Sunday, October 28, 2012

Recent trip to Lancaster, PA

Well, of all the things not on my bucket list that I got to experience anyway, I woulda never have guessed that I'd passing an Amish horse-and-buggy on state and city roads.  Yet, there I was in Lancaster, PA, the heart of Amish Country. 

At Hersey Restaurant and Inn (no where near Hersey, PA)

I was in Lancaster, PA for a SolidWorks 2013 rollout event to show off the newest version of SolidWorks to our customers.  I don't normally talk about SolidWorks on this blog too much because it's a bit specific to my career, but this story would be incomplete without mentioning it.




SolidWorks 2013 rollout event

Fun in our downtime

On some roads in Amish Country, there are special lanes where trails of horse "exhaust" mark the way, showing clearly which lanes are for cars, and which are for carriages.  There was a lively conversation on a my Facebook posting about driving through Intercourse, PA.

Amish horse and buggy

A funny thing about the Lancaster area are the references to Dutch culture.  This is a bit odd since Dutch influence on Pennsylvania is a bit light.  There is a substantial German population in the Lancaster region who are sometimes referred to as Pennsylvania Dutch, but this is a misnomer that comes from the archaic term that refers to people from Germany.  They aren't Dutch we know from the Netherlands.  Even still, images of old fashion windmills are invoked.  Maybe I'm missing something here.

Another thing that impressed me about this region as its beauty.  I took no pictures to demonstrate this beauty, unfortunately.  Rolling hills of farms and trees and rustic buildings meld together like a series of landscape paintings I've only seen in books.  Words (and even simple photographs) could not due it justice.

Would I go back to this region?  Prolly not going out of my way to visit it again.  I am glad I got a chance to see it, though.

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