Gettysburg: The trip of a lifetime!

Back during the week of July 4th we had the opportunity to take the vacation of a lifetime.  Due to an unforeseen emergency surgery the week before we decided to leave a day early and take our time driving up to our destination.  We drove up through Winchester, Virginia where we stopped to visit the Confederate Solider Cemetery. It is the resting place of 2,575 confederate soldiers and is located in Mount Hebron Cemetery. Most of the names are known, but there are still some graves that have never be identified. This is so sad to me. I can only imagine how the families of these men felt when their loved ones never came home and they never knew what happened to them.
http://www.mthebroncemetery.org/stonewall.html

When we left Winchester (I just love that name), we drove on into Hershey, Pennsylvania which would be our home for the night. The next day we went over to Chocolate World. We got to tour the factory, make our own candy bars and take a trolley tour around the city, it was lots of fun.
http://www.hersheys.com/chocolateworld/

We then headed to York, Pennsylvania which would be our home for the next 3 nights. We stayed in the Holiday Inn Express, it was so nice and clean. The customer service was also fantastic!  The next day we drove over to Gettysburg to see the museum and battlefield. Can you say crowded!?! There were so many people there, but we expected that, it was only the 150th Anniversary of the battle. We learned so much about the Civil War and the battle there. Did you know that they estimate that 10,000 women dressed up as men and fought during the Civil War? They were only discovered when they were killed or wounded. Did you also know that for every man killed in battle, two died of disease?  Honestly it is a miracle anyone survived to go home to their families. My great-great-great grandfather was wounded at the the Battle of Gettysburg(he was on the confederate side of course), but thank the Lord he survived to return home, marry and have children.  When I consider the fact that my family would not be here if he had died, it is a very sobering thought. I also had a great-great grandfather that fought at Gettysburg(Confederate again, of course). Thank the Lord he made it home to finish raising my great-grandfather so that our family line could go on.
http://www.nps.gov/gett/index.htm

 The following day we headed over to the re-enactment of the first day of the battle.  It was an amazing experience!! We had the opportunity to hear General Robert E. Lee speak, toured a living history camp and then got to meet General Lee and Lt. General Richard S. Ewell. I was so tickled to get our picture made with them and have a chance to speak to them.
http://www.nps.gov/gett/planyourvisit/150th-anniversary-index.htm

On our last day we headed over to Amish Country. We got a tour an Amish farm and took an Amish buggy ride. It was a wonderful learning experience for us as we took in the Amish culture and discovered new things about them. The company we used was Aaron and Jessica's, they are in Bird in Hand Pennsylvania and the tour was fantastic. We then went over to the Good and Plenty for a traditional Pennsylvania-Dutch meal. The food was great and it was lots of it!!
http://amishbuggyrides.com/
http://www.goodnplenty.com/

Up North is a great place to visit, but I was very happy to get back home to my native South (No offence to my Yankee friends or readers intended)!

I hope that you have enjoyed the re-cap of our trip and that you have taken the time to explore, learn and discover some new things this summer.

"That's my "two cents worth", what's yours?"