Moose Quest 2008

I spent a few minutes trying to remember if this is Moose Quest 3 or 4. Rather than spend much time or brain energy figuring that out, I opted for Moose Quest 2008 as the title of this post.

We left on Friday headed for the camp to drop off Jeff, Jennifer and Julie. Normally we leave on Saturday. However, Jeff came home with some congestion and Nan felt that she didn't want him around her mom who has been rather sick of late. Leaving earlier this year meant breaking up the nearly 15 hour drive. That has been really nice.

On Saturday we drove through Gettysburg, Pa and briefly saw the battlefields. It is interesting to see the place you hear so much about when studying the history of this country. From Gettysburg we drove through the Amish areas of Pennsylvania and ate at the Good and Plenty restaurant. Be sure to take Plenty of Good hard cash if you want to eat there! The food was great. They seat you family style with about 10 people per table. There were 8 at ours. A bilingual woman with 3 friends from Columbia, South America ate with us. It seems our family is destined to be in bilingual situations witch is just fine with me except that those times continually point out my need to learn a second language. I don't know when this old dog will learn that new trick!

Of course the Amish have a reputation for leading a lifestyle free of modern conveniences such as electricity, automobiles, power tools, etc. They dress differently, mostly in black, white and blue. The men usually have straw hats and the women have their hair rolled up into little balls covered with some cloth. We saw two Amish men in their standard attire including straw hat using a gas powered weed eater! I guess they were liberals.

The Amish are quickly losing their lands and the countryside is a mixture of old, beautiful farms separated by new subdivisions and commercial enterprises. It is kind of a shame to see that lifestyle gradually being broken up and modernized. While the Amish and I would not agree on many point religiously, their devotion to family values and keeping a corrupting world at bay must be respected and appreciated. I'm sorry to see them gradually losing that battle.

We made it to camp yesterday and dropped off the kids. They were quite excited and before we left we had already slipped from the forefront of their minds as they met up with friends and starting catching up on old times. We were glad to leave them in such a great environment and start our own week of renewal.

As I write this it is Monday morning and we are in Albany, New York. As I thought briefly about those of you who would be reading, I had a glimpse of dad sitting at the computer reading with interest. He always enjoyed travelling with us through this blog and I wish he were still here to do that.

Perhaps I can post some pictures this evening. We don't have too many at this point anyway. Our next stop is upstate New York and much cooler weather. Perhaps a moose will share the scenery with us this year!