Time away. (At last!)

Hi all! You see, we do still exist!

A couple of weeks ago, we went on a well deserved vacation. (at last!) It was only 4 days away but nice at any rate.  We spent 2 days with friends in Columbus, Ohio and then went up to, what is known as, "Amish Country" which is Holmes County, Ohio.  In specific, we went to Millersburg and Berlin Ohio.  In brief, we ate homemade ice cream, sampled artisan cheeses and baked goods, and ate a bona fide Amish breakfast of hotcakes and bacon.

Highlights:

Hotel Millersburg:

Hotel exterior

This hotel was built in 1847 and has been updated for modern convenience.  Each room has a private bath, and A/C.  There is also an elevator for those who can't navigate the stairs to the upper levels.  The cost of staying there was only $65 for a queen-sized bed for one night! Wowza!

Interior hallway

There is also a Tavern/restaurant on the ground floor.  (The food was only so-so.)  Our room was fairly comfortable and quite adequate, especially for the price.  I'd love to give this hotel a 5-star rating but sadly cannot.  The bedding was spotless and I had no qualms sleeping on it.  The bath was also quite clean but the tub didn't drain well, the shower head was corroded, and the toilet didn't flush properly!  Also, the room was dusty as if somebody just vacuumed in the center of the room but left off the edges.  The top of the headboard was quite dusty as well.  The carpet was stained near the door which made the entire floor seem doubtful.  I found a comment card to fill out but there was no pen in the room!  I took the card to the (unattended) front desk, filled it out there and left it for the manager.  We won't be repeat customers.  Sad, that.

We also went to Heini's Cheese Chalet!  So cool!

Heini's Cheese Chalet

They give tours of the factory but weren't making cheese the day we were there. The milk used to make the cheese is from pasture fed, drugless, hand milked Amish cows.  (no, the cows don't wear bonnets... I checked.)  We bought cheese and meat and some old-fashioned glass-bottled drinks. (ginger beer & sassafrass soda)  That was the high-point of our visit to "Amish Country."

We also went to Wooster, Ohio which is just south of Cleveland, Ohio.  Wooster is a very nice town to visit.  It's a college town so it offers many eating establishments, antique shops, interesting specialty shops, some galleries and a very nice wine shop.  We also had frozen yogurt which is always a high-point for me!

We spent the remainder of the week working around the estate and finally making inroads into all of the stored-up work around here.

So... that's us, all caught up.

How's your summer going?  Quickly?  Yeah, ours too!

*Bless*

~S