Day 4: Gettysburg

On Day 3, I dragged my butt out of bed at 7:00 am (that's 6:00 am for you Central Time Zone People.) Pap Z cooked us some dippy eggs, my favorite, and then we said a sad good-bye as we headed to Gettysburg.
We took Route 30, also known as the Lincoln Highway, the entire way there.  It was a lovely drive, save the lone police officer who took offense to Jason's speed through his little village (it was only double the posted speed limit.)  The trip got a little more expensive today.

This was the high point (literally.) It may not seem high to you people who live out west, but for us Illinoisans, the ears were were a-poppin'!

And then I was seriously worried about our brakes going back down.  If you think we had problems going down that hill, here's the runaway truck ramp...if you lose control, just drive your truck onto this gravel road.

When we got to Gettysburg, we started at the Visitor's Center and Museum.  We saw a short film, viewed the Cyclorama (100-yard painting in the round) and then visited the museum.  We all agreed that the museum was very detailed...a little much for us, but history buffs would love it.  I loved this Union flag.  The Union always kept the stars for all the States...never removed them for the ones that had seceded.

And I think it goes without saying that I would love the pen that was used to sign the surrender papers.

After the museum, we purchased a CD Auto tour of the massive battleground.  It was great.  The tour is well-marked throughout the huge battlefield and we were able to stop and get out to take photos as we liked.  Ok, Kyra and I took photos.  You would not believe the number of monuments.  Here is Abner Doubleday, "inventor" of baseball.

Many states had monuments (Illinois does not, except for individual brigade monuments.)  Louisiana's was my favorite of the state monuments.

We got to climb this tower at one of the stops.  I almost died, from the 8 flights as well as the height.  The view was pretty awesome though.

Little Round Top was our favorite stop.  The kids enjoyed climbing on the rocks and the view was beautiful.  The photo below is of Devil's Den from Little Round Top.  Beautiful as it is, the valley between was known as The Valley of Death.  

The largest state monument is for the State of Pennsylvania.  It's incredible.  You can climb stairs to stand near the top.  We didn't.  We were nearly done at this point.  And while PA has this incredible monument, NY has a gazillion monuments.

The final stop on the tour is known as the High Water Mark, where Pickett's Charge took place.  Confederate Forces marched, a mile wide, toward the Union Army.  We sat and listened to the story as the sun set.  It was a fitting ending to the tour.

So, if you want the opinion of the Killions, Gettysburg is very worth the trip.  We thought the museum was nice, but too detailed for us.  We really enjoyed the Auto Tour.  And we certainly could have spent another day in Gettysburg as we didn't have a chance to explore any of the downtown and the Civil-War-Era buildings.

Vacation 2015 Days 2 and 3: Latrobe, Pennsylvania

Got up Saturday morning and drove the 5 hours to Latrobe, PA to visit family.  It's always good to see family, but since this is supposed to be about our adventures, let me tell you about Latrobe.

First of all, every time we go there, we go to a restaurant called Gino's and I have pierogie pizza.  Pierogie pizza has the best of everything: crust, butter, mashed potatoes and cheese.  I refuse the sauerkraut.  Don't knock it until you've tried it.

We decided to give Latrobe the tourist treatment on Sunday afternoon.  For those of you who don't know, Latrobe has several claims to fame:

1.  It is the home of the very first professional football game ever played, in 1895.  A man was paid $10 to play quarterback for the Latrobe YMCA.  

2.  It is credited with being the birthplace of the banana split.

3.  It is the birthplace and childhood home of golf legend Arnold Palmer.

4. For the last 50 years, it has been the home of the Pittsburgh Steelers training camp.

5.  It is the birthplace of Mr. Rogers.  I didn't want to be a total creep and post photos of his grave, but he is buried in the same cemetery as my grandparents and great-grandparents.  About 10 miles up the road, at Idlewild, a small but awesome amusement park, you can ride Trolley into the Land of Make-Believe.  At the end you sing "It's such a good feeling, to know you're alive..." and I get weepy every time.

Road Trip!

600 miles. 9 hours. 4 bathroom stops (all because a certain mom drank too much Diet Coke and was the weak link of the group.)

We made it. We are here safe and sound. I think the trip went so smoothly for several reasons.
1. Classic Rewind on Sirius. JJ wasn't a fan of paying for radio, but I was a whiny baby about it after I got used to it during our free 3-month trial period. There was much drumming on the steering wheel. Drumming makes my husband happy.
2. I drove quite a bit while JJ had to do some conference calls. This prevented me from doing my standard "dramatic reading of road signs" and "random questions that can't be answered."
3. New (used) car's inaugural road trip made it all the more exciting.

We got here and had our traditional dinner at Gino's. I had my pierogie pizza. How can you go wrong with mashed potatoes, onion and cheese on a pizza crust.

During dinner I had a strange thing happen to me. I told the waitress that you couldn't get pierogie pizza back in Illinois. Se looked at me and said, "I was going to ask you where you were from because of your accent."

Accent?

For real? I chuckled to myself and decided that I totally deserved that one as I am always trying to decide where people are from based on their accents.

But back to that accent. What does a Central Illinois accent sound like to the rest of the world?

Enquiring minds want to know.