the store are home fronts along the huge back wall. These home fronts show design and products.
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| Linda multitasking |
Linda was shopping and texting. She is a multitasker. She took many pictures inside the store for future projects. Another unique feature "inside" the store is a complete Idea House.
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| Sign explaining The Idea House |
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| The Idea House; a complete house inside Hartville Hardware |
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| Living room in The Idea House |
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| Unusual sliding door to entry laundry room |
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| Office/study in The Idea House |
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| Bridge on Holmes Country Trail |
The photo above shows part of the
Holmes County Trail. We like to spend a day riding our bikes. The trail extends about 30 miles through the beautiful countryside. There had been alot of rain in Ohio prior to our visit especially the week before our arrival in the area. Tim loves the goulash at the Sweet Shoppe in Killbuck, OH, which is located at the southern terminus of the trail. The trail and road to Killbuck had been closed for a few days, because of the rains. Tim was worried he wouldn't get his fix of goulash, but the water subsided and the trail and road opened.
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| Tim by the Killbuck, Oh sign |
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| The home of great goulash and ice cream...what a combo |
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| Goulash being served today |
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| Great plate of goulash with a side salad |
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| Tim ready to dig into goulash |
After getting our fill of goulash, we staggered out of
Sweet Shoppe, we headed out of Killbuck to ride the trail. Below are some pictures we took along the trail of high water and storm damage.
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| Which "swimming pool" do I use? |
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| Power company crew clearing tree limbs blown over lines along the trail |
Every few days we visited the
Hershberger Farm and Bakery. It is located west of Berlin only a few miles from the RV park we stay in. They have fresh fruit, vegetables, and a bakery along with a gift store and petting zoo for the kids no matter there size.
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| Linda trying to reach largest work horse in Holmes County at Hershberger's |
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| Some of the animals in the petting zoo |
The last event during our first part of our stay in Holmes County was the Wise School auction. We've attending the auction every year we travel to Holmes County. The school is located down the small hill from the RV park. The school is for Mennonite children and the auction provides most of the funds for operating the school during the year. Local Amish/Mennonite families and businesses support the auction with a tremendous variety of completely donated goods and services. All money goes to the school. 3 huge tents are erected on the playground/baseball field. The school gym is packed with handmade furniture and quilts.
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| Tents erected for the Wise School auction |
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| Early Saturday morning cars being parked on a field above the school |
The first part of our visit to Holmes County was drawing to a close. Linda had volunteered to babysit our grandson, Caden, for the next week back home. So, we prepared for her trip. See our next post for the continuation of our Ohio travels.
