A Pennsylvania Road Trip

Friday 30th March -  Tuesday 3rd April Joy, oh joy - spring break arrived and we spent a well earned week of rest and relaxation together.  Many possible options for the holiday crossed our minds but due to various inactions and competing priorities we finalised on an easy going road trip to explore a corner of our home state of Pennsylvania.  The state itself, named after its founder William Penn who acquired the land from King Charles II as repayment for a debt owed, stretches all the way from the Delaware River to the great lakes in the north and is bordered by the neighbouring states of New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, west Virginia and Ohio.  There is plenty to explore. We decided to centre ourselves in what is known as Pennsylvania Dutch Country, home to Armish families and their communities (think Kelly McGillis and Harrison Ford in Witness and you are spot on).  These communities, which have thrived for several hundred years living from the land and only slowly (if at all) allowing modern inventions into their lives, have greatly influenced the area.  Intrigued by the place names alone we found a perfect hotel (http://www.amishviewinn.com/) between the villages of Bird in the Hand and Intercourse (yes - your eyes are not deceiving you) and we found ourselves, as expected, right in the heart of Dutch Country surrounded by fields and grain silos, ponies and traps, wide eyed children peeking out from under large brimmed straw hats, covered bridges and washing lines filled with muted black, green and purple clothes of the men and women (the closest thing we have seen to a uniform beyond the forces and services since arriving in USA).  We enjoyed purchasing some Armish wares at the Lancaster (US capital for 1 day) Farmer's market and seeing first hand the houses and schools at http://theamishvillage.net/ (all very well until I saw the snakes and nest of babies in the village stream - yikes!).   We can see much to commend the simple lifestyle but it is interesting to learn about their trade offs - electricity is forbidden but diesel powered air compressors with fridges and washing machines especially adapted to run from them are allowed.  No motor transport or even bikes but dynamo-powered scooters are derigeur.  They even have a special exemption to allow the children (brought up to be bi-lingual and all educated in a single room school from aged 5) to leave school at 13 and continue their education on a purely practical basis at home. Beyond learning more about the Armish (and the break away group the Mennonites - or was it the other way around?) we also managed some important history with a trip to the state capital Harrisburg (not a place for stopping unless you are going to the Capitol building - http://www.pacapitol.com which gives St Peter's in Rome a run for its money in terms of size and opulence) and the civil war battle field of Gettysburg (http://www.nps.gov/gett/index).  The displays brought the 3 day battle very much alive with both children "enjoying" (scared rigid by) the cyclorama re-enactment.  The battle field, which is scattered with 1200 monuments remembering all the different battalions involved, is a day out all in its own right.  We can all now recognise Abraham Lincoln thanks to the Junior Ranger quizzes (badge number 2 safely secured) and are getting word perfect on THAT speech.  We even managed to understand how the Gettysburg events related to John Brown and the pre-war skirmish at Harpers Ferry (which we had visited several years ago). Finally no trip to this part of PA would be complete without a trip to Hershey - home of the famous chocolate brand.  Fortunately the theme park had not yet opened (!) but Chocolate World was enough all in itself (http://www.hersheys.com/) - we had to go around on the ride twice - all those Hershey Kisses!  We also visited the Rail Road Museum in Strasburg (http://www.rrmuseumpa.org/) but I think, in all honesty, our trip to Strasburg  is more likely to be remembered for the ice cream sundaes in the creamery where we had lunch. All in all a very enjoyable few days off!