Gettysburg Trip: Reliving July 1-3, 1863

Hey friends, I'll return to my summer catch up session later with some pictures from my time at Keri's house.  But first I wanted to blog a little about the trip I just got back from to Gettysburg, PA.  My dad and I did the 4 hour drive down to see the battlefield for 3 days.

We left just after 8 am Monday and after sitting in traffic for 2 full hours arrived just in time for our tour at 2:45.  It really was a great tour.  However, our tour guide found out that dad was a West Point graduate and then pretty much just talked to him and ignored the other 30 of us.  It really embarrassed him.. 

Picture of "Devil's Den" from "Little Roudtop."  Just to the left is the "Wheatfield." A small field where 6,000 soldiers fell in a 2 hour battle.  That is more casualties then the allies suffered during the entire D-Day invasion!  Craziness.  How imagine the 53,000 for the whole battle...

After spending a few hours at the battlefield we headed to our hotel where I found our shower.  It was 6 feet by 6 feet!  36 square feet of shower?  What is America coming to?  Do the Chinese really think we are this fat?  My only other theory is that many in the new generation of wealthy made their money using computers.  This means that they probably didn't play too many sports and these showers are as close as they are going to get to showing in a locker room.

We then left and went to dinner and a movie to only return to this... 12 charter buses of middle schoolers filing into our hotel.  It was like a nightmare.  I almost envied the soldiers I was just reading about.  Luckily, like the song "I"m Trading My Sorrows" joy came in the morning as the locust were all gone by 8 the next morning.  I love my elementary students, but middle schoolers...just horrid creatures...I'm sorry.

The Gettysburg Cyclorama at the museum(not a good picture because I had to illegally sneak it).  This was one of the most impressive things I have ever seen.  A 360 degree painting 42 feet tall and 377 feet around.  All painted by Paul Philippoteaux and his French team of artist in 1 year (1880).  Depicted Pickett's Charge.

Quote that dad loved.  He was pulling on his Southern roots from Alabama.

People love Honest Abe.  I wonder how many statues there are of him in the world.  Not to mention the billions of pennies and 5 dollar bills.

Looking down the barrel of a cannon facing the Union line of Cemetery Ridge from Seminary Ridge.

This tour guide must have been retired military because he had his middle school group line up and march in ranks part of Pickett's Charge.  Pretty comical.

Robert E. Lee on his horse Traveler.

The South Carolina Memorial.  They started the War so I  guess the least they could do was show up.  This was one of literally HUNDREDS of monuments.

However, Pennsylvania definitely wins for the largest memorial.  This beautiful memorial was built 101 years ago with all 35,000+ names of the soldiers that fought in the battle from PA.  You can take steps to the top and everything.

Dad coming over the wall reenacting Pickett's Charge right where General Armistead fell.  Crazy fact one local soldier that fought was over 70 years old and General Greene for the Union was 62 at the time of the battle.

I'll leave you with my attempt at artsy photos and one of my favorite quotes,

"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature, and has no chance of being free unless made or kept so by the exertions of better men than himself." -John Staurt Mill