Lititz, Pennsylvania

Lancaster County, PA for a taste of countryside. When I say taste, I mean we had some excellent food such as Tomato Pie (at Tomato Pie Cafe in Lititz), great breakfasts (see chocolate bacon pix), pretzels and so on. Truly a wonderful area to visit.

Our Airbnb hosts had converted an old chapel into a home and Airbnb stop and shared stories of their conversion from a chapel with outhouse into an open feeling home with repurposed stone floor and fireplace, as well as stained glass windows. They did most of the work themselves, in between their work as church leadership trainers in places like China and a daughter in Botswana (other grown kids as well).

Other stops included the Green Dragon farmers market (very big), a trip to Intercourse PA to see some miniature horses, and of course covered bridges. This area has a tremendous amount of religion, including numerous Mennonite, Methodist, Lutheran and unaffiliated churches, even more than South Carolina with the many Baptist churches. The Amish don't have formal church buildings; their farms are lovely, the children are adorable and watching them plow the fields with their mules makes me realize what hard work it is.Read more