Klutzville

Last weekend we took a quick family trip to Kutzville, Pennsylvania. I was hesitant to pack up and leave home again, but with all our travels lately we haven't done anything just the three of us. I'm so glad we went.

We found a pamphlet for a Pennsylvania Dutch/Amish festival on one of our day trips. Christopher researched it and we decided to go. I wrote "drive to Klutzville" on all our calendars. I thought the name was weird but there's a Hell, Michigan and Looneyville, Texas. Maybe it was named by a group of clumsy people. The correct name is Kutztown. No wonder I'm bad with directions. I can't even get the town names straight.

We didn't know anyone who had been to the festival and had no personal reviews that it would be any good. We hoped it would be good after driving five hours and hearing the Pete the Cat audio book play 6 times in a row from the backseat. We arrived right when the fair grounds were opening and it was immediately obvious it was a popular place. It was so much fun. There were booths of gorgeous handmade items, foods, clothes and decor, primarily in Amish/country style. Annabelle's personal favorite was a hammock.

Most of the festival wasn't child centered and Annabelle did have a few small meltdowns, but overall she was a good sport. We forgot our wagon so she had to walk all day which didn't help and she missed her nap but I think she enjoyed it. She watched a puppet show she loved and part of a flea circus show she hated. She got to play in the bounce house and inflatable slide (not genuine Amish activities) as well as ride on a house drawn merry go round.

We found the cutest souvenir but Christopher wouldn't let us buy one. "Where would you put it? How would we travel back with it?" Details shmetails. I know a family of nine who traveled up the east coast with a couple of llamas in their van. I think we could handle one duckling.

We saw the most gorgeous quilts. I was so inspired to go home and whip together a quilt for our bed. I'm sure it will never happen. I'm better at buying fabric than sitting down and sewing it.

A quilt would have been the ideal souvenir since it requires neither feeding or a shelter, but I didn't bring an extra $1,000 with me.

You can't imagine the joy I felt when I saw a sign saying there would be an Amish wedding at 3:15. I assumed it wouldn't be a real wedding but I love any wedding. I always try to crash join in on weddings we come across while out and about. He who shall remain unnamed doesn't agree with my ideas of celebrating with a strange happy couple. Here was a wedding I was welcome to attend. I must say I was underwhelmed. The ceremony started 15 minutes late. The man acting as the preacher sat on the stage scrolling through his phone while Annie and Jonathan (played by Shawna and Eric) stood on the sidelines fiddling with their microphones. The ceremony finally started and not so much as a fingertip of touching happened between the two lovebirds. As the preacher said, "they had chores in the morning so there won't be much time to celebrate."

We left with a few not animal souvenirs, a sunburn and some good memories. Turns out Klutzville is a pretty fun place.