Our Blue Gate Amish Tours guide, Allen, encouraged us to ask questions of the Amish bishop we were about to meet in Shipshewana, Indiana. “Nothing’s off limits,” he told us. So the twelve guests on the Evening in an Amish Home tour spent the time asking Bishop Monroe Yoder questions. We came away realizing that although the Amish culture is different in many respects from mainstream America, we have more in common with them than we knew.
If you visit Shipshewana, Indiana, chances are you’ll eat at least one Amish-style meal at the Blue Gate Restaurant, enjoy a show at the Blue Gate Threatre, or treat yourself to some goodies at the Blue Gate Bakery. We doubled-down during our Shipshewana visit, eating two meals and taking in two plays at the Blue Gate Restaurant and Theatre.
Last summer we headed to Elkhart County in northern Indiana to travel the world’s only quilt gardens driving tour. The quilt gardens are intertwined with the area’s Heritage Trail, so we essentially took two driving tours simultaneously. The drive takes you along city streets and country roads in both Elkhart and LaGrange Counties, passing through seven cities and towns, including Nappanee and Shipshewana, the heart of Amish Country.
