Thursday

On Thursday we drove south to visit Amish Acres in Nappanee, IN. It is a farm that I had found in guidebook that offered tours of different crafts and skills. Thursday was also the start of a craft fair on the premises, which I figured might be interesting. Oops, big mistake. We were backed up about five miles in traffic to enter the parking area, and once we went in the gate it was wall to wall people. Mom and Dad decided to wait near the gate while Maggie, Donna and I looked around. We found a couple of historical buildings surrounded by vendors, and a craftsman making pottery with wild copper coloring. After staying for his demonstration we bought a small pot to take home.

The broom maker.
A cupboard and loom inside the original Stahly family main house.
The old German one-room schoolhouse.

Bruce Odell, Pyromaniac at work.

Bruce was demonstrating his technique for creating Raku Pottery.

After being fired in the kiln to 2000 degrees the bowl is touched by a newspaper which bursts into flames to create the colors.	When enough colors have been added a sawdust and water mix is used to cool the pottery down.
Our finished bowl.

About half way around the fairgrounds we saw a gate leading out to the actual Amish farm, so I called Dad & Mom on the radio and guided them over through the milling throng. We checked out the main building and decided not to take the tour today because of the heat, humidity and masses. But we did stop on the way out at the animal barn to see the horses, cows, and other animals.

A wood carving in downtown Nappanee.

We stopped at a KFC/Taco Bell for lunch, and on the way back we drove past the KOA and went up into Michigan so that Donna could say that she’d visited that state. A mid-afternoon snack at a McDonalds would sustain us until suppertime, and the crew convinced me to stop at a fireworks store just before the border. Cowabunga! It was about the size of a bookstore, and loaded with novelty items that were hard to find in Virginia, such as a 12” aircraft carrier that launched 4 helicopters, 2 planes and various guns. I bought a small tractor-trailer that is supposed to rocket across a parking lot. I plan on using some magic markers to christen it “Danny’s Demise”, another unpublished reference. The owner approached me to see if I needed any help, and soon we were exchanging stories of WMD (Weapons of Mass Delight). I only wished that my cousin Chris could have been there, a fellow pyrotechnic. His fireworks experiments are legend in the family. I struggled out the door with a carton of fireworks that cost nearly $100! Watch for a glow on the horizon July 4th, 2004.

That night Dad & Mom forced us to go back to the Essenhause for another meal. We arrived a little earlier, and after supper did a little shopping, then drove around the park area to a covered bridge where we threw cracker crumbs to the fish.

The rest of the evening was spent preparing for our departure the next morning.