Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Saturday-Tuesday, October 22-25, 2011
STATS
Departure: 10:00 am
Arrival: 1:00 pm EDT, Gettysburg Battlefield KOA, Gettysburg, PA
Distance: 60 miles
Comments:
Gettysburg was fascinating and beautiful. We pulled into the campground on Saturday, spent three days in the area (Sunday – Tuesday), and left on Wednesday.
This KOA was packed, and on Saturday night there was a big Halloween celebration. Almost everyone there had some kind of Halloween decoration (except us, of course), ranging from the very simple to the extremely elaborate. At dusk, all the kids in the campground (there were about 150 of them) paraded through and collected candy from the campers (We didn’t have any candy, so I hid in the RV, and Barbara sat outside but well back from the parade). These New England people take Halloween very seriously. We’ve seen houses all month that are decorated for Halloween. What happened in California? I guess when the pioneers were moving west, the deserts and salt flats cooked their brains, and they forgot about Halloween decorations. It’s much more festive out here.
On Sunday, everybody left, and the campground was a ghost town. We took advantage of the quiet time and did some chores that needed to be done.
On Monday we took a tour of the battlefield. It was quite sobering. 52,000 men were killed, wounded, captured, or otherwise lost (deserted) in the battle of Gettysburg. It was the bloodiest battle of the Civil War. We walked in the same places where Southern and Northern troops were deployed. We saw for our own eyes why the hill called Little Round Top was so important to hold (you can see the entire battlefield). The fact that Union soldiers were able to hold the hill probably accounted for their winning the battle. This was a turning point in the war—the only battle fought on northern soil. After this battle, the war continued for two more years, but the North had the momentum.
It’s strange to think that if the soldiers on Little Round Top had not held the hill, the South might have won the war, and we would now be two separate nations. You’d need a passport to drive into Texas.
On a lighter note, I got my hair cut on Tuesday (wow), and we found an old country store in Bigglerville and pawed around in there for a while.
That evening, we dined at the Farnsworth House and had traditional, Civil War-era fare (Barbara had a game pot pie—turkey, duck, and pheasant and I had the Yankee Pot Roast). I was quite full and found it hard to get up from the table. But I did, and we went next door for a ghost tour of the area.
We didn’t see any ghosts.
But the Farnsworth House is one of the most haunted houses in the country. It’s been on TV shows, and you can find a bunch of videos on YouTube of people who went hunting for ghosts there.
We didn’t see any ghosts.
We had been put into a tour with 65 junior high students. The ghosts were probably too scared to come out.
We were both very glad that we visited Gettysburg (primarily because we didn’t see any ghosts).
- comments
Dan Hmmm, too bad about the passort thing in Texas.
Shannon ACK!! That's the same witch that crashed into our house!!!!! :O
Shannon what's a momument? :P
wjmccain Boy, she sure gets around.
wjmccain What, you never heard of moMuments? Guess it's an east coast thing ('cause I never make typos...)
David Did he spontaneously break into song?
David Nice update. I would have never known about a Halloween celebration at the Gettysburg KOA. I like off-the-beaten-path Americana! Since living on the east coast, we have visited many civil war battlefields, but have yet to see Gettysburg. We will have to make that trip soon. Besides, Lori is an avid collector of Pyrex and PA is supposed to be the Mecca of Pyrex collectors, so that's 2 reasons to go. Looking forward to your next post . . .
Rich You say Haloween is a big deal on the east coast. Must be so if folks are celebrating it for an entire week! If my calendar is correct, it is tomorrow night.Renee bought candy for the kids, but in ten years no one has come to our door. Nearest neighbor is 1/2 mile away and who would drag their kids up to our cabin for two lousy peices of candy. There will be a celebration in Crouch, 9 miles away, and we will participate at the radio station. Visit us at gardenvalleyradio.com. Soon we will be on the air. My 4th book "Powerless" has been published by iUniverse. First book signing is Nov 5.