Heading North Part III: Amish Country Wrap-up

Berlin, OH/Wauchula, FL - Events of Friday, July 19 to Monday, July 22, 2019

After bidding adieu to Marilyn and Larry the evening before, we went back to Der Dutchman for the breakfast buffet on Friday morning (July 19). Everything was yummy as usual.

The breakfast buffet at Der Dutchman

Afterward, we stopped in the bakery for more fry pies. This time, they had the flavors we wanted - blueberry for Margery and peach again for Paul.

Then we drove back roads to Millersburg to make a quick stop at Walmart. We like driving the back roads and seeing all the well-kept farms.

After Walmart, we headed to downtown Berlin where we browsed several stores. One of them was Country Gatherings, which has garden accessories and other garden-themed merchandise. Since we both love gardens, it's a place we always enjoy looking around.

Margery checking out one of the garden room displays at Country Gatherings

We then drove back to our apartment to relax for the rest of the afternoon. For dinner, we ate prepared salads we had bought earlier in the day at Walmart. During the evening, we enjoyed our fry pies while watching a little TV. The Airbnb apartment had Roku TV, so we were able to stream some of our favorite shows.

On Saturday morning, we stopped at the Der Dutchman Bakery for cream sticks again (we asked them to hold two for us when we were there for breakfast the day before), then went back to Walnut Creek Cheese to pick up some cheese to have for snacks on our trip back to Florida. We also got some beef snack sticks to put in the freezer back home.

Back in Berlin, we went to the Holmes County Flea Market. Both the Holmes County Flea Market and the Walnut Creek Amish Flea Market that we visited with Marilyn and Larry sell mostly new merchandise, but this year the Holmes County Flea Market built a new addition that houses an antique mall.

View of the antique mall at Holmes County Flea Market

We finished up at the flea market by late morning, so we headed back to the apartment to relax for a while and to do a little preliminary packing in preparation for our departure the next morning. Later in the afternoon, we went The Farmstead Restaurant in downtown Berlin for lupper.

The Farmstead

The Farmstead is owned by the same restaurant group that owns Der Dutchman. The menus and prices are similar, and like Der Dutchman, the Farmstead also has a salad bar, a dinner buffet, and a breakfast buffet. Margery had the salad bar, and Paul had half a hot roast beef sandwich with mashed potatoes and made one trip to the salad bar.

Margery with her salad at the Farmstead

The food was as good as Der Dutchman, but we noticed there were some items that Der Dutchman has on their salad bar that were missing at The Farmstead. Missing items include chicken salad, ham salad, and blue cheese dressing. Although we're not very familiar with Der Dutchman's dinner buffet, the one at the Farmstead looked to be smaller as well. Nevertheless, the Farmstead is still a good place to eat, especially if you don't want to drive the extra 10 or 15 minutes to Der Dutchman in Walnut Creek, and especially if you're planning to order from the menu instead of having the salad bar or buffet.

Saturday happened to be the day of the local fire department's festival, which took place at the school about a block away from where we were staying. By walking to the upper side of the yard so we could see around a row of trees, we had an excellent view of the fire department's evening fireworks display. Below are a few shots of the fireworks.

We were on the road the next morning for the 8-hour drive to Rock Hill, South Carolina. We noticed on the way north that the construction that has been taking place for the past several years on a 20 or 30-mile stretch of I-77 north of Charlotte is pretty much complete. They have added one express lane in some areas and two express lanes in other areas. Unfortunately, these lanes are toll lanes. Signs were posted stating what the toll was for each section and that the tolls are payable by North Carolina Quick Pass. The signs also state if you don't have NC Quick Pass, cameras will read your license plate and they'll bill you by mail at an unspecified higher rate. Since we didn't have Quick Pass and since traffic wasn't that bad, we didn't take the express lanes going either north or south.

Paul researched the North Carolina I-77 express lanes after we got home and found they also accept Florida Sun Pass, which we have, and also EZ-Pass, both at the lower toll rates. Tolls are a little confusing since they vary by segment, by time of day, and by direction of travel. Nevertheless, the maximum toll rate during the height of rush hour should only be $4 or $5. That's a little pricey if you are a resident living north of the city and have to pay that each way every day, but it will definitely be worth it during the MUCH heavier traffic that usually occurs when we are returning to Florida after Christmas.

We pulled into Rock Hill in the late afternoon. After settling into our room, we again went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner. Margery had a chicken critter salad (entree salad with crispy chicken strips), and Paul had southwest chicken. Both were yummy!

The drive from Rock Hill to Wauchula is a long one, so we had an early breakfast at the motel and were on the road by 6:30. With the early start and with much lighter traffic in summer than when we return to Florida after Christmas, we made good time and got through Orlando and the area to the west of Orlando around Disney well before evening rush. In spite of the never-ending construction in Orlando, there were only a few minor slow-downs.

We made a quick dinner stop in Bartow, Florida, and were home shortly after 4:00. We had a wonderful trip north, but it was also good to be home.