July 4th, Amish Country and The Farm (Part 1)

Karen and I enjoyed a mini-vacation" today. We left the house this morning headed for Charm which is in Holmes County, the heart of Ohio's Amish community, and thought we'd start the day at Miller's Bakery which has the gooiest, biggest, and fattest home-baked donuts this side of Heaven. But the bakery was closed for July 4th. We then thought we'd try Carpenter's Cafe inside Keim Lumber (also in Charm) but it was closed, too. So we settled for breakfast at Grandma's Homestead Restaurant. Not a bad compromise.

After breakfast we walked across the street to Charm Boot & Harness shop. If you're tired of shopping at Wal-Mart and want a GOOD pair of boots (work, casual, dress, western, sport, safety) this is THE place to go. Trust me, the Amish know their boots. The variety is somewhat mind boggling.

And for all those ladies out there who are wondering if we stopped at the Pottery Niche (also in Charm) to browse some Polish Pottery...well no, we did not! That'll be a different trip.

So, there we were in Charm (and I've pretty much listed every building IN Charm) so we headed up Holmes County 70 and decided to check out The Farm just outside of Charm which didn't cause any harm (all of a sudden I feel like I'm in The Princess Bride making rhymes...)

Okay...this is IT. You have got to go to The Farm! I'm serious. We had a blast petting zebras and feeding giraffes, ostrich, buffalo, crazy Highlander cattle and Rambo the Elk while riding on Noah's Wagon, as opposed to his Ark, all right there in between the Amish barns and buggies!

Here are some pictures!

A Red Kangaroo from The Farm's walk-through zoo.

Here's Noah.

Here's Noah's wagon.

Zebra

Rambo the Elk.

Karen feeds a buffalo.

Karen feeds a Highlander cow.

Karen feeds a giraffe IN OHIO!

What fun way to spend the afternoon. Noah was a great host and knew a lot about all the animals. Go figure!

Thank you for making it possible for us to have some fun while we serve Christ with MMS Aviation. May God richly bless you as He continues to richly bless us!