Pit Stop, Madison County Style!

“Pit Stop, Madison County Style!”

By K. Ross

If you’ve been following my blogs over the summer, you know that I recently sent my oldest son off to college.  No, I promise no tears this time!  He’s officially all moved and classes have begun…it’s been a slight adjustment, but he’s doing great!  So, now that he is couple hours away at George Mason, we have started to look for half way points for us to meet up.  This week was Culpeper!

I’m not going to go into too much detail about Culpeper, we really didn’t get a chance to explore that much.  We really only had enough time for quick catch-up and a meal.  But lucky for all you, I get to share a spot my youngest son and I enjoyed on the way home.

Have you heard of Yoder’s Country Market in Madison?  It’s been around for quite some time; they even upgraded their location to a larger building/farm right on 29 in Madison. (Rt. 231 was their older location.). Let me tell you…WOW, you definitely won’t miss this place if you’re traveling on Route 29!

When they moved to this location, not only did they keep all their favorites, but my oh my…they added so much more! From all things pickled to jams to local meats and cheeses to amazing baked goods (their pumpkin bread is a MUST!).  Let me continue…from spices to milk in a glass jug to every childhood candy you can think of.   Oh, I forgot to mention earlier…you’re going to be here for a while so plan accordingly!

After you make your way past all these items, you get to deli.  Not just any deli counter, here is where you order for sliced to order sandwich.  Oh wait, I forgot something else…COME HUNGRY! Now, if you didn’t listen to me and you arrive to the store not hungry, don’t worry you can grab some sliced meats and cheeses to take home with you!

Now that you grabbed all your goodies to take home, it’s time to get back on the road.  HAHA…no it’s not!  It’s time for the PETTING ZOO!  That’s right, they have a petting zoo…just as you pass the “common area” (where you can sit and enjoy your sandwich…if you were one of the one’s who listened and came hungry!) there is a quarter machine to load up on some animal feed as you make your way to the animals.  Here you’ll find some goats and alpaca to feed.  The alpaca are so cute and sweet!  Did you give all your animal feed to these cuties?  Go back and grab some more, let’s head on over to chickens, peacocks, turkeys, and some very unique looking ducks!  Kids or no kids…this zoo is a lot of fun!

Alright…have you seen all the animals and are out of animal feed?  Sorry, now it’s time to sanitize your hands and make your way back to the car…it’s time to get back on the road!  I know you may not want to leave, but don’t worry…you’ll be back.  I bet after you stop at this place, you will definitely plan future road trips that will allow time for you to make another pit stop at Yoder’s!  Or maybe you’ll just plan a trip to Yoder’s.  Safe travels!