November 8, Gettysburg

Today started out early in our B&B, with coffee, baked oatmeal and toast. Our hosts were headed out to church so we ate breakfast and took off after they gave Jeff some good recommendations for history books to read about the Pacific Northwest. We said goodbye to "Home of Peace" and headed West to Gettysburg.

We spent nearly the whole day at Gettysburg. We started at the visitor's center and watched a movie. Then, we visited the Cyclorama, a 360 degree painting that was made 130 years ago. It's 42 feet high and quite a marvel. While you view the Cyclorama, a story is narrated depicting the battle of Pickett's Charge, which was a turning point in the battle of Gettysburg on July 3, 1863. After viewing the Cyclorama, we toured the museum which had many cool artifacts which I would show you pictures of, but I'm on crummy wifi so I can't seem to upload my pictures. BUT, if you want to see some cool pictures from today, you can click here to view them on Facebook, where I was able to upload them.

Gettysburg is full of amazing and beautiful memorials, statues, cannons, and scenery, but it was a three-day battle which resulted in nearly 50,000 casualties . IN THREE DAYS. That is a staggering number. These were Americans, fighting on American soil, because the South wanted to keep slavery and stay seceded from the Union, and the North wanted to take back the seceded states and abolish slavery. What resulted was a culminating battle in the civil war, which raged on a full two years after the Battle of Gettysburg.

The sheer number of casualties resulted in every home and building in the town becoming a hospital of sorts. Many men died and were buried at private homes, such that, according to a re-enacter we met today, "the entire town of Gettysburg is a cemetery."

We got to see, up close, the many types of shells and mortars used in battle. Some shells were filled with gunpowder and designed to explode in the air, raining shrapnel down on soldiers. Others were packed full of "mini balls" - 58 caliber lead balls - that released from the cannon, spinning and spraying in all directions, causing gruesome injuries and deaths. Others were designed to shoot at high velocity, so that their initial firing could take out 23 men (literally shearing off their heads) and still explode in front of them, such that "there was a cloud of smoke, a pink mist, and, above that, body parts flying. When the smoke settled, you couldn't find an intact body part anywhere." The re-enacter stated "War is the science of killing. And they were pretty good at it, even back then."

Worse, many (most!) of the casualties were very young men. One was only 19, and already a veteran, when he died in the Battle of Gettysburg. Still another, at age 26, died a valiant death and was promoted to Brigadier General before his death, which he never lived long enough to discover. The only civilian death was a 20 year old woman named Jennie who had stayed at her sister's house to help care for her nephew. A bullet went through two doors and hit her in the back, killing her.

Today, it's hard to believe that the wide-open fields, dotted with over 1300 memorials, were once covered in bodies so deep the townspeople of Gettysburg organized campaigns to quickly bury the dead in the 92 degree July heat to prevent pestilence and illness. Looking over the fields on a beautiful sunny day, such as today, it's next to impossible to imagine the carnage. If you believe in ghosts, this place much be rich with them.

If you plan to visit, set aside a whole day. It takes at least three hours just to drive the route around all the important locations, and every location has photo opportunities, not to mention tons of reading about the history of the place.

As soon as we finished the driving tour, we headed off to Harpers Ferry and our next Airbnb location. I knew it was rural, but let me tell you, I started hearing banjos before we arrived. Kidding! Our new place is a working farm nestled in the hills outside Harpers Ferry, WV. We were greeted by their HUGE dog, McKiver, and two of the sweetest cats. Our room, again, is inside their personal residence, It's warm and cozy with the wood-burning fireplace. We arrived after dark, so we have to wait till tomorrow to see the farm and the animals, which include over 40 chickens and two fainting goats! I'm so excited to see the goats.

We checked in and soon after headed to Shepherdstown for dinner. Our host recommended the Blue Moon Cafe, which turned out to be pretty delicious - their menu included locally produced produce, dairy, eggs and beef. Jeff had a salad of spinach, baby red potatoes, portabello mushrooms and feta. I had a black bean burger. The place had a funky vibe, kind of hippie-ish. Their chocolate pie, which we split for dessert, is locally made and delicious.

Tomorrow I'll write more about the Stony Creek Farm B&B. We'll head to Antietam Battlefield in the morning, then up to State College for Jeff's conference. Our next three nights will be in a hotel. Stay tuned for more!

November 6 and leavin' on a jet plane.........

