We drove through beautiful forested roads that were bursting with color. Realizing that the whole idea of "autumn" is a foreign concept to us Arizonans, I wondered if it ever gets boring or old. Of course, I can't imagine that any more than I could imagine the dazzling spring-time display of poppies on Picacho Peak being commonplace.
I love how patriotic small towns are! Nearly every building, house or business, had an American flag hanging by the door.
Did you know that the oldest brewery in America is in Pottsville, Pennsylvania? Not only did I not know that, but I would have guessed Yuengling beer is imported from Asia, not a domestic beer from the oldest brewery in America! David G. Yuengling opened the brewery in 1829 shortly after he arrived in Pottsville from Wurttenberg, Germany. During Prohibition the brewery survived by producing "near-beer" products that were available by prescription from a physician for "women with the vapors and nursing mothers." The Yuenglings have always run the brewery; it is currently a fifth generation business.
After learning the history of beer and how it is made, we toured the production floor . The Egyptians first made beer thousands of years ago. Hops is an important ingredient in beer-making but not used in anything else. At the end of the tour we still had not learned the answer to our question: Why would someone put hops, a plant not used in anything else or eaten by itself, in a drink to begin with?
The production machinery was HUGE and rather intimidating-looking contrasted with the beautiful stained-glass ceiling that was installed to reduce the glare from the original copper vats.
We ate lunch at a delightful country store with huge displays of pumpkins, squash and gourds outside. We bought sandwiches at the deli counter- one of the best sandwiches I've ever had!- along with fresh apple cider. The aisles of "homemade" goods called to us and we filled our cart with jams, noodles and other culinary delights.
As much as fall foliage, winter squash and gourds are a rite of autumn!
Our next stop was America's first pretzel bakery, the Julius Sturgis Pretzel Bakery in Lititz, Pennsylvania. Julius Sturgis ran a bread bakery in 1850 when a hobo gave him a pretzel recipe in gratitude for the hospitality Julius showed him when Julius invited him to eat with the family. Julius tried the recipe out on his family who loved the crunchy treats. Eleven years later he added pretzel baking to his business which was a booming success. The Sturgis family continues to bake pretzels today.
Before industrialization, the pretzels were hand-twisted and part of our tour included learning how to twist the pretzel dough. Richard, Janne and Adam all made respectable-looking pretzels; mine was rather pathetic-looking. The pretzels were then baked several times, originally in a brick oven.
Can you guess which sad pretzel is mine?
Anyone who knows Janne knows she is the "Pretzel Queen!" We all agreed the Julius Sturgis pretzels were the best we ever had- and we bought several bags to bring home!
The Amish are well-known for plain but plentiful meals. We went to Plain & Fancy, a family-style restaurant that serves an authentic Amish dinner. I'm not sure how many courses there were, but the food was very good and quite plentiful. If we ate like that every day, we'd have to live the life-style of the Amish in order not to be as wide as we are tall! We had good conversation with our table-mates to go with the good food!
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