IT'S FALL!

Our 20th!!!! Anniversary

We took vacation days from work today to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary. It turned out to be a beautiful day weather-wise, so we took advantage and visited some local sites. One of the places we visited is the church where we were married 20 years ago to the day. For those of you who were there back then, the weather was MUCH NICER today. It was about 70 degrees and sunny today, much different than the cold and rain on that Saturday afternoon in 1988.

We also visited Minute Man National Park. We began with a wonderful film presentation and various displays at the Visitor's Center and then we did some walking. Here is Anne along the "Battle Road", where local militia harassed the "Red Coats" from Concord back to Boston.

Afer the Visitor's Center, we went to the Old North Bridge, the location of the famous "Shot Heard 'Round The World". While shots were fired previous to the skirmish at the Old North Bridge, like at the Lexington Battle Green, the shots fired here were the first that were actually ordered by a military commander of the Colonies, giving the first shot that famous title.


In the foreground below is the first monument to what happened here, which raised the ire of locals since it was located on the British side of the skirmish. This was subsequently remedied with the Minute Man statue on the other side of the bridge in later years.

Here's the Minute Man Statue itself.

We had a great day off and really enjoyed seeing some of the local sites that are very easy to take for granted. We've noticed over the years that the National Park Service has done a terrific job updating not only their overall facilities, but also their audio/visual presentations. Between these presentations, displays at the Visitor's Centers and talks from some of the park rangers, you get a much better sense of the history of each park. We encourage everyone to take a day and visit one of their local National Parks. It's a very interesting and inspiring thing to do!



HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO US!

Erik's 13th Birthday

Erik became a teenager (yes...really!) on September 13th. We celebrated his birthday on that day with the cake below...a turtle. (Inspired by his pet turtle which we affectionally refer to as the "Duke of Turtle".)

A couple of weeks later, Erik had a movie party at a local restaurant/theatre called "Chunky's", where they served pizza, popcorn and birthday cake along with a current movie. Erik and his friends saw the new animated feature "Igor".

Erik just started 7th grade and in addition to his studies, he's participating in a Cross Country program after school three days a week.

Back to School!

Today is the first day of school for Rebecca, who is beginning her Junior year in High School...

...and for Erik, who is beginning 7th grade, which is the middle grade at the local Middle School.

Heading Home

We began the day at Valley Forge, where George Washington and the Continental Army wintered during the Revolutionary War. It was a fascinating visit. Below are replicas of the small houses that the soldiers built for the winter.

Here is the home that George Washington used as his lodging and headquarters during that same winter.

After Valley Forge, we drove about 360 miles and finally, we're...

HOME!

Approaching The End

We left our lodging just a bit outside of Harper's Ferry and before heading to the Antietam Battlefield, we took a short stop in the little town of Burkittsville, MD. Burkittsville is supposedly the town involved in the movie "The Blair Witch Project" from years back, but that's not why we went there. We went there because of a weird little place called "Gravity Hill" or "Spook Hill". Take a look at this picture. If you pull your vehicle up to the Speed Limit sign and then stop it completely, you're looking at an uphill rise in front of you. If you put the vehicle in Neutral and take your foot off of the brakes, the vehicle begins to roll forward, UP THE HILL! We tested it out, three times and it worked every time! Before we crested the hill, we'd reached a speed of about 10 MPH. It was a unique experience. Local legend has it that ghosts of Union Soldiers from the Civil War are actually pushing your vehicle up the hill. Call me skeptical, but I'm pretty sure that what we're dealing with here is either an optical illusion or a weird trick of gravity.

After experiencing the weirdness of Gravity Hill, we moved on to Antietam. When we arrived, we watched a 26-minute orientation film and then took a driving tour of the battlefield. Seeing the places on the battlefield in person enhanced what we'd learned in the film. A very knowledgeable park ranger also filled us in on some of the finer points of the battle. Below is the Burnside Bridge, named for Union General Ambrose Burnside, a key landmark from the latter parts of the battle at Antietam.

Before leaving Antietam, we took a few moments to browse the Antietam bookstore. Erik took a few moments to imitate his favorite president...Abraham Lincoln.

After Antietam, we took a leisurely drive to our lodging for the night, just outside of Harrisburg, PA. We spent a relaxing couple of hours swimming and checking out the town we're in.

Tomorrow morning, we'll be up early to open the Visitor's Center at Valley Forge. We'll spend some time there before taking the long drive home. If all goes according to plan, we'll be sleeping in our own beds tomorrow night.

Reaching Old Heights

We got up this morning and headed for Harper's Ferry National Historic site. The first thing we did was to find a place to park on the Maryland side of the rivers. Then we hit the trail up to the heights...Maryland Heights to be specific. Here we enjoyed the magnificent view of the confluence of the Shenandoah and Potomac rivers, as well as the town of Harper's Ferry. Many years ago, Steve had been up to this location and now we all experienced it together. It was a strenuous hike, but we made it, up and back.

On the way back down, Erik and Anne picked out walking sticks from the woods. Anne found hers to be very beneficial. Erik's? Not so much!

When we got back down to the car, we were able to see where we'd been off in the distance.

We then drove to the Visitor's Center for the park and took a shuttle bus to the Historic District of Harper's Ferry. Here, we learned about John Brown and his raid on the armory at Harper's Ferry. The building below is the reassembled fire station where John Brown and his surviving accomplices were captured. John Brown was ultimately hanged for his actions at Harper's Ferry.

Tomorrow, we're heading towards the Antietam battlefield in western Maryland.