I'm finally getting around to posting the items I wrote but couldn't post in Gettysburg:
Monday
Amish Country and Gettysburg
I’m typing this now and we’ll post it later. The hotel we’re in doesn’t have the easy internet access that we did last time.
We left Philadelphia early and rode through Amish country. We saw many wagons being pulled along the rode. The girls had fun spotting the animals on the farms. There were countless horses and cows, lots of sheep, some goats and even some llamas. We stopped at “The Amish Experience: A Multimedia Show.” It seems an oxymoron, to be sure, and I wonder what the Amish actually think of it. It seemed to offer us lots of insights into Amish culture, in a multi-screen, special effects filled presentation.
We arrived in Gettysburg around lunchtime, and we went to the new movie theater complex east of town. They continually show a movie specially produced for that theater called, Fields of Freedom. It’s basically a twenty-five minute look at Pickett’s Charge. Anna seemed to get a lot out of it, and was asking questions about it for the rest of the day as we explored the battlefield.
Julie’s first stop was the Boyd’s Bears barn, south of town. The girls all loved it there. Anna adopted a baby bear named Samantha. Emma boughta mommy pig that holds a little baby. From there, we went to some other shopping in the junk shops near our hotel.
We’re staying in the Three Crowns hotel, which is a little bit of a dive but it is right in the middle of everything. Of course, we had to eat at the Dobbin House where Julie had sweetbread. Emma slept through it all and we had to get McDonald’s for her later, Scott went for a walk all the way along the Union lines from the
Visitor’s Center to Little Round Top. Julie and the girls were to meet him there
in the van and pick him up. It was a great walk until the very end. Just over the crest of the hill, Scott was looking for a place to sit and wait for the girls. As he did, he twisted his ankle in the ditch along the side of the road and went down hard. His jeans were torn where his left knee got skinned up. Worse, his right ankle was quite swollen. Julie and Anna tended to him as he laid in bed and iced it up.
Tuesday
Lots of Activity in Gettysburg
The day was cool, but bright and sunny. Scott’s ankle was good enough to let him walk again. We went to Wal-mart to buy a new pair of jeans, and then we were ready for anything.
We started at the Visitor’s Center and did a little exploring there. Anna counted about 300 guns on display. Then, Julie and Anna roller bladed from the Cyclorama down past the Pennsylvania monument and back while pushing Emma in the stroller. Meanwhile, Scott repeated his walking trip down to Little Round Top. There, he took a podcast walking tour of the Round Top area that he had downloaded from the Internet to his MP3 player.
When the family reunited, we came back to the hotel. The girls then went off on a bike ride, which took them down to Devil’s Den and back. Julie was pedaling and the two girls were riding behind in the towed cart. Scott was browsing in some of the shops near the hotel. When we reunited we went to the Dobbin House again for lunch and had plates of fruit, cheese, and of course, sweet bread.
After dinner, Scott rode the bike all the way from the hotel out through the Lutheran Seminary to the Peace Light Memorial, where Julie picked him up. Anna and Emma were there too, but they were pooped. It was still early in the evening, but we decided to call it a day and returned to the hotel. Even though it was still light out, we were all exhausted.
Wednesday
More in Gettysburg
We got up today and went shopping. Our big stop was at Gettysburg Village, the outlet mall on the outskirts of town. We spent over two and a half hours there, and I don’t know how much money. Anna, Emma and Julie each got a bunch of tax-free on-sale clothes, and even Scott got a couple of Gettysburg shirts. We had an early lunch at the food court there, but not early enough to beat the busloads of kids that arrived. There have been school groups all over the place this time.
When we got back to the hotel, Julie and the girls took the bike on the back of the van. They drove it out to Little Round Top, parked the van there, and rode the bike and the bike trailer back. Scott got all decked out in his Civil War uniform and walked the battlefield. (He claims it was not just his plan to get his picture taken by busloads of teenaged girls.) He walked down the Union lines again, and went through the Wheatfield. After a stop at Henry Fuller’s monument and a walk on
the horse paths to Devil’s Den, he ended up getting the van at Little Round Top and riding back.
Anna wanted to have dinner at the Dobbin House again. We then drove around the battlefield again until well after dark. We even saw a fox who ran in front over our car near Big Round Top.
