Day 4: Charm to Chillicothe

Great night’s sleep tonight! Being at the Inn is a like being pampered; soft sheets with a quality comforter and a mattress that feels like a cloud. Don't get me wrong, the other hotels have  been fine, but it's such a nice change to stay at a B&B.

The horses have to work this morning so unfortunately we won’t get to see them at all, but it was still more than worth it to spend the night here. There's some pictures of them in our room, so here's one to give you some idea of what it would be like.

Breakfast is served in the sunroom overlooking the duck pond and the pergola. There’s some kind of hash brown casserole with cheese and bacon on the hotplate and various delicious pastries. Yummy!

Yesterday’s Amish country experience was a bit disappointing, but we’re hoping to make up for that today by going to Yoder’s. We drive through Guggisberg village ... very weird.

Charm is supposed to have to highest concentration of buggy traffic of all of Holmes County and indeed we run into lots and lots of buggies on the way. How neat is that?! I think it helps too that the Inn was a bit off the beaten bath so you have to drive over tiny back roads to get back to "civilization".

When we get to Yoder’s we get the package deal so we can do all their attractions. There’s a tiny gray-striped kitty on the gravel before the gift shop. What a cutie pie! It loves attention and judging by the white paint on its coat it also loves to help out around the house. When we try to go into the gift shop the kitten runs inside with us so I have to scoop him up and drop him back off outside and he just relaxes in my arms. I honestly don’t know how I managed to leave there without getting him!

The first part is a tour of two real Amish houses. Our host is a young girl whose dad left the Amish, but still has close ties to the community so it’s great to hear all her stories.

We start in the vegetable garden, where glass jars are resting on the fence post where the sun helps sterilize them. You'd think it wouldn't get hot enough, but if you look closely you can see that the wooden posts are burnt underneath!

The Amish live very simple lives without electricity, cars or many other modern conveniences. Most of what they own is other homemade including the clothes and the finely crafted furniture.

The boys and the girls have their own bedrooms:

No one lives in the houses currently, but some of the Amish women come to bake in the kitchen during the daytime. At the end of the tour you can buy the cookies that they’ve baked today and boy are they tasty!

No picture of the Amish girl baking, because their religion does not allow pictures. Or faces on dolls for that matter ... a little bit creepy though if you're not used to it.

The next part is the big red farm tour, which really isn’t all that interesting, but you can pet all their animals so that of course I do like. There’s everything from tiny ponies (for the children to practice driving) to big Percherons to work the land, cows, goat, sheep, chickens and puppies.

Next up we get to go on a buggy ride around a track at the other end of the property. Our amicable Amish driver is quick to introduce Pearl, “the best horse here at Yoder’s” and tell us stories about horses and driving a buggy.  I couldn’t believe how smooth the ride was, or how quickly it was over! I would have loved to go for a ride on the road and listen to more of his stories.

There goes Pearl again!

We stop back at the gift shop for a quick stop, which ends up taking wayyyy too long so by the time we get into the car it’s already too late to make the horse drawn boat tour. Bummer, but we’re having a great time so we won’t dwell on that.

There's actually a hitching post at the local thrift store!

After a quick stop at an Amish tack store, the antique mall and a home accent store we pack our new purchases in the car and head towards Columbus through the rolling hills of central Ohio.

There’s a really cool science museum in Columbus that explains complicated scientific concepts in easy, hands-on ways, so children (and adults) can have fun while learning.

It’s already late when we get to COSI so we don’t have time to really explore, but that’s okay; I’m there for one reason only … to ride the world’s only public high wire unicycle!! Look at me go!

From Columbus we drive directly to Chillicothe where we have come to watch Tecumseh, an outdoor drama about the Indian presence in Ohio. The optional pre-show buffet is pretty bland, although the mashed potatoes and chicken gravy are super!

They won't let you take pictures of the show unfortunately and it's hard to put into words the awesomeness that is Tecumseh. How did a little city in the middle of Ohio get to be home to such an enormous production?! It has to be one of the most elaborate sets ever and best of all there was lots of horse action – they would actually canter right past the end of our row, all while riding bareback. At one point, one of the actors actually swam his horse across the river!! What an amazing experience!

Tired but happy we checked into the nearby Best Western.

Breakfast: Guggisberg Inn
Lunch: cookies at Yoder's
Dinner: Buffet at Tecumseh