Mer and I took our second (of two) mini-vacations in August. Over a year ago, a friend of mine gave me a two-night stay at a Bed and Breakfast down in Ohio Amish Country. I had not used the gift certificate, and Mer thought it would be a good use of it to celebrate our 11th anniversary (which was on the 8th of August). I agreed that it was a fine idea, and so I took three days of vacation – Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, August 4th-6th. It would have made more sense to make the vacation join up with a weekend, but the B and B was booked for the weekends around our anniversary. Besides, it made for a nice treat to be away from work during the week.

We slept in at home on Tuesday (why start a vacation with setting an alarm?), and got things packed up for the 90-minute drive to Holmes County. It was a pretty day, and we had no trouble getting to Amish Country. We stopped at our usual Amish restaurant, Der Dutchman, for lunch. It was more or less on the way, and we decided we could check in at the B and B after we had eaten. I had a very good but un-Amish stir fry (the chicken in it was quite wonderful), and we swung by the bakery after lunch and drooled over the cheap baked goods (they were selling pies for $6 and entire ho-ho cakes for $4). We held off on buying any, because I wanted to visit the chocolate factory down the street that we had never been to (and had not even known existed). Before stocking up on chocolate, we decided to poke around in the shops in Walnut Creek.

My favorite store there is a religious wood carving store. I am a big fan of wood, and while a few things struck me as tacky, on the whole the carvings were tasteful and made of beautiful wood. My favorite piece was a reproduction of a hymnal page of “Amazing Grace.” It would have fit nicely in a spot in our living room, but the price was way too high (more than some complete furniture sets from Amish stores).

I was poking around in the upstairs portion of the store when I heard someone talking. I pretty quickly realized the woman was not speaking English, and after a moment or two I figured it must be Pennsylvania Dutch (a Germanic language spoken by some Amish and Mennonites). The woman was in traditional dress – a white bonnet and a plain, light blue dress. The parts that made me smile were that she was wearing white sneakers and was speaking German into her cell phone. I don’t know all the “dos and don’ts” of Amish ways, but that was a special moment and made me quite happy.

We did finally get down to the chocolate store, and they make the chocolates right there. You can watch the small factory where the candies are made, and the store wisely leaves the factory windows open so you can smell the chocolate. If I recall correctly, we bought over 1.5 pounds of chocolate (most of it was mine, I have to admit). With our evening goodies well in hand, we made our way back to the car and drove the 15 minutes or so to our B and B, a cabin called “A Little Slice of Heaven.”

The “Little Slice of Heaven” cabin is very pretty, and only has capacity for two groups of guests. We had to share the place with another couple who showed up late on Tuesday and left early on Wednesday, so they were no bother at all. We had the place all to ourselves on Wednesday night. The cabin is small, but has lots of woodwork and all the features we wanted in a B and B – a TV with DVD player for movies, a nice stereo for music, and a whirlpool bath for luxury. We let ourselves in and unpacked, and Meredith polished off her book she was reading while I quality-tested the bed by taking a nap.

We decided to deliberately strike out and explore new places that evening. Usually when we go to Amish country, we just go to Der Dutchman. The friend who owns the B and B strongly encouraged us to get on the back roads and see things, so we did. It was good advice. We took a bunch of back roads through lots of farm country. We saw several horse-and-buggy teams on the road, and we had little trouble getting to our restaurant of choice, Grandma’s Homestead. I figured we had decided on a decent place when I saw a hitch rail with several horses tied up to it. I know that much of Holmes County is touristy, but I took it as a good sign if the local Amish ate there from time to time.

Mer and I ate another excellent meal, and we even tried to be light by getting sandwiches since we were still full from lunch and chocolates. I was thwarted in trying to avoid dessert when I found out my meal came with free dessert. I got some custard ice cream with Oreos mixed in. I was okay, but I need to remember to stick with baked goods when in Amish Country – that is where the desserts really excel.

We went back to the B and B where we relaxed by watching the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers classic Top Hat. The music and fun nature of the film suited my mood quite well, and it was a very nice way to end a very pleasant day.