Gettysburg and Baltimore

September  23, 24  and 25, 2003

On Tuesday, the 23rd, we left State College and pointed the beast in a southerly direction toward the little town that hosted the most important battle of the Civil War, Gettysburg, PA. We took the back roads and enjoyed the bucolic Pennsylvania countryside.

The countryside varies from relatively flat farmland in the valleys to rolling hills to mountains. If you look at the photo on the left you can see a mountain looming in the distance. To get over it, you go up a road that has switchbacks, just like roads that go over real mountains out west.

Gettysburg

This is a detail of the old train station in Gettysburg, the station at which Mr. Lincoln would have arrived when he dropped by to deliver a certain short speech. This year we spent our visit exploring the town and learning its history rather than touring the Battlefield again. The town is a little "touristy" (OK, a lot touristy) but it is neat and clean and has a lot of interesting things to see and learn about.

We got a room at the Gaslight B&B, which is right in town. The photo on the left show the deck outside our room where we had our evening cocktails. The other two show the front and back.

Some street scenes of Gettysburg

Did I say touristy? Here we are getting our photos with some of the local luminaries.

Next Stop: Baltimore

Well, not Baltimore exactly, but a place called Forrest Hill, a few miles north of Baltimore, where my daughter Deborah, her husband Michael and their lovely children, Malarie and Jacob live.

Here are some shots of me and Mal & Jake and Mike.

On Thursday, September 25, Deb, Lorri and I drove to Chesapeake City, MD, a little town on the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal. The C&D Canal is part of the Intracoastal Waterway and links the Delaware River to the Chesapeake Bay. Here is what it looks like.

We had a nice lunch at the Bayard House. Here is what it looks like. Chesapeake City is a cute little tourist and boating town with cute little shops and nice restaurants and a bunch of B&B's. You should go there wometime.

So anyway, we had a great time visiting with Deb and Mike and the kids and then went back to Penn State on Friday. As we drove north along the Susquehanna River, I snapped this cool photo of the Statue of Liberty.

The Statue of Liberty is that little white spec in the middle of the photo. As most of you know this is not the real Statue of Liberty, but it looks just like the real one, only smaller.