I sort of forgot that I even have a blog! LOL I haven't updated it in so long. We had a blast in Orlando at Disney World. We stayed at Disney's Pop Century Resort, which was a blast. The theme there is split up into the different decades from the 1950s - 1990s. Our room was in the 1980s. It was such a magical trip and ShannyBear had an amazing birthday.
In April we went to Gettysburg for my birthday. I posted my trip report with all the fun and exciting details so be sure to read it, even though its quite long.
Next we will be heading to the Windy City for a weekend getaway.
Thursday, June 07, 2007
Gettysburg Trip Report
For my birthday this year I decided I wanted to go back to Gettysburg, PA because I wasn’t happy that we only photographed 28% of the monuments and only 3 Michigan monuments when we went in June 2006. That just seemed unacceptable. So the plans were made. We decided to go Saturday – Tuesday, but would leave our house on Friday afternoon to go down to our brother’s house in Detroit so that we could leave from there on Saturday morning.
The Buick
On Friday morning we were to go pick up the rental car from our local airport. I got a really great deal from National. Since my sister is now 25 years old we were going to add her to the rental agreement. Before our Orlando trip I signed up for the Emerald Club with national that one of the benefits of being a member is that any immediate family member who resides within the same household can be added to the agreement for free. This is perfect since we live together and she is an immediate family member. I called national and emailed them before we got there to confirm this because I wanted to make sure I understood everything correctly. We get to the rental location and they say that only spouses are allowed. Though I have in writing from National that she can be added as per the rules of the Emerald Club. They continue to get us grief over this. We decide that we won’t add her and are thinking we can finally be on our way.
We go out to find the car they had given us and it’s some Suzuki small SUV. I have no idea what it is. Well that won’t work. First of all we’re going to Pennsylvania and through the mountains and second of all I have never, ever driven an SUV, small or large. I don’t like driving in the mountains to begin with and definitely not in something I’m completely unfamiliar with. So we go back inside to see if they have anything else since we had reserved an intermediate CAR. The person working the counter thinks she has a Malibu out there, but it will need to be cleaned. That’s fine by me; I can wait while they clean it. She comes back in 10 minutes. The person who turned the car in didn’t tell them that there was a dent and a small crack in the windshield. So it’s back to the Suzuki. At this point I’m pleading with her to see what else she has. I’ll wait for however long it takes because the last thing I want is that Suzuki. I know. I’m a picky customer. She looks around and says that they have a Buick LaSabre, but that is a “premium” which would cost extra, but she manages to give it to us at the same rate as the SUV. Yeah! We now have something that I’m familiar with and comfortable driving. Though it is a Buick. ;)
Heading to Detroit
So I finally get on the road and go to work until 2:00. My mom was nice enough to pick up my sister and drop her off where I work so that I wouldn’t have to run all the way home to get her. So we’re off in the Buick! Woo-hoo! We stop for lunch at A&W’s. My sister had corn dog nuggets. A very strange and unusual food if you ask me. I had just a cheeseburger. And sadly this trip we were really bad about taking pictures of our food. After that we were back on our way heading to Detroit. Surprisingly enough there wasn’t much traffic heading south.
The first place we stayed was Great Lakes Crossing. We wanted to take some small Michigan flags with us to put at the Michigan monuments and there was supposed to be an Alamo flag store in Great Lakes Crossing. Well there was a jewelry store where the flag store had been located the last time I was there, which had probably been a year or so. You don’t go somewhere for a while and they change it all around! So we are walking down the one wing looking for a map of the mall when my sister sees a store with Michigan products in it. Its called something like “Love from Michigan” or something. So we go in to see if maybe they have some small, Michigan flags. We found them at the back of the store, but they were $4 each! That’s a tad expensive IMO. We decided to buy just 3-one for a monument of her choice, one for my choice, and one we would agree together on and the rest would get USA flags.
So with our mission somewhat complete we head to Barnes and Nobles in Rochester Hills! This is probably my favorite B&N on the planet since they have a large selection of used books for reasonable prices, sometimes-even $1!!! We hadn’t been there in a while so we found lots of good stuff. I ended up with 8 paperback books for $23, but used a $10 gift card my brother gave me and only actually spent $13. Not a bad deal. I think my sister got 4 or 5. After that we went to a dollar store where we found some USA flags. There were 6 in a package for $1 so we got 2 packages to make sure we had enough flags for all the MI monuments.
After that we went to Wal-Mart to get some last minute supplies and a couple of the things that we had left at home. Once we were done shopping it was time to go to our brother’s house. The only traffic we encountered on our journey so far was getting to his house since it was now after 5:00 pm and people were out of work. We make it to our brother’s house without being too late and the three of us go to dinner. We told him to pick where he wanted to and we went to National Coney Island. I’ve never been there and was a bit concerned since I do not eat Coney dogs, but he said they have other things besides Coney dogs. He ordered chicken quesadillas, my sister had her usual chicken tenders, and I had a chicken pita like sandwich that was surprisingly quite good. Our brother who is known as “the good brother,” paid for our dinners. Then we went to Dairy Queen to get some desert since we don’t have a Dairy Queen where we live anymore. We each got a blizzard. I can’t remember what they each got but I got Oreo Cheesecake, which was strange. It was Oreo cookies with cheesecake bits. When we get back to our brother’s house we all relax and start watching Simpson DVDs until its time for bed since we have to be up early the next morning to leave for Gettysburg.
We’re On Our Way
We got up early the next morning and managed to repack the car quite quickly. Normally I tell my sister one time and she is ready about a half hour after that. We leave pretty much on time. We stop for gas, ice, and breakfast before getting on I-94. Normally for every other trip we’ve taken we get stuck in traffic on I-94 heading to Detroit, but by some miracle there was almost nobody on the highway! And it was Saturday! In fact we didn’t encounter much traffic anywhere along the way.
It’s a pretty uneventful trip. We stopped for lunch along the Pennsylvania turnpike. We ended up making it to Gettysburg in 8.5 hours. We kind of took a different route than the first time we went. We stayed on the turnpike longer and got off near Shippensburg then took a series of other roads to I-81 then to Chambersburg Road (30).
Arriving in Gettysburg
Once we reached Chambersburg Road we knew the way to our hotel, The Quality Inn at General Lee’s Headquarters, since we had stayed there before. We checked in without any problems. The person at the front desk was very friendly and helpful. She gave us quite a few brochures and maps. In our room all of towels in the bathroom were knocked over onto the sink! That was kind of odd. Everything else looked nice and to be in order. We unpacked the car and rested for a few minutes before we decided to go explore the town a little. One of the things that we wanted to do while in Gettysburg was a Ghost Tour. We had decided that we wanted to go with Mark Nesbit’s Ghosts of Gettysburg Tours since it was seen on Unsolved Mysteries, The History Channel, A&E, and many others, which means it has to be good, right? We wanted to go get our tickets then go get something to eat for dinner. Using one of the maps that we got from the front desk we are trying to navigate the streets of Gettysburg. We eventually come up to Lincoln Square, which involves a confusing circle. Luckily we didn’t end up going around and around. We found the street we needed, but I couldn’t remember the exact address for the building, so we drove up and down the road at least twice before finding it. I found it all quite funny for some reason. We go in and get our tickets for the Seminary Ridge tour since that is pretty much across the street from our hotel. On our way back to the hotel we stop at Pizza Hut for dinner since we knew how to get back to our hotel then. We had a medium cheese only pizza and breadsticks. It was OK. Probably should have stayed in the oven a minute or so longer. After that we went back to our hotel for a little while, made some phone calls to let everyone back home know we made it safely to our destination.
