Matt's family LOVES to go on the most gorgeous trips year round, and I'm lucky (and thankful!) to receive an invite! This summer, we went on a weekend trip to beautiful amish country, in a cabin right on the lake. A few weeks later, we headed to Erie and stayed right on the water, lounging on a hammock in the garden.
They also turned me on to Nemacolin Woodlands Resort (and Matt and I have decided that will be our wedding location in the far future!).
This winter, however, takes the cake.
Matt's mother showed me a gorgeous way to relax: a treehouse, high above the ground, where we would all sleep and sit in front of the fire.
Immediately, I was on board.
If you follow me on Instagram (@themadisongreer, as always), you've probably seen a bit of the tree house on my story, but I wanted to dive into it a bit more! If you didn't see them, you can view them in my travel story on my profile page. In the meantime, I'll be sharing a few of my slides from it!
Berlin, Ohio is a little over two hours away from Pittsburgh, and en route you pass dozens of small stores run by the Amish folk. Their produce boasts organic signs written in flawless calligraphy, their homemade furniture has a unique craftsmanship, and passing by a horse-drawn buggy on the main road is something else!
The treehouses were tucked away in Berlin Woods. Our's was a three story wooden cabin thirty feet in the air, surrounded by picturesque dead leaves and a dusting of snow, with a wrap-around deck on the first floor. When we walked in, we were immediately greeted by wooden walls and floors, windows that replaced the back wall, with a stone fireplace and a small, lit Christmas tree to its right.
Going up the spiral staircase to the second floor, you came across a fluffy, white queen sized bed for Matt and I, and two other beds tucked away under a ladder to the loft for his brothers (more on that soon!). Next to our bed was a door that led to a balcony around back, which overlooked the woods and a nearby stream.
If you're a farmhouse lover like I am, you'll die when you hear this: the bathroom doors were huge pieces of wood attached to a metal runner on the ceiling. Sliding barn doors. As the bathroom doors. I cannot make this up.
See the little square jutting out of the top right corner of the house? That's the third floor, or loft so to speak. After you climb up a weirdly-shaped ladder and avoid a bump to your head, you set foot in a beautiful loft with windows all around, and a door leading to the deck. But the best part by far of the loft was the two-player Pac Man machine, which we all parked ourselves in front of and played all weekend.
If you're afraid of heights, best to ignore this part! Since we were up so high on some stilts and in some trees, any major movement we had launched the house into full on swaying action. Several of the lights hanging from the ceiling would sway back and forth with the house, and if you were sitting still, you could definitely feel it! I thought this was insanely cool, but my mom would not agree in the slightest.
Sunday was our only full day in Amish country, and because everything is closed on Sundays there, there wasn't much to do. However, this ultimately ruled in Matt's favor, as he was battling a cold all weekend long. He needed that! We did end up going to a little sports bar on the outskirts of town, where I had a pretty bomb turkey club.
When the stores were opened, we went to a few markets and bought fresh fruit and, my personal favorite, bags of chocolate! Seriously, you think Sarris is good, you should try this stuff. (Still love Sarris though)
Overall, it was an amazing trip, and I can't thank Matt's family enough for inviting me!
If you're interested in taking a look for yourself, you can visit the link here.
ALSO. I have something SUPER SUPER EXCITING AND AWESOME that I'm starting on my blog, and it'll be shared with yinz in a few short days! To give you a hint, you're not through with hearing about Amish country just yet... What could it be?!
Stay tuned ;)
xoxo, Madison