Classic Amishland

I realized when I scrolled through the recent pictures for the young Mennonite girls in the story I detail below that I have few pictures from right here in Amishland. My camera went with me to work today. I snapped some pictures as seen below.

My first job this morning was for a nice widower that lived in a cool small house with a spectacular view of 'classic Amishland.' As I went about correcting his problem and up-grading him to HD service on his 52-inch flatscreen; I asked him if I could take some pictures of his classic view. He smiled and said, 'You're the third guy that came over here to service something that asked me that.' He happily obliged.

He asked if my camera had a zoom as I snapped the first few shots. I said, 'yes.'
He pointed and said, 'The one farmer down there has a sense-of-humor; you see the 'smiling barn?'' I zoomed in that area, sure enough! Click to enlarge the fourth picture of the country-side; you will see it, too.

Later in the day I had a 'trouble-ticket' scheduled between 1-3PM. It was in a unique community. The strict local zoning laws were relaxed to allow for a 'mixed-use' community. It is fashioned to be a 'Bavarian' village. The structures have commercial space on the first floors; residential space above. The shops are an eclectic mix. The concept is cool; as you can see.

The pedestrian streets were quiet as it was not a Sunday. The clock-tower visible through the tower-gate arch is at the entryway of a huge antique market. For some reason, the market is only open on Sunday. The antique market is connected to a nationally-renowned micro-brewery. The micro-brewery is connected to a good restaurant. I'm sure it gets a fair amount of traffic on the weekends. The planned community is still in development. It is probably one of those local 'gems' most tourists never see.