Day 81 – Indiana (by Caitlin)

 

Events of Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Today, while Daddy was out on his daily early morning walk, we all just naturally woke up on our own around eight ‘o’clock. After Daddy returned, we made up the beds and had breakfast, with blueberry yogurt for “dessert”! During breakfast, we discovered that we were all equally curious about the Amish and Mennonite people groups around us, and so we decided to make a visit to the Amish Visitor’s Center after exploring the Shipshewana Flea Market. Then we headed to the showers, on the way passing through one of the nicest-looking laundry facilities thus far. Mom was almost dying to do laundry there, it was so nice! After relaxing in the cleansing showers, we realized that the day was speeding by (it was already almost ten) and we hadn’t even done anything yet!

So this morning, we explored Shipshewana, Indiana, fondly referred to by locals as “Shipshe”. Shipshewana is perhaps most famous for its Miscellaneous and Antique Auction, held every Wednesday throughout the year, along with flea markets on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, as well as the Friday horse auction. Shipshewana is the only Indiana site listed in 1,000 Places to See Before You Die. And we were there. So now we can check that off our bucket list!

As we pulled into the parking lot for the flea market, we saw a horse and buggy parked right next to a modern-day vehicle, quite an unusual sight. After spending at least fifteen minutes parking our mammoth vehicle, we walked in to what I have been informed is THE BIGGEST flea market in the Midwest. Though we had dutifully agreed not to buy anything, we disobeyed ourselves before we were within ten feet of the gate. We then walked to the far corner of the market and proceeded to explore the wonders of the flea market in an organized manner. Arranged in thirty rows, the flea market consisted of over a thousand shops of goods to be explored. Just a sampling of the many treasures we discovered are antiques and collectibles, watches and clocks, arts and crafts, tools and hardware, books and education, spices and herbs, flags and windsocks, perfume and cologne, health and beauty…needless to say, we were a bit overwhelmed.

Mom loved the engraved stone which read, “RING DOORBELL. IF NO ANSWER, PULL WEEDS”! I was fascinated by a map of the United States (excluding Alaska and Hawaii) made entirely out of old license plates. Lindsey really liked the pineapple sunglasses (Aunt Lori, our pineapple-lover, has inspired us to take up a love for the tropical fruits). Also we enjoyed some metallic chicken lawn adornments, and Abby was delighted by the windsocks and flags and such, especially the bicycling Santa, bicycling snowman, bicycling frog and bicycling parrot. We also saw lots of spinning hanging decorations that caught the light and just glowed, as well as multitudes of socks and colorful bras and other delicate under-things.

You can view some of our finds in our pictures (but give us a few days to edit and post them please). Compared to Galt Flea Market, the only other flea market I’ve ever been to in my life, there was a lot less of the knock-off cheaper versions of popular stuff and a lot more of the beautiful and fantastic craftsmanship and woodwork of the Amish and the Mennonites.

Also throughout the flea market were quite a few stands devoted solely to accessories for dogs. Items for purchase here included dog carriers, dog strollers, dog clothes (with matching outfits for the owners), dog hats, and a whole bunch of doggy treat vendors. Even the Amish got on board this almost embarrassing obsession by building wooden dog bowl holders so that bigger dogs didn’t have to bend down all the way for their lunch.

Speaking of lunch, when we passed an Amish fried pies stand, we realized that we were starving, and so returned and bought four different flavors of fried pies (blueberry, apple, cherry, and blackberry), and then continued on our merry way down the informal “fresh produce section”, sampling as we went. Then we weren’t so hungry anymore, but we went back to Harvey anyway and enjoyed a delicious lunch, topped off by those amazing fried pies.

After we had partaken of our lunch, we returned to the flea market to see more. A highlight of the return trip was the goose clothing shop. This shop was entirely dedicated to the dresses of a decorative goose statue. Here were dresses and costumes of all designs useful for nothing but decorating a goose. We all found it quite amusing. Also, we found a gorgeous funky red hat and matching scarf, which I modeled for my family. Then Lindsey tried on a warm winter hat with a built-in Mohawk, and Ben tried on a brightly colored one of the same style. Abby looked stunning in her little brown hat. Then we went across the way and tried on colorful wigs, but a sign told us not to take pictures. So Daddy crossed the aisle and took pictures from a hidden location because it was a once-in-a-lifetime dress-up game. We will probably never find such colorful wigs again! And Ben made such a beautiful girl, too…

Then we found diabetic socks (hmmm…) and soap with samples marked “SOAP. DO NOT EAT.” Just outside this shop was a pole with a sign that read: “SPEED LIMIT SLOW”.

