Well this week I was in lovely Fort Wayne Indiana. I'm sure there are things to do in Fort Wayne but I certainly didn't find any. There was a chocolatier close to the hotel but by the time I finished my meetings each day I just didn't have the heart to try and concentrate on chocolate. Hard to believe for anyone who knows me, I am a true chocolaholic! Years ago a friend who volunteered at Ronald McDonald House with me on Friday nights gave me a tee shirt with a cute little bear on the front holding a gun and the saying was "give me all your chocolate and no one gets hurt". Obviously this person recognized my passion with chocolate. Well enough about what I didn't do. I did however spend one afternoon at Shipshewana. It took me about an hour to drive up there from FW. Shipsy is a large Amish community that has grown into an even larger tourist area in northern Indiana. Bless their hearts the Amish saw us coming a mile down the road and understood there was easy money to be had. I've been going there for nearly twenty years as its not that far from home, on Tuesday and Wednesdays the auction and flea market is open and you can find just about anything you could possibly be looking for and a lot of things you wouldn't take home if they hauled it to your car for you.There are a couple of garden shops in town that I love to stop at and I can usually find a little treasure to take home with me. This time it was just a garden ornament for the barn. The real nitty gritty for my trips to Shipsy is FOOD. For years I went to this small restaurant in town called The Buggy Wheel, it was owned and managed by the Amish. The fresh baked sweet rolls were the size of a dinner plate, ok.......maybe a dessert plate but I'm telling you this rolls were BIG! They served food family style so you might be sitting at a table with other families and before you left you'd have some new friends AND a full belly. The food was wonderful and there was always plenty of it. Alas.....the Buggy Wheel is gone, replaced by a large new restaurant where the Amish can serve hundred of us "non Amish" at a time. The charm is certainly gone but the food is still good. Needless to say I drove back to FW in a food coma after indulging in fried chicken, roast beef, chicken and noodles, green bean, mashed potatoes and gravy, dressing and fresh blueberry pie for dessert. Keep in mind that this is served family style, the food just keeps on coming which for those who are not smart enough to stop when satisfied this becomes dangerous. I can tell you the ride back to FW was painful! Along with the demise of the Buggy Wheel I must sadly report the general store at Honeyville is also gone. I used to love to ride out there, it was in the middle of nowhere and unless you had been there before you didn't know it existed. The Amish had general stores in Shipsy for the tourist but most of them did their personal shopping at the general store in Honeyville. There were always several horse buggies tied up to the hitching post as the Amish families shopped inside. It always smelled weird because there was no electricity and the lights were powered by small propane tanks. It’s a wonder the whole place didn't blow up. I have no idea how or why the store has closed but I am sad that another one of the treasures I held dear when traveling has been lost. Well my next stop will be Delafield Wisconsin, another cute little town. Stay tuned......