When I got up the next morning my knee and ankle were feeling a bit better, but a bit stiff. After walking around for a while it felt a lot better. And it wasn't bothering me too much to drive.
Since we had been good and been eating breakfast at the hotel, we decided we wanted something a little different for breakfast so we went to McDonald's for some hot cakes! YUM! The food was OK. The other reason we decided on McDonald's was because it was right next to where we wanted to go, the Civil War Wax Museum.
We had gone there previously and had a lot of fun. The best part is at the end when Abraham Lincoln delivers the entire Gettysburg Address without ONCE moving his mouth. Very impressive! There is also a gift shop there so we looked around and found a few items to purchase before going through the museum part with the wax figures. I will say that the museum is priced perfectly. With our AAA discount it was less than $6 for both of us. We've been to other museums that were priced higher for less content. The exhibits are interesting, though the wax figures could use an update. It was nice that there wasn't anyone else there when we were. At the end of the exhibits is a final presentation about the battle of Gettysburg. We had just missed the start and had to wait for the next one, but that was OK. When it was time to go into the room where the presentation is we were the only ones. YAY! This meant we could talk freely and take lots of photos! The presentation has different scenes set up in the large room and there is a narrator who talks about the battle. Then when its time to highlight a scene it is lit up. At the end Lincoln appears from the floor to give the Gettysburg Address. It doesn't take very long and is actually kind of cheesy, but a fun cheesy.
Jennie Wade scene at the Wax Museum
Abraham Lincoln in Gettysburg scene at the Wax Museum
After we were done at the Wax museum we decided it was time to go to Hagerstown, MD. On the way to the highway we found the first shot marker. We were able to find a place alongside the road to pull off and Melinda jumped out to take some photos. We didn’t' want to take too many since it is located on private property, but we at least found it! YAY! Another monument crossed off our list of those to find.
First Shot Monument
We then headed for Hagerstown. There wasn't a lot of traffic, which was good. The way the directions took us we had to go through the downtown part of Hagerstown, which was kind of congested and crowded. Eventually we got to an area that looked more familiar to us. For this trip we had decided to try a new hotel. The hotel we stayed at previously had become really rundown. We were thrilled with our hotel! It was so pretty. The staff was really friendly. We had a poolside room on the ground level. The beds were really comfortable and it had lots of storage space. There was even a refrigerator. The room had a sliding glass door that allows access to the pool area. The only thing I was not happy with was that there was no lock on the outside of the sliding glass door and anyone can walk from the lobby to the pool area. That didn't seem very safe to us.
Our hotel room
After we unloaded the car we decided to go in search of food for lunch. The only downside to the location of the hotels in Hagerstown, is that there isn't a lot of dining options around. When we were driving to the hotel we had noticed a Burger King and after a search of the area we decided to go there. The were very SLOOOOOOWWWW. The food was OK, but the service very slow. We then went back to the hotel and took a brief nap before going to Frederick, MD which is about a half hour away.
Our last trip to Frederick, MD was in 2004 so we decided it would be fun to go to the civil War Medicine again. Though first we had to navigate our way through Frederick's narrow and confusing one way streets. The signs to the museum point you in the wrong direction. It took a bit of time, but we finally found it. By the time we got there it was just after 3:30 PM and the museum closes at 5:00 PM. We were the only people there and the staff kept checking up on us and it was actually a little annoying because we were trying to read the information and look at the artifacts. The museum is interesting, but kind of graphic. They don't allow photography, which is a bummer. They have a lot of neat displays set up with lots of hands on items. At the end of the tour is the bookstore. There are lots of interesting books. We browsed the gift shop for a while. I was disappointed that they didn't have any postcards like they used to have. We took some photos of the building exterior and sign before we went back to the car. When we were leaving the parking garage we didn't see that you are supposed to prepay. The person working the ticket booth gave us a hard time even though we were trying to explain to him that we probably wouldn't be coming back.
National Museum of Civil War Medicine
We decided to leave Frederick and head back up to Hagerstown. As we were leaving the museum there was a bunch of brochures including one on dining in Hagerstown. Melinda noticed that there was a Red Lobster not far from the mall we had found on Sunday. She wanted to go there since they had the endless shrimp. Red Lobster isn't my favorite, but she likes it. I ordered a wood fire grilled chicken dish that was very good. Melinda devoured shrimp after shrimp. The restaurant was a bit busy, but the service was quite slow. It took FOREVER for each of Melinda's shrimp orders to come. The waitress wasn't sure why it was taking so long. It was a good dinner though.
Since we were in the neighborhood, we went back to Target to get a few items before going back to the hotel. We rested a bit before going swimming. The hotel had an indoor pool that was supposed to be heated. I don't think it was heated very well because it was COLD! The water wasn't as cold as in Gettysburg, the air was very cold. We didn't stay too long. Plus we were a bit nervous about leaving the room with the sliding door unlocked.
When we got back to the room I took a relaxing hot bubble bath. It felt so wonderful.
We went to bed early so that we could get up early the next morning to go to the Antietam battlefield for the 147th anniversary of the battle.
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