As we've done before we decided to go down to Pat's house before leaving for our ultimate destination so that we wouldn't have as far to drive the next day. We picked up the rental car without any problems and then went home to load it up. We packed up the car, said to goodbye to the cats and were off.
. . . .Well almost . . .
We got down to our neighbors house when we realized we have forgotten the binder of information with all of the confirmations, directions, etc. So we turned around and Melinda ran into the house to get the directions.
OK.
Now we're off!
. . . Or not . . .
Again we got to the neighbors house and I realized we forgot the flags for the monuments. D'oh! So we turn around AGAIN! I run into the house first time, grab the flags and head back out to the car.
This is it . . .
We're finally going to leave.
This time we finally have everything and head on our way. YEAH! We made a few stops along the way like Sonic for lunch. We were a bit later than we had told Pat, but he was waiting for us when we got there. We hung out at his apartment for a bit before going to the Olive Garden for dinner. We wanted to go there for the never ending pasta bowl, but none of us ended up ordering that. It was a good meal though. After that we went to the grocery store to pick up a few items we forgot to purchase. We then went back to Pat's house and watched a movie before bed. I think I fell asleep during the movie. It was fun getting to spend some time with Pat.
Day 2 - Sunday, September 13, 2009
Melinda and I got up at 6:00 AM to get ready to leave. For once we were able to get ready and leave before the time I wanted to leave by. It normally takes longer to get ready in the morning, but for some reason this particular day we were pretty quick at getting ready. We had to go fill up the car and get some more ice for the cooler. We were on the highway by 7:15 AM. YEAH!
There wasn't a lot of traffic, which was great. The only downside was that we were driving East and right into the sun, but it wasn't that big of a problem. We were making good progress. It seemed that before we knew it we were on the Ohio turnpike. Driving on the turnpikes is really quite boring. Though the Ohio turnpike is mostly flat, which is nice. Again there wasn't too much traffic or construction. It was a pretty uneventful drive.
We stopped at last service plaza for lunch because we weren't sure how far the first one in Pennsylvania was. The last service plaza in Ohio is probably my least favorite since the only food offered is McDonald's, which isn't my favorite. The food was OK.
There was rejoicing when we crossed the border into Pennsylvania. Though this was the point where I began to get a bit nervous. I don't like driving through the mountains and even though the Pennsylvania turnpike isn't too bad, it still makes me nervous. It has been 2 years since our last trip to Pennsylvania and we forgot that there was a long stretch between two of the service plazas. We stopped at the first one we saw, but didn't stop at the next one. We didn't see if it said how long until the next one or else I might have stopped. We were driving along for what seemed like quite a while and noticed that there hadn't been any signs for an upcoming service plaza. Melinda and I both needed to stop. It seemed like it took forever to get to the next one. When we looked at the map inside there is something like 70 miles or so between the two. We of course realized that we should have stopped at the one we drove past. Next time we will know to stop there.
After we had both used the restrooms and fed the car we were back on our way. We had decided on a slightly different route than we have before. The normal way to get to Gettysburg is to take the Breezewood exit then US-30 East. This way takes you over what Melinda and I have dubbed "the swirly mountain of death." The first 20 miles or so are really windy with some sharp turns. Then it is hilly and takes you through a bunch of smaller towns. There is pretty much only one lane for most of the way. I remembered that when we went to Maryland in 2004 we took the same exit, but got onto I-70. That connects to I-81, which if you take it north connects to US-30. At the point where I-81 connects to US-30 it isn't as bad and you only have to go about 20 miles or so to get to Gettysburg. This route is about 33 miles longer, but both I-70 and I-81 are two lane roads and you avoid the "swirly mountain of death." The scenery in Maryland is absolutely gorgeous, though we really weren't able to get any really good photos.
At the point where we connected to I-81 we found an exit with a mall and a Target. I had forgotten to purchase additional batteries for the camera before we left and since I knew there isn't a Target in Gettysburg, we decided to stop plus we needed to stretch our legs a bit. The Target was totally bizarro! It was set up almost backwards from the one I normally go to back home. We got our batteries and left, eager to get to our destination.
