Shipshewana, Indiana.....

This post is fairly long because I want to finish off most of our trip photos.  We spent two days in Shipshewana, Indiana which is Amish/Mennonite county.  This little town is very touristy and is known for the large flea markets that take place on Tuesdays and Wednesdays in the summer months.  We were not there on those days.  Lots of quilts everywhere to look at and buy, if you have the money.  Lots of everything to look at and buy!  A fun place to just wander around.

Coming into town we followed many Amish buggies.

Horses everywhere.  Every farm had fields of horses.  Lovely!  They seem to favor the dark colored horses.  I don't know horses, so I don't know why.

This was at a restaurant we stopped at one night. 

I liked these horses with their big feet.

Working in the fields.

The town itself is all shops full of all sorts of interesting stuff to look at and buy.

I spent most of my time in just this one place...Davis Mercantile....which has multiple stores inside plus restaurants.  There is a huge tree trunk running up the center of the stairwell area for all three floors.  I noticed the Amish men studying it.  Must have been interesting to watch them build the place.

A quilter's dream......better known as Lolly's.  This was one of the biggest fabric stores I have ever been in.  Just a wonderful place!  I later found out they had a bargain store in the basement....after I spent my money upstairs.  I should have taken a photo of the rowboat filled with fat quarters and a bench on each side.  I sat there for quite awhile digging through the fat quarters and selecting a bunch.

Besides all the fabric there are always neat quilts on the walls to look at in quilt stores.

How do you even start to make a choice when there is so much to choose from????  I did manage to buy "a little" bit of fabric while I was there :-)

One of the horses that gives rides through the town and countryside.  We didn't take a carriage ride, but I asked the man if I could photograph his horse.  It is frustrating that the Amish don't like to have their photos taken.  I have one photo of a young man driving a cart pulled by two miniature horses with two more horses riding in the cart :-)  If I had a way to block his face, I would have posted it.  I tried not to get the people in my photos, but it is hard.

A huge nutcracker outside the puzzle store.  Reminded me of the huge beefeater bear at Hamley's in London.

This was a rack of all train puzzles.  I love jigsaw puzzles, but didn't buy any. (however I think my sister might have bought me one for Christmas)

A view outside a store.  I was taking a rest on a bench and just watching people and things.

Outside the Lang store......just showing all the "stuff".

A wall of goodies.

I loved the sculptures of children that this store had.

Wouldn't that be a wonderful fountain/bird bath to have in your garden?

Clocks! 

Inside the Lang store they had walls full of quilts on display and racks of small ones for sell.  Lang makes wonderful calendars and Christmas cards and such that I'm sure many of you have seen.  They were restocking from behind the quilts.

The landscaping in the town is beautiful and everything clean and well kept up.

This was in front of a restaurant where we ate a couple of times.  Good home cooking, too.

The Menno-Hof center where you can go to see a film about the Mennonites and Amish.

I was interested in the floral quilt squares they had in the yard.  This one had a viewing stand you could take a photo from.  I was wondering if there was going to be a different color flowers in the cross part....maybe not.  Seemed a bit incomplete.

I like a corner shot better :-)

Another floral quilt square planted on a slight rise.  I'm kind of short for getting a good shot, but it looked lovely.  That's just a bit of Shipshewana.....a very interesting place to go!  It wasn't too crowded while we were there, but I bet on the flea market days that it is packed.  This is where the Hudson Museum is that Mike featured in his blog, also.  Mike spent his time looking at beautiful cars while my sister and I looked at "stuff"!