To Amish Country, On A Mission

         Last February, with our 48th wedding anniversary rolling around, my mate Tom once again popped the question. This time, alas, I said no.
      The truth is, I was getting bored and tired of going to Amish Country. We'd gone there for most of our past ten anniversaries, and so this year when he asked if I wanted to go Amish country again,  I suggested that we just, I don't know, go out for dinner and a movie, or something. 

     As it turned out, we ended up not going anywhere for our 48th anniversary, as right around that time Tom came down with his first case of COVID.
       However, several month later I found myself with a hankering to revisit Amish Country after all. But not to see the sights. There were a couple of things I wanted, and the place from which I believed I could acquire these things was Berlin, Ohio, in the heart of Ohio Amish Country.

     The first of the things that I wanted was a big piece of oil cloth to put on my dining room table as a protective mat under the tablecloth. 
      The piece of oilcloth that had been protecting the tabletop for the past 45 years was getting a weence ragged. So I wanted a new piece, and in the past I'd seen long, wide rolls of oilcloth at the Berlin Fabrics store.
       I also wanted a few more vintage Tiffany Coca-Cola glasses.

       These glasses had caught my eye in an antiques store last year when we were in Berlin for our 47th anniversary. I bought four of them then - they were $4.50 each - and had been wishing ever since that I'd bought more. And they weren't available on Amazon. So I wanted to go back to the store where I'd found them last year in hopes that more of those glasses would still be there.
        And so on Friday, August 15, Tom and I returned to Amish Country, this time with a mission.  
         Columbus being a provincial capital surrounded  by farmland and small towns, soon after we picked up U.S. route 62 east we were driving through the scenic Ohio countryside.

     We drove for an hour and twenty minutes then stopped for lunch in Danville,

...at our favorite along-the-way eatery, The Hangout,

...where we split a a toasted veggie sub and an order of the hottest, crispiest, tastiest fries.

     We then travelled on for another 45 minutes,

...through the town of Millersburg,

...and on to Berlin,

...through which runs the main Ohio Amish Country commercial strip.

     In recent years a number of new chain hotels have popped up along the Berlin strip, one of them being the Comfort Suites Hotel, which was where we stayed.

     The place was quite nice,

...and crowded.
        It had been close to 20 years since the last time - which was also the first time - we were in Amish Country on a weekend - the weekend here being Friday and Saturday, as on Sunday the town of Berlin completely closes down - and so we had forgotten how crowded this locality gets on the weekend. The hotel parking lot was full of vehicles, ​

​...and I was amazed at how many of them had come from out of state - some from  far  out of state - to visit Ohio Amish Country.

       When dinner time rolled around we decided to walk a couple of blocks to the East of Chicago pizzeria.
​        Now, the Comfort Suites Hotel sits almost in the backyards of some of the local residents. I imagine the builders had to clear quite a few more houses in order to put up the hotel.

        While we were cutting through the alleyway between the hotel parking lot and the houses to get to the town's main street - which is called Main Street, - I wondered how folks felt living next door to a 117-room hotel parking lot,   

...though one of the residents apparently took advantage to spread the message to  passers-by.    

     Although except for a couple of restaurants, the town's commercial establishments were closed for the evening - Berlin, Ohio, shuts down at 5 pm, even on Friday,

...there are apparently concerts held in town every Friday night during the summer,

...and this one was quite well-attended.

     East of Chicago Pizza is, happily, one of the Berlin restaurants that's open on Friday night.

     We hadn't been to an East of Chicago since our last visit to Berlin last year, but, also happily, they still serve those to-die-for hot mini-cinnamon bows with the gooey, melty icing,

...which I can still eat my weight in.

        On our way back to the hotel we spied a splendid sunset above the horizon.

      As we continued back to the hotel, taking in the scenery along the way,

...I admitted to my mate that it really was nice here, and I was glad we made the trip.     Still, it was also nice to be here on a mission. 

      To be continued...