Ever since we have been at the Evergreen RV park, we have driven past a nice looking little restaurant located just yards down the road. It never looked open so we sped past it day after day after day. It is called The Bucket of Mt. Eaton Restaurant. Finally, weary of Bob Evans, we decided to stop and see for ourselves what this barren restaurant was all about. Surprise! It was open for business and we were ready for breakfast. The atrium was overwhelming. It has an enormous antler chandelier hanging above us. We waited to be seated even though all but two tables were vacant. That’s always scary: no cars; no people = bad place and bad food. We felt daring, though. It was run by Mennonites. The menu included all meals. Good choices; good prices. Our breakfast was perfect. What had we been missing? Never judge a book by its cover!
We had thumbed through all the tourist brochures like reading Charlottes Web. Lehman’s Hardware Store stood out in the ads: colorful. Sam said ” Who wants to go to an old hardware store?” even though Harbor Freight is one of his most favorite places!! Instead of devouring
Lulu poses on Griststone
his Lorna Doones, he had to eat crow once inside this jinormous hardware store. It had to be at least 6 pole barns big if not even bigger. It sold everything you could ever imagine in this highly decorated arena. Sam was in awe…..and thrilled to be here, surrounded by tons of antiques as well as the million items for sale. Lulu was just as excited. We traveled through this Mecca like we were on a hike to Mt.Everest. You could actually get lost here…thank heavens for cell phones. Hey, what is this that Sandy found? OMG…..it’s the same cast iron skillet she just bought yesterday …. costing more than $10.00 less at this dreamland! Ouch! That hurts. What to do? The obvious……return the expensive one and buy the same cheaper one. She wasn’t 100% sure she had the receipt …maybe threw it out in this mornings trash. Only way to know was to return to the RV. Rats….not in the RV. Brave and determined she did a little dumpster diving. Worth the shame and effort. She found her garbage bag with the receipt in it. Pan in hand, plus the receipt, we headed back to Walnut Creek where the
Floors covered with sale items and antiques
big Amish store was (it had the straw horse and cart out front). Lulu found a couple more photo points to show off her beauty. Everything went smoothly. Back to the mega Lehman’s Hardware store to buy the exact skillet but at a reasonable price this time. Smooth transaction. We can hardly wait for this delicious apple pie to be made….drool.
Somewhere along the way, we visited Shearer’s Potato Chip Factory. Maybe it was later this day. It is a blur now….so many great places we visited. ANYWAY (as Sam says)… we tasted multiple variations of chips. They had reduced fat chips so we didn’t have to leave with greasy lips….except for Lulu: she pigged out on the greasiest ones…just to make her lips shine. What a diva! We had hoped for a tour but they didn’t offer any. Cory loves, ALOT, his Ruffle potato chips so he was delighted to be here…but none compared to Ruffles according to his sensitive taste buds. We did buy 3 bags of chips to go with two others we bought at the fancy Amish grocery store we visited back where the RV park is located. Chips anyone? Wonder if they can be
Tool storage
After room
frozen?
Another stopping station was at Sol’s of Berlin. No idea what day we went here. ANYWAY…it was another huge craft and gift shop. This is where Lulu found a friend wearing glasses. Not wanting to look out of place, she donned her glasses. Snappy! Homemade ice cream was sold outside at a small stand. No way could I pass up this treat. I had just vanilla but it was to die for…..real homemade ice cream. Oooooooo.
Day is almost done and the sun is heading to its resting place. Where to eat? What about The Bucket restaurant, again? Sure! They had offered 50% off all their various hamburgers. Perfect…..all the potato chips had already started the filling up process. Plus I had savored the wonderful, home made ice cream. Ooooooooo. I had a mushroom & Swiss burger with homemade French fries. Yummmm. It was an enormous burger. Probably could have eaten just half but it was too good to leave a scrap. What had we been missing. Better late than never.
I posted a picture of the Amish buggy golf carts available to rent at our RV park. We weren’t at the park long enough to
Sam & Cory at the tool wall
do this…rats! We are sending a cart to Jon Gibson with a request that he sell his fancy classic car and use this golf cart instead. His car is so noisy so this will be a pleasant change. Hope he is as excited about this as much as we are. He can still be in cruise night at Old Town…..just needs to wear an Amish hat when driving his special Amish golf cart. Go for it, Jon.
We packed up the RV for tomorrow’s departure. Cory hooked up the car so we were all set. Our special time with our dear friends was winding down. Thank you for creating this plan and sticking with it. We had a great time! How do we find so much to talk about? How did this time together pass so quickly? What will we plan for next year? What is on our Florida bucket list? All these questions!! Fortunately we have just four months before we join hands again and start “a plan” ……and we will stick with it!
Wednesday morning arrived. A beautiful day. Every day was perfect except for rainy Saturday. Time to say good- bye to Sam & Sandy
as well as all of you. It’s been a great ride and we are so glad we did it all together. We’ll miss you but these 4 months will fly by because we have so much waiting for us …..friends to welcome, things to do, places to go, so much to see. Stay close and in touch and we’ll be seeing you all soon. Toot-a-loo.