I unloaded the scooter after posting to the blog yesterday. Donna went out for a walk while I was at it. When Donna returned, we rode the scooter from Artillery Ridge Camping Resort to Historic Gettysburg.

 

On the way to town, we rode through the Gettysburg National Military Park, then we stopped at the battlefield on the east side of Baltimore Pike. The battlefield is a park with monuments, statues and restored cannons from the Civil War. Most of the area is preserved with fence lines and fields much as they were in 1863.

We left the scooter in the free parking lot at the Gettysburg Tour Center. You can buy a ticket and take bus tours of the various battlefields and monuments there. Donna and I aren’t into organized group tours. We may miss some of the sights, but we prefer to move at our own pace and decide where to spend our time.

We walked past the Jennie Wade House. Jennie Wade was the only direct civilian casualty of the Battle of Gettysburg when a stray bullet struck her while she was in the kitchen making biscuits for soldiers. She was 20 years old.

We continued walking and went to see the Gettysburg Diorama. It’s in an old building on Steinwehr Avenue. It was hot and humid out, but we enjoyed walking through the quaint old village. Although the area is geared toward tourists, it still has the small village feel.

We had free tickets for the diorama courtesy of the campground. The owners of Artillery Ridge Camping Resort also happen to own the Gettysburg Diorama and a few other attractions in town. The Gettysburg Diorama is the largest military diorama in the country. We arrived just in time for the 11am show. I took a few pictures before the show began.

The diorama recreates the town and surrounding 6,000 acres as it appeared during the battle in July 1863. It contains over 20,000 hand-painted soldiers, horses, cannons and buildings. For the show, we sat in a small three-row bleacher along with a few other people. The show has light and sound effects and video displays as a narrator takes you through the events of July 1st, 2nd and 3rd, 1863 which comprised the Battle of Gettysburg. The narrative was comprehensive, describing the ebb and flow of the fight. There were more than 46,000 casualties including nearly 8,000 killed in the three-day battle.

After the 20-minute show, we walked back up the street to the Dobbin House for lunch. This is the oldest standing structure in Gettysburg. It was built by Reverend Alexander Dobbin in 1776. Today it houses a tavern serving lunch in the spring cellar and a dinner restaurant upstairs. We had lunch in the tavern. Donna had a French onion soup and spinach salad with hot bacon dressing. I had a reuben sandwich washed down with IPA from Troegs Brewery in nearby Hershey, Pennsylvania. The IPA was excellent – citrusy and spicy.

We walked around a little more, then made our way back to the scooter. On the way home, I first stopped at a pizza restaurant to buy Yuengling beer. Yuengling traditional lager is a low alcohol (4.4% ABV) beer brewed in the pre-prohibition style. Yuengling is America’s oldest brewery. Here in Pennsylvania, they have weird alcohol laws. You can buy beer at a distributor, but you must buy a case at a time. Anything less than a case can only be bought at a restaurant that has a beer license. Grocery stores only have watered down 3.2% ABV beer.

We made another stop past the campground at a vegetable and fruit stand and bought fresh corn on the cob that they said was just picked two hours earlier. We also bought some really juicy plums and peaches.

When we came back to our site, Donna headed for the pool. She didn’t make it far before she heard thunder and returned to the coach as it started raining.

We hung out inside and read. For dinner, I dodged a couple of showers and grilled sausage and corn on the cob. Donna served it with sauteed asparagus, peppers and onions with grated parmesan cheese.

I need to get busy and load the scooter. Today we’ll move about 80 miles to Cherry Hill Park in College Park, Maryland – just north of Washington D.C. I’m hoping my youngest daughter, Shauna, can join us for dinner tonight. Tomorrow we’ll take the train into DC and have a look around. We’ve been to all of the big monuments before, so we may take in the Newseum this time.