Our Day-cation

Jeff and Brooke have been gone for six days, and the kids and I are getting a little antsy! So I decided we needed a change of scenery today. After a little internet research last night, I settled on Gettysburg, which is just 25 miles away. Early this morning, we packed the cooler and the van and headed north. Thankfully, the kids were excited, and I was saying many prayers for good moods, happy attitudes, and lots of fun!

We had a great day! The new Visitor Center in Gettysburg is beautiful--inside and out! (Those of you fellow Pennsylvanians/Marylanders who endured the torturous electric map presentation on numerous field trips/family visits during your youth will be happy to know that it rests peacefully in a barn somewhere in town, mercifully disconnected from any electrical source.) After a moving film tribute about the battle, we ate our lunch, buckled up, and settled back to listen to the audio tour of the historic places in and around Gettysburg. The kids LOVED it--for the most part. It was sweltering hot here today so we didn't get out of the van at every single stop, but we did explore a bit at most of them. The boys, especially, were really interested in all the monuments and memorials scattered along our route.

It's really a beautiful little town. And very moving when you consider the lives that were lost (7000 in just three days!) in those rolling hills for the cause of freedom. On days like this, I'm very thankful that we live in a part of the country that is rich with history (something I often take for granted!), and I'm reminded to take the time to enjoy it and to foster in my kids a love for our great nation and its amazing history!

A photo op at our first stop, McPherson Ridge

I love the fences. That beautiful barn in the background
was there during the battle of Gettysburg!

On top of Little Round Top

Devil's Den, seen from Little Round Top

Atop the 44th New York infantry monument
overlooking Devil's Den