Historical highlights "Gettysburg"

July 1st 1863 the Battle of Gettysburg started and then lasted 3 days. Over 50,000 killed making it one of the worst battles of the war. Today is the 150th anniversary.

I start with this comment and will continue on with my tour.

We arrived in Gettysburg and a tour of the Gettysburg visitors centre. We first saw a film about the battle and about what happened in Gettysburg not just the battle but after the battle and up to when Lincoln gave his Gettysburg Address. At the top is a Cyclorama painting that is a 360 degree depiction of Pickets charge and a film. It lights up the different parts of the cyclorama as it tells the story of the charge. The picture is so good and it felt like you were there. Knowing and hearing how Picket loses most of his division is so sad and I have to say I had tears watching and listening. It is amazing.

We had time in the gift shop which just happened to have several school groups also there so was really noisy and busy. 

That night we went to the Farnsworth house for an evening meal and entertainment. The house has over 100 bullet holes which you can still see in the wall. The entertainment was a visit by President Lincoln who told us about his life and his involvement at Gettysburg. The guy who played him was amazing and it was such a great meal and night.

In the morning it was a tour of the battle field. We saw the statue of the one civilian Mary Virginia "Jennie" Wade who was killed while making bread. Then it was a tour of the battle field. We got a guide who was so excited to have adults as there were to be 102 tour buses with many being school children. We drove past many of the land marks the guide asked if any had seen Gettysburg the Movie which I have many times and showed us some of the building mentioned.

Our first stop was at the monument to General Lee.   I had my photo taken but they cut half of General Lee off so I put both photos up. Yes the wrist by this stage was hurting so much I had the back slab back on. We then went up to Little round top where the north held the line and repelled the confederates. It was the end of the line. We saw the rocks the confederates had to climb over and they were rugged, big and sharp. Many who were shot didn't die from being shot but from falling on the rocks. At Little round top we heard the chilling fact that often over the cannon fire and gun fire the sound they could hear was the crunching of bones from the wounded and dead. Seeing the area and the numbers who were there you can understand how this could happen and while its an awful fact it really made it real. 

The above photos are at Little Round Top and the first shows the rugged terrain. The second is me and a cannon (I tell you I want to be a cannoneer!)  We then head of to the middle of the line. This is where Pickets charge happened. In the film I had a real soft spot for Lewis Armistead. He was from Virginia and quite a character. We saw the spot he was shot and there was a monument where he was mortally wounded. (He died from his wounds a couple of days later). I though oh great I will get to take a photo of the site but no we didn't get out here! I did take a photo from the bus.

The small monument I think is where he was wounded. 

This ended the tour we came back to the visitors centre and then we left for our next port of call. I could have spent hours if not a whole day just looking at the monuments and the different areas. Gettysburg was the one place I was really wanting to visit and I am so glad I got to see it. I would love to go again to see more. Being there we get to see where the battle happened but we also get a feeling of what the towns folk had to deal with after. The battle took 3 days then they moved on leaving the dead and wounded. The towns people had to deal with this. The weather was hot , humid and then rained so it was oppressive and dealing with dead and decaying bodies was not easy.

historical Highlights part 5

As I mentioned last time I was saving the afternoon for this post. We got to ride on the Sky drive in the Shenendoah area. It was so pretty. The drive takes you through the Blue Ridge mountains. Our tour director put on John Denvers song Country Roads which I still can't get out of my head. Shenendoah means daughter of the stars in indian.

It was here one of the highlights happened and if I had a bucket list this was high on it. As we are driving we are told to look out for wildlife, someone yells bear. The driver stops and I am Momma bear, oh baby cub, oh two cubs oh wow three cubs. Two were trying to run up a tree. They were so cute and it was a real highlight. they were black bears and the mother bear wasn't as big as I expected.

We arrived at the Big Meadows Lodge. 

