the scenic route

About half way through our barn hunting trip we had a little pit stop that I will never forget. It was the kind of thing that still has me giggling today when I think about it.

We saw these amazing red and white barns in the distance and some balloons marking the entrance. The sign said it was a historical land mark so we decided to stop.



As we were driving down the gravel entrance things were looking a little more..um..interesting. There were signs for lemonade, snow cones, a restaurant, hmmm. There was also a group of people sitting in lawn chairs along the side of the road waiting for visitors. I swear I started hearing "Dueling Banjos" in the distance. Once they saw us it was kind of too late to turn around so we just kept going.

We got out of the car and were greeted by a sweet lady and her two little girls. They showed us around. It was … educational if nothing else. There were baby pigs that were cute, goats, several horses and burrows. For some reason she felt the need to tell us which ones still had their “man parts". Uh..thanks.

She finished up the tour and then offered to serve us lunch in the “full restaurant”. We looked over and saw some picnic tables that appeared also to be historical landmarks and graciously declined.

At this point I’m thinking we can head towards the car and make our awkward exit. But then… we met John. The little girls gave us cookies to feed the donkey who we were informed was named Doinkey. All of a sudden a very tan, bare-chested man wearing what appeared to be child sized mesh camouflaged shorts appeared to help out with Doinkey.

Before we knew it John was leading us up to what he said were some beautiful cliffs we should see. I lagged behind a little bit at which point I snapped this photo…

Tiny Shorts John leading Doinkey the Donkey and Amy holding hands with Carly May (people call her May she told us). Priceless. I giggled the whole way up at the sheer randomness.



When we got to the top of the trail to what John called “his sanctuary” it was pretty much just a cliff with a clearing at the bottom and, to quote him, “a puddle of stagnant water”.



We headed back down the hill and nearly got run over by Doinkey when we got in his way. Amy and I just smiled at each other as she kept holding Carly May's hand.

“You girls wanna spend the night tonight?” Carly May asked.

“Thank you, but we have to get going May” we answered.

We said our goodbyes (Doinkey teared up a little) and hopped in our car to search for more barns.

You just never know what might happen if you...