Cold Day in Goshen

Elkhart County 4H Fairground
Goshen, IN

We had an appointment at 8 am to have our truck checked out.  Yesterday when I had the window down I heard a noise in the truck.  D & T Auto Repair told us to bring it in at 8 am.  Do you know how hard it is to crawl out of that warm bed and be ready to go somewhere?  Believe me the wind was still blowing and it was cloudy and cold--really cold.  It was so cold I had my scarf Sharon Del Rosario made me, gloves, earmuffs and a coat with a liner on.  

The mechanic told us we needed new brakes and it would take an hour and half to install them.  

We have stayed in Goshen a lot of times but never managed to attend the Farmer's Market.  We were lucky that they opened at 8 am.

Even luckier that the market was inside.

The crafts were very nice and not the junk stuff you find at some of these markets.

There was a great selection of cheese and meats.

There were a lot of vegetables that I've never seen before.  One of these were pea tomatoes.  They had coffee and pastries but I had my heart on a full course breakfast. 

It wasn't huge, but it was nice that it was a block away from the garage and they were open.

The County Seat Cafe was across the street from the garage.  We've never eaten here before, but it was packed.  The food was good and reasonable and the waitress kept the cup filled with hot and strong coffee.

Can you read the "country girl" on the window?  It made me think of someone special today.  I hope she doesn't have a dent in her fender. 

I love how this town has preserved so many of their buildings.  There were a lot of dates around the 1880's on them.

I also love how the town has decorated the street corners in a fall theme.

The only problem is they covered up the button to push for the crosswalk.  

Bill just loves this pill box which is the only one left in the United States.  

It is located in the courthouse square.

The historical museum was open and we'd talked about touring it but once again never found the time when we visited here.  Today was the day!

We were immediately greeted and felt very welcome.  I love these little museums, because you can learn a lot about the area.  

  Bill admires the talent that R. H. Bower had.

He did some amazing carving.

The photo above his carving is R. H. Bower.

The docents were very proud of the safe that they think dates back to the 1880's.  It had a door inside a door.  

Every small museum usually has a little display of the local high school.  This museum wasn't any different.  The docent did tell me that the town is very upset that the school board voted to remove their mascot, Redskins.  The docent said it's been that way for 90 years and now they have to come up with a new name by January 1.  Bill wanted to know if I suggested Indians.

We laughed at this grocery price sheet.  Especially the very last line about beer.  

The other docent told Bill about another festival that was to begin at 1 pm near the brewery. 

We saw our truck sitting outside of the garage and walked over to pay our bill.  We have over 153,000 miles on the truck so it wasn't a surprise that it needed brakes.  What was surprising was that the bill was way less than we figured.  

This was the garage mascot.

 We drove down and saw the band setting up and a man in Bavarian shorts.  

We returned to the fairgrounds and the wind kept blowing and it was cloudy.  Rain was predicted and as soon as I saw a couple of sprinkles I decided I was done for the day.  Bill also reminded me that it was Saturday--saddle up Saturday on TV.  

Of course we ended up watching the West Virginia and Ohio football games.  

I think we needed a quiet afternoon.  

Turtle Safely........