Tomorrow (very early), Mountain Man and I leave on a week-long trip. I wish I could say it was to Hawaii or Europe or someplace exotic, but, no, it's to Pennsylvania. You see, Mountain Man, during the day, masquerades as a manager of facilities compliance for a biotech company. He will be attending a conference on calibration and maintenance management near Penn State. Doesn't that sound exotic and exciting? He attended this conference last year and really enjoyed it. They even interviewed him for their promotional video and he had a cameo in it. Last year, he realized he was very near many historic locations, and being a history and Civil War buff, he crafted a plan to work some sightseeing into this year's trip. AND, to make it more fun, me to come along!

Now, I'm not one to turn down a trip, but our agenda sounds like a long school field trip. We'll be visiting the states of Maryland, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Virginia. Possibly also Washington, DC, but that's up in the air. We fly into Baltimore, spend the first night in York, PA, the second night in Harpers Ferry, WV, then three nights in State College, PA. Then, we'll finish the week with two nights in Alexandria, VA where we'll visit my cousin. We'll see Gettysburg, Antietam battlefield, the campus of Penn State University, and the Del Ray neighborhood in Alexandria. Jeff will get his Civil War fix and I'll take tons of pictures. While he's at his conference for three days, I'll explore downtown State College, shop, drink coffee, upload pictures, and blog. That part sounds pretty amazing to me.

I'm already packed (a miracle) and so now I'm going through mental checklists to ensure I haven't forgotten anything. Of course, that includes worrying about the house, the kids, the pets, and pretty much everything else. I always leave a list of things for the kids not to forget while I'm gone: let the dog out, check the mail, lock the doors. I've now added "don't text and drive" because as the kids have grown older, there are new dangers. I used to stock the fridge, send detailed agendas to the neighbors, make tedious lists.....I can't help it, I'm a mom. I worry incessantly about all the awful things that might happen. Plane crashes, car crashes, sudden illness, pistol-whipping bandits......am I the only mom to catastrophize when I'm leaving town? (P.S. that's a word. I looked it up).

My anxiety is such that I talk myself out of things often. For years, I wouldn't fly on a plane. I was fine before I had kids and then suddenly I developed a terrifying fear of airplane travel. I'd been on dozens of plane trips before then, why all of a sudden did the thought of taking a vacation make my blood run cold? I could only attribute it to a primal fear and need to protect my young. Avoiding dangerous (or potentially dangerous) things ensured nothing bad could happen. Never mind I drove them all over the damn place in a car all day. And that my chances of being in a car crash far outweighed my chances of being in a plane crash. But no logic could assauge my fears. I simply would not do it.

In the past three years or so, I've been on numerous plane trips. I barely even give it a passing thought now. I can only attribute this change to excellent anti-anxiety drugs. And while I no longer worry (much) about flying, my heart still races during turbulence and I have a hard time sitting still on long flights. Tomorrow's flight will be about five hours (direct, no stops to break it up). I'll be stir-crazy, and I'll need distractions. I've uploaded dozens of books on my Kindle, purchased a few magazines on my tablet and loaded multiple games and distractions to keep me busy. I love traveling to other places, but the getting there makes me nuts. I have no idea how I'm ever going to handle international travel but I WILL do it. Someday.

In the meantime, I really need to read up on all these historical stops we're going to make. I'm embarrassed that I remember very little about them from my brief grade-school education. As I type this, Mountain Man is watching a documentary on the Civil War. I should probably pay better attention. I do know the casualties were staggering. It all seems very depressing to me. Visiting a battlefield where thousands died is not my first choice for a vacation spot. But I know my husband will enjoy it and I'm always up for an adventure with him.

I just hope the kids cook some real food, keep the house clean, stay out of trouble, and let the dog out while I'm gone. And empty the cat box. And lock the doors. And vacuum once or twice. It's exhausting leaving town. The "kids" are nearly adults now, so I've relaxed slightly. I know they can feed themselves, take care of minor inconveniences and sign permission slips for younger siblings. So, why is it that just before every trip, I have a sudden desire to hunker down at home and keep my family close? I love adventure. I love travel (and I'm loving it more and more as I get older). But I also love home. It's great to escape the every day now and then and do something completely different. I've thoroughly enjoyed my solitary explorations of the various cities in which my husband has had a business trip. I've walked for miles in San Francisco, done a city-wide geocache in Fort Worth, and spent entire days in San Diego on my own. These little slices of solitude have been rare treats in my 22 years of raising four kids. With no schedules to juggle, no dishes or laundry to do, no job weighing on my mind, I'm left with just getting to know myself. It's both scary and delightful. I'm getting outside my city, my comfort zone and myself just by boarding a jet plane. I can't wait to go and I can't wait to get home again.