There was some construction on I-81 near where we needed to exit, but it wasn't too bad. The only problem with taking this route was that it was the route taken by the semis and they liked to take up both lanes and slow up traffic. We finally got to US-30 and things began to look a bit familiar. Melinda and I were getting excited to see things we remembered from our last trip to Gettysburg in 2007. Soon we were at our destination! YEAH!
When I pulled into the parking lot, I just picked a parking spot near the front office. Melinda and I then both went inside to check in. When the guy gives us our room number and key I whisper to Melinda that I think I parked in the spot for our room. Each room is assigned a numbered parking spot. We go back out and sure enough I had picked the parking spot for our room! Spooky! We go and check out the room before unloading the car. We were there! YAY!
Our hotel room:
We were both tired, but excited to have finally reached our destination. We got to Gettysburg about 5:00 pm. We rested a bit before going out to go get some food for dinner. We decided on KFC since it was quick and somewhat reasonably priced. Melinda wanted to go swimming so we didn't want to go to a restaurant that would take too long, though in hindsight it might have been better to go somewhere else. We quickly ate our food and headed back to the hotel.
The pool:
My mom always made us wait an hour after eating before going swimming. Even though I know they say you don't have to wait, I always like to wait a bit before going swimming. Melinda was chomping at the bit and bugging me to go. So we only waited about 45 minutes after dinner. The pool at the hotel is gorgeous with three fountains that spray water into the pool. When we have stayed here previously it had been too cold to use the pool so we were looking forward to finally being able to use it. Melinda and I were both in for a shock though. The water was FREEZING! Though the air was warm, the water was VERY cold. I only waded in a few feet before wanting to get out. Melinda kept insisting that it would get warmer if we moved around, but it never did. We ended up sitting by the steps for a few minutes before we decided it was just too cold.
We went back to the room to warm up before going out to get some photos of the monuments at sunset. Since the hotel is located on the battlefield, it is really easy to go get some photos. We took a bunch of General Reynolds’ equestrian monument and then headed towards the Eternal Peace Light Memorial. There weren’t many people out, which was awesome. We then went to McDonald’s to get something for desert. We then went back to the hotel and changed into our pajamas. We each then crawled into bed and put on the Travel Channel DVD about the ghosts of Gettysburg to watch. While watching the DVD my stomach didn't feel very good, but after getting sick I felt a lot better. I'm not sure what it was that upset my stomach, but Melinda and I were hoping that it was just a one time occurrence. After watching about the ghosts we put a movie on since I didn’t want to go to bed thinking about ghosts since our hotel is located on the battlefield. Melinda and I both fell asleep during the movie. Melinda woke up after it was over and turned it off, but I was fast asleep by that point. The next day was going to be the first day of touring the battlefield.
General John F. Reynolds Equestrian Monument
149th Pennsylvania Infantry Monument and McPherson's Barn
Sunset photos
Day 3 - Monday, September 14, 2009
We got up early, eager to tour the battlefield. After quickly getting ready we grabbed breakfast from the hotel lobby and took it back to the room to eat so we could watch TV.
By 8:30 am we were ready to leave and anxious to get started. This was going to be our first time seeing the brand new visitor center, which opened in September 2008. The new visitor center is beautiful! It is very large. It looks a lot nicer than the old visitor center. The bookstore is HUGE!!! I think that is my favorite part! All those books! We decided to skip the museum and movie part and choose to grab a map to get started.
It was a bit after 9:00 am when we began our tour. From previous experience we had decided to start the tour in the middle in order to get photographs of the monuments at the end that face west. On previous trips by the time we got to those monuments the sun would be directly behind them and it was impossible to get a good photograph. Also most people start at the beginning of the tour so we were hoping to avoid the majority of people. So we started our tour on West Confederate Avenue.
Along West Confederate Avenue you will find almost all of the Confederate monuments at Gettysburg. There were a few other people at this point in the tour. It was funny because there was one couple that was behind us that seemed to stop at the same places we did, even if it was just to get a random landscape photo. When we got to the Virginia State Monument there was a tour bus there, but luckily they were on the side and not in the way of my photos. Though as we finished taking our photos I heard their tour guide say that there next stop was going to be the monument for General Longstreet. So Melinda and I were determined to get there before them, which we did. While looking for the Longstreet monument we did find a small road on the side with three of the Sharpshooters monuments we were missing! Woo-hoo!
