No Amish Mafia Here

Back on the grid... When a sister weekend starts with a beer can tree, ends with weed-smokin' Willie and has a detour to Iowa in between, you know it's gotta be good.

I'm too exhausted to go into all the details (those I can share, ha) in one blog, but in a nutshell, we stayed in Amish country in Lanesboro, Minnesota, which is the southeastern corner. Yesterday I left Minnesota, crossed half of Wisconsin to get to Rapids, change clothes and grab hubby, and we crossed the other half of the state to cap off the weekend with a Willie Nelson-Merle Haggard concert in Green Bay.

Now you see why I'm exhausted?

Let's just focus on the Amish for today...

First the two views above are from the Cozy Quilt Cottage where we stayed. It was very dry and dusty because they hadn't had rain in the area for a month.

During our first trip into town to get ice and milk, I noticed this beer-can Christmas tree on the side of the road. Is this Amish country or hillbilly country? You decide.

And yes, you can see by the ornament there that it is indeed a Christmas tree! You also can see by the haze that it takes a long time for the dust to settle on dirt roads.

On Friday afternoon we took our 3-hour tour from Bluffscape Amish Tours. Yes, a 3-hour tour like Gilligan's Island... no phones, no lights, no motorcars... not a single luxury.

It was dreary, rainy day, so not much in the way of photos. We can't take pictures of Amish people's faces anyway. Still, it would have been nice to walk around a bit, rather than running from the tour bus to the shops, trying to stay dry.

Learned a lot about the Amish. The large population in southeastern Minnesota are mainly from the Old Order. No Amish mafia here. We visited four families and saw a variety of their crafts, from quilts and woodworking to hand-woven baskets and cashew crunch (I mean baked goods!).

Caught a buggy leaving the yard as we entered this particular place that I must say had the largest and most scrumptious selection of homemade treats! Had a caramel-apple-cheesecake bar of some sort for "lunch" and stocked up on some cashew crunch.

This farm had a variety of gorgeous handcrafted furniture. I would love to sit on that swing all day! The guy could make some darn good cashew crunch, too!

Gotta big kick out of the stop sign, I mean WHOA sign, by the horses' hitching post!

At this farm, I was just snapping a photo of this swing when I heard my sister Renell exclaim from inside the bus, "Where are my cinnamon rolls?" She had purchased them from the previous farm and they were there when we went into the shop at this one, but now were gone. The bus door had been left open but we were pretty sure no Amish would steal from us.

Well, after much investigation, I found the paper plate and plastic wrap on the ground. And Renell found the guilty-looking farm dog not far away! Now Amish dogs -- used to horses only -- would never jump on a bus. Apparently, this hungry dog was new on the farm but had previously been owned by the "English." That is why it had no qualms about jumping into a vehicle.

Learn something new every day.

Here a buggy is parked downtown while the owners sell at the Saturday farmers' market in Lanesboro. They hitch their horses elsewhere to eat while they sell their wares. Could not get close enough to the horses for a picture. They are pretty big workhorses and I didn't need to startle one!

This field of corn stocks really gives you an idea how much physical labor the Amish do. They look neat, too.

They do actually have an Amish Byway, constructed wide enough for a buggy lane on each side. Pretty sure that makes all the travelers along there much safer.

We met Amish of all ages. Kids were adorable and hardworking. And the adults selling to us sure had character. The one woman selling quilts has 73 grandchildren. When asked if she remembers all their names, she replied, "Yes, but I can't remember all their birthday anymore." Wow. And I thought our family was big!

I was almost jealous of their large homes (I can see why they NEED them), but then I see the windmill and am reminded I probably wouldn't get enough juice to charge my phone!

Bless them for making it work.