New Families

This morning we continued driving across the northern edge of Ohio, taking the small country roads as much as possible. Again we were passing farm after farm, and after a few days of sunshine, the John Deere's were out in full force, plowing and planting seeds. I never get tired of the farms, I love seeing the farmhouses and especially the barns . . .



We saw a sign that caught our attention, and took a little detour into a Wildlife Nature Refuge . . .

This is a wetland area that has been set aside and protected for the birds and other animals who choose to live there . . .

There were several families out enjoying the sunshine . . .

And going for a little cruise on the water . . .

We also passed the maternity ward and saw the mothers in waiting . . .

Maybe we'll see them again in the fall or the spring flying over our house. . . The geese let me get fairly close and take these photos without making any attempt to move away, but the mom and dad kept a wary eye on me to be sure I didn't get too close. I would have loved to be able to pick up one of the little chicks, they look so soft and fluffy!

We continued driving West and crossed into Indiana. We were again in Amish country, passing beautiful, clean and tidy farms, and sharing the highway with their horse and buggies . But our timing has been terrible. I keep wanting to walk through the stores in the Amish areas to see some of their gorgeous handiwork. But we keep arriving too late in the day - they roll up the sidewalks at 5:00 sharp! Or, like today, it's one of their holidays. Or it's Sunday. So tomorrow we are going to try again - we will be passing through another Amish community and we are going to do everything possible to get there EARLY!

Right now we are in Elkhart, which is about half way across the top of the state. John has a couple places he wants to check out here - something to do with fire stuff (surprise surprise), and then we'll be on our way South, through the Amish town, and then heading towards Indianapolis. Only a couple days till the Indy 500!