Day Four
Downtown, Arthur Illinois
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We checked out the Comfort Inn Arcola around 8:30, and headed to a neighboring Amish town, Arthur. Actually, Arcola and Arthur are not entirely
different towns, but they seem to constitute one large Amish community. This photo shows Illinois Route 133, which connect Arcola and Arthur. We
drove this road to go to Arthur. The area around the road was just flat!
About 10 minute drive took us to Arthur Welcome Center, which is the tourist information center at Arthur.
The view of Arthur Welcom Center. Unlike the day three we had a wonderful blue autumn sky, and tree leaves had started to change colors.
An enlargement of the Welcome Center sign.
A view from the welcome center. We seemed to be the first visitors on the day. We didn't see anyone other than ourselves.
Another view from the welcome center. It was after 9 o'clock, but the town seemed to be still sleeping.
Inside of the welcome center. Nobody was at the front desk. We probably came too early.
There was a big bullatin board where tons of flyers were attached. What drew my attention was an ad flyer for a goat milk factory. It's in the center of
this photo. It reads that they are the only goat milk bottler in the State of Illinois, that their milk is pasteurized at low temperature, and that
it is not homogenized so that it gets healthier than other milk.
Actually, when I was a baby, my mother sometimes feeded me with goat milk. It was still a few years after World War II and the nutritious
situation surrounding babies was very bad. Only a few rich people could afford cow milk. And some farmers near my house kept goats. So my
mother went to them and got some goat milk for me. Thanks partly to that, I believe I survived malnutrition in the aftermath of the war. I wish
I could have tasted American goat milk!
This is an interesting idea. A box of pins are placed on a table close to this world map, and visitors stick pins at the areas of the world that
they are from. Takako, one of my students, found it. So we quickly put a red pin on the west end of the Honshu Island, Japan. (Is this photo too
small for you to see our pin? Just click the photo to enlarge it!)
Leaving the welcome center, we crossed Progress Street, and strolled southward to enjoy the view of downtown Arthur. The main street running through
downtown from the north to the south is not "Main Street" as often is the case in other U.S. towns. It's Vine Street. More curiously, the same street
is showed as the name "County Road 000E" on the map! Anybody just tell me why so.
The photo shows the far side corner of Vine and Progress. The backside of the gazebo is a parking lot. Again, Now was mid October,
and the latitude of this area is the same as the Tohoku region in Japan. So the leaves of trees had already started to change colors.
Next to the gazebo was a clothing store named "Delbert's." We were walking southward.
Next to the clothing store was a small restaurant. How beautiful this long house is! The brown roof tiles were especially imressive. They were
probably made of tree barks.
Just a few minutes' walk took us to the next intersection. How small the downtown really is. Actually only two blocks makes the entire downtown!
The new street crossing Vine is "Illinois Street." At the end of the first block on this side of the intersection stood a furniture
store signed "The Wood Loft." About this store, advance to the second photo from here.
The same intersection, seen from a different angle. The street running from right to left on the photo is Vine while the one from the far side to
this side is Illinois.
The same intersection photoed at its east side. We were on this side. You can clearly see the street signs of Vine and Illinois. The Wood Loft stands
at this corner of the intersection.
This is The Wood Loft. It may be helpful for you to remember this store because it is a gateway to Amish tours in Arthur. So if you are interested in
directly experiencing the Amish life, you may want to contact The Wood Loft.
We actually stopped by The Wood Loft. Inside was a big space, and I saw a lot of sturdy wooden furniture of all kinds. The photo shows the front of
the store, through the big window of which we had a wonferful view of the main street. We didn't join in an Amish tour.
After leaving The Wood Loft, we crossed Illinois and kept strolling down one more block. This photo shows the left-hand sidewalk of that block. There
were a lot of interior and souvenir shops along this sidewalk.
There stood a country cheese shop on the other side of Vine. Becasue we had seen real Amish cheese the day before, we did not stop by this shop.
While I walked along the second block, I looked back and took a photo of Vine on the first block. You may realize how so beautiful
the main street of a small American town is!
The show window of "The Pewter Spoon." This is a gift shop. But you have a variety of items from children's games through skin care products. They
seem to sell anything small. Probably this is a way they survive as retailers in a small community.
Do you find what items are sold at this shop while watching its show window? This is a lamp shop named "Yoder's Lamp Shop." They sell both antique
and new oil and gas lamps. They repair and sell parts. Because this is an Amish town, there is still a big demand for non electric lamps!
Do you see a shop painted crimson on the left-hand side? What shop do you think it is? Let's see...
OK. So you see "FUDGE" sign here. For your information, fudge is an American candy made of sugar, butter, and milk. It's soft and sweet. So you
think this must be a confectionery store. Well, the answer is Nooooo! This is "Arthur Flower Shop"! Here again, we see one small shop sell lots of
different things for survival.
They even put this thing by the front door. What is it for? Maybe kind of a garden decor? Anyway it is cute, isn't it?
After walking about two blocks, the shop area was over. So, we decided to go back to the Welcome Center where we had parked our car. By the way,
do you see the IGA sign on the right-hand side of the photo? That is a supermarket, and to my big surprise I witnessed one Amish woman parked her SUV
at its parking lot and entered the shop. In this Amish community at least some Amish people aren't reluctant to use modern technology!
While turning back, I took this photo. It shows the entire shop area downtown Arthur. How small it is!
Day Four continues to the next page.
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