Thanksgiving in Gettysburg (cont.)

So we took our time getting up around this morning, and that felt good. We had breakfast at McDonalds, and then had some decisions to make. We drove to the National Battlefield’s Visitor Center and confirmed that it was in fact closed. Then we drove to the outlet mall. Everything was closed except Old Navy. Naturally, Anna and the girls did some shopping there. It had been raining, and one possibility was to drive on to Washington to go to the Smithsonians. However, for the time, it seemed to have stopped raining, so we decided to stay in town and explore the battlefield.

The girls and the dog were happy to be outside and climbing. We stayed at the southern end of the battlefield, and enjoyed Little Round Top and the Devil’s Den area. There is no other geography on this battlefield as iconic as this area, where the very Union seemed hung on the balance on the 2nd day, and where people like Joshua Chamberlain and his 20th Maine and Patrick O’Roarke and his 140th New York became legends. Some call this boulder strewn ground “ghost filled,” and others called it myth inspiring. The eerie landscape was called “Devil’s Den” before the battle took place. It was a little cool and overcast, but the girls were wearing the new sweatshirts from Old Navy, and were staying bundled up.

When lunch time came, we ate at the Perkins in front of our hotel. We had turkey dinners, of course, with pumpkin pie, although Emma had chicken crisps. We also learned that we should walk Schnitzel BEFORE we go in somewhere, so we don’t get surprise presents left for us in the car. After dinner, we went back to the hotel. The girls swam while Scott sat in the room and played guitar. Afterwards, the parents took a turkey nap while the girls watched TV.

We made our way out to the Peace Light Memorial at twilight and saw the flame against the darkened sky. We stopped at Codori’s along the way, a shop in the middle of town that sells German and Russian gifts. Anna bought a ring made of Russian amber. Emma was catching her own nap then, but her sister got her a Papillon dog to be friends with Hot Dog. We drove past the monuments on Seminary Ridge and saw the eyes of several deer peering back at us from the fields. We even spotted a fox watching us drive before he bounded into the darkness. Supper was at T.G.I. Friday’s. Anna wanted us to drive through the Outlet Shops again. We were the only ones there, but Aeropostale was open and had sales. The staff was getting ready for the Midnight Madness. Anna bought some more stuff. Then it was time to make our way back to the hotel.

Thursday, November 25, 2010- Gettysburg

We made it to Gettysburg safely last night. We left as soon as we could after school was over for Scott and Julie. The girls had been with Grandpa Wright for the day and went to see “Tangled” at the theater with him. The trip down was relatively uneventful. We saw a couple of raccoons crossing the road near Salamanca—that’s about it. We got here at about 11:30.

Schnitzel is with us. Julie claims that she couldn’t find time to look for a place for him, but we suspect that she was planning on bringing him the whole time. The biggest problem with him is that he is stuck to Julie’s hip. He’s fine when Julie is near him, but if she leaves to go in a gas station he whines and barks at everybody.

It’s Thursday morning, Thanksgiving Day. It’s raining here and is probably going to rain until noon-ish on Friday.