My Trip to Relevant 2011

Oh, my. I am fighting exhaustion still, and it's Wednesday! Thankfully, the only delay I had in getting home from Pennsylvania was when the flight crew of my flight out of Harrisburg couldn't get out of the Sheraton shuttle because the doors were frozen shut! Thankfully the one I got on was fine.

Before I delve into my Relevant notes, I want to share pictures of the day and a half before the conference started. I was not able to do any sightseeing last year, so this was a real treat!

First, I met one of my roomies, Aurie, at the hotel, then grabbed some lunch, then headed to the country.

Aurie!

We ended up in Intercourse, Pennsylvania, which we both loved just because when we said it we giggled. That's all I'm going to say about that. Hee hee.

Our sightseeing transportation, this Amish buggy. I told Aurie I didn't think the girl driving seemed very Amish with her sunglasses atop her head and tomboyish walk, but I was completely wrong. Elsie was her name and she was as Amish as the countryside. She had the prettiest Pennsylvania Dutch accent. Her long "o's" were "oo's" ("hoome" for "home" and "Octoober" for "October").

I have her speaking on video and got a picture of her accidentally, but because the Amish don't believe in having their pictures made, I'm respectfully leaving those off. Even though she will never know I didn't put it on here, I still want to respect their beliefs.
I love the juxtaposition of horse and buggy with modern cars on the same road. I don't have a problem taking these photos because you can't see the people in them. Man, this is a closeup shot! But oh, well...so happy to be there!
The covered bridge we crossed over. I loved hearing the clopity-clop of the horses' hooves on the wooden bridge. LOVE this shot! Wish it wasn't blurry. But when you're taking pictures out of the back of a moving horse and buggy, you take what you can get.

Another view of the countryside. Elsie explained so much to us as we rode along. It was really quite fascinating to hear all she said. The Amish people live in the same communities as modern-lifestyle people, but you can tell the difference between the houses because their houses will not have any power lines to them. Other than that (and the absence of cars in the driveway and laundry hanging on the line), they looked like any other house.

Aurie and I finished up our tour and after I petted the horses' noses a little we took some pictures of hot air balloons we had noticed on the tour.That has to be one of my favorite pictures of the weekend, along with this one: I'm going to make this my desktop wallpaper when I get done with this post. I just love those brilliant reds in the leaves and the dark horse and buggy underneath.

Later, I'll share with you our trip to Hershey...can you smell the chocolate?