A Drive down the Mohawk Trail and to Shipshewana, Indiana
by Sheryl Fowler
We haven’t been able to travel overseas for 18 months because of the pandemic, but I would like to share a past trip of ours to the USA with you.
My husband and I flew from Kenya to New York and landed at JFK Airport. We had planned this trip quite carefully and decided to purchase a coupon book online which allowed us to visit most of the sites in New York City such as the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, The Empire State Building, The Natural History Museum, Museum of Modern Art and of course The Metropolitan Museum. My great grandparents, grandparents and even some of my aunts and uncles immigrated through Ellis Island. I found this particular visit very emotional.
After our whirlwind, self-guided tour, which I have to admit was exhausting, we rented a car and started on our road trip across America. We decided to proceed off the beaten track, avoiding big highways, and leisurely follow the Mohawk Trail to our next big destination which was Chicago. We were in no rush.
On our journey to Chicago, one of our scheduled stops was in Shipshewana, Indiana. There we enjoyed seeing the local Amish and Mennonite community.
We visited the museum which we found extremely interesting as it gave us insight into the history of the Amish and Mennonite, plus there were many quilts hanging from the walls. The flower garden outside, was also planted to resemble different quilt blocks.
These are a couple of the quilts that were hung inside the museum:
We couldn’t leave the area before we visited the local quilt shop. This was an eye opener for us. Besides a well-stocked inventory, there were dozens of quilts for sale. It was a pleasure just looking at them and drooling over them. The workmanship was excellent and considering that they were all hand quilted, very reasonably priced.
No matter where you travel, far and near, you can always find a quilt shop!