Exploring Big Valley

At the entrance to Big Valley - he was huge!

This weekend M. and I slipped away to the mountains for a few days while my sister held down the fort for Mom here at home. We’d been planning this get-away for awhile actually – we wanted to attend the Maple Festival again this year. The festival being Saturday and Sunday, we had Friday free for other things.

We spent it roaming around Big Valley – a beautiful valley about an hour from our cabin that’s tucked in between rolling, snow-sprinkled mountains and filled with Amish farms. Amid the snowflakes we drove, enjoying the beauty that surrounded us. We were delighted to see yellow-topped buggies in place of the charcoal-colored ones that we’re used to seeing in our neck of the woods. There were also white-topped ones with a blue kerosene lantern swinging from each side! Along the way, we stopped to peruse an Amish-owned dry goods store set in the middle of a field and then attended another mud sale at the local firehouse.

We browsed through the auction tents, looking at the wares and had an Amish Wedding Dinner in the firehall to benefit the community. The kitchen was a colorful sight of Amish ladies in blue and green and purple, washing dishes, tending children and keeping the big roasting pans filled. The tables groaned with food, and I tried a little bit of nearly everything. There was chicken mixed in with stuffing; mashed potatoes with gravy; cheesy noodles; sweet, stewed celery; baked beans with bacon, onion and green beans; pepper slaw; cooked apples; vanilla pudding; raspberry coffeecake; strawberry pie and chocolate shoo-fly pie. Those tables weren’t the only thing groaning that evening!