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Today's drive was one of the nicest we have done. We still saw plenty of corn but there were hills and mountains covered in trees whose leaves were turning. It was the prettiest autumn colours that we have seen yet-lots of reds and yellows.
Since we have been in the States, 3 or 4 different people have told us we should visit a store called Cabela's. The first man said it started in Sydney, Nebraska so that was a reason to visit and a lady told us it was like a zoo inside. We saw a sign advertising it at one of the freeway exits and as we needed petrol, we decided to stop.
The store was huge and the first thing you notice are all the stuffed animals - not the fluffy toy variety but the taxidermist ones. They were everywhere. There was one whole room dedicated to the Whitetails which look like deer with antlers. Both sides of this huge room was lined with mounted heads with a plaque saying who had killed it and any accompanying newspaper articles. The ones displayed in middle of the room had the hunter's name and if it was a record or not.
Other animals we saw stuffed were bears, moose, squirrels, beavers, woodchucks, skunks and other things I haven't heard of.
The second thing we were amazed by were the number of guns for sale. There were racks and racks of rifles followed by aisle after aisle of bullets. It was all so readily available.
The shop was a hunters paradise. There were boxes of fake ducks to put out to attract real ducks, cans of coffee scent to attract fish, crossbows, chairs that looked like tennis umpire chairs to sit on while you hunt, holsters and carrycases for guns, fishing rods, snow shoes, tents, camouflage gear, GPS, shoes, clothing, toys, cds, homewares with a hunting theme and a whole stack of other stuff. There was even a shooting gallery set up with all sorts of animals and a barn scene that had targets all over it. For 50c you got 20 shots. I hit absolutely nothing and Robyn hit 6 things.
It is a completely different culture and lifestyle. There was something quite distasteful about the whole store. I bought some little animal things for the kids and when I was at the checkout the girl asked me if I would like to round up my purchase to a full dollar amount and make a contribution to conservation?????? I did but I didn't understand what was being conserved with the store promoting hunting.
On the way out we passed the 'Bragging Board' which people had stuck photos on of their 'kill'. They were obviously very proud of it. What I found disturbing was the 9yr old boys on there.
Back on the road we found ourselves crossing the border into West Virginia. We didn't know that we would be passing through here. It was only a short visit though and then we crossed into Pennsylvania. There were quite a few mountains we went up and down but there were also 4 we went through. Tunnels had been cut through the mountains. Outside each tunnel was a sign saying Remove Sunglasses. I don't know why because the tunnels were well lit.
We passed a sign that said Flight 93 Memorial but then I didn't see any more about it. One of the 9/11 planes crashed into a field in Pennsylvania. I have since googled it and found the memorial is in a National Park at Stonycreek. It would have been good to visit but there wasn't enough advertising to tell us it was there and how to get there.
When we came off the freeway towards Gettysburg, the first road sign we saw was a horse and cart. We were definitely in Amish country. Then we saw 2 Amish kids flying along the road on scooters. Their mother was just ahead of them on foot going into Esh's Market. Out the front of the store was pumpkins and lots of bolts of fabric in different colours.
It was late afternoon by the time we reached Gettysburg. We came into town past the site of the 1863 Civil War - the Battle of Gettysburg. There seemed to be lots of headstones but scattered over both sides of the road. We will find out more about this area tomorrow.
Our hotel is a bit out of town but seems to be a very new area. The GPS couldn't find it. After checking in we went back into town. Most of the little shops and galleries were open until 8pm. There were lots of historical signs giving information about the buildings or houses we were walking past. We also saw the Wills house which is where Abraham Lincoln stayed and finished his Gettysburg address.
We went into an antique store which had lots of artifacts from the civil war. You can buy small cannonballs, bullets and other remnants for as little as $25. It seems very cheap for a piece of American history. Maybe they are readily available.
We had dinner at the pub restaurant which was on a corner. The sidestreet was closed off and a stage had been erected. There was a big sign up saying Salsa. While we were eating we could hear the band playing. It sounded really good so after dinner we went out to watch. Since the sun had gone down it had become pretty cool. The band were doing some slow songs and singing so we decided it was too cold to stay as we didn't have jackets with us.
Tomorrow we will check out a bit more of Gettysburg before moving on to Lancaster.
- comments
Britt Hey rob and Libb only a week until You come back. for my birthday last Week I got a iPod like you rob and Stacks of clothing.tomorrow is the first Day of school witch means 11 more Weeks of spitting from miss Boyle Good luck for your last week. Britt xxx