Believe in the Magic Traci Diary
Recipes, Travels, and Stories
While we were in the museum, it rained. The rain had stopped by the time we got out of the museum so we walked along their riverwalk which was cool.
The Dayton Dragons, our minor league baseball team, play the Lansing Lugnuts so we stopped at the exterior of their stadium. There were a couple of cool statues that I enjoyed photographing.
Continue reading “Lansing, Michigan – Riverwalk and Downtown -Part 3”
After we were finished walking around the Capitol Building’s grounds, we went to the R.E. Oldsmobile Museum. The Oldsmobile automobile was started in Lansing which I thought was neat.
Did you know the band R.E.O. Speedwagon was named after the Oldsmobile company? I can’t remember the exact story of why they chose the name. However, that tidbit of information was interesting to me.
Continue reading “Lansing , Michigan – Part 2 – R.E. Oldsmobile Museum”
Over Labor Day weekend, I was supposed to meet my friend up in Erie, PA. When that got cancelled because so many bad juju events were occurring in her life at that moment, Hubby decided I still needed to go away.
He told me to find a state within driving distance that we had not visited a zoo in. Well, the only two places were Tennessee and Michigan. After I chose Michigan, I then had to Google zoos in Michigan. I found the Potter Park Zoo in Lansing. Hubby wanted to go to Grand Rapids. Later, we were glad we had not gone there.
Continue reading “Lansing, Michigan – Part 1”
If I had all of the money in the world, I would love to go down to Walt Disney World for Christmas.
I would not want to visit on Christmas Day because it would be way too busy but I would love to visit at some point in December.
Why would I want to go to Disney during the busy holiday season?
Two years ago, I got to see the decorations at some of the different resorts throughout Walt Disney World. I loved seeing them. I also got to see some of the holiday decorations outside of each of the parks. (We didn’t go into any of the parks.) I would love to see the decorations inside each of the park. And photograph them.
Also I haven’t been to any of the Christmas parties in Disney. When we were there 2 years ago, I hoped they would have one but there was none scheduled. Bummer!
The last time I celebrated Christmas was during my College Program in 1995. I worked on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve, and maybe even New Year’s Day. I had a visitor during Christmas week and even though we spent time in the park we could not get to Magic Kingdom because it was so busy. The line for the monorail was all of the way to the entrance. It would have taken an hour or so to even get on the monorail.
Those are some of the reasons I would love to spend time down in Disney. The other reason is because honestly December is a hard month for me. In the last fifteen years, I’ve lost close family members during December – my grandpa in 2003, my grandma in 2008, my father-in-law in 2013, and my father-in-law’s aunt in 2014. (My grandma’s death was on Christmas Eve.)
WDW is my happy place. I’m like a child in a candy store while I’m there. I put aside all of my worries while I am down there. In fact, one of the reason I was down there in 2016 was because it was almost 3 months after my sister’s death. We had planned for a trip to Universal Studios prior to her death. A month after her death, I was seeing if there was a restaurant reservation available on Thanksgiving. I luckily found one and a hotel stay for two nights on Thanksgiving and Black Friday. While we were down there, she visited me on Thanksgiving. (Butterfly)
I would love to just go down there and forget my worries.
Last year, I shared our local holiday display of Clifton Mill. They were featured on a national tv show and granted money towards continuing the 30 years of light displays.
Swiss Heritage Center – Part 4
We stayed at the Clock Tower Inn while in Berne. I loved the Amish furniture so I took a lot of photos of that Amish furniture. I hope you enjoy the photos of the furniture.
If you want to see a zoomed in version of each of these photo collages, please click on each collage.
I loved that rocking chair. So beautiful!
I hope you enjoyed our quick trip to see Fort Wayne and Berne, Indiana.
Swiss Heritage Center – Part 3
Random shots of grounds – I wish it wasn’t raining and cold so we could walk around more.
More photos of the grounds – I love the fall colors.
The restrooms in the inside portion of the Heritage Center.
Some of the displays in the museum – I love the Swiss chalet doll house
The coolest item in the museum was the display about the guy who won the Nobel Peace Prize in chemistry in I think in 2005. So interesting.
I hope you enjoyed the photos from the Swiss Heritage Center. If you have time to visit, I would highly encourage it.
The address to the Swiss Heritage Center is 1200 Swissway Rd, Berne, IN 46711.
