| 08/06/10, 06/13/20 |
| Penn-Dutch and Plants on Terrace - Page BBB |
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On July 31, 2010, Maria (sister), Elton (friend) and I visited Lancaster, PA. The name of the tour was Amish V.I.P (Visit-in-Person). We had lunch at Plain and Fancy, then headed to the Riehl's farm. There, an Amish man talked about the Amish way of life then answered our questions. We visited an Amish dairy farm where the farmer explained how cows are milked, how the milk is stored, etc. After the farm, we went back to Plain and Fancy where a retired school teacher explained to us how the Amish are taught in a one-room school house. The tour was very interesting. The tour was with L & M. Not too many photos taken. |
| Riehl's Farm |
| Why discard your old sneakers when you can convert them into planters? |
| The dairy farmer's buggies |
Cows waiting to be milked. They are milked twice a day! |
A calf |
| The beautiful farms |
| Replica of a one room school. The desks were of all sizes. The first ones were very small, which would be for the younger students. |
Some of the plants on my terrace. |
| Pentas |
| Lantana Flowers start off as small pink "diamonds" Flowers begin as yellow, turn to orange, and then red. |
Coleus. In Memory of Ma. She had Coleus of many varieties! |
| A cactus with new shoots |
| Pimento plants |
| Sample Report Card |
And yet ANOTHER trip to Penn-Dutch. This time, I went alone with a new tour company. Great Escapes tours, part of World Wide Tours, was mentioned to me on an L & M tour but only came across it on August 19th. Some are saying that Great Escapes is Crosby (formerly Biss) with a new name. Tour guide denied it. Great Escapes visited the same places other tour companies visit but it did not feel as rushed. We left Kitchen Kettle at 5 p.m., not 4. To make the trip run smoothly everyone was given the Tour Director's company cell phone number, something never done on Biss, Crosby, or L&M. This, I think, avoids leaving people behind! |
| A one-room school |
| A farm, from bus window as we toured the country side. |
| Bench at Bird-In-Hand Bakery. Too hot and humid to sit on the bench. |
| A farm on opposite side of Bird-In-Hand bakery. |
| View of Eli's store, house and farm from across the street. |
| Farm adjacent to Eli's |
| Tobacco being harvested. |
| Corn, soon to be harvested. Mostly used to feed cattle. |
| Another view of the same farm. |
| Koi pond, Kitchen Kettle |
| Sun being hidden by clouds as we left Lancaster. |
| Plants on my terrace! |
| Pink Pentas |
| Bell Peppers (Pimentos, pimientos) |
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07/4/2011, Update - Earlier this year (March) Wide World Tours had a very bad accident in the Bronx (I-95). Something like 15 passengers died. Problems were noted with the driver and the company. Great Escapes removed its link from World Wide Tours. When I contacted Great Escapes via email the response said they were preparing a brochure for upcoming one day tours and requested I send them my address. I sent it to them but no brochure to date. Based on their website it appears they no longer do one day tours and now appear to do only charter tours. More accidents occurred with other companies after this one with Wide World Tours. It appears these bus companies were operating (many from Chinatown in Manhattan) with very little monitoring by government officials. After the accident many politicians began saying these companies needed to be regulated. And why weren't there regulations already in place? 05/03/2013, Update - Great Escapes never began operations again and the black World Wide Tours buses disappeared. In December 2012, the driver of the World Wide Tours' bus in the March 2011 accident was found not guilty of manslaughter. |
| E L T O N |
| MA A R I A |
| J O R G E |
| Group Photo - Taken at Plain and Fancy |
06/13/2020, Update - And in March 2020, the Coronavirus (COVID-19) put a stop to almost everything. New York State was placed on "PAUSE", per Governor Cuomo. L&M ceased operations. No idea when they will begin offering tours again. And no one, at this time, knows what restrictions will be imposed on such operators. Will social distancing be expected on the buses? Will masks continue to be mandated? Will any restrictions imposed be beneficial to L&M? Could the restrictions limit their profits? Time will tell. |