We saw dear after dinner at the lodge there were three and they were fun to watch. In the morning I almost ran into a couple when I got up early to try and catch the sunrise. The photo below is the view from outside my room. 
While watching the deer one of the fellow tourists was joking with me saying if you want to get friendly with momma bear remember to cuddle the cubs. I replied I am not that silly I know you have to cuddle the momma bear first before cuddling the cubs! I then said to him do you want me to be attacked! I know if I see a cub to vacate the area. It was friendly banter. 
In the evening we had a talk by a local guide on the flora and fauna of the area. the guide was wonderful she went to university in Queensland which gave us some common ground. Her talk was so interesting and informative. She showed us many of the animals we may see including bob cats and how hard they are to find and how she saw one once for a few seconds and how exciting it was. They are a shy animal. We also saw alot of the flora of the area. She got to talking about cougars or mountain lions which I would love to see. After the talk there was another couple not on the tour who had been at the talk and with the guide and the couple we were talking about cougars and how they will stalk humans. We were all saying we would love to see a cougar in the wild and I was saying I would be the one who walked a different route each day but cos someone else didn't would be the one attacked by a cougar. I think said But what a way to go attacked by a mountain lion, The guide and the guy said yes how cool would that be. the girlfriend wasn't so sure. It was a chat you need to be there to get the gist of the thought but it was so much fun and having other cougar lovers there was fun too.

In the morning I did get up early and went for a walk and saw some amazing views. below is one of them.
I couldn't get a good photos of the sunrise but It looked so pretty.

The below photos is from one of the stops we made to take some photos. While travelling through the area I was thinking about mum and how much she would have loved it there with the views of the mountains. She loved mountains and it was one thing she always missed when they moved to where I live now. 

Lunch was at Harpers Ferry where the ablolistionist John Brown was caught and then hung. It was also part of the civil war with a battle that took place in the area. We were able to look at the old area but I have to say it was a little disappointing. We were given a map of the area but having a guide would have been nice. The afternoon we then headed to Gettysburg which I was so looking forward to and will write about next time.

Historical Highlights part 4.

 We left Williamsburg for Virginia and our stop was St Johns Church. This is the church where Patrick Henry made his famous speech which included quotes like "Taxation without Representation" and "Give me liberty or give me death". The Lady who was telling us about the church and the lead up to this speech was so good. I could have listened to her for hours and was sad when it ended. I even told her how much I appreciated what she told us and that I could have listened for hours. There is so much history there it's a pity we didn't get longer but we had an appointment at Monticello later in the day.

 Sign about the pew Patrick Henry sat in

We stopped for lunch but not sure the name of the place but there was a choice of places for food. There was a cat rescue place where they have cats that can be adopted out. I spent some time patting the cats and talking to the lady there. Being a cat lover it was nice to be able to pat the cats and give them some attention. The afternoon started with a trip to Monticello Thomas Jefferson's estate. We had a tour of the house and then looked around the grounds. Another impressive home this time with mountain views. 

It was a good tour and then onto the shenandoah river area and the sky drive. I will add more about this next time as it goes well with the evening and following days adventures.

Historical Highlights part 3

Day Three we had a tour of Jamestown which was the first area settled in America. We learnt how hard it was for the first settlers and how they almost starved due to lack of food. We also could see how there housing styles changed due to the abundance of timber. We also saw how the Powhatan Indians who were native to the area lived.

We saw replicas of the ships that brought the first colonists to Jamestown. We learnt some interesting facts about the ships and the indian village. We then saw the settlement it was here the tour guide started to waffle and seemed to forget we were adults and treated us like fourth graders. Instead of letting us look around the area he talked on and on then we headed to the museum and I have to say I left to look around on my own as did others of our group. I did get a cute bear dressed like a Powhatan indian.

The above pictures are from Jamestown. 

We were back in Williamsburg to spend the afternoon. While we had free time I had arranged to meet Carrie Fancett Pagels an author I have meet online.

 We had fun looking around Williamsburg. We had a meal at one of the taverns and then looked at some of the buildings. At the Coffee house we got to taste either a hot chocolate, coffee or tea made the way it would have been in Colonial times. Chocolate back then was a different recipe which was bitter with spices. I had the hot chocolate and just couldn't drink it. It was bitter. The photo below is at the apothecary which we went to after the coffee house. 
Here we heard an interesting exchange. A wife asked if they sold arsenic to put in food at the same time pointing to her husband without him knowing. Carrie and I were watching and burst out laughing as the husband twigged what was happening he asked do you have mercury to put in fish looking at his wife. It was so funny the exchange the two shop assistants were not sure what to do. Yes both were sold. Then I said if we hear of a double murder with Arsenic and Mercury we will know who it was. I have to say it was really funny and we know they were joking as they were having so much fun with it.

 Below are a few other places we saw in Williamsburg

I had to add a photo of a squirrel I saw. 