Ghosts of Gettysburg
About 8:00 pm we walked over to the point where our ghost tour was going to leave from. Our tour was suppose to leave at 8:15, but we see another group of people leave and are concerned that our group is leaving us behind, but it was just another group. We took a few pictures before the tour started. There is one that is very strange. There is a strange yellow orb by my feet that wasn’t there and isn’t in the other photos. We didn’t see this until we downloaded them when we got back. Very spooky! There were quite a few people in our group and we start our tour! Its pretty clear that our tour guide has a thing for General Reynolds. She kept referring to him as “tall, dark, and handsome.” Some of the stories are interesting, but I question a few of the “facts” she gave. I randomly snap some pictures at the one building, which was used, as a hospital. There again are some strange spots in the photos that aren’t in all of them and not always in the same place. Very weird. After the tour is over we head back over to our hotel to rest up for tomorrow’s battlefield tour.
A Three-Hour Tour
We Got up early on Sunday, ate breakfast in our hotel room, then headed out to begin our “Three Hour Tour” of the battlefield. And the singing/humming of the Gilligan’s Theme starts pretty much from the beginning. Our first stop was the Visitor center. We were a little worried at first when we saw several busses full of school kids. We go in to pick up a map and ask one of the Rangers if they can show us on the map where the Michigan monuments were. We had found 4 last time and I knew where to find 3 more, but there were 3 that we had no idea where they were. The Ranger pulls out this nifty little manual that has all the monuments with maps that shows where each one is positioned. He shows us where all the Michigan ones are and puts little marks on our map so that we can find them. The entire time he was looking at the book I was thinking that it would be a great tool to have and wondering how could I get one.
We then walk across the street to the National Cemetery. This is actual the last tour stop on the route, but I find it easiest to go first since it is directly across from the Visitor’s Center. So with our binder of information in tow we set out to photograph all the monuments at Gettysburg. We entire a problem with the list right away. I had put them in order of street names so it was a little confusing. I was going to put them back in order by state name, but forgot to do it. This was definitely the theme for the trip. I swear we would have forgot our heads if they weren’t attached. So I’m taking the pictures and my sister is walking behind me trying to mark in the book which ones I just took pictures of. I told her not to worry because I could look them up when we got home, again thinking that a book like the Ranger had would be so helpful in our quest. After getting the monuments on the perimeter I seek out to find the Michigan men who are buried there. I sort of remembered where they were, but wasn’t that close! :) We placed a USA flag at the stone for the Michigan men. One of the things that people do at the cemetery is laying pennies on the markers, especially the Kentucky marker which is to mark the spot of the Gettysburg Address. We finished photographing all the monuments in the cemetery. I made sure to get all the sides of the Soldier’s National Monument this time. I was disappointed because they were cleaning the New York monument so I couldn’t get that great of a shot.
We see some more monuments along the road by the cemetery and near the Visitor Center parking. So we photograph those. We then see some more on a hill by the Eisenhower building so we go and photograph those. We eventually make it back to the car. We climb in, roll down the windows, and crank up the Civil War music we had brought with us. We are off! We make our ways without being hit this time to the start of the tour and begin the slow tour of the field. We in our quest to photograph all monuments find ourselves stopping pretty much every 10 feet or so. Good thing we have perfected our drive-by photography. This is an important skill to have for battlefields. And something both driver and passenger should be familiar with! LOL
We finally make our way up to the Eternal Light Peace Memorial, which is empty! Yeah! No one is really there. The last time we were there it was hard to get a photograph of it without anyone in the way. I was quite excited. We pose for pictures and walk around a bit just admiring the beauty of it. Shortly after this is the juncture where you can decide if you are doing the two-hour or three-hour tour. We decided we would do the two-hour parts this day and the three-hour parts the next day. Right before the turn for the three-hour part is a small observation tower. Its probably only 3 stories or so tall. Not very big. My sister climbed it last time no problem. Me. I didn’t even try last time. I’ve decided I’m going to be brave. I’m extremely scared of any stairs where I can see the ground, but I’ve decided I’m going to be brave. I made it up to the first landing before my fear of heights stopped me. My sister tried to get me to go up the last flight, but my feet wouldn’t move. So she climbed the rest of the way and I stood where I was. When she was done taking pictures from each side she handed me back the camera and I took a few from where I stood.
After the Observation Tower we continued with our tour. By the time we were done with the first part it was after noon! We had wanted to save lunch for the picnic area, but that was quite a ways off. So since the tour route would take us past our hotel, we decided to stop there go to the bathroom, freshen up a bit, eat lunch then head back. The Quality Inn at General Lee’s Headquarters is kind of cool because each room has windows that you can open. We opened the windows and sat at the table in front and enjoyed a nice lunch of PB&J sandwiches with the breeze drifting in the windows. Overall it was really nice. And the best part was . . . no bugs!!! That’s the worst part of a picnic lunch. So after we finished lunch we made sure we each went to the bathroom because we would be heading for Little Round Top where there really aren’t any bathrooms. And back we go. In case you haven’t figured out yet, our three-hour tour is taking longer than expected! LOL
We head out to see Seminary Ridge. Along south Confederate Avenue are the North Carolina, Virginia, Louisiana, and Mississippi monuments among others. In fact this is where you will find most of the Confederate monuments. Some interesting information: Gutzon Borglum created North Carolina’s monument in 1929. He is the sculptor of Mt. Rushmore. The Virginia monument was the first monument at Gettysburg from one of the former Confederate states. It was designed by F. William Sievers. At the top is General Lee on Traveler and the men at the bottom represent the various types of men who left behind civil occupations to join the Confederate army. There is a professional man, a mechanic, an artist, a boy, a businessman, a farmer, and a youth. This is one of the most beautiful monuments. It was from this area that Pickett’s now infamous charge was launched
The tour begins to wind its way towards the Round Tops. It is also getting to be mid-afternoon. We continue taking photos of all the monuments we see. I’m feeling pretty good at this point that we should get at least 50% of the monuments. Near Big Round top we stopped and hike up to get photos from two cavalry monuments and nearly fall in the mud while doing so. Further down the road we see some more on the slopes of Big Round top. This time just my sister gets out to hike up there. At the end of this road between the two round tops we see the 20th Maine monument. If you’ve seen the movie Gettysburg you will know who the 20th Maine is. It’s a beautiful monument. There are several ways to get to it. We hike up from this one road. After getting pictures of the front and one of the sides, my sister gets the idea to photograph all the sides, while standing precariously on the edge of Little Round Top. I thought for sure she was going to fall, but luckily she didn’t. We made our way back down the steep embankment.
We know that the 16th Michigan monument isn’t far away, sort of on a ledge on the one side of Little Round top. Last time we had no idea how to get up to it. While walking along the path back towards the 20th Maine after parking at Little Round top we were looking for the monument for Strong Vincent who was wounded at Gettysburg then later died. I spotted it and found a path through the woods to it. We were both very excited to find it. After that my sister thought to see if she could find a path to the 16th Michigan monument. Jackpot! We were able to get to the 16th Michigan and leave one of our USA flags. Yeah! After that we wound our way back to the main road and climbed the slight incline to the summit of Little Round Top. I will add here that it was VERY, VERY windy that day. It felt like you were going to be blown off the mountain. The wind kept blowing my hat off.
