Dirt Roads and Dusty Spices

Dirt roads and dusty spices – just a typical outing in our family.  Around here, you never know what a Saturday trip might bring.  That’s how we ended up on a dirt road, surrounded by fields and cows, in search of a small general store that sold spices… One weekend, I got it into my head that I needed fresh spices for my new spice rack.  I didn’t just want off-the-shelf spices, I wanted real spices.  So, after an internet search, I found two places close by that carried bulk spices.  Road Trip.

Our day began with lunch at Wendy’s.  It was a beautiful day, so we decided to sit outside to eat.

Interestingly, there is a rather large Amish population North of our home.  One of the places on my list was a bulk food store run by a local Amish family.  After we ate lunch, we headed North to find the store.  We got there, and there was a sign saying it was closed for a funeral.  Further on down the road, this is what we passed… the funeral.  The interesting thing is, to the left of all these buggies was a field full of cars.  So, whomever’s funeral this was, he or she was a well-respected member of the community.

The second place on my list was about an hour north of where we were, so off we headed with the aid of GPS.  Two important things to keep in mind:  an hour north and GPS.  

As we followed the GPS directions, we passed the paved road that I was pretty sure was where the store was.  Don said we should just follow the GPS to be sure.  That’s how we ended up on this dirt road.  Surrounded by corn fields.  And cows.  The kids were freaking out.  For three miles.

The best part was, this road crossed over the paved road I wanted to turn on.  You gotta love GPS.

We found the little general store (at the corner of the paved and dirt road) and went in.  A super cool place.  It looked like it was an old house or school room- wood floors, exposed beams.  Awesome.  In the back, they had rustic items, like candles, towels, knick knacks, etc.  They also had a cool old-fashioned NCR cash register and several other antiques.  The woman working there was very nice and even gave the kids a piece of penny candy while we were there.  (And yes, it was actually a penny!)

I picked out my spices and we left.  Via the paved road.

As we came back into civilization, we were running on gas fumes.  So, we stopped for gas and the kids had their first lesson in pumping gas with daddy.

On the way home, we stopped for ice cream at the local ice cream parlor.  Which, I am sure was the highlight of the days for the twins.

We also stopped at a local farm and picked up some fresh produce.  I snagged some green beans and when we got home, I introduced the kids to “snapping beans” for dinner.  Granted, some of the beans were huge, and some were itty bitty… but, they had fun.

Oh… and remember when I said that us being an hour away was a key point?  I ran into the local market to grab bacon for our green beans and along one whole aisle was nothing but bulk spices.  And, I didn’t even have to take a dirt road to get there.

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