You can take the GRITS out of Florida, but you can't take Florida out of the GRITS!

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Trip to Gettysburg

Last weekend, I flew up to PA again to take a trip to Gettysburg. We took a side trip to see some snow... these were my first views. I was so excited! I hadn't seen snow since December 22, 1989 when I lived in Houston.

This was on the way to Blue Knob State Park.

The world totally changes once we reached the top of the mountain. This ski area isn't opened yet and was deserted.
It reminded me of "The Shining"...kinda creepy, yet pretty cool.


Leaving the top, we decided to stop and grab a cache called The Lost Children of the Alleghenies. A very sad story about 2 little boys who wandered away from home in May 1856. They were found about 2 weeks later huddled together under the roots of a Birch tree...dead.

Hundreds and hundreds of people searched for them with no luck. A man named Jacob had a dream about them 3 nights in a row. He finally told someone about the dreams and it was because of those dreams that the boys were finally found.

Alison Krauss wrote a sad song about the entitled, "Jacob's Dream". Look for it on YouTube. It is haunting.

Well, we finally made it to Gettysburg. Day one was raining and yucky, so we didn't do much. We wanted to do a walking ghost tour, but decided to pass because of the weather. The next morning we headed to the park HQ and hooked up with a ranger-lead tour of the battlefield.





There are monuments ALL over the field honoring the different regiments that fought there. Truly a great place to see. The town of Gettysburg is itself and awesome place, too. SO historic and beautiful. I could easily spend 3 days there wandering around.

Where Lincoln gave his Gettysburg Address...

The military cemetery there is beautiful. Spacious, quiet with huge trees and impressive monuments to all the brave men who fought so hard for their beliefs...

A couple odd places we passed on the way back to Pittsburgh...

Mister Ed's Elephant Museum and Homemade Fudge. We did NOT stop...

A stop in Bedford to grab one more cache. This place was the coldest to me. I ran back to put on my jacket, gloves, scarf, etc. Brrrrr!

As much as I love Florida, it has been so much fun to see a place where the seasons truly change...the landscape goes from green to orange and red and yellow and eventually to white. The people there embrace the seasons so much more that down here. Tons of houses decorated for Halloween compared to the very few I have seen here.

I can't wait to go back when the world there is white with snow...maybe try to learn how to ski!

1 comment:

Misti said...

Awesome! The snow photos are great, beautiful, really! I love all of the kitchy places, too!