On top of Little Round top is this one New York monument that is really neat. Its called the Castle. You can climb up it and get an even better view of the land surrounding Little Round Top. My sister was the only one brave enough to climb it. Again – I’m too chicken! She said she felt that she was going to be blown away from up there. She said that the wind up there was super scary. We both made sure to rub O’Rourke’s nose for good luck. If you go to visit Gettysburg, it is said that rubbing his nose is good luck. It’s also the reason why his nose is shinier than the rest of the monument.
After climbing all over Little Round top and enjoying the views we start to head back to the car. While walking near one of the rock configurations a park Ranger was showing a group of kids a snake in the rocks! EWWW! I quickly walked the other direction. After Little Round Top is where the tour gets confusing. There are roads with monuments on them that aren’t considered part of the tour, lots of one-way roads and forks, and several forks that will take you in different directions. Using the map we had the Ranger mark on, we knew we had to leave the marked tour to find two of the Michigan monuments.
First though was Devil’s Den. We had fun climbing all over the rocks. Some people had climbed the huge rocks and were jumping down from them. That didn’t seem very safe to me.
Back on the road we were able to figure out the road we needed to find the 4th Michigan monument near the Wheatfield. We missed some in the Wheatfield, but I knew we had photographed them last time. After the 4th Michigan we found the 5th Michigan, which was the first one we had found last time. This one got a special Michigan flag. Right across from it is the Irish Brigade monument, which is such a unique and beautiful monument.
We eventually found our way to the Peach Orchard where we found the 3rd Michigan. We ended up finding a whole bunch on these roads that we had missed the first time. They are working to replant the Peach Orchard, so right now there are only baby Peach trees here.
After this we work our way towards the Pennsylvania State Monument, which is huge. Its gorgeous. You can see it from several spots around the battlefield it is so large. It’s a work of art. I was able to get some good photos, without too many people in them. You can climb up to top, which my sister did while I stayed on the ground reading about the monument. I am just amazed at it. Not far from it is 9th Battery-Light Artillery Michigan monument. And again a place where you have to decide if you are doing the two or three hour tour. Since it is getting to be late afternoon and there is still a lot to see we decide to continue with just the two-hour part.
One of the most interesting monuments at Gettysburg is called the High Water Mark monument. It is an open book supported by a stack of cannon balls. This is to mark the “high water mark” of the Confederacy war effort and is near the spot where the furthest point the Confederate army got with Pickett’s charge.
By this point it was getting close to 7:00 pm. The sun was starting to set. And the Amazing Race was on at 8:00. We finished up photographing all the monuments. Though some of the photographs aren’t that great since they were facing east and the sun was directly behind them. We did the best we could though. We have now come to the end of our two hour tour, which in reality was closer to 8.5 hours!!! I have no clue how you are suppose to do it in two hours.
We’re hungry by this point, but we have to be back to the hotel by 8:00 to watch the Amazing Race. This is one of the only shows that we HAVE to watch. We decided that it was only 7:00; we had time for a sit down meal. My brother had gone to a Friendly’s restaurant before and said it was good, so we decided to try it. We got seated right away, but couldn’t decide what we wanted. Our waitress was kind of slow. Didn’t she know that Phil was on!!!! It was very important that we not miss the Amazing Race. I ordered the Turkey Club SuperMelt, which is described as “The classic club taken to a whole new level. Sliced turkey breast, crisp bacon, melted American cheese, tomato and creamy Thousand Island dressing on grilled sourdough bread. “ It was very tasty! My sister ordered the Honey Mustard Chicken Sandwich, minus the cheese, which is described as “crispy strips of chicken breast, melted Cheddar cheese, tomato, shredded lettuce and honey mustard dressing.” She liked it. We both ate pretty quickly because we kept checking the time to make sure we would make it back in time for the Amazing Race. We both ordered a Reese Peanut Butter Cup FRIEND-Z, which is similar to a Dairy Queen Blizzard, though not as good as a Blizzard. We got our FRIEND-Z’s to go though since it was getting close to 8:00. I think we ended up getting back to the hotel by 7:50 pm. Phew! Just in time for the Amazing Race.
After the Amazing Race was over we both relaxed in the room. At some point the one channel was showing the movie A Knights Tale. This is the one movie on the planet that ALWAYS puts me to sleep. My friends and family like to joke about it. I’ve never seen the entire movie. In fact I don’t think I’ve ever seen the end. The record is 5 minutes in. My sister claims that I was asleep this time before the credits even started. I have no recollection of it even being on! :lol I guess it did the trick again! :)
Thus ends day 2 of our Gettysburg adventure.
Happy Birthday!
We wake up early on Monday, which is my birthday! And another year goes by where my sister has failed to wake me up at 3:00 am, which is the time I was born. She has been threatening to do for years, but always forgets to set the alarm. LOL We got up earlier on Monday that we had on Sunday because we had a ton of places we wanted to see and things to do. We walked over to the main building of the hotel for breakfast. As far as free continental breakfasts goes, this was nothing too special: bagels, English muffins, donuts, cereal, juice, milk, etc. Everything tasted really good though. After finishing breakfast we set out to finish our “three-hour” tour.
We have no trouble with the part by Barlow’s Knoll. Then we headed towards Culp’s Hill. In order to get all the monuments here we ended up going in circles and driving past some of them like 3 times because of all the forks in the roads and one ways. There was one road that went past the Indiana Monument near Spangler’s spring that we never did figure out how to get to since it was a one way and was the opposite direction from where we were. It was kind of fun driving in circles though! I think we got most of the monuments. We didn’t climb the very large observation tower there because it was kind of scary looking. I couldn’t even climb up the little one, there was no way I was going to make it to the top.
So after we are pretty sure that we got all the monuments we could find on Culp’s Hill, we finish the three-hour portion near the Pennsylvania Monument. This morning there is almost no body out touring the battlefield. I was so happy because I was able to get some photos of it without many people. I was also able to get some really nice pictures of the High Water Mark, because the day before there was a group of people with one of the park Rangers that just kept getting in my pictures.
Before we finish our tour we stop in the Visitor Center again to ask for the best way to get to the East Cavalry battlefield, which is about 3 miles east of the main battlefield. The Ranger gives us the direction and we decide to actually stop in the gift shop this time. The day before we didn’t want to spend valuable time in there. Its funny because the previous day I kept thinking that one of those books like the Ranger had would be so helpful in finding all the monuments. And what do you know? We go into the bookstore and there on the shelf is one of the books like the Ranger used to look up the Michigan monuments for us! AHHH. If only I would have gone in there the day before! So we both had a pretty good chuckle over that. We buy a few more items then go back to the car to head to the Cavalry battlefield.
We almost drove past the Cavalry battlefield, but luckily we didn’t. It seems that very few people go out to that part of the park. I think I know why. There is a strong smell of horse droppings out there from some horse farms in the area. And since there was no one else out there it was kind of strange to be the only people. Finding Michigan’s monument was easy. It’s the largest one. It is for the Michigan Cavalry that participated in the fight. Even though Custer is on the top, it’s a pretty cool monument. We took lots of pictures before we couldn’t take much more of the horse smell.
Thus concludes the tour of the battlefield, but not of our adventures.
Exploring Gettysburg
After we finished the battlefield tour we wanted to find the scrapbook store I had located on the Internet. The name of it is Forevermore Scrapbook (http://www.forevermorescrapbooks.com/) We had a vague idea of where it was. We knew it was somewhere on Baltimore Street! LOL We eventually found it and found a place to park along the street. What a neat store! They had so much cool stuff relating to Gettysburg and Washington DC. We spent probably 20 minutes in there looking at all the neat merchandise.
