Gettysburg

The day after we went to Churchill Downs, we started on the 560 mile and 9 hour journey to Gettysburg.  This was a gorgeous drive.  Very green and needless to say many trees.  I don't know if I can come up with the right superlatives to describe it that would do it justice.  And Pennsylvania is just awesome.  If I didn't have an idea about how awful the winter weather can be there, I would probably live there!! 

We arrived in Gettysburg at about 5 o'clock.  It was a very nice day and a very nice drive.  Not at all what we were expecting.  The forecast said rainy weather all the way.  Well, we did get rainy weather....the next day.  The very day we were going to the battlefield :(  Not good.  I went to WalMart and picked up a cheap umbrella.  I needed it!  

Gettysburg is a huge battlefield.  I can't remember all the particulars off the top of my head but you might get an idea by the fact that we spent eight hours there.....and we ended up going back the next day!!  On the first day, we went to the visitors center.  We started off by going on a 90 minute informational talk/walk with one of the park rangers.  This guy really knew his stuff.  The last time I really paid any close attention to the Battle of Gettysburg was in high school American History (and I don't think I paid very good attention then....).  The guide really did a good job of bringing it all to life.  Really a wonderful storyteller.  The only drawback was the weather.  It would have been much more enjoyable if it didn't start pouring rain.   I do have to give it to him.....he was in short sleeves with no jacket or umbrella (and it was cold!!).  He said that as long as people showed up he would do the full tour.  I will say that we were probably the most ill informed in the whole group.  These people really knew their Civil War history! 

After the guided tour, we purchased the CD tour from the gift shop.  We were told that this was really a good way to go in seeing the whole battlefield.  Of course, we could have paid $55 for the personal tour guide to ride around in our vehicle with us.  This probably would have been the best way to experience the battlefield...the only thing was that our vehicle was packed with stuff for our trip so there wasn't any room.  The auto CD was really good and took us around to most all of the sights.  There were a couple of places we have to seek out on our own the next day but otherwise we got a pretty comprehensive tour. 

I could go through all the good stories I heard but it's probably better to pick up a good Civil War history book!  But here are a few photos from our day.  Enjoy!!