Hello guys! My apologies for not being constant with my postings lately. I’m currently truly, madly, deeply, busy but I hope things will start to simmer down in a few days soon. Thank you very much for your understanding and please check out my Instagram regularly as I’ll be posting more stuff there in the days to come.
As what I’ve mentioned before, I’ve been in a couple of trips lately and will still have to do more. For this particular travel log, I divided this down into two parts as I pretty much went to two sights in one day. Both are very nice and wonderful places to see.
A few weeks ago, I went on a trip to a little borough in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania called Volant. Actually, I planned to go and see Lake Erie and wanted to drop by somewhere to see an Amish village. I thought of going to Lancaster PA at first, but it’s really not on the way to Lake Erie and I only have a day to do both. Someone told me that there are few little Amish villages on the way to Erie, and one of them is Volant. In case you’re wondering why do I wanna visit an Amish town, oh well, I’ve always been curious and I wanted to take a break from the usual city life. It seems like a trip to a nice and quiet Amish town will be exciting. And of course, yeah, I’ve seen TLC’s Breaking Amish show, lol.
Volant is about an hour away from Pittsburgh and is very close to Grove City where there’s outlet shopping. It’s also an hour and 28 minutes away from Lake Erie. I drove there and most of the road throughout the trip was pretty flat and smooth. It was nice to see the leaves slowly changing their colors to prepare for Fall. I went there early morning and the temperature is a bit cool and fresh. The sceneries during the trip were nice although I started noticing that my phone was losing coverage as I was approaching Volant. Suddenly the road started to get narrower and narrower and was getting windier and windier. There were lots of cornfields around and my phone’s signal was pretty much fluctuating until there was a point that I didn’t have any coverage for a couple of minutes. I started breaking out in a sweat as I looked around, and all I see were vast and never-ending cornfields. I was like “oh no! I could die in here and nobody’s gonna know”, but anyhow, as soon as I got passed that silly imagination, I reached an intersection and saw the quaint little town of Volant.
The air was fresh and cool when I parked near Volant Mills, which I understood as the main attraction/store of the town. At the entrance of Volant Mills, I saw an Amish lady greeting people and the store had a very vintage feel. I really like it and I saw a lot of unique products that are composed mostly of Halloween/Fall stuff plus some handmade rugs, decors, curtains, candles, soaps, etc. I noticed that not all of the products were Amish-made, so I decided to pick up a few preserves that were locally made in Volant (which I assume were made by the Amish) and some wooden Amish figurines as souvenirs. Volant Mills has three floors, with the third one being more of an exposition/mini museum for a few traditional Amish clothing and memorabilias mix with a few gardening/decor products. If you don’t have cash, don’t worry, because the store accepts all major credit cards.
After Volant Mills, I got hungry and realized that it was almost time for lunch, I saw that there were a few Amish ladies selling some preserves and baked goodies, and another group selling some delicious-looking Amish donuts. I wanted one, but I decided to venture into the full-service restaurant just across Volant Mills, called Neshannock Creek Inn. They also accept credit cards and since I don’t have enough cash to purchase those donuts yet, I decided to have lunch at Neshannock Creek Inn. I’ve read that they’re known for their Giant Cod Sandwich, so I ordered one and the sandwich arrived well-cooked and looking really delish with some fries and condiments. While the sandwich could have tasted better with more seasoning, I really enjoyed their fries and mayo. They’re so good, one of the best I’ve ever tried.
I was already full by the time I got out of the restaurant and I sorta stopped longing for the donuts. Although, now that I think about it, I realized that I really should have tried one. Oh my, nothing haunts us like the things we didn’t buy. LOL. True, right? Anyways, at the back of the restaurant was an ATM which I used to get cash in order to pay for things I wanted to buy around. The area is full of little quaint houses that serve as shops for coffee, clothes, art, foods, etc. I went into a nice little store/house that sells antiques and it was really interesting and exciting while a bit creepy at the same time. There were lots of things to see and to explore, and they’re pretty cheap.
From the Antique store, I visited some other stores and had fun just browsing. There are also male and female public bathrooms in the area that you can spot immediately, as well as stores that sell Amish furnitures. As you all know, Amish people are known for their finely-crafted furnitures and I pretty much ended my Volant trip scouting for some stores that specialize in selling true Amish chairs, tables, and cabinets.
Oh, and did I forget to mention that I saw this cutie on my way out of Volant Mills? Meet Al, the Alpaca, LOL. His owner was selling some Alpaca-made scarves and I purchased some while taking a few pics of Al’s cutie face. He was looking at me seriously, I bet he was getting ready to spit on my face. Oh my, he would have ruined my contouring.
I really enjoyed Volant, it was like stepping back in time and it was very peaceful. Even though I didn’t see a lot of Amish people, I still enjoyed the simplicity and beauty of the place. The people are friendly too. It’s so nice to get away from the city life and experience simple living from time to time.
I really like it there and I’m thinking of going back sometime soon. Perhaps even make a trip to the nearby village of New Wilmington and take a tour to see the Amish way of life.
That concludes part 1 of my travel log guys. Stay tuned for part 2, which is Lake Erie.
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