After our short little Scrapbooking shopping spree we had to go pick up the birthday cake my sister ordered from Dunlap’s Restaurant and Bakery. The place was packed with the lunch crowd, but my sister was able to cut to the front of the line and get out of there quickly. The cake was beautiful! It was at this point that we realized we had forgot to bring the candles we bought and the lighter thing to light the candles with. This happened last year too. I told you that forgetting things was the theme of this trip. We then took the cake back to the hotel since we didn’t want it to get ruined. After dropping off the cake we decided to go get lunch before going to the wax museum my sister wanted to go to.
So we decide since we still have a lot to do in not much time that we should stop by one of the fast food restaurants since that would be quicker than a sit down restaurant. We first try KFC. The line is out the door! There apparently is a bus tour group there. OK. We then go down to McDonalds. Again the line is out the door! Unbelievable. We were starting to get a bit discouraged and finally decide General Pickett’s All You Can Eat Buffet. We ate there the last time we were in Gettysburg. It was OK, nothing too great. But we had wanted to go somewhere else, but since all the other restaurants were lined up out the door and it was right there, we decided to give it another try. There was nobody there! Okay, maybe there were a few people, but it was practically empty. The food was OK. I think the salad bar was the best part. For the price it wasn’t bad. And it was quick. The cornbread and carrot cake were both really good.
So now that we have had lunch its time to go to the National Civil War Wax Museum. Its an interesting place. It has 30 different scenes, which help depict the war from the beginning to end. Once you are done with that part you go into this other room where it goes through the entire battle of Gettysburg. I think the most amusing part was at the end when President Abraham Lincoln appears from below and is able to give the Gettysburg Address without moving his mouth! Pretty impressive. :) I was surprised when they sad that photography was allowed since a lot of those kind of museums don’t allow photography at all. So I got pictures of the whole thing. The ones of Lincoln didn’t turn out that great though because of the lighting.
After we were finished here we still wanted to go visit the Boyd’s Bears store that is about 6 miles away because we both love bears! ;) Along the way we see more monuments! We manage to get pictures of a few of them, but will have to get the rest on our way back. The Boyd’s Bear store is HUGE! It’s a giant red barn that is 3 stories tall, plus there is a lower level! There weren’t many people there. The parking lot was kind of empty, but the store was so cute. I loved looking at all the little scenes they had set up with the bears. They are quite expensive though. My sister and I each got a pair of tiny animals from the Noah’s Ark set. I got pandas and she got kangaroos. These were only $5 for the pair. She bought a small Christmas bear and cute little bear ears to wear.
After we were done looking at all the cute little teddy bears and wishing we could bring them all home with us, we headed back to our hotel, stopping along the way to photograph the monuments we saw. I think we annoyed a couple people while doing this, but oh well.
Back at the hotel we decided to relax a little before going to dinner. I took a nice, relaxing bubble bath. Ahh, that was so relaxing and pleasant. After that we both changed for dinner. We ended up going to Dunlap’s Restaurant and Bakery where we got my cake from. We each ordered a steak, fries, and coleslaw. It was really good. The only bad part was halfway through our meal a tour bus stopped in and I don’t think we really saw our waitress after that. After dinner we walked down the street a little ways to photograph a monument we had been trying to get for the last two days because it is between two streets. After successfully photographing it, we saw a dollar store across the street thinking we could get candles there. We get there like 5 minutes before they are going to close. We split up in search of candles and something to light them with. We find both items right as they start turning off the lights. Its only 8:00 pm. Even the restaurant where we ate dinner was going to stop serving food at 8:00. That is so weird to us because where we live most stores and restaurants are open until at least 9:00 or 10:00 on Monday.
We walk back with our purchases to the restaurant where we had left the car. Instead of going right back to the hotel, I decide to drive past the hotel down to this little building along the tour near some monuments to get some pictures of them as the sun is starting to set. The sunsets were so pretty, but hard to photograph, though I did get some photos I was happy with.
After that we went back to the hotel to unwind from our busy day and to pack up everything to leave the next day. About 9:30 we finally decide to have cake. It was really good. It tasted a lot like my mom’s cakes, which were always my favorite growing up. The only downside to this plan is that we just had a ton of sugar right before bed! Needless to say I couldn’t sleep. Where was a Knight’s Tale when you needed it! ;) For some reason I kept thinking about ghosts in our room and kept expecting to see one by my bed. It was strange.
On the Road Again
We got up early again and loaded the car. We ate breakfast in our room. We ended up on the road towards home about 8:00 am. We decided to take the Chambersburg Road (30) all the way to the Turnpike. We were surprised to see so many rundown homes and business along the way. My sister got pictures of some of them. We had no problems getting to the turnpike. At one point we stopped at a toll plaza along the turnpike to use the restrooms. As we were going to leave to get back on there is a construction worker blocking traffic not letting anyone back on the turnpike because there is a slow moving paint crew going past. We ended up sitting there for 15 minutes while all paint crew drove past. It was very irritating. We had no other problems with the Pennsylvania turnpike. We stopped for lunch at a toll plaza in Ohio.
A little ways down the road, my sister looks for the toll ticket because she wants to see something on it. She opens this little drawer in the dash of the car, but the ticket isn’t there! She had put the Pennsylvania turnpike in there without any problems. There was a small gap between the drawer and the rest of the car that it somehow got sucked in. We are now a little panicked because there is no way to get the ticket out without really ripping the drawer off, which we can’t do because it’s a rental car. We stop at the next toll plaza to have a closer look at it to see if there is a way to get it out. I went inside and spoke to one of the employees who contacted one of the booth operators or something who said we would have to pay from the Pennsylvania border to where we got off, which is what we would be charged with the ticket anyways. So that sort of made me a little less nervous and upset. And even if they charged us for the entire length of the turnpike it would have only been $11.
So we get back on the road, feeling a little better, but still a bit worried about when we get off. About 20 miles from the I-75 exit it is pouring rain! It started out as sprinkles, but it got so bad I couldn’t see anything ahead of me. Luckily we were close to a service plaza, so I decided to exit and wait until it let up a little because I didn’t feel safe continuing on the turnpike. Pretty much as soon as we parked it started hailing!!! And its not small hail, its probably the size of a dime or bigger. Luckily this doesn’t last very long. Once the rain starts to let up we ran inside to use the restrooms since we had already stopped. It was still raining once got back on the turnpike, but no nearly as bad as it was. Surprisingly enough there was not one accident after the service plaza that we saw. There were a few cars stopped beneath an overpass.
I was a bit nervous as we approached the tollbooth at the exit for I-75, but we explained what happened to the lady and she was really nice. We only were charged from the PA border to that point, which is what it would have been with the ticket. So by this point we are both feeling a lot better.
It felt good to be back on I-75! Especially crossing the border back into Michigan! Woo-hoo!!! It didn’t take us too long to get to Detroit, though we encountered a lot of traffic near the I-94 interchange because it was about 5:30 now. It took a while to get onto I-94 with the traffic, but not too bad for that time of day. There were some huge puddles of water on the road at certain spots. We finally made it back to our brother’s house about 6:30ish I think. He had already had dinner, so after telling him all about our trip we decide to leave and head for our house.
For some reason my sister opens up the drawer were the turnpike ticket was and out falls a piece of paper that she had used to see if she could get the turnpike ticket. Amazed she closed and opened the drawer probably three more times. And wouldn’t you know that out comes the turnpike ticket! We both turned to each other and laughed hysterically. I had told her when we lost it that it would probably come out when we didn’t need it anymore. We had probably opened and closed it 100 times trying to get it to come out, but it wouldn’t.