Join me next time for photos of the Inn we stayed in while in Berne.
Swiss Heritage Center – Part 2
After we finished watching the glockenspiel at the Clock tower, we first visited a tiny bit of the inside museum while waiting for the other couple to return. (I’ll share photos from the inside museum in a different blog post.)
First we visited the Baumgartner Church which was the first Mennonite Church in Berne, Indiana. It was started in 1839 by Reverend David Baumgartner. He was originally from Bern, Switzerland. He was 73 when he began the church.
Since there is no Bibles in Swiss, the Bible is a German Bible. They hold a Christmas service in both English and German. So neat!
A very plain pulpit
The ladies sat on one side of the church while the men sat on the other side.
Beautiful fall foliage
The photograph is the first couple who were married at the church.
The German Bible
The yellow piece of paper in the top left photo is the bulletin for the Christmas service.
After we finished with the church, we went to the doctor’s office. When the doctor whose office we were visiting died, over 2,000 mourners came to his funeral. That was a lot of mourners especially since there were less than 2,000 people in the town.
I’ve got one more blog post about the Swiss Heritage Center and then I’ll have one with photos from our hotel.
Swiss Heritage Center – Part 1
After we finished with the Luginbill House, we went over to the Cheese House. We learned how they made the Amish cheese which was interesting. Did you know they have to boil the milk in a copper pot and check the constancy later with a silver spoon? It’s interesting how they knew how the metals interacted with the different steps of the cheese making process.
Next we went over to the Apple Cider Press. When it was in operation, it was the biggest apple cider press in the United States. It was not original to the Berne area but was moved to the Heritage Center from a place within 40 miles away.
The press barn was rather dark so I apologize for the quality of some of the photos.
F. William Hauenstein built this press during the Civil War. The pressing beam was oak that at time was about 300 years old so it was already growing when Christopher Columbus arrived in the West Indies.
After visiting the Cider Press, we left the Heritage Center to go watch the glockenspiel at the clock tower. Then we came back to enjoy the rest of the tour with Char.
Join me next time when we’ll visit the church and doctor’s office at the Swiss Heritage Center.
As I previously said, Berne, Indiana really did not have a lot to explore. If you wanted Amish furniture, you could certainly find it. The clock tower and the architecture is wonderful. It’s a small town so there is not much there.
There is one other interesting place. That is the Swiss Heritage Center. Berne was settled by Amish and Mennonites immigrants from Switzerland. They were being persecuted in their native country so they came to America. Eventually they moved and settled in Adams and Allen County.
We were pleasantly surprised when we got to the Heritage Center. They had a guide to take us around the grounds which was neat. The guide was a 73 year old lady named Char. She was a wonderful storyteller. It was almost as though she was there when the American flag was being created or when the Amish were being persecuted in Switzerland. Hubby kept wanting her to tell us more.
She had a golf cart for her to ride from place to place. There was a total of four guests plus herself trying to get on this golf cart more than once. Some of the buildings were a small distance. On a nice day, it would be a good stroll. Not on the chilly and then rainy day we visited.
The first building we visited was the One Room School Room. She talked about the reasons why girls were more educated than boys, the history of the American flag, and how many school buildings were in the county at one point.
After we left the schoolhouse, we went to the Lunginbill House. The Lunginbill House was the house of Peter and Barbara Luginbill. It was built in 1856 and moved to the Heritage Center in 1987.
While we were in house, we learned about the typical day of the family, how they built the original house, and how they made soap back in the day. Char also told stories about Barbara.
Join me next time for the cheese making shed and apple cider mill.
Before I begin with this blog post, I should tell you they’ve changed how we write blog posts. It’s going to be interesting writing this blog post today.
Hubby geocaches. One of his geocaches was located at their war memorial so we headed there first.
After we finished at the war memorial, we headed to the local coffee shop. We loved all of the different signs in the coffee shop.
We briefly walked around the town. I tried to get photos of the town but Hubby decided it was too cold and windy to enjoy the walk.
I especially loved the Dollar General and it’s Swiss exterior.
When we were leaving town, we tried to find Amish cheese which we never found. 😦
We ended up on a road that was unpaved but very well taken care of.
Okay that wasn’t so bad. I got through this new way of blogging on WordPress.
Join me next time when we’ll either explore the Swiss Heritage Center or check out where we spent the night.