As we continued, we found ourselves once again beside the fried pies stand – is it true that good food is magnetic? This time, we got to see the Amish making the fried pies.  We watched as an Amish worker rolled out some dough, cut it into circles, filled a circle of dough with berry filling, and then folded it in a mold. Then she passed the pie-in-progress to her husband, who fried it and then placed it on the cooling rack, where it waited its turn to be dipped into their special glaze recipe by the couple’s daughter. The whole process was absolutely fascinating. We then stopped at the homemade ice cream stand, also run by an Amish family. They have hooked up a giant wooden ice cream bucket to a motor that looked like the crankshaft of a tractor. There we got two ice creams, one peach-flavored and one vanilla-flavored. After delightedly devouring our desserts, we danced all the way back again through the produce section to Harvey.

After spending another ten minutes getting out of the parking lot, we drove across the street to the Menno-Hof Mennonite-Amish Visitors’ Center to answer some of our questions about the faith of the Anabaptists. Our experience began with multi-projector introduction to the Anabaptists (Mennonites, Amish and Hutterites). In the Pre-Reformation area, we watched an overview of church history from the time of Christ to the 16th-century Reformation. Then we stepped into the sixteenth century courtyard where Anabaptism began, in Zurich, Switzerland in 1525. After that exhibit, we explored a sixteenth century dungeon where early Anabaptists were imprisoned, tortured, and executed because of their call for a church free from state control. Then it was onboard a 17th-century ship on a journey to America and to freedom. In the next exhibit, we learned about the roles Mennonites and Amish play in modern-day Indiana. A highlight in this large section of the visitor’s center was the video exhibit entitled “A People of Humor”, in which two Mennonites told their favorite stories of Anabaptists facing conflict with a sense of purpose and a sense of humor. Their stories were inspirational, heartwarming, hilarious, and altogether wonderful.

After completing all the other exhibits, we were admitted to see and feel the destructive force of nature in the Tornado Theater. There the wind blew and the thunder crashed and the bench and floor rattled enough to scare Abby. Though we experienced the destructive power of a tornado, we also were shown the constructive powers of Mennonite and Amish crews whose commitment to serving others plunges them into cleanup efforts following storms, fires and floods. Next, we reflected in the calm of the meeting house, taking a look at the quiet faith that sustains a people of peace.

Our tour ended in the Amish Room, where we experienced the simplicity and spirituality of Amish culture and religion. In this replica of an Amish home, we dressed like the Amish, listened to a typical Amish dinner conversation, and admired ordinary Amish household objects. The whole experience was very well done.

In the gift shop, we entertained ourselves with wooden marble games that were kind of like checkers. Then, when we left through a side door, we saw a quilt garden, a lovely flower bed, in which the flowers were arranged in rows, and different colors were concentrated into the complex, but beautiful rows and designs of a handmade quilt.

As we loaded back up into Harvey, we saw a horse and buggy in the gas station across the street. THAT’S definitely not something we Californians see every day. Now the question in our minds was what is a horse and buggy doing at the gas station? It was then that my family first noticed the burning red sunburn on the back of my neck, with a white line where my coral necklace had been. Now they won’t stop calling me redneck, striped neck and other such derogatory terms.

Then we drove out and towards our destination for the night, stopping to eat dinner in the parking lot of the Plymouth Wesleyan Church, overlooking a nice little pond which was reflecting the sunset. It wasn’t very good for our eyes, but it was beautiful nonetheless. We took pictures of the pond and the Canadian geese. We got a little lost trying to get out of there, but as we got ready for bed, made our beds, and then went to sleep, Daddy drove us on through the dark to another night of boondocking in a Walmart parking lot.