We stopped for dinner at Cici’s Pizza, which is a pizza buffet restaurant with a lot of strange pizza combinations. They have lots of advertisements on the TV for it, but there aren’t any in our area. It was OK. The macaroni and cheese pizza was vile and disgusting. Yuck! My sister wanted to try it and for some reason I agreed. I wish I wouldn’t have. Yucky! Yucky! Yucky!
After dinner we finally started north towards home. We finally made it home to our house about 10:00 pm. We were both so happy to be home. Overall it was a fun trip, with plenty of memorable moments that still make us laugh.
The Buick
On Friday morning we were to go pick up the rental car from our local airport. I got a really great deal from National. Since my sister is now 25 years old we were going to add her to the rental agreement. Before our Orlando trip I signed up for the Emerald Club with national that one of the benefits of being a member is that any immediate family member who resides within the same household can be added to the agreement for free. This is perfect since we live together and she is an immediate family member. I called national and emailed them before we got there to confirm this because I wanted to make sure I understood everything correctly. We get to the rental location and they say that only spouses are allowed. Though I have in writing from National that she can be added as per the rules of the Emerald Club. They continue to get us grief over this. We decide that we won’t add her and are thinking we can finally be on our way.
We go out to find the car they had given us and it’s some Suzuki small SUV. I have no idea what it is. Well that won’t work. First of all we’re going to Pennsylvania and through the mountains and second of all I have never, ever driven an SUV, small or large. I don’t like driving in the mountains to begin with and definitely not in something I’m completely unfamiliar with. So we go back inside to see if they have anything else since we had reserved an intermediate CAR. The person working the counter thinks she has a Malibu out there, but it will need to be cleaned. That’s fine by me; I can wait while they clean it. She comes back in 10 minutes. The person who turned the car in didn’t tell them that there was a dent and a small crack in the windshield. So it’s back to the Suzuki. At this point I’m pleading with her to see what else she has. I’ll wait for however long it takes because the last thing I want is that Suzuki. I know. I’m a picky customer. She looks around and says that they have a Buick LaSabre, but that is a “premium” which would cost extra, but she manages to give it to us at the same rate as the SUV. Yeah! We now have something that I’m familiar with and comfortable driving. Though it is a Buick. ;)
Heading to Detroit
So I finally get on the road and go to work until 2:00. My mom was nice enough to pick up my sister and drop her off where I work so that I wouldn’t have to run all the way home to get her. So we’re off in the Buick! Woo-hoo! We stop for lunch at A&W’s. My sister had corn dog nuggets. A very strange and unusual food if you ask me. I had just a cheeseburger. And sadly this trip we were really bad about taking pictures of our food. After that we were back on our way heading to Detroit. Surprisingly enough there wasn’t much traffic heading south.
The first place we stayed was Great Lakes Crossing. We wanted to take some small Michigan flags with us to put at the Michigan monuments and there was supposed to be an Alamo flag store in Great Lakes Crossing. Well there was a jewelry store where the flag store had been located the last time I was there, which had probably been a year or so. You don’t go somewhere for a while and they change it all around! So we are walking down the one wing looking for a map of the mall when my sister sees a store with Michigan products in it. Its called something like “Love from Michigan” or something. So we go in to see if maybe they have some small, Michigan flags. We found them at the back of the store, but they were $4 each! That’s a tad expensive IMO. We decided to buy just 3-one for a monument of her choice, one for my choice, and one we would agree together on and the rest would get USA flags.
So with our mission somewhat complete we head to Barnes and Nobles in Rochester Hills! This is probably my favorite B&N on the planet since they have a large selection of used books for reasonable prices, sometimes-even $1!!! We hadn’t been there in a while so we found lots of good stuff. I ended up with 8 paperback books for $23, but used a $10 gift card my brother gave me and only actually spent $13. Not a bad deal. I think my sister got 4 or 5. After that we went to a dollar store where we found some USA flags. There were 6 in a package for $1 so we got 2 packages to make sure we had enough flags for all the MI monuments.
After that we went to Wal-Mart to get some last minute supplies and a couple of the things that we had left at home. Once we were done shopping it was time to go to our brother’s house. The only traffic we encountered on our journey so far was getting to his house since it was now after 5:00 pm and people were out of work. We make it to our brother’s house without being too late and the three of us go to dinner. We told him to pick where he wanted to and we went to National Coney Island. I’ve never been there and was a bit concerned since I do not eat Coney dogs, but he said they have other things besides Coney dogs. He ordered chicken quesadillas, my sister had her usual chicken tenders, and I had a chicken pita like sandwich that was surprisingly quite good. Our brother who is known as “the good brother,” paid for our dinners. Then we went to Dairy Queen to get some desert since we don’t have a Dairy Queen where we live anymore. We each got a blizzard. I can’t remember what they each got but I got Oreo Cheesecake, which was strange. It was Oreo cookies with cheesecake bits. When we get back to our brother’s house we all relax and start watching Simpson DVDs until its time for bed since we have to be up early the next morning to leave for Gettysburg.
We’re On Our Way
We got up early the next morning and managed to repack the car quite quickly. Normally I tell my sister one time and she is ready about a half hour after that. We leave pretty much on time. We stop for gas, ice, and breakfast before getting on I-94. Normally for every other trip we’ve taken we get stuck in traffic on I-94 heading to Detroit, but by some miracle there was almost nobody on the highway! And it was Saturday! In fact we didn’t encounter much traffic anywhere along the way.
It’s a pretty uneventful trip. We stopped for lunch along the Pennsylvania turnpike. We ended up making it to Gettysburg in 8.5 hours. We kind of took a different route than the first time we went. We stayed on the turnpike longer and got off near Shippensburg then took a series of other roads to I-81 then to Chambersburg Road (30).
Arriving in Gettysburg
Once we reached Chambersburg Road we knew the way to our hotel, The Quality Inn at General Lee’s Headquarters, since we had stayed there before. We checked in without any problems. The person at the front desk was very friendly and helpful. She gave us quite a few brochures and maps. In our room all of towels in the bathroom were knocked over onto the sink! That was kind of odd. Everything else looked nice and to be in order. We unpacked the car and rested for a few minutes before we decided to go explore the town a little. One of the things that we wanted to do while in Gettysburg was a Ghost Tour. We had decided that we wanted to go with Mark Nesbit’s Ghosts of Gettysburg Tours since it was seen on Unsolved Mysteries, The History Channel, A&E, and many others, which means it has to be good, right? We wanted to go get our tickets then go get something to eat for dinner. Using one of the maps that we got from the front desk we are trying to navigate the streets of Gettysburg. We eventually come up to Lincoln Square, which involves a confusing circle. Luckily we didn’t end up going around and around. We found the street we needed, but I couldn’t remember the exact address for the building, so we drove up and down the road at least twice before finding it. I found it all quite funny for some reason. We go in and get our tickets for the Seminary Ridge tour since that is pretty much across the street from our hotel. On our way back to the hotel we stop at Pizza Hut for dinner since we knew how to get back to our hotel then. We had a medium cheese only pizza and breadsticks. It was OK. Probably should have stayed in the oven a minute or so longer. After that we went back to our hotel for a little while, made some phone calls to let everyone back home know we made it safely to our destination.
