Monday, June 6, 2016

After leaving DC this morning, we headed for Gettysburg.  The Magical History Tour continues.  Traffic was bad getting out of the area but got better the farther we went into Maryland.  And it wasn't as humid which was a welcome relief after more than 90 percent in Washington.

Neither of us realized that the Eisonhowers had retired to their farm located just outside Gettysburg until we got to the welcome center.  They have a bus tour to their farm so we signed up to do that first.  The farm was purchased in 1953 and renovated for a couple of years.  It's 189 acres where Ike raised black angus cattle.  They had lived in about 40 houses during his military career and just wanted a place of their own.

The house has 5 bedrooms and 8 bathrooms.  It's two story and has a sun porch where they spent most of their time.  Ike played golf at the local club and was serious enough about it that a putting green was installed, and is still maintained, at the house.  I thought the house was very comfortable, not pretentious, but it does have the pink bathroom and furnishings that Mamie liked.

They left the house and grounds to the National Park Service but stipulated that it be kept a working farm as it was under their ownership.  Angus cattle are still raised there today.

Later we did the auto tour around the Gettysburg battlefield.  What an amazing event that was.  It's hard to wrap your mind around the fact that there were so many troops from both sides here.  I think it was 93,000 combined.  It is easy to see why they had such a fight.  The trees and undergrowth are so thick that it would be almost impossible to see the enemy coming.  But it's hard for me to think that the noise of troop movements wouldn't carry to the other side.  I guess if they were both moving at once you wouldn't be able to tell where the noise came from.

We also walked around the cemetery where it is believed Lincoln gave his address.  We were told that no one knows the exact spot that he stood on so there is no marker.  I was here in 1968 and I think there was a marker then.  But the visitor center is new and there have been a lot of things, like parking lots built since then.

We only saw about 2-3 school groups here so I think the field trip season must be coming to an end.

Deciding that we needed a break from all the history, we then drove to Hershey, Pennsylvania, and did the chocolate factory tour.  I loved it.  It reminded me of the rides at Disneyland where you ride in cars around a track, kind of like the a Haunted Mansion ride.  The amusement park was jam packed as well as the gift shop.  Lots of buses here, and lots of families, which is to be expected.

We went to Gilligan's, a sports bar, in Harrisburg for dinner.  The food was good, and it was right down the road from the motel.