Day 18: Gettysburg, PA

Todsy we added a new state to our list, Pennsylvania. While we have all visited Pennsylvania many times before, it’s fun to mark this notch on our trip.

We headed up to Gettysburg from our friends’ place in Frederick. It was a short, pretty drive. We passed by a place that Mike and I had camped at with his family a very long time ago. Lots of nice pleasant memories.

I was particularly looking forward to this part of the trip. All the years I lived in Virginia, Gettysburg was just a short hop away yet it was one of those places that I have never visited. My knowledge of the civil war is extremely poor. I had no interest in history in my younger days. Now though, I find it fascinating and want to soak it all in.

The museum at the park is incredible. It details the events leading up to the battle at Gettysburg, the 3 day battle itself, and the aftermath, including Lincoln’s very famous Gettysburg address. After the museum we drove the Auto Tour route through the battlefields. There is so much to take in. Like all of the other battle sites we have visited on this trip it is quite sobering to visit these spots. We saw Little Round Top, Devil’s Den, the Soldier’s National Cemetery (site of Lincoln’s Gettysburg address), and so many more sites. It’s really fascinating following the strategy and learning about what worked, what failed, etc.

Ben worked on another Junior Ranger badge today. It started in the museum and was quite fun to see him apply his knowledge around the fields on the auto tour. Nice to know he learned some things today!

The weather is iffy at the moment. It started raining this afternoon, some storms off and on during our drive through the park. The rain was actually alright, it cooled things down from the tremendous heat and humidity of the last week. I think it kept the crowds down a bit too. Fireworks are still scheduled for tonight, if the rain stops, we’ll go.

Tomorrow is a day of reenactments here. Initially I wasn’t really thrilled about spending the day doing that. But, my interest has grown and I am now really looking forward to it. The weather is supposed to warm, but not as bad as this past week. Slightly overcast, maybe a few showers. Should be a good day.