Ghosts of Gettysburg
About 8:00 pm we walked over to the point where our ghost tour was going to leave from. Our tour was suppose to leave at 8:15, but we see another group of people leave and are concerned that our group is leaving us behind, but it was just another group. We took a few pictures before the tour started. There is one that is very strange. There is a strange yellow orb by my feet that wasn’t there and isn’t in the other photos. We didn’t see this until we downloaded them when we got back. Very spooky! There were quite a few people in our group and we start our tour! Its pretty clear that our tour guide has a thing for General Reynolds. She kept referring to him as “tall, dark, and handsome.” Some of the stories are interesting, but I question a few of the “facts” she gave. I randomly snap some pictures at the one building, which was used, as a hospital. There again are some strange spots in the photos that aren’t in all of them and not always in the same place. Very weird. After the tour is over we head back over to our hotel to rest up for tomorrow’s battlefield tour.
A Three-Hour Tour
We Got up early on Sunday, ate breakfast in our hotel room, then headed out to begin our “Three Hour Tour” of the battlefield. And the singing/humming of the Gilligan’s Theme starts pretty much from the beginning. Our first stop was the Visitor center. We were a little worried at first when we saw several busses full of school kids. We go in to pick up a map and ask one of the Rangers if they can show us on the map where the Michigan monuments were. We had found 4 last time and I knew where to find 3 more, but there were 3 that we had no idea where they were. The Ranger pulls out this nifty little manual that has all the monuments with maps that shows where each one is positioned. He shows us where all the Michigan ones are and puts little marks on our map so that we can find them. The entire time he was looking at the book I was thinking that it would be a great tool to have and wondering how could I get one.
We then walk across the street to the National Cemetery. This is actual the last tour stop on the route, but I find it easiest to go first since it is directly across from the Visitor’s Center. So with our binder of information in tow we set out to photograph all the monuments at Gettysburg. We entire a problem with the list right away. I had put them in order of street names so it was a little confusing. I was going to put them back in order by state name, but forgot to do it. This was definitely the theme for the trip. I swear we would have forgot our heads if they weren’t attached. So I’m taking the pictures and my sister is walking behind me trying to mark in the book which ones I just took pictures of. I told her not to worry because I could look them up when we got home, again thinking that a book like the Ranger had would be so helpful in our quest. After getting the monuments on the perimeter I seek out to find the Michigan men who are buried there. I sort of remembered where they were, but wasn’t that close! :) We placed a USA flag at the stone for the Michigan men. One of the things that people do at the cemetery is laying pennies on the markers, especially the Kentucky marker which is to mark the spot of the Gettysburg Address. We finished photographing all the monuments in the cemetery. I made sure to get all the sides of the Soldier’s National Monument this time. I was disappointed because they were cleaning the New York monument so I couldn’t get that great of a shot.
We see some more monuments along the road by the cemetery and near the Visitor Center parking. So we photograph those. We then see some more on a hill by the Eisenhower building so we go and photograph those. We eventually make it back to the car. We climb in, roll down the windows, and crank up the Civil War music we had brought with us. We are off! We make our ways without being hit this time to the start of the tour and begin the slow tour of the field. We in our quest to photograph all monuments find ourselves stopping pretty much every 10 feet or so. Good thing we have perfected our drive-by photography. This is an important skill to have for battlefields. And something both driver and passenger should be familiar with! LOL
We finally make our way up to the Eternal Light Peace Memorial, which is empty! Yeah! No one is really there. The last time we were there it was hard to get a photograph of it without anyone in the way. I was quite excited. We pose for pictures and walk around a bit just admiring the beauty of it. Shortly after this is the juncture where you can decide if you are doing the two-hour or three-hour tour. We decided we would do the two-hour parts this day and the three-hour parts the next day. Right before the turn for the three-hour part is a small observation tower. Its probably only 3 stories or so tall. Not very big. My sister climbed it last time no problem. Me. I didn’t even try last time. I’ve decided I’m going to be brave. I’m extremely scared of any stairs where I can see the ground, but I’ve decided I’m going to be brave. I made it up to the first landing before my fear of heights stopped me. My sister tried to get me to go up the last flight, but my feet wouldn’t move. So she climbed the rest of the way and I stood where I was. When she was done taking pictures from each side she handed me back the camera and I took a few from where I stood.
After the Observation Tower we continued with our tour. By the time we were done with the first part it was after noon! We had wanted to save lunch for the picnic area, but that was quite a ways off. So since the tour route would take us past our hotel, we decided to stop there go to the bathroom, freshen up a bit, eat lunch then head back. The Quality Inn at General Lee’s Headquarters is kind of cool because each room has windows that you can open. We opened the windows and sat at the table in front and enjoyed a nice lunch of PB&J sandwiches with the breeze drifting in the windows. Overall it was really nice. And the best part was . . . no bugs!!! That’s the worst part of a picnic lunch. So after we finished lunch we made sure we each went to the bathroom because we would be heading for Little Round Top where there really aren’t any bathrooms. And back we go. In case you haven’t figured out yet, our three-hour tour is taking longer than expected! LOL
We head out to see Seminary Ridge. Along south Confederate Avenue are the North Carolina, Virginia, Louisiana, and Mississippi monuments among others. In fact this is where you will find most of the Confederate monuments. Some interesting information: Gutzon Borglum created North Carolina’s monument in 1929. He is the sculptor of Mt. Rushmore. The Virginia monument was the first monument at Gettysburg from one of the former Confederate states. It was designed by F. William Sievers. At the top is General Lee on Traveler and the men at the bottom represent the various types of men who left behind civil occupations to join the Confederate army. There is a professional man, a mechanic, an artist, a boy, a businessman, a farmer, and a youth. This is one of the most beautiful monuments. It was from this area that Pickett’s now infamous charge was launched
The tour begins to wind its way towards the Round Tops. It is also getting to be mid-afternoon. We continue taking photos of all the monuments we see. I’m feeling pretty good at this point that we should get at least 50% of the monuments. Near Big Round top we stopped and hike up to get photos from two cavalry monuments and nearly fall in the mud while doing so. Further down the road we see some more on the slopes of Big Round top. This time just my sister gets out to hike up there. At the end of this road between the two round tops we see the 20th Maine monument. If you’ve seen the movie Gettysburg you will know who the 20th Maine is. It’s a beautiful monument. There are several ways to get to it. We hike up from this one road. After getting pictures of the front and one of the sides, my sister gets the idea to photograph all the sides, while standing precariously on the edge of Little Round Top. I thought for sure she was going to fall, but luckily she didn’t. We made our way back down the steep embankment.
We know that the 16th Michigan monument isn’t far away, sort of on a ledge on the one side of Little Round top. Last time we had no idea how to get up to it. While walking along the path back towards the 20th Maine after parking at Little Round top we were looking for the monument for Strong Vincent who was wounded at Gettysburg then later died. I spotted it and found a path through the woods to it. We were both very excited to find it. After that my sister thought to see if she could find a path to the 16th Michigan monument. Jackpot! We were able to get to the 16th Michigan and leave one of our USA flags. Yeah! After that we wound our way back to the main road and climbed the slight incline to the summit of Little Round Top. I will add here that it was VERY, VERY windy that day. It felt like you were going to be blown off the mountain. The wind kept blowing my hat off.
On top of Little Round top is this one New York monument that is really neat. Its called the Castle. You can climb up it and get an even better view of the land surrounding Little Round Top. My sister was the only one brave enough to climb it. Again – I’m too chicken! She said she felt that she was going to be blown away from up there. She said that the wind up there was super scary. We both made sure to rub O’Rourke’s nose for good luck. If you go to visit Gettysburg, it is said that rubbing his nose is good luck. It’s also the reason why his nose is shinier than the rest of the monument.
