A visit to Amish Country makes for a great lesson

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Amy and Aaron Galvin
ChiTown Parent

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Remember that Weird Al Yankovic song "Amish Paradise?" Well on a recent road trip to Cleveland to visit Aaron's family for the weekend, we took a pit stop in Shipshewana, the heart of northern Indiana Amish country.

When we saw big globs of horse poop along the side of the road, we knew we weren't in the city anymore.

We were on the hunt for a new kitchen table and we'd heard all the stories about the craftsmanship and value of Amish furniture. We hadn't planned the stop over, but merely noticed the road signs and decided to take advantage of our global positioning.

So we took the exit off the highway towards Shipshewana. Then we drove, and drove and drove for another 30 minutes, because, man, rural Indiana is really, well, rural.

But it was fun to point out the farms and various farm animals to Mia. She's just starting to learn all about cows, sheep, pigs and horses and this was an amazing teaching opportunity. And she got a lesson about horses in a big way.

Once we decided upon the many Amish furniture stores to choose from, we got out of the car to stretch our legs and eat our lunch. It was fairly warm out, so we picnicked on a bench in front of the store next to a horse farm. We told Mia all about the horses.

Then the real treat happened. Of course Amish people don't drive cars, instead they ride in a horse and buggy. Well, carriage after carriage came trotting by and every time one passed, Mia would jump up and down and yell "HORSE!"

We didn't purchase a table that day, but we sure came away with a memory we'll never forget.

Amy and Aaron Galvin live together, run a business together and raise their daughter, Mia, together in River North. Amy also blogs at secondcitymommy.com.

See more of Amy and Aaron's stories here.