A fun day out with Kelly!

Friday morning I left my house at 6:45am and headed to Cabela’s plaza in West Virginia.  I connected up with my daughter Kelly at 8:15, and we jumped on I-70 and headed west.  To Ohio.  To Amish country and a fun day out together!  The drive up was comfortable and easy.  Very little traffic and beautiful countryside. 

The sun was shining when we pulled into our parking spot in Berlin, and left the car tucked there for the day as we walked from one end of town to the other. Our first stop was a craft/garden shop, and I made friends with a huge horse statue out front.   I could probably have spent an entire paycheck in the store; lawn ornaments, plants, decor, benches, lighting – garden heaven!  We browsed around from store to shop to strip-mall for several hours, until we came to a little hot pretzel shop.  That was lunch!  And let me tell you, that pretzel was warm and salty and buttery and so yum!  Thankfully our entire agenda was walking, because we really needed to walk that off! 

At the end of town was a huge complex called Sol’s, and there was everything in that store that you can imagine.  There were displays of everything from clothing and jewelry to fake pigs, kitchen gadgets, and specialty coffees!  I especially liked going in a huge Victorian craft store, which offered — more of the same!  Somehow, though, the displays in the Victorian setting were so appealing.  There was even a huge claw-foot tub filled with Styrofoam peanuts that looked like a bubble bath!  One of my favorite displays was in a little craft mall situated on the highway heading out of town.  There were about a dozen square, galvanized wash tubs filled with potpourri.  We of course had to sniff them all.  Not even sure I could pick a favorite, but Cinnamon Bun and Vanilla were at the top. 

At the end of the day, we drove over to the Dutch Valley Family Restaurant and had a delicious meal there.  We both had the buffet.  We timed that perfectly, as we walked right in when we arrived, but the line was out the door and down the porch when we left! 

In that same little complex, in addition to a huge upscale hotel, were several shops, a theatre, and a little kid-sized village with the cutest houses ever!  Kelly and I went in several of them, but my favorite was the dark blue Victorian.  There were even steps inside, with a perfect sleeping loft, and little windows with screens that actually opened and shut!  Perfect tiny house!

We headed back home about 6:30pm, and I arrived tired but happy to Wren Drive at a little after 9pm.  A long but perfectly wonderful day, and a great big loving THANK YOU to my daughter for sharing her precious time with me!  Let’s do that again!