Go straight to Hallam

Of course here in Pennsylvania Dutch Country we pronounce it Hell-em. A cycle shop had "Go straight to Hallam" so it would be a catchy ad on their t-shirts. We have a lot of strange names for towns considering our people came to this country for religious freedom. It leads to a lot of catchy bumper stickers and custom license plates for the tourists to buy.

Tourism is a big business here in Lancaster county. Lots of people come here to see the Amish and the other plain people. They like to send a post card home with the Intercourse, Pennsylvania postmark, along with the other strange town names. We people who grew up here don't think of our names as anything strange. If you visit Hallam, go to see the shoe house. It was built by Mr. Haines. He was a shoe manufacturer who used the shoe house to let newly married couples take their honeymoon in it.

Lancaster County and the surrounding counties are a great place to visit and see all the farms and other sights. You can go for a horse with a buggy behind ride and even stay over night on an Amish farm with no electricity. Some farms let you stay a couple of days and work with the people owning the farm. See plain living first hand.

The main Harley Davidson plant is in York, less than forty miles away. They give tours and have a motorcycle museum. When I had my electric business I did some work there. If you want to vacation here, you have a lot to experience.

We are about 40 miles from Maryland, and only about 140 miles from the shore. We have about 40 potato chip manufacturers close by. We grow a lot of food local too. There is a lot to see and do, so visit us when you can. You will learn a lot and have an enjoyable experience. If you can rent the movie Witness you can learn a lot about Lancaster County, with a Hollywood flair. Harrison Ford stayed here for about two weeks when they shot the movie. Some was shot in Philadelphia, too.

Yes I like it where I live. I have never been over 800 miles from Lancaster. But I will when Mary retires in 2015. The cold and snow right now are not great, but the spring, summer, and fall are great. I have put up with the winters for 65 years, so I guess I can for about 30 more. We don't want to move to warmer climates, because we would miss the kids too much. Family is what life is about.