After climbing all over Little Round top and enjoying the views we start to head back to the car. While walking near one of the rock configurations a park Ranger was showing a group of kids a snake in the rocks! EWWW! I quickly walked the other direction. After Little Round Top is where the tour gets confusing. There are roads with monuments on them that aren’t considered part of the tour, lots of one-way roads and forks, and several forks that will take you in different directions. Using the map we had the Ranger mark on, we knew we had to leave the marked tour to find two of the Michigan monuments.
First though was Devil’s Den. We had fun climbing all over the rocks. Some people had climbed the huge rocks and were jumping down from them. That didn’t seem very safe to me.
Back on the road we were able to figure out the road we needed to find the 4th Michigan monument near the Wheatfield. We missed some in the Wheatfield, but I knew we had photographed them last time. After the 4th Michigan we found the 5th Michigan, which was the first one we had found last time. This one got a special Michigan flag. Right across from it is the Irish Brigade monument, which is such a unique and beautiful monument.
We eventually found our way to the Peach Orchard where we found the 3rd Michigan. We ended up finding a whole bunch on these roads that we had missed the first time. They are working to replant the Peach Orchard, so right now there are only baby Peach trees here.
After this we work our way towards the Pennsylvania State Monument, which is huge. Its gorgeous. You can see it from several spots around the battlefield it is so large. It’s a work of art. I was able to get some good photos, without too many people in them. You can climb up to top, which my sister did while I stayed on the ground reading about the monument. I am just amazed at it. Not far from it is 9th Battery-Light Artillery Michigan monument. And again a place where you have to decide if you are doing the two or three hour tour. Since it is getting to be late afternoon and there is still a lot to see we decide to continue with just the two-hour part.
One of the most interesting monuments at Gettysburg is called the High Water Mark monument. It is an open book supported by a stack of cannon balls. This is to mark the “high water mark” of the Confederacy war effort and is near the spot where the furthest point the Confederate army got with Pickett’s charge.
By this point it was getting close to 7:00 pm. The sun was starting to set. And the Amazing Race was on at 8:00. We finished up photographing all the monuments. Though some of the photographs aren’t that great since they were facing east and the sun was directly behind them. We did the best we could though. We have now come to the end of our two hour tour, which in reality was closer to 8.5 hours!!! I have no clue how you are suppose to do it in two hours.
We’re hungry by this point, but we have to be back to the hotel by 8:00 to watch the Amazing Race. This is one of the only shows that we HAVE to watch. We decided that it was only 7:00; we had time for a sit down meal. My brother had gone to a Friendly’s restaurant before and said it was good, so we decided to try it. We got seated right away, but couldn’t decide what we wanted. Our waitress was kind of slow. Didn’t she know that Phil was on!!!! It was very important that we not miss the Amazing Race. I ordered the Turkey Club SuperMelt, which is described as “The classic club taken to a whole new level. Sliced turkey breast, crisp bacon, melted American cheese, tomato and creamy Thousand Island dressing on grilled sourdough bread. “ It was very tasty! My sister ordered the Honey Mustard Chicken Sandwich, minus the cheese, which is described as “crispy strips of chicken breast, melted Cheddar cheese, tomato, shredded lettuce and honey mustard dressing.” She liked it. We both ate pretty quickly because we kept checking the time to make sure we would make it back in time for the Amazing Race. We both ordered a Reese Peanut Butter Cup FRIEND-Z, which is similar to a Dairy Queen Blizzard, though not as good as a Blizzard. We got our FRIEND-Z’s to go though since it was getting close to 8:00. I think we ended up getting back to the hotel by 7:50 pm. Phew! Just in time for the Amazing Race.
After the Amazing Race was over we both relaxed in the room. At some point the one channel was showing the movie A Knights Tale. This is the one movie on the planet that ALWAYS puts me to sleep. My friends and family like to joke about it. I’ve never seen the entire movie. In fact I don’t think I’ve ever seen the end. The record is 5 minutes in. My sister claims that I was asleep this time before the credits even started. I have no recollection of it even being on! :lol I guess it did the trick again! :)
Thus ends day 2 of our Gettysburg adventure.
Happy Birthday!
We wake up early on Monday, which is my birthday! And another year goes by where my sister has failed to wake me up at 3:00 am, which is the time I was born. She has been threatening to do for years, but always forgets to set the alarm. LOL We got up earlier on Monday that we had on Sunday because we had a ton of places we wanted to see and things to do. We walked over to the main building of the hotel for breakfast. As far as free continental breakfasts goes, this was nothing too special: bagels, English muffins, donuts, cereal, juice, milk, etc. Everything tasted really good though. After finishing breakfast we set out to finish our “three-hour” tour.
We have no trouble with the part by Barlow’s Knoll. Then we headed towards Culp’s Hill. In order to get all the monuments here we ended up going in circles and driving past some of them like 3 times because of all the forks in the roads and one ways. There was one road that went past the Indiana Monument near Spangler’s spring that we never did figure out how to get to since it was a one way and was the opposite direction from where we were. It was kind of fun driving in circles though! I think we got most of the monuments. We didn’t climb the very large observation tower there because it was kind of scary looking. I couldn’t even climb up the little one, there was no way I was going to make it to the top.
So after we are pretty sure that we got all the monuments we could find on Culp’s Hill, we finish the three-hour portion near the Pennsylvania Monument. This morning there is almost no body out touring the battlefield. I was so happy because I was able to get some photos of it without many people. I was also able to get some really nice pictures of the High Water Mark, because the day before there was a group of people with one of the park Rangers that just kept getting in my pictures.
Before we finish our tour we stop in the Visitor Center again to ask for the best way to get to the East Cavalry battlefield, which is about 3 miles east of the main battlefield. The Ranger gives us the direction and we decide to actually stop in the gift shop this time. The day before we didn’t want to spend valuable time in there. Its funny because the previous day I kept thinking that one of those books like the Ranger had would be so helpful in finding all the monuments. And what do you know? We go into the bookstore and there on the shelf is one of the books like the Ranger used to look up the Michigan monuments for us! AHHH. If only I would have gone in there the day before! So we both had a pretty good chuckle over that. We buy a few more items then go back to the car to head to the Cavalry battlefield.
We almost drove past the Cavalry battlefield, but luckily we didn’t. It seems that very few people go out to that part of the park. I think I know why. There is a strong smell of horse droppings out there from some horse farms in the area. And since there was no one else out there it was kind of strange to be the only people. Finding Michigan’s monument was easy. It’s the largest one. It is for the Michigan Cavalry that participated in the fight. Even though Custer is on the top, it’s a pretty cool monument. We took lots of pictures before we couldn’t take much more of the horse smell.
Thus concludes the tour of the battlefield, but not of our adventures.
Exploring Gettysburg
After we finished the battlefield tour we wanted to find the scrapbook store I had located on the Internet. The name of it is Forevermore Scrapbook (http://www.forevermorescrapbooks.com/) We had a vague idea of where it was. We knew it was somewhere on Baltimore Street! LOL We eventually found it and found a place to park along the street. What a neat store! They had so much cool stuff relating to Gettysburg and Washington DC. We spent probably 20 minutes in there looking at all the neat merchandise.
After our short little Scrapbooking shopping spree we had to go pick up the birthday cake my sister ordered from Dunlap’s Restaurant and Bakery. The place was packed with the lunch crowd, but my sister was able to cut to the front of the line and get out of there quickly. The cake was beautiful! It was at this point that we realized we had forgot to bring the candles we bought and the lighter thing to light the candles with. This happened last year too. I told you that forgetting things was the theme of this trip. We then took the cake back to the hotel since we didn’t want it to get ruined. After dropping off the cake we decided to go get lunch before going to the wax museum my sister wanted to go to.
