Saturday, October 8, 2022- Gettysburg

      We paid for the hotel for this trip over a year ago.   We had a Gettysburg trip planned for Scott's birthday last November, but we decided to postpone that trip because of colds (not COVID, but we didn't want to take a chance).  Julie had paid for the hotel over the Internet, but we called, and they let us change the dates to our Easter break at the beginning of our trip to see Peppa Pig in Florida.  As that got closer, we decided it would be more fun to stay with Scott and Dawn and not have to go all the way back to Gettysburg.  So, we talked to the hotel again and they let us postpone once more. Now it’s Columbus Day weekend, and we’re finally using that hotel room.  Actually, we got notice about two weeks ago that there were some kind maintenance issues at the hotel we had originally booked, and they were moving us to a different hotel.  Our original hotel was at one side of the Outlet Mall, and the new one is at the other side of it, but we’re here.  We’re a little farther outside of town than Scott usually likes to be, but there’s a pool for Abby and we’re near the supplies at Sheetz and the shopping at the mall too.

     After packing this morning and leaving early, we got to Gettysburg about 1:00.  Just before we arrived, Abby finally fell asleep for her nap.  We decided to stop at the hotel first to see if she could nap there, but she woke up.  Someone had told her about the pool here, and she was so excited, we had to let her take a swim before we did anything else.

     Once we got Abby out of the pool and dressed, it was after 2:30, and we still really hadn't had lunch.  We tried to make our way to the Lincoln Diner, but we were astounded at the amount of cars and people choking the downtown area today.   We've seen it busier in the summer, sure, but we came in October because we were hoping for it to be a quiet weekend in town.  It was not.  We couldn't find parking near the Lincoln Diner, so we drove around trying to think of a place that would be fun to eat at. 

     Scott remembered the Battlefield Brew Works was hidden away on the north side of town, near where we were.  He had been there before with Brian S., but Julie hadn't.  We decided to give it a try. It sits inside an old barn that was used as a hospital during the battle.  The floors are very uneven and must end up causing a lot of people to stumble after they've had a few drinks here.  The food was disappointing, and the beer was off.  It might be the first time ever that Scott didn't get a pint of something after he had finished with his flight of four samples.   Still we had something in our stomachs now and decided to face the crowds again.  

    We went to the National Park Visitor Center, and for the first time ever, we had to go through security in order to enter it.  We're not surprised we have to do that.  It's actually surprising that it wasn't started earlier,   But it did make it feel different entering the building and Julie was glad that she didn't have the boxcutter in her purse that she found in her desk in school this week.  By the time we were in, there was less than a half an hour to look around in the gift shop.  Abby got some candy corn that pumped her up on sugar for a little bit, and Julie got a Christmas ornament.

     When we left the Visitor Center, Abby was running ahead of us with the sugar that she had eaten.  She was fighting going to sleep and it didn't take long for her to doze off once we got in the car.  We ended up driving around quite a bit just to let her sleep.

    Julie's plan was to drive up to the Round Tops like we usually do in the evenings here.  She found the familiar way to Emmitsburg Road, but when she went to make the left to the Round Tops, she was shocked to see a "Road Closed" sign.  Scott said maybe that just meant for buses and suggested we try anyway, but after driving a short way in, the road was completely blocked.  We got turned around and went back to Emmitsburg Road and turned in at the Peach Orchard.  We got further this time, but once again found the road to the Round Tops closed.  Near the Crawford monument, we could now see that the monuments at the summit of Little Round Top had what appeared to be plywood around their bases.  When we Googled "Little Round Top" for news, we learned that it is under going a "Rehabilitation Project," to "address overwhelmed parking areas, poor accessibility and related safety hazards, significant erosion and degraded vegetation.  The scope of the project will reestablish, preserve, and protect the features that make up this segment of the battlefield landscape," according to the NPS website.  Little Round Top has been closed since July of this year and is expected to be closed for 18 months, which would seem to mean it will not be accessible during the 160th anniversary next year!   We were disappointed about not being able to go to one of our favorite spots.  As we left the area, we wove through Devils Den, and found its top was also surrounded by temporary chain link fencing.  

     Scott suggested we head to a covered bridge which we only recently learned of.  The Jack's Mountain Road Covered Bridge was built in 1890 and can actually be driven across.  It sits about 13 miles west of Gettysburg.  We enjoyed the drive over, if only because we were leaving the traffic of Gettysburg behind, but Julie was driving right into the sun.   Once the light turned green and she had driven across the 14 foot wide bridge, we had to find a place to turn around on the hilly road.  With the sun out of our eyes, we could see that there was a herd of deer watching these strange people going back and forth across the bridge.  We crossed back over and headed back to Gettysburg.

     We drove a little bit on the 1st Day's battlefield on the north side of town, where Scott wants to walk tomorrow.  The sun was going down and a nearly-full moon was rising.   Julie stopped at the Starbucks west of town and then called in a take-out order to Tommy's Pizza.  She dropped Scott and Abby off at the hotel and then went to the drive-through to pick up the pizza and wings.  (A few years ago, Scott had said that there was a drive-through at Tommy's and Julie didn't believe him.  We had to go to Google Earth's street view in order to prove that it existed.  Now she has experienced it.)  

    Our hotel room is comfortable and nice enough. It's kinda space-age and contemporary.  As we were eating our dinner, we both agreed that something was certainly off all day and it doesn't really feel like we were in Gettysburg today.