Our next stop on this adventure was Elkhart, Indiana at the Elkhart County Fairgrounds for the Grand Design Owners Rally. We gathered with over 200 Grand Design rigs and 450 people for this 4 day event!As you can see, there are rows of them! Amazing to see so many in one place!Here’s an arial shot from a drone one of the attendees showing just one section of all the rigs in attendance!We arrived on Sunday and the rally was to begin Tuesday. At 8:30 Monday morning we awoke to a knock on our door and when we answered there was a GD employee there to install our new 4 step stairs (MUCH easier on the knees!). A full day before the rally started! This truly is an amazing company!There were 4 days of meetings, seminars, speeches by everyone from Don, one of the owners, to the employees who worked the assembly line. We toured the assembly plant and were wined and dined; breakfast, lunch and dinner!As you can see, it was a full house!One night we had a wine , cheese and desert night hosted by Grand Design.
On the last day they assembled everyone in attendance for a “Family” photo shoot in front of the new models they had brought for our viewing.They even had someone with a drone camera to take arial shots! (This is not the drone that shot the earlier picture in this blog)
amish acres tour, dinner and play
One of the fun things we signed up for was this Amish Acres Tour, dinner and play. There were two busloads of GD folks in attendance!We were taken on this interesting tour of the farm in this tractor pulled wagon.Some of the original buildings are still here. They have no electric or indoor plumbing except for a hand pump for water in the kitchen. There are many Amish working farms to this day living this way. Amazing!
Their vegetable gardenA wood fired dehydrator for fruits and vegetables.A wood fired brick oven for baking.And a wood fired smokehouse for meats.I wonder how often they have to replace these wooden shingles on it?`This newspaper is supposed to keep the flies out of the house when you open the door; we’re told it doesn’t really work all that well!The kitchen pumpAn apple corer they still use today.I believe this is an apple peeler they’re still using today.Wood fired stove and oven.Their clothing is all hung on the walls; there are no closets, that would be a waste of space!Very simple bedrooms as well.Their medicine cabinet is in the kitchen.
And of course, the outhouse.
The school bus; everyone only goes to school until 8th grade then they work on the farm.The one room school house.And it’s facilities.This was the dinner house where they served us a family style Amish dinner. They kept bringing us food until we said stop; all delicious too!
The meat market where we purchased meats, cheeses , jams and other homemade items.The playhouse where we saw Plain & Fancy; a great show the typical Amish life when it meets modern civilization.
tour around elkhart area following the heritage trail, seeing the quilt gardens, murals and statues
The first one we encountered was right outside the Elkhart County fairgrounds
Goshen Chamber of Commerce MuralElkhart County Courthouse.
Even Mariachis!They even had statues of American Gothic, the most famous midwestern farmer painting in the world!Amazing detail too!That’s a statue, not a real school girl studying!This one was in front of an Ace Hardware!
Gardener statue trimming the trees!In a park in downtown Elkhart we saw this HUGE rendition of the American Gothic; amazing! Notice Jan next to their suitcase which was taller than her!
They diverted part of this river in 1890 to supply local businesses with cooling water for their plants
There was this tribute to their first responders as well, very nice!
I included this just because I liked the shadows!Lynton Garden is a local “different” Nursery!
They even had ALIENS!We came across this cool bridge built in 1890.