We headed back into downtown Williamsburg and to a country store where I was able to get a t-shirt there and they have Haagen Daz Ice cream. I had been looking forward to eating this again in Hawaii and was so happy to find it in Williamsburg. 

It was a great afternoon spent with Carrie seeing Williamburg and sharing ice cream. 

I didn't do the tour optional which was a meal out and an entertainer who told stories and sang songs. I heard differing reports from how she got lost walking to the church to how she used the forum to promote her views on a few subjects. Overall I don't think I missed to much by not going.

Historical Highlights tour part 2

Day two of the tour was an early start as were most mornings. We left Washington for our first stop Mount Vernon home of George Washington. 

Here we had a tour of the house and learnt more about George Washington. There is also a museum with a few short films. I have what they call an ear worm which has haunted me for a couple of years now and one of the films has the same song. Rule Britannia, Britannia rules the waves! Needless to say I had it stuck again!  The house is amazing seeing how it would have been and even the bed George Washington died in. The views are amazing. They look out on the Potomac and wow do they have a view.

 George and Martha Washington with there 2 grand children

They have a great gift shop that has some interesting items. Each year a new Christmas Decoration is created and I was able to pick up a few older ones. Also got a really nice T-Shirt there. It was a really nice place to visit and I did learn a lot there. We headed then to Fredricksburg for lunch at Cracker Barrel. They have good food and from experience I learnt that they are big meals and having a meal included in the tour I made sure I had a smaller meal.
Even the childrens menu meal was to big for me.

 The afternoon stop was Yorktown where were had a guided tour and learnt more about how Washington finally defeated Cornwallis. We were divided into two groups and we had an excellent guide. She was so knowledgeable and made it fun. She answered questions and was fun. We learnt what tools were used for medical procedures and the chances of survival. 
We saw how the troops would have slept 6 in a tent. Also the cook fire which would have been a communal fire where each tent would have done there own cooking. We saw how Tobacco was the crop that was farmed and how it was grown and then dried. We learnt about how the slaves were uses to grow the tobacco as they were use to this sort of farming. 

Oh other information We learnt that often when people moved into a house they would be given a gift of a metal plate which was often decorative to put in the back of the fire place to reflect the heat into the house. This was called a house warming gift. The one we saw was a wedding gift. 

growing Tobacco.

The next two nights would be in Williamsburg. At night we had a included meal with entertainment. We had a man sing ballads to us that would have been sung back in colonial times. Seems a lot of the old tunes have been used for other songs. Many were tavern songs which then became the tune for other songs. God Save the Queen was used for another tune. Even Waltzing Matilda originally was a tavern tune. The man singing was really good and he told us history of the time. Had some fun with us (Including us Aussies). 

More of Ausjenny's adventures.

Sorry for the delay in posting more. I didn't have much access to a computer where I could add photos. Also my wrist has been playing up again and I have to be careful how much I use it.

I still plan to post about my tour but need to work out what to post and may do it over several posts. I will continue from leaving Spokane to Seattle and Port Orchard. It was sad to say goodbye to friends in Spokane and I found it the most emotional of all the farewells. 

I arrived in Seattle after another early start. Once again arrived to rain. It was chilly and was most of the time there. I was able to meet my friend and another friend and we had brunch. I also got to see her friendly Squirrel Rocky (who now has a friend dubbed Rockette.)

I realise I haven't told you of my obsession with Squirrels. When ever I see them I go nuts! I get so excited like a little school kid. They are so cute and I could watch them for hours. (In fact I have even taken little videos of them). We do not have them in the wild (or suburbia) here in Australia and I tend to get hyper when I see them. I got to see a woodchuck also. (missed out on the chipmunks and the only raccoons had had an unfortunate accident with a car).

We had decided to take the ferry to Victoria BC and it was lovely there. Funny the ferry was so rough the first part of the crossing (didn't worry me but others were finding it rough) and about half way through it was calm the same on the way back. The Canadian side was calm!

We looked around Victoria and the second day went to the Butchart Gardens which are so beautiful. The roses were not quite out and the spring bulbs just finished but it was still beautiful. I am enclosing some photos.

They also have a Carrousel which is so cool I had to ride it as I have never ridden one that goes up and down before. But a note if you do ride one do not choose an animal with a tail standing up. its hard to get off and you tend to hit your leg (unless you are younger and fitter). It reminded me of Mary Poppins and I thought at any time we would take off like they did. I had so much fun.
It is a highlight for me. 

