Yorktown to Gettysburg (Day 8)

We didn't do a ton today, as most of our time was spent in the car.

For breakfast, I had the huge eclair that we got at Rigoletto's Italian Bakery and Cafe the night before.  It was decent, but I should have let it warm up to room temperature to soften the chocolate a bit.

I just loved the Peterson's lovely house and neighborhood.  We don't get too many trees like this in Utah.

While we stayed home with the kids, Emily made a run to Sam's Club sans kiddos.  When she returned we packed up our rental car and headed out.

There were basically two things that we really wanted to do, but we only had time for one of them. We wanted to go to the Holocaust Museum in DC and visit Gettysburg.  About halfway to DC we decided to drive straight on to Getttysburg.  In normal traffic it's about a 4 hour drive, but for us with construction and because we hit rush-hour traffic it took about 6 hours.  We got to the museum and visitor center about 20 minutes before they were scheduled to close.  Luckily, we were able to still do the driving battlefield tour.

The Gettysburg Address was not a long one, but it is one of my my favorite Presidential speeches. It was given a few months after the battle as a dedication of the battlefield as the final resting place for those who died.  "The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here."

Mr. President. Kate's getting a little frisky with him.

Ada didn't want to be left out and made sure to give him a nice scalp massage.

The area all around the town of Gettysburg is covered with memorials and monuments.  We took the driving tour of the battlefields and stopped at the major sites.  This is a place that I would love to come back and spend a couple of days listening, reading, exploring and contemplating the sacrifices that were made here that all man may have equal rights.

Alison and a man on a horse.

Gettysburg. I love this picture.  We're at a high point looking out over the battlefield.

This picture is at the same location as the one above, just a different angle.

There was a castle monument that the girls were excited to climb.

Gettysburg.

Once the sun went down, we grabbed some chow to eat on our drive. We made a little detour on our drive down to Washington.  We drove to Harpers Ferry in West Virginia, stopped at a gas station for some snacks and then made our way back down to DC.  We had a hotel room booked near Dulles because our flight home left early the next morning.