So we decide since we still have a lot to do in not much time that we should stop by one of the fast food restaurants since that would be quicker than a sit down restaurant. We first try KFC. The line is out the door! There apparently is a bus tour group there. OK. We then go down to McDonalds. Again the line is out the door! Unbelievable. We were starting to get a bit discouraged and finally decide General Pickett’s All You Can Eat Buffet. We ate there the last time we were in Gettysburg. It was OK, nothing too great. But we had wanted to go somewhere else, but since all the other restaurants were lined up out the door and it was right there, we decided to give it another try. There was nobody there! Okay, maybe there were a few people, but it was practically empty. The food was OK. I think the salad bar was the best part. For the price it wasn’t bad. And it was quick. The cornbread and carrot cake were both really good.
So now that we have had lunch its time to go to the National Civil War Wax Museum. Its an interesting place. It has 30 different scenes, which help depict the war from the beginning to end. Once you are done with that part you go into this other room where it goes through the entire battle of Gettysburg. I think the most amusing part was at the end when President Abraham Lincoln appears from below and is able to give the Gettysburg Address without moving his mouth! Pretty impressive. :) I was surprised when they sad that photography was allowed since a lot of those kind of museums don’t allow photography at all. So I got pictures of the whole thing. The ones of Lincoln didn’t turn out that great though because of the lighting.
After we were finished here we still wanted to go visit the Boyd’s Bears store that is about 6 miles away because we both love bears! ;) Along the way we see more monuments! We manage to get pictures of a few of them, but will have to get the rest on our way back. The Boyd’s Bear store is HUGE! It’s a giant red barn that is 3 stories tall, plus there is a lower level! There weren’t many people there. The parking lot was kind of empty, but the store was so cute. I loved looking at all the little scenes they had set up with the bears. They are quite expensive though. My sister and I each got a pair of tiny animals from the Noah’s Ark set. I got pandas and she got kangaroos. These were only $5 for the pair. She bought a small Christmas bear and cute little bear ears to wear.
After we were done looking at all the cute little teddy bears and wishing we could bring them all home with us, we headed back to our hotel, stopping along the way to photograph the monuments we saw. I think we annoyed a couple people while doing this, but oh well.
Back at the hotel we decided to relax a little before going to dinner. I took a nice, relaxing bubble bath. Ahh, that was so relaxing and pleasant. After that we both changed for dinner. We ended up going to Dunlap’s Restaurant and Bakery where we got my cake from. We each ordered a steak, fries, and coleslaw. It was really good. The only bad part was halfway through our meal a tour bus stopped in and I don’t think we really saw our waitress after that. After dinner we walked down the street a little ways to photograph a monument we had been trying to get for the last two days because it is between two streets. After successfully photographing it, we saw a dollar store across the street thinking we could get candles there. We get there like 5 minutes before they are going to close. We split up in search of candles and something to light them with. We find both items right as they start turning off the lights. Its only 8:00 pm. Even the restaurant where we ate dinner was going to stop serving food at 8:00. That is so weird to us because where we live most stores and restaurants are open until at least 9:00 or 10:00 on Monday.
We walk back with our purchases to the restaurant where we had left the car. Instead of going right back to the hotel, I decide to drive past the hotel down to this little building along the tour near some monuments to get some pictures of them as the sun is starting to set. The sunsets were so pretty, but hard to photograph, though I did get some photos I was happy with.
After that we went back to the hotel to unwind from our busy day and to pack up everything to leave the next day. About 9:30 we finally decide to have cake. It was really good. It tasted a lot like my mom’s cakes, which were always my favorite growing up. The only downside to this plan is that we just had a ton of sugar right before bed! Needless to say I couldn’t sleep. Where was a Knight’s Tale when you needed it! ;) For some reason I kept thinking about ghosts in our room and kept expecting to see one by my bed. It was strange.
On the Road Again
We got up early again and loaded the car. We ate breakfast in our room. We ended up on the road towards home about 8:00 am. We decided to take the Chambersburg Road (30) all the way to the Turnpike. We were surprised to see so many rundown homes and business along the way. My sister got pictures of some of them. We had no problems getting to the turnpike. At one point we stopped at a toll plaza along the turnpike to use the restrooms. As we were going to leave to get back on there is a construction worker blocking traffic not letting anyone back on the turnpike because there is a slow moving paint crew going past. We ended up sitting there for 15 minutes while all paint crew drove past. It was very irritating. We had no other problems with the Pennsylvania turnpike. We stopped for lunch at a toll plaza in Ohio.
A little ways down the road, my sister looks for the toll ticket because she wants to see something on it. She opens this little drawer in the dash of the car, but the ticket isn’t there! She had put the Pennsylvania turnpike in there without any problems. There was a small gap between the drawer and the rest of the car that it somehow got sucked in. We are now a little panicked because there is no way to get the ticket out without really ripping the drawer off, which we can’t do because it’s a rental car. We stop at the next toll plaza to have a closer look at it to see if there is a way to get it out. I went inside and spoke to one of the employees who contacted one of the booth operators or something who said we would have to pay from the Pennsylvania border to where we got off, which is what we would be charged with the ticket anyways. So that sort of made me a little less nervous and upset. And even if they charged us for the entire length of the turnpike it would have only been $11.
So we get back on the road, feeling a little better, but still a bit worried about when we get off. About 20 miles from the I-75 exit it is pouring rain! It started out as sprinkles, but it got so bad I couldn’t see anything ahead of me. Luckily we were close to a service plaza, so I decided to exit and wait until it let up a little because I didn’t feel safe continuing on the turnpike. Pretty much as soon as we parked it started hailing!!! And its not small hail, its probably the size of a dime or bigger. Luckily this doesn’t last very long. Once the rain starts to let up we ran inside to use the restrooms since we had already stopped. It was still raining once got back on the turnpike, but no nearly as bad as it was. Surprisingly enough there was not one accident after the service plaza that we saw. There were a few cars stopped beneath an overpass.
I was a bit nervous as we approached the tollbooth at the exit for I-75, but we explained what happened to the lady and she was really nice. We only were charged from the PA border to that point, which is what it would have been with the ticket. So by this point we are both feeling a lot better.
It felt good to be back on I-75! Especially crossing the border back into Michigan! Woo-hoo!!! It didn’t take us too long to get to Detroit, though we encountered a lot of traffic near the I-94 interchange because it was about 5:30 now. It took a while to get onto I-94 with the traffic, but not too bad for that time of day. There were some huge puddles of water on the road at certain spots. We finally made it back to our brother’s house about 6:30ish I think. He had already had dinner, so after telling him all about our trip we decide to leave and head for our house.
For some reason my sister opens up the drawer were the turnpike ticket was and out falls a piece of paper that she had used to see if she could get the turnpike ticket. Amazed she closed and opened the drawer probably three more times. And wouldn’t you know that out comes the turnpike ticket! We both turned to each other and laughed hysterically. I had told her when we lost it that it would probably come out when we didn’t need it anymore. We had probably opened and closed it 100 times trying to get it to come out, but it wouldn’t.
We stopped for dinner at Cici’s Pizza, which is a pizza buffet restaurant with a lot of strange pizza combinations. They have lots of advertisements on the TV for it, but there aren’t any in our area. It was OK. The macaroni and cheese pizza was vile and disgusting. Yuck! My sister wanted to try it and for some reason I agreed. I wish I wouldn’t have. Yucky! Yucky! Yucky!
After dinner we finally started north towards home. We finally made it home to our house about 10:00 pm. We were both so happy to be home. Overall it was a fun trip, with plenty of memorable moments that still make us laugh.
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