Gettysburg- Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2012

We let the girls swim in the hotel pool for a while this morning.  They had fun until they clunked their heads together.  After that, we headed to the new visitors' center and browsed in the giftshop.  We looked into trying to go horseback riding, but everyone is closed for the season.  We made it to the Dobbin House for lunch and had the requisite sweet bread.  Anna got a photo of Dad with two straws in his nose.  Dad managed to delete it off of her iPod, but mom made him pose for it again.  That photo will not be appearing on this blog.

Julie took the girls to shop at the Boyd's Bears store that had become a mandatory part of our trips to Gettysburg.  They were very disappointed to find that the store was closed with "No trespassing" signs up.  It wasn't clear if it was permanently closed or just closed for the season.  Either way, it was sad.  The girls cheered themselves up by going to the outlet mall and shopping there.

 Meanwhile Scott had been dropped off on the battlefield and was wandering around playing Civil War songs on his mandolin.  It was a very quiet day for visitors, and he often was the only person in sight.  He started in the Wheatfield and went to the Irish Brigade monument, then he worked his way to the 64th New York, around to the "Valley of Death" area in front of Little Round Top, and off towards the Pennsylvania Monument, where the girls were supposed to meet him.  They met him by Father Corby's statue. 

By then, it was after 3:00 and time to head for home.  We'll get home late, around 10:30. The last 40 miles or so were quite hairy, with a lot of falling snow and unplowed roads. It's hard to believe it was 60 degrees and sunny on the battlefield this afternoon.