Thursday, 9/29 - This morning we set the clock to get up at 6 am so we could be down at the Gettysburg Visitors Center www.nps.gov/gett to hook up with a civil war guide to go out on the battlefield with and give us a personal tour. We found out you can "rent a guide" for 2, 3 or even up to 8 hours for the day. They drive your car and take you around the battlefield explaining the Civil War that started on June 3, 1863 and lasted 3 days.
Well we were the first ones in line so no problem, we decided on a 3 hour personal tour, paid our money....$80 and were told to wait on a nearby bench and our tour guide would call our name. Within a few minutes our guide, Denny showed up and we were on our way. Denny drove our car, with Will in the front seat, me in the back and off we went.
In our 3 hour tour Denny took us through each of the 3 days of the war, driving to each of the different battlefield locations and describing the series of events and the men that fought that battle of each day. It really was an amazing experience as he really made it come alive and we were able to ask questions as he went along.
Some of our favorite places we saw were the National Cemetery where President Lincoln delivered his 2 minute Gettysburg Address; the Eternal Light Peace Memorial where 75 years latter 1,800 Civil War veterans help dedicate this memorial; Oak Ridge were the first day the Union soldiers had held their position; the Virginia Memorial a large open field to the east where the last Confederate assault known as Pickett's Charge occurred on July 3rd, Little Round Top where our favorite Confederate soldier Dan (or as we call him Dan the Man) Sickel left his position in favor of the Peach Orchard on Emmitsburg Road as he thought he could do better there. Dan the Man was a very fascinating guy and Denny was able to give us an incredible amount of information on him. We tried to buy a book about him at the museums book store but they were all out. The Pennsylvania Memorial, the largest memorial of the hundreds located on the battlefield even the old baseball guy Abner Doubleday fought in the Civil War and has a memorial there.....him sitting on a horse. There was so much living history right there in front of us and we really enjoyed our time here.
After our exciting and fun morning we came back, ate lunch and took a nap.....after all we were up at the ungodly hour of 6 am....(you hear that gym friends?) Tomorrow morning we head for Virginia and can't wait to see what awaits there. Much love to all our family and friends.
A "shout out" to the Boston Red Sox on their complete collapse at the end of the baseball season losing, what was it, 18 of the last 23 games......it couldn't happen to a better team..GO YANKEES.
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