Thursday, April 16, 2009

we are having withdrawals

this week has been really hard to get back into our routine since the vacation. really hard! i wanted to cry sunday night when we had to stop the break and start thinking about real life again.

we just had such a great time for spring break!

thanks mom + dad.....



we started off the week pretty low key-visting a light house on Sodus Bay and the shore of Lake Ontario and small walks here and there.

the workbench and jam were made and LOTS of shopping was done.

in preparation for our trip to Gettysburg we checked out several books and even the famous documentary by Ken Burns. we shared stories throughout the week and enjoyed all the history. it made the trip more real and powerful!




so on the way to pennsylvania we stayed overnight on Seneca Lake at a beauitful B+B built in the 1800's, surrounded by vinards, antique stores and close to the amish. very fun!

we were the only guests that night so we had the entire house to ourselves. chris + dad kept joking the house was haunted so of course to relax that night we found a wearwolf movie to watch...it was not scary at all--very cheesy but the house was huge with lots of windows to easily freek yourself out!




we enjoyed this hike: Taughannock, 215 ft

(taller than the niagara falls)


the hike is about 1.5 miles round trip with little waterfalls along the path.


yes-a picnic from the back of the car! we were starving! doesn't this bring back memories from our cross country trips growing up.....(we had lots of these)



Gettysburg


the town was just soo cute! shops everywhere and spring was just blossoming! we stayed at another B+B, full porch, fireplaces in the rooms and a clawfoot tub.




another picnic-we ate really good food just at the weirdest times......


the monuments:

this was almost overwhelming to know what each one represented. they were just spread out over the entire 6,000 acres.



Pennsylanvia's monument was the largest because it had the biggest losses in the three days of the battle.


view looking up the battlefield from the top of little round top!
“In great deeds something abides. On great fields something stays. Forms change and pass; bodies disappear, but spirits linger, to consecrate ground for the vision-place of souls. And reverent men and women from afar, and generations that know us not and that we know not of, heart-drawn to see where and by whom great things were suffered and done for them, shall come to this deathless field to ponder and dream; And lo! The shadow of a mighty presence shall wrap them in its bosom, and the power of the vision pass into their souls.”
~Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain


one of the best things was the museum-it had a fabulous short film about the war and this battle. it was very inspiring and moving! as were the rest of the exhibits, including a panarama painting (cyclorama) done in 1889 dipicting the last day of the battle-July 3rd 1863




this photo of us was taken from the top of a tower overlooking the entire battle field. you could see and pick out every spot as well as the roosevelt estate.





cementery hill for veterans

civil war-national cemetery

a covered bridge built in the 1800's (washed out and rebuilt in 1996)

3 comments:

Amy Bartlett said...

Looks like an amazing trip lis! Good luck getting back into the swing of life. love and miss you guys!

Eric and Jessi said...

That looks awesome. Much more fun than when Mom and Dad come here, they just run errands all day!

D.B. said...

quite the historic event it would seem ;)