gettysburg

This past weekend Benjamin and I set out on a journey across the rolling hills of Pennsylvania. (Seriously, they're gorgeous.) Our destination? Gettysburg National Park. And not only did we set out, but we set out with a game plan.

Learning from past experience (the 4 hour canoe trip where we baked in the sun, the 1 hour bike ride in over 100 degree weather when I wanted to die, etc.), we opted not to take the 4 1/2 hour ranger guided tour (but in all honesty, who would do that?), not to take the $30 bus tour, nor the $55 ranger guided tour where the ranger actually comes in your own car with you (for real?), rather, we chose the FREE, SELF-GUIDED, AUTO TOUR. (If you understood that run-on, read on.)

When we first got to the park, we bought tickets for the movie "The New Birth of Freedom," the Gettysburg Cyclorama (one of just two cycloramas in the United States!), and the museum. The movie was narrated by Morgan Freeman and told us about the causes of the Civil War, the battles of the Civil War, and some of the effects. The Gettysburg Cyclorama is, like, a giant diarama - do you remember those things we used to make in shoe boxes? It was huge and covered the walls of a giant, circular room; it lit up and made noise (like cannons and guns) to show us about the battles at Gettysburg. Cooler than we were expecting. ;) The museum was awesome and we had fun exploring together. :)

This is the only picture we took in the museum. They're buttons from different uniforms in the Union and we found it symbolic that Indiana and California were displayed together! :)

We spent about two hours inside the visitor's center and then we headed back to the car for the self-guided auto tour. The most important thing about this tour is that it is air conditioned, especially because of this:

Gettysburg is awesome! There were 16 different stops along the tour, each highlighting different, important places and events during the three-day battle.

I think this video will give you a perfect taste of our day in Gettysburg! :)