Friday, August 8, 2008

Nothing to do With The Job part 2

The first day, Antietam, we sort of accidentally brought the dog with us. Not a good idea. We had sort of thought it would be cooler and that there would be trees or shade of some sort. But there wasn't. And because we were in a strange place he didn't take care of 'business' right away.

Anyway, he made it through okay. We cooled him with water etc, but he still managed to get him self stressed out. When we got back to the motel, we played with his toys with him and then sat out front for a while and caught up on email, etc. After he went around for a little walk, etc, he decided he was feeling better.

We decided to leave him behind on Wednesday. We had breakfast and took him for a walk and then left him with his 'tiger' (favourite toy he's had since he was a puppy) and his bed and water.

We went to Gettysburg along the very road that the Army of Northern Virginia (General Robert E. Lee) walked into Gettysburg on.

We were able to see some of the older area as the signs to the Visitor Centre sort of disappeared once we were in Gettysburg. We eicocheted skirted around the town like a pinball until we happened upon the Visitor Centre. (Antietam was better marked.) We also did not know until we got home that the very parking lot we turned around in was the one we needed to park in in order to visit Gettysburg Cemetery. A little aggravated about that, but, hey, its a reason to go back.

Once we had a little look around the visitor centre we found that we could see a movie about the war and get an air-conditioned bus tour of the area. We signed up for that as it was over 100F. There were 23 of us besides the driver and tour guide. It was interesting, but two and a half hours isn't enough to see all you want to see. The good part is we WERE able to see where we wanted to go in our own car afterwards.

If you have seen the movie "Gettysburg" starring Jeff Daniels, Martin Sheen, and Tom Berenger there is a scene where the Union army is walking across this huge field to do battle. We saw that very field and it was gut wrenching to think what it must have been like.

In the very centre of this picture there is a fence crossing at a slight angle. Behind that is a very small white spot. THAT is General Lee's statue and the picture shows the view that General Meade had of the battlefield.

Below is another view of the battlefield. That is our bus in the foreground and on the day of the battle, the Confederate Army was on the right and the Union on the left.



There is a place on one side of the field where they have placed General Lee's statue, facing the way he did that day.

A mile away and facing him is the statue of General George Meade who was leading the Union army.



In the town of Gettysburg there are a lot of houses that were built before the war. They have plaques declaring them civil war Buildings. This picture is of Farnsworth House. There is a small window at the top right of the picture that was used by snipers and consequently the house was fired on a LOT. The white spots on the bricks are the actual bullet marks. The next picture is a closer view and the picture after that is of the plaque on the house. Farnsworth House has been restored and is used as a museum and restaurant.





I know this is quite a bit away from what I usually go on about but it is something I find very fascinating. My parents really instilled in us a love of history.


STORE STUFF:

I stopped in today to pick up some milk and get my schedule and there's a cashier who may be in trouble. Appears she was a little too rough with the wrong person's groceries yesterday. It was one of the department managers groceries. Anyway, I should find out more tomorrow. It seems to be directly related to the "speed" contest they have going on at the store.

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