Anniversary Vacation Part 2

After we left the Lake Erie area, we headed to Amish Country Ohio. We spent two wonderful nights at the Inn at Amish Door Village. It is a great place to stay. It is a fourstar hotel that seems to be in the middle of nowhere but is only fifteen minutes away from most "Amish" areas. The Inn is part of a village that has a great restaurant, a general store and craft area, and banquet hall. The

Inn was immacualte and had wonderful service.
While in Amish country, Tim and I visited an Amish farm that is open to the public. It gives tours of several farmhouses, barn, schoolhouse, and gives carriage rides. The farm houses reminded me of my grandparents houses when I was little. Wood cooking stoves, no indoor plumbing, etc. The school tour was interesting. The little girl that gave us the tour was probably around 15 and was Amish. She was finished with school. Amish children only go to school to 8th grade. Then they work. Many of the Amish women and girls work in restaurants. I wasn't sure as a teacher how I felt about only going to school until the 8th grade. My mom had to do that growing up but as an adult in her early 40's she went and got her GED and even took two college classes. Our guide through the houses was an elderly lady named Mary that reminded me of my Grandma Chaffin. Grandma was only about 4ft 9in tall and little Mary was the same. Mary used to be Amish but she had left the Amish and now she is a Mennonite. One of the tour participants asked Mary if she had been shunned when she left. Mary told us that she had not been because she had belonged to a new order Amish. She told us that there are seven orders of Amish. Some being more strict than others. An interesting fact I learned was that Amish have church at their homes and they do not have their pictures taken. They believe that is having a graven image. The Sunday morning that we left, Tim and I passed all kinds of Amish families on their way to church. Some were in their buggies and others were walking. It was an amazing sight and I admire them sticking to their beliefs despite the outside worlds interference.
Since I have been home I have finished my first block of Autumn at Hawk Run Hollow. I omitted a few things from the design. Ms. Barrick had a bunch of trees behind the house but to me they looked suspended in air. So I didn't put them in. I also changed the color of the horses eyes. They were yellow in the design and I changed them to a sable brown. Thanks for all of the great comments and stay tuned for Part 3 of Anniversary Vacation!