Intercourse, PA

I have a ton of funny stories from my travels over the years. It’s not uncommon that I will work with people for a long time and never see them face to face. It’s the beauty of being able to work from home office.

Years back I was assigned an account in Amish area in Pennsylvania. I was meeting a project manager I had never met before named Jennifer. We actually met in the Cincinnati airport and flew into Harrisburg, PA together. That was our first meeting although we had worked with each other for months on e-mail and phone calls.

I had heard so much about Amish cooking and quilts. When I go to a new area I like to get out and see things, and Jennifer was game for about anything too.

So that night when we checked into the Hilton Garden Inn in Lancaster, PA we asked for suggestions for places to eat Amish food. They kindly told us about a place called “Good and Plenty”. The place was “family style” meaning when enough people show up to fill a table you are all seated together. The only decision you make is your drink.

Jennifer was a good 10 years younger than me and I was just under 40 at the time. She was reading the directions as I was driving. Jennifer started chuckling and saying this must be a typo. I asked her what she meant and she said we were to drive to the exit for “Bird in Hand” and “Intercourse”.

I agreed with her and that we needed to let the hotel know about this typo when we got back. How embarrassing not to catch a typo like this. About five miles later there was the sign as big as could be - Bird in Hand / Intercourse. Of course we both thought what a strange name for a street. Someone had a warped sense of humor.

We had our dinner and it was really good down home cooking. After dinner I wanted to go look at some of the quilts I had heard so much about. The lady behind the cash register was in her late 70’s or maybe even early 80’s. I thought who better to tell me where to find good quilts. Right?

Jennifer was standing behind me when I asked and this little old lady for help. The lady replied that she had a “brochure on intercourse” she could give me. Jennifer could not contain herself all I heard was the clicking of her high heel shoes on the tile floor heading out the door. As the door was closing I heard her roaring laughing. I’m surprised she could keep herself standing when she was laughing that hard.

Of course she left me there to hold a straight face and try to have a conversation with this little old lady. All that kept crossing my mind was “lady I don’t need a brochure on intercourse, I have that one figured out”.

Come to find out there is a town named “Intercourse, PA”. If you have ever seen the movie “Witness” with Harrison Ford you have seen the town on the big screen. It’s a quaint little town and yes they had some really good quilts.

It’s one thing to have a good friend with you when you have these type conversations. But to have someone you barely know with you it just makes it quite a challenge to maintain your composure. Least to say Jennifer and I became fast friends after this since we had about the funniest story from the road that year.

I really enjoyed my time there in the Amish country. I learned a lot about the Amish and since our implementation lasted 9 months. I got to see the area in all the seasons. It was fun to see the horse and buggies and the people working the fields. The farms were so beautiful and the houses were always kept in perfect condition.

I took my mom there on one of my visits and we took a hot air balloon ride over the Amish farms. It was the first time I had been in a hot air balloon and the view from above was spectacular. I would highly recommend a hot air balloon ride to anyone and a visit to this area of the country. It was a most wonderful place to visit.