"Gettysbird"

As we got in the car and set out for our trip to Gettysburg, I asked Adam, "Where are we going?"  Adam enthusiastically replied, "Gettysbird!"

We had a great day.  Amazingly, neither Phil nor I had ever been and we both have always wanted to see it.  It was way cool, and different than we had pictured it.  We were glad to go in the Fall when the colors were so pretty.  The kids were real troopers.  Obviously, they didn't have a clue about the significance, but Adam was very interested in the short film they showed before we took the Auto Tour of the battlefields, and he stared at the soldiers walking around in their period uniforms.  

These are all scenery photos, so just enjoy.
McPherson's barn.  This is where the Union and Confederate Armies met on the first day of battle.

Adam learned all about cannons and got really good at spotting them.  "Cannons say boom, boom, boom!"

Sorry, I can't tell you who this monument is for, but I just thought it was so pretty.  There are SO MANY monuments, it is truly amazing.  It would take months to look at each one.

I just thought this barn was cool.  Where I am standing for this photo is where the Union Army retreated to after the first day of battle.

Again, just struck me as cool.  I actually took a whole series of photos of these tracks and am thinking of doing something with them in Adam's room.  I'm sure he'll appreciate the artistic thought...

The view from Little Round Top.  This was my favorite part, since it was so pretty to look out.  It's obvious why the Union worked so hard to guard this position - a definite vantage point.  I said to Phil as we were driving away, "Yeah, if I had that place, I would defend the crap out of it."  Super profound.  I'm sure I'll say that to my students some day.

More from Little Round Top.

Ok, one more.

Phil and I had our eyes peeled for this monument all day - Minnesota!!!!  We finally found it!

I'm sure we'll be back again - you could spend days and still not see everything.  We'd also love to do more hiking around, but may need to wait until the kids are older to do a trip like that.  Oh well, we do what we can.  It was great to finally see it, though.  We feel so lucky that we can just decide to go to Gettysburg (Gettysbird) for the day.  A wonderful perk of living in this part of the country.