Rushland, PA

Month - April
Destination - Ross Mills Farms, Rushland, PA
Travel Mode - Road

Duration - 2 hr 40 mins

This trip would be a fun trip and centered around our favorite and only pet - Einstein. The farm came highly recommended and perhaps the only farm of it's kind on the east coast. We had rented their cottage for a night, along with spa and hoof trimming sessions for Einstein. Biggest to do was we had to figure out Einstein's transportation logistics, the last time we traveled with him in the car was when he was a foot long and weighed about half of what he does now. Typically he would sit in our lap but he's too big now (35 pounds localized to one or two hooves is like being stepped on by a woman in stilettos). We ordered a crate that we could fit in our trunk and decided this would be our best shot. We own a SUV but we had to scramble and scrape for space. Traveling with a baby and a pig calls for a U-Haul, lol. 

The morning of travel, we were able to lure Einstein into the crate with none other than peanut butter. After packing up the baby we were on the road by 10:30am, an hour later than we planned for but no complains, it's a lot of work. The drive was mostly smooth and at times a combination of Nio's screams and Einstein's grunts. A beautiful cacophony. We can't but have a good laugh about this life we chose to build. We love everything about it. Nio slept for his morning nap in the beginning portion of the drive but when he woke up we still had about an hour and a half left and he was getting fussy. Car rides are not his favorite so he had started to get fussy wanting to get out of his seat and look around. Jes then came up with this brilliant idea of distracting him by animatedly singing and stationary dancing to Michael Jackson’s greatest hits. It worked!

After reaching the farm, the first thing you realize and see is that there are pigs everywhere - behind enclosures, out in the open, inside the office area, outside the office area - just hanging. It is our private and public joke that we are the only people we know with a pig. We are probably the only people you know with a pet pig. So arriving to see so many pigs of different sizes, different temperaments, all living in harmony was really special and we felt at home right away. 

We dropped Einstein off for his bath and massage and we saw ourselves to the cabin. The cabin was at least 200 years old, very rustic and charming in its own way. The decor was PIG, it's a thing. See pictures below.

Pig on a Plate

That evening we had a nice cozy dinner (steaks - you are probably seeing a pattern by now) watching crouching tiger and hidden dragon which was one of the DVDs provided by our hosts because WiFi was not available "by design". Einstein by this time had explored the whole place and was just chilling with us. He was truly happy! To be honest, we were little bit concerned about how Einstein would behave, ie; peeing and pooping everywhere, and chewing everything. He did nothing of that sort. He stayed away from places we told him to and did his business where we asked him to and in general was much more calm than he used to be. We did have to get up in the middle of the night to resettle him once but overall he was just perfect and so was Nio, haha. 

The next morning we had an appointment for trimming Einstein's hoofs. We also realized that as smart as we were to pack dinner we didn't think about breakfast. So here we were getting hungrier by the minute, Jes considered eating Einstein's breakfast egg - the breastfeeding woman's hunger struggle is real. Anyway, we found door dash delivered to this remotest cottage so we ordered breakfast for four people, just enough for Jes' incredible hunger. Then the greatest treat, we walked Einstein on his leash for a bit around the farm, took pictures, and all the time Einstein was so well behaved - we were really proud. Of course, we couldn't walk much without someone cooing or telling us that he's a cutie, we get that for both Nio and Einstein. It's becoming a theme. So here we are ---

Full Family Portrait

Our drive home was about as eventful as the drive there, which is to say fairly smooth, given the nature of our passengers. This time on the ride back, the most bombastic Michael Jackson songs served as lullaby for Nio. They put him to and kept him asleep. All hail the King of Pop, you live forever!