Shipshewana

My husband and I had not been on a vacation since November 2024 (visiting family or family coming to visit does not count as a true vacation). With all of our stress, we knew we needed to get away, even if only for a short weekend trip. In May, we decided to go to Shipshewana for a long weekend. I have always been fascinated by the Amish lifestyle, and my older sister had told me several times that we needed to visit Shipshewana. With it only being three hours away, it was the perfect trip to celebrate our anniversary.

We left our house on Thursday, with the intent on coming home on Sunday. We had booked a tiny house (another fascination of ours) and was excited to stay in one.

We started at the Visitors Center upon arriving in Shipshewana. It was too early to check into our rental house, so we decided to do some exploring. After picking up some brochures and more suggestions than we knew what to do with, we went and grabbed a quick bite of lunch. Since it upset my stomach, I won't share where we ate. 

After lunch we went to Davis Mercantile a mall like place and started exploring.

Shipshe Casuals had a TON of snarky/fun tshirts. I took pictures, but there are way too many to put in this post. They also had a variety of touristy stuff.

I have never been in a store that is almost completely dedicated to puzzles, but that is exactly what Puzzles Plus is! We didn't stay long the first day because of the upset stomach, but came back and explored further the next day. I came home with two new puzzles, but was impressed with the selection they had.

 

I have never seen puzzles with so many pieces before. The one pictured below had 6000 pieces!

The puzzle pictured below is eight FEET when put together and had 60,000 pieces!! I would be beyond overwhelmed!!!

 

I took more pictures of puzzles than these, but I didn't want to overwhelm you with so many, LOL, but these are a great sampling of what they had.
  

After exploring a bit longer, I really wasn't feeling that great (this was in the middle of my month of vertigo that we took this trip, plus my stomach was wonky), we headed to E & S Sales Bulk food to grab a few groceries. This is one of the places the Amish work and shop. I saw my first Amish baby, she had a pacifier and a bonnet (not things I had seen in my other visits to Amish communities). 

As we were headed to our Tiny House, we happened to pass Paige's Books and we had to stop. It's a pretty big used book store. The prices were reasonable and they had a great selection of Christian fiction (especially the Love Inspired books), and other books.

 

We didn't linger long, I really wasn't feeling great and was ready to get to our house, have dinner, and rest. Here are pictures of our tiny house, isn't it cute?

Dining area ↓

Kitchen with cook top (no stove), small refrigerator ↓

Master bedroom ↓

We thought the Bible beside the TV remote was funny, with the wine glasses. ↓ This is an Amish owned Tiny House (they had 7 here total, on a piece of their farm)

Bathroom, with loft area ↓ (second sleeping area above) We did go up there, but you couldn't stand, you had to crawl up the last few steps or you would hit your head. I am not a claustrophobic person, but it was way too tight for me!

View from the loft ↓

This is the Amish farm, the owners of our Tiny Home AirBnB ↓

Our little patio area, with another Tiny House and the farm in the background ↓

Our "backyard" ↓

Sheep on the farm ↓ It was super relaxing sitting on the patio, hearing the sheep baa, and the horse and buggies go past the house.

Sun starting to set on the farm ↓

The Amish house ↓

It was chilly in Indiana the entire weekend, and the tiny house was cool, so we kicked on the fireplace to help warm the house up. ↓

Friday morning, we wanted to hike the Pumpkinville Trail. It goes through several areas and we had hoped to hike a decent portion of it (until we realized it wasn't near anything we wanted to do). The beginning of the trail was across the street and down just a short distance from our tiny house, so we got up and walked 2ish miles of it that morning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After cleaning up from our walk, we went to the Kitchen Cupboard (in Davis Merchantile) to get coffee. They had some interesting selections (plus your regular stuff, too!)!

 

Then we walked over to Country Lane Bakery 2.0 to get my morning snack. I got avocado toast with bacon on top, plus it came with an egg and a cookie. Matt ate the egg (I can't eat eggs, one of my allergies) and some of the toast. It was the best avocado test I have ever had.

After that, we went exploring. My older sister kept telling me about Kathy's paintings, so we visited (you can't take pictures), and her work is phenomenal.  We bought this small piece, but she has a ton of larger works in a variety of mediums.

These are the three paintings my sister bought ↓

Pictures from around town:

We were AMAZED to see Amish buggies with blinkers, we had never seen that before in Amish communities!

Traffic jam, LOL!

The first (and only) white buggy horse we have seen ↓

My sister told me we had to try Ben's pretzels. Now, I am telling you, if you are ever near Shipshewana, IN, you must try them!! They were SOOOOOO good. They were so good that we ate them two days in a row. They have stuffed pretzels (which we didn't get, but that are more like a meal!).

Regular pretzel ↓

Dutch Almond pretzel ↓ super yummy, more like a sweet pretzel

The handsome dude I got to spend my time with ↓

The ladies restroom in Ben's Pretzel's

I have never seen a Bible in a bathroom before! ↓

We loved seeing all the buggies parked together! 

We went to Rise N Roll Bakery, we heard it had the best donuts around, but was sold out of things we would typically like to try. We went again on Saturday, but they were having a customer event, and we did not feel like standing in the long lines, we were ready to head home.

We stopped by this Christian Bookstore, it had a nice selection of books. I actually walked out with nothing (I know, shocker, but I have been practicing my shelf control!).

We cut through this shop (next to Glow), and I saw a sign, LOL! I walked out with a new coffee mug. I am always drawn to reader type merchandise. 

Friday evening sitting on the tiny porch, watching the traffic roll

Saturday morning we went to Fawn's coffee and bakery in Middlebury because it was supposed to have the best coffee around. I don't recommend it on a weekend, it was super busy and we didn't feel like waiting forever for our food. We were supposed to head home on Sunday, but when we got up on Saturday and it was rainy and cool again, we decided to head home. Most of what we wanted to do (hike) couldn't be done in the rain. And, because it was a tiny house, we didn't have a couch, so sitting in the bed all day or at the tiny dining room table was not appealing. This is the parking lot of Fawn's.

On our way out of town, we decided to stop at one more used bookstore, Ark Paws & Claws. It had a huge variety of books, I am sure something for everyone. The best part is that it was suggested donations $1 for paperbacks and $2 for hardbacks. They had some specialty items that were actually priced (like comic books). The downside was no public bathroom and the conversation that I unfortunately can't forget amongst the co-workers 😂🤦

We enjoyed our time in Shipshewana and would do it again. It was really special seeing so many Amish families everywhere we went, and there is something sooooo relaxing listening to the horses hooves clip clopping along. And, I am craving Ben's pretzels, LOL! I personally wouldn't stay in a tiny house again (maybe I would if it had a couch and the bathroom sink was in the bathroom), but it was neat to experience it once. I am thankful and grateful that Matt and I had the time away together and can't wait to go on another adventure with him. Hopefully, sooner rather than later. 

"To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen." Philippians 4:20

 "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." James 1:17