We had time to tour the Parliament building in Victoria BC Which is a beautiful building and the stain glass windows are amazing. Also the dome with its pictures is a work of art. It was well worth the visit. They even have people playing some of the early members of parliament.

We had a great time in Canada (and my wallet took a beating but hey I have 2 new hoodies) The last day in Port Orchard we relaxed and took it easy. My friends Daughter came over and we watched Mama Mia on DVD and I had Abba In my head for ages after in fact its still in my head!

I have a great time in Washington state but I was ready to head to Hawaii and some sun!

More of Ausjenny's travels

So much has happened since my last update. I completed an 8 days Historical Highlights tour with Trafalgar tours seeing many revolution and civil war areas. This I will blog more about when I get home as I am limited and want to digest it more.

Then Sunday I flew to Spokane Washington State which started with an early start catching the shuttle at about 5.15am for Baltimore Airport. Then a stopover in Denver and onto Spokane. Here a group of authors and readers were meeting.

This took place not after arriving. I was so tired and feeling so overwhelmed and yes my wrist was back to being strapped. It had been getting worse each day. Had such a great two days with this group. (One had to leave early). Not enough time was had.

Me, Janet Tronstad

Me, Mary and Jillian Hart.

We had such a great time and hearing part of the next novella by Jillian and Janet was exciting. 

I am so glad I got to go and meet all these ladies. Many had been with me online when First I had my health issue last year and then when mum passed away.

This was the sunrise in the morning Tuesday. I got up to see a few ladies off (ok I couldn't sleep). Isn't it lovely. I was so beautiful. It was a great weekend one I wish I had longer time at.

I then headed to Seattle and had a night in Canada. Will talk about that at a later date also.

I am off to Hawaii tomorrow. Can not believe how quick the time has gone.

Traveling with Ausjenny

I thought I would put some of my experiences down of my trip so far.
I left Australia on Sunday at 1.25 pm and arrived at Dallas Airport at 1.10pm the same day.
I found Qantas to be a good flight although the leg room is a little short and the flight on American Airlines had more room. It wasn't a bad flight just long.
In Dallas I was able to catch up with 3 friends (who I won't embarrass here) and had a great time of re meeting one and meeting 2 for the first time. The time just sped by. Then it was a flight to Atlanta. I actually feel asleep on the tarmat and didn't see us take of but woke 5 mins later.

I arrived in Atlanta around 9pm and got to bed around 32 hours after I woke that morning. I didn't sleep well Jetlag hit in bad.

(L to R) Debby Giusti, Jenny Blake, Missy Tippens,
Patty Smith Hall and Patti Jo Moore.

 

It was here I got to meet 3 Love inspired authors and an aspiring author. I felt like I had known them for years. We went to Ruby Tuesdays and had a really good waiter. Very patient and he took great photos. The meal was wonderful and the fellowship way better. It was a wonderful time together getting to know people I have communicated with online and to meet them in person. We talked alot about books and It was sad to say good bye.

 

I then took the bus to Chattanooga where I met my friend for the first time in person but it wasn't like it was the first time. It felt like we had known each other in person forever. She is just like I imagined only 10 times better.  We are having so much fun together but I promised her I wouldn't share photos of us at this stage. I will add a few of my own. We have been to Rock City and Ruby Falls. Now that is spectacular. The Chickamauga battlefield where I was in my element. The guide at the centre was so imformative and we chatted for ages. She appreciated my love for the era and that I already knew so much about the war. We also have seen sites in Chattanooga including a bridge which has glass. Three panels the whole way across with one being fully transparent so it feels like you are walking on a beam and could fall into the river. I walked on this and it was an interesting experience.

 

I have seen squirrels which I adore and also chipmonks, a wild turkey (a little on the thin side) and deer. We had one squirrel seeming to hold us up. It ran on the road and we slowed to a stop and it sat there then got on its back legs and started being cute before running off.

 

Today will probably be the Chattanooga Zoo. Then onto Washington DC tomorrow and will add more as I am able. Having a blast. Jetlag is much better I got a good sleep last night

 

At Rock City

 

 

Ruby Falls

Having fun at the battlefield

 

Outside the Chickamauga information centre.