Virginia State Monument
Louisiana State Monument
We slowly made our way along West Confederate Avenue towards Little Round Top. Along the way the way we looked for more monuments we were missing, but didn't have much luck. We had decided to save the hike up Big Round Top for another day. At Little Round Top we photographed a few of our favorite monuments: 20th Maine, 16th Michigan, and the tablet for Strong Vincent. Melinda went up to the top of "The Castle" or the monument for the 44th - 12th New York while I stayed on the ground taking photographs. The only downside to starting the tour in the middle is that we got to Little Round Top about noon and it was really warm. After going to the top of the Castle Melinda decided to go back to the car to get a bottle of water and cool off a bit, while I took a few more photos. Then I joined her in the car. The air conditioning felt really good. There were a few more monuments on Little Round Top, but we were hot and tired and decided to get them another day. Melinda was starting to get hungry and since we were at a point where we could get back to the visitor center pretty easily we decided to take a break for lunch. We take a few more photos along the way. On the way back to the visitor center we found a road that we had missed on previous trips that had 5 monuments that we had missed. YAY!
1st Vermont Brigade Monument
20th Maine Monument
Maj. Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren monument on Little Round Top
We had wanted to do a picnic lunch to help save money on eating out. There are several picnic areas at the visitor center. Melinda and I grabbed a table and enjoyed a pleasant lunch of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. After we were done eating we used the restrooms in the visitor center before heading back out to the battlefield. We headed back to the area after Little Round Top near the Wheatfield. There are a lot of small roads in that area that aren't part of the tour, but are rich with monuments. We drove around, trying to figure a route that would take as down as many as possible. We stopped at our favorite one, the 5th Michigan Infantry. It’s our favorite because it was the first Michigan monument we ever found at Gettysburg. I actually was able to get a few decent photos of the Irish Brigade monuments. For some reason that one is very difficult to get a photo because of the sun and the color of the monument. We then continued along the tour route, but detoured towards the Peach Orchard before heading back towards Hancock Ave. By this time it was nearly 3:00 PM and it was getting really warm. We decided that we would skip the monuments on Hancock Ave and start our tour the next day there so that the sun would be in the East and we could get good photos of the monuments that face West.
Irish Brigade Monument
5th Michigan Infantry Monument
The top of the 73rd New York Infantry (2nd Fire Zouaves) monument
Pennsylvania State Monument
We went back to the hotel to see if the pool would be any warmer in the afternoon since it was a warm day. The water was still freezing, but the air was really nice and warm. We managed to stay longer this time. It felt really nice after traipsing around the battlefield all day in the hot sun.
We then took a break before going to dinner at a local Gettysburg restaurant, Dunlap’s Restaurant and Bakery. We had eaten there in 2007 and the food was good. Plus it isn’t that far from the hotel. We thought if we went before 5:00 PM we might beat the dinner rush. When we got to the restaurant there were only a handful of other people there. Melinda ordered the shrimp and NY Strip steak dinner and I ordered a New York Strip Steak. When our food came our steaks looked completely different. Melinda’s looked like what you would think a New York Strip would look like whereas mine was really thick and looked nothing like hers. The waitress took it back because it wasn’t cooked enough and said that it was what I ordered. It was really good, but it was odd how the two didn’t look anything alike.
After dinner we headed back to the battlefield to do the first part of the tour that we missed earlier. The lighting from the setting sun was really pretty, though the shadow of the car is in a bunch of the photos. Will know next time to get out to get the photos! We worked our way once again towards the Eternal Peace Light Memorial. This time Melinda wanted to go up the observation tower to get some photos of the landscape. I am really afraid of heights and the observation towers at Gettysburg freak me out. I tried to go up since that one is the smallest of the towers, but my fear of heights stopped me after the first set of stairs. I can’t ever seem to make it up the last set of stairs. Melinda went up while I went back down to the ground.
Eternal Peace Light Memorial
Another pretty sunset from the observation tower
11th Pennsylvania Infantry monument at sunset
Once we had taken photos of all the monuments on Doubleday Avenue we headed back to the hotel since it was getting dark. First though we stopped by Friendly’s and each got a mint Oreo sundae that were sooooooo good! YUM! We took them back to the hotel to eat while we watched a DVD.
Up next: Finishing our tour of Gettysburg and traveling to Hagerstown, MD
