Cave in Rock & Amish Country

At the beginning of September we went on a day adventure to Cave in Rock and Amish Country with our friends the Larson's who were moving a couple of weeks later.  

To get to Cave in Rock you have to cross the Ohio River and into Illinois on a ferry.  You just drive your car on and it takes you across.  The kids thought this was pretty cool.  Olivia was scared at first when we told her about it and she didn't want to go.  We later found out it was because she thought is was going to go really fast.  She of course ended up loving it and wanted to do it again.

We got out of the car to walk around while traveling across.  The kids loved this part.

Cave in Rock-

It is believed that river pirates and outlaws would hide out in this cave. When Alan told that to Jonathan he was suddenly very interested in where we were going. :)

Alli, Jonathan, Olivia, Apri and Camden

They had so much fun in the cave.  They found a bunch of wood and were collecting in into one big pile.  They were building a fire.

My friend Renee and I and our baby boys.  We had them only 4 months apart.

The girls playing in the sand along the river.

Jonathan and Alan went exploring while the rest of us hung out on the beach.

After Cave in Rock we went back across the river and explored Amish country.  This was a store we stopped at that had the most beautiful handmade furniture.  I would love to own a piece of handmade Amish furniture but it was soooo expensive. 

We saw a few horse and buggys.

They had little stores and shops all over the country and a little map to follow to get to them.  We were trying to get to an Amish bakery to try some homemade bread but we got a little lost and it was closed by the time we finally found it but we had an adventure along the way.  

We had to cross this creek to get to where we wanted to go.  We didn't know how deep it was in the middle so we were a little nervous but decided to go for it.  It ended up not being too bad.  

I don't know if you can see in this picture but there is a handmade walking bridge for the locals to cross.  Renee decided that she wanted to try it out. 

Then we all decided we had to give it a try.  Hoping that it wouldn't fall on us.  Alli was very nervous but she did it.

It was so beautiful and peaceful driving around in that part of the country.  We loved seeing all of the Amish homes and gardens and huge clothes lines to hang dry all of their clothes.  They do live a peaceful life and you could even feel it just when you are driving around.