RELAXNCHIC: Taking The Seneric Route Through Amish Country to the Grocery Store

Do you want to putz around Amish Country with my daughter Syd and me? No, we're not driving this rusty old treasure of a car we spotted in Fredricksburg.

Tonight the men of the house went looking for deer. So Syd and I went looking for Amish and beautiful scenery. We needed a couple of...

essential grocery items. I suggested we take the scenic route to Rodhe's, the local grocery store.

It was a breezy evening, and as we rolled down our windows, we took a deep breath to draw in a whiff of the fresh-cut hay lying in the meadows and fields.

We admired these tall silos with the magnificent sunset in the background.

Syd wondered why all the little boys were wearing dark red shirts. I told her that's the Saturday color. NOT! She believed me, too. I have no idea why they are all wearing the same shade. I think it was the luck of the draw.

Busy Saltcreek Road was filled with Amish going to and fro.

The bright evening sun shone on these Amish boys playing ball by the windmill on the hill.

The creeks around Holmes County are still on the rise with all the rains we've had.

We ended up in Maysville so we decided to stop in at my still-Amish sister's homestead.

They live on the top of a hill. Her family of 11 built this farm from scratch this past year.

They have a beautiful, big new barn that we toured.

This barn looked spotless, and was all ready for them to host Amish church at their farm the next day.

She loved petting the horses' manes.

They had their open buggies parked in the back of the barn.

We made our way to sit on my sister's front porch

as we enjoyed the peaceful view of the valley of oat shocks and area farms.

As we made our way back to the van I snapped this picture of the Amish church bench wagon. It's used to transfer the benches from one homestead to the next as they take turns having church at their resident every two weeks.

John and the boys had all these benches placed and ready for church tomorrow. In the middle off this oasis of seats you will see some chairs. That's where the elderly folks will sit. I remember many endless hours on these hard and painful things;(

They are expecting a big crowd tomorrow. My sister had her gallons of red beets ready. My sister Katie Mae told me she ordered 45 lbs each of ham and cheese for the sandwiches.

As we left their house and headed toward the grocery store, we saw this old bridge with a stream and round roof barn in background.

The Amish lady was washing her buggy to get it ready for church in the morning.

Their gardens are spotless and picture-perfect right now. The unending rains this past couple of weeks have been great for the produce.

Here, a buggy was coming up the Rails-to-Trails that runs through Holmes County.

I do believe this is my all-time favorite picture of the night. An Amish family was biking in the town called Holmesville. This boy had his little brother on the back of his bike.

we were so lucky to have the old church in the background. All props to Syd on this one. You should see her expression after she gets the perfect shot. She is to cute, and I'm thinking the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.:)

Ironically, we then saw this husband and wife on a double-seat bike. It's rare to see either of these two types of Amish bikers.

I always lust over this cozy home.

This oldest sibling looked close to Syd's age. I'm sure she shoulders a lot of responsibility in her family.

I think they were all going to a neighborhood gathering. My guess is they had ice cream at this get-to-gather. The Amish love ice cream.

Maybe that's why my daughter LOVES ice cream too. She has yet to go a day without ice cream this summer! I had promised her all week that I'd take her to get a cone at the new Dairy Queen in Millersburg. She was a good sport on me making her wait to take the first lick, as I parked perfectly so this horse and buggy could be in the background for the priceless picture. She marveled at how perfect the cone looked as she let it melt in her mouth.