Wednesday - Shipshewana, IN

Our plans today were curtailed by an air conditioning problem in the Mason household. There was none. The thermostat read 75 in the house, but the air was set on 72. By noon the thermostat had climbed to 76.

Susan: "We have to do something. We will DIE without air conditioning!"

I reminded her that the windows in her house opened to allow iin fresh air and that the temperatures today were a high of 76 and a low of 59. I also remarked at how I didn't feel that we would die. Of course, she was kidding, but she also knew it had to be repaired as Rusty doesn't allow the windows open. He claims it is too hot and he can not sleep. So she did what all women do first when finding problems in their home. She called her father.

Susan's father, Mike, sent her outside where she discovered that the hose leading from the air conditioner into the house was frozen with ice. His advice was to call the repair company as it was most likely a freon leak. So Susan did what he suggested and we had to wait for the repairman to arrive.

It was a freon leak and Brandon, the repairman from Alabama with the deep radio voice, replaced two pounds of freon, changed the filter, and relayed the bad news that the leak was somewhere inside near the coil and would be costly to repair. There was more information about these coils not being serviceable come January, blah, blah, blah, but after Brandon said bottom-line his repair would last for six months I quit listening. We would not die tonight.

We finally headed out of the house around 3:30 PM. Susan wanted to drive to Shipshewana, IN, an Amish town about 45 minutes away. I was all for that as it would be educational for the children so we set out with the three girls.

The drive was uneventful until we got about 10 minutes from Shipshewana and then we found the road closed due to an accident. We had to drive several miles out of the way to arrive in Shipshewana, but we got to pass through Middlebury, a Mennonite town.

The Amish and the Mennonites come from a Protestant tradition known as Anabaptism. Both believe that they should live out their beliefs in daily life. While they are very similar in many ways, the Mennonites are more flexible when it comes to modern conveniences.

The drive through the farm countryside was beautiful and both towns were very similar. The roads both had a lane for horses and buggies and my children were fascinated when passing these.

We got into Shipshewana and decided to have our linner (lunch and dinner) at a restaurant there that serves Amish family-style food. This wasn't much different from the food served at our family reunion.

We had delicious fried chicken that had Susan licking the platter. There were green beans (Darcy had 4 helpings), mashed potatoes, homemade noodles (not as good as Aunt Lorene's), dressing, salads, and homemade warm bread with apple butter and Amish peanut butter spread made with marshmallow cream, corn syrup, and maple syrup. That alone was so scrumptious that I ate mine with a spoon.

We stuffed ourselves with all of that only to discover that dessert was included. We each had a different pie. Gabby had chocolate. Madison had chocolate crisp (with toffee bits). Darcy had peanut butter. Susan had banana pie, and I had old fashion cream which was fresh cream, cinnamon, and brown sugar. We each had a bite of every pie and then had to pack it to go as our bellies were too full to hold any more.

We shopped some in the restaurant's bakery and then made our way outside into the town. Raymond, an Amish gentleman, called us over for a buggy ride with his horse, Lucy. His buggy was roofless and the girls referred to it as a buggy convertible.

Lucy took us for a 15-minute ride through Shipshewana. It reminded me of small Indiana towns, especially those around the area where my mother grew up.

Most of the shops had closed by the time we finished eating, but we did get to shop a bit in the general store and in a shop that sold Christmas stuff, as well as other tourists' knick-knacks.

I loved the small town and enjoyed seeing horses parked alongside cars as we traveled through the town. I have decided that this is where I shall buy my summer home as life is simpler and the weather is gorgeous.