Welcome to Ohio!
Somewhere along I-77 North
Ah, the Ohio Welcome Center. It's all under this pile of dirt.
Soon after you enter Ohio (if you're traveling North on I-77 like we were, at least) you enter Amish country. Believe it or not, Ohio has the largest Amish and Mennonite population in the USA. Pennsylvania is just more famous for it, I guess. We visited the Shops at Walnut Creek. It's a climate controlled and bug free way to shop mostly Amish things. They also sell plenty of junk you'll find in a Bed, Bath and Beyond. Of course, you can't buy any of the real Amish made crafts and food they sell here, so it's not all bad.
NOTHING sold at Troyer's Trail Bologna will be found at a Bed, Bath and Beyond. They have a little country store and deli where you can get sandwiches. The star of the joint is, of course, the bologna. We got two grilled bologna sandwiches to go. I could only eat a few bite of mine.
On a yummier note, we found this great Amish style candy shop.
Ok, it was more like Amish-ran-candy shop. Most of the women working here weren't Amish (and only women worked there), but the folks in charge were Mennonites at least. What's the difference between the Amish and the Mennonites? To the best I can tell, Mennonites are cool with mini-vans, but still live very simply.
Speaking of Amish, we got this great shot in front of Grandma's Alpine Homestead. It was surreal.
Ah, the atmosphere of the Alpine-style-giant-clock-kitch!
Before eating lunch at the Amish Door Restaurant (Alpine Homestead didn't tingle our taste buds), we cruised the on-site bakery.
Here's my salad with some "regional favorites" from the salad bar. The kidney bean salad was total deliciousness. The pickled beets tasted like Christmas. LOVED IT!
Here's a close-up of the sampler platter we shared. You can get it in plate version, too, but we wanted to enjoy the salad bar, too. The platter was still a little more food than we needed. I think we both had to unbutton our pants when we got to the car..
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