Rita & I have been to Monticello, Williamsburg, Jamestown, Busch Gardens, & Washington D.C. before. So we were doing these places for Hunter & AJ. They are in 6th & 8th grade & are learning about government and early US history. It is always enjoyable to go to these places but for me it was all building up to Gettysburg.
This morning we got up extra early & took the Metro into DC. We met with Congressman Enyart & his wife Judge Eckert at 7:30a at the gate to the White House. The White House is harder to get into & we didn't get a confirmation until the day we left. We couldn't get in Monday because there was a Medal of Honor ceremony in the Eastroom & the White House was closed to tours.
Congressman Enyart's visited with us as he escorted us past all the security (pretty tough screening) and left as the tour started. We leisurely wandered through the first floor and then stopped outside for pictures. Then hit a store for souvenirs and headed back to CC.
Made great time, cleaned up our campsite & were on the road by 11a. It's only 80 miles and we were there in about an hour & a half.
After we checked in we headed into town. We arranged for a private tour guide for the battlefields. It's pretty cool, the guide drives your car & is at your disposal for the entire tour. Since we only had Rita's Honda Fit, seating was already tight, so we rented a minivan for the day. We picked that up then, drove around Gettysburg.
We then went to the Gettysburg museum & watched the movie of the battle & the Cyclorama. The "cyclorama" is a 360 degree oil painting depicting Pickett's Charge. They enhance with sound, narration and lighting. It was pretty cool. The museum was closing so we saved that for the next day.
Jackie discovered one of the tour stops was a place called Devil's Den. Devil's Den got its name from the family of snakes that used to live there. It's sort of like Elephant Rock State Park in Missouri. It looked like a perfect place to take the boys so they could run, climb and basically burn some energy.
We even found the sight of a famous picture from after the battle & re-enacted it.
Sorry about my shadow.
Posted with Blogsy