Awesome Amish Country

We spent 2 days in Lancaster county, in the small town of Ronks, so we could check off one item on Sandy's bucket list. She wanted to see Amish country, so here we are!

The 4 of us decided that the top thing on our "to do" list was to take a buggy ride through the countryside. Let me introduce you to our two lady horses: Louise and Laura. If you can't tell them apart, that's okay. Louise is the one on the left. Both were bred in Canada and bought specifically for pulling tourist buggies around. Our Amish guide and driver, Elsie, had trained them to obey her voice commands.

Along the way we got to view men and boys working in the fields, just like they've done for hundreds of years. Elsie told us her ancestors came here from Holland in the 1700's, and they speak Pennsylvania Dutch at home, high German in church services, and learn English when they go to school.

We passed by some young school children on their way home, and were surprised to see that many of them were barefoot! The little girls looked so cute in their long dresses and bonnets. All Amish children go to one room school houses that are near their homes, so going barefoot is not a problem. There are hundreds of these small schoolhouses here in Lancaster county. Many kids (and adults) use scooters to get around from place to place, in addition to their buggies.
The ride took us through an old covered bridge, built in the 1800's. These are the same timbers being used today. As we toured, Elsie told us a lot about what it's like to be Amish. Not only did we have an enjoyable and relaxing ride, but we also learned about the Amish customs.
Below you can see a silhouette of a man working in the field. It was a warm, humid day here, unusual for this time of the year in Pennsylvania.
One night we looked out the back window and were greeted with a beautiful harvest moon looking over the pumpkin fields.

The next morning, this is what we saw...a fog enshrouded tree with the fields and horse behind it.
On our second day here, we hunted down covered bridges. Even though they are on a local map, they can be doggone difficult to find. The maps are not to scale, roads change names when they go around a bend and some of the road names are left off the map completely! We went up and down some of those country roads more than once. I think we wound up finding at least four of the ones scattered around different towns (except here they aren't called cities or towns: they are called boroughs or townships). Please don't ask me what the difference is. I have no idea.
This was a longer covered bridge...can you see Sandy sticking her head out of the little window?
Sandy is checking out the pumpkins at this little place. We did have Shoo-fly pie for dessert one night. None of us had ever tried it before. We bought the wet bottom Shoo-Fly pie, which everyone told us was better and more moist. One thing for sure, it has LOTS of sugar! Need a rush? Just eat this pie with a cup of coffee and you're off to a jump start!

Getting Back to Gettysburg

It took us a year, but we got back to Gettysburg to see the town and battlefield again, only this time Jerry and Sandy were with us. Our first stop was the Military Park Museum and Visitor Center. The cyclorama in the Visitor Center is amazing in itself, providing a small glimpse of what it must have been like to be in the middle of the battlefield.

We also walked around historic downtown Gettysburg, looking at the plaques on the old buildings. Below is the Presbyterian Church of Gettysburg. Abraham Lincoln attended services at this church on Nov. 19, 1863 and the pew he sat in has been preserved in the sanctuary.
The second plaque let us know that this was also the church that Ike Eisenhower attended when he lived in Gettysburg. His farm is not far from the church. Then again, this is a small town, and nothing seems to be very far. It doesn't take an hour to go across town like it does in Phoenix!
Sandy and Don crowd around Honest Abe and another unknown "visitor". Wonder if they got the right directions?
We did the auto tour around the battlefield the second day we were here. Obviously, this hawk found the perfect spot to scan the fields around here! The bird just sat there and looked at us as we drove slowly by.
Here is a view looking out from the battlefield towards the town of Gettysburg. There were approximately 195,000 soldiers that fought here in 1863, and it is estimated that there was 51,000 casualties (wounded, dead or captured). These fields witnessed the costliest battle of the Civil War. The sheer numbers just boggles my mind.
Jerry thought he was going to check and see if this cannon really worked.
We climbed one of the lookout towers and got a great view of the surrounding countryside. At the time of the battle, the little town of Gettysburg had around 2,400 people. Can you imagine the impact the 195,000 soldiers had on it? The townspeople had to cope with the casualties from both the Union and Confederate armies.
Little Round Top was a crucial spot in deciding who won the battle at Gettysburg. Don and Jerry look out from here to view countryside that General Meade saw when he stood on top of this hill.
There are hundreds and hundreds of markers and statues here. The statues are interesting works of art in themselves, and the markers provide historical information as we passed along the road in the battlegrounds.

Weekend "Warriors" in Washington,DC

We decided to be “weekend warriors” and tackle Washington, DC last Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Most people would think we are too old for that sort of thing, but never underestimate the determination of a senior citizen! We can still hold our own……for at least a minute or two.

We got to Union Station around 7:30 AM. Here you can see Sandy and Jerry actively discussing our plan of attack.

We caught our tour bus at Union Station. A beautiful day awaited us.

Here we are, on the open top bus, “armed” with our cameras, backpacks and water. Let’s get this bus rolling!

One of the places Sandy wanted to visit was the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial, so she could look up the names of two classmates. Don helped her find both of the names in the directory, which provides the section and line for each inscription. Day one also had us at Arlington Cemetery, the Lincoln Memorial, Korean War Veteran's Memorial, and walking to the WW II Memorial before we caught our bus back to Cherry Hill Campground at 5 PM.

Day Two had us back at the RV park bus stop at 6:30 AM and taking the complimentary bus into Union Station. It was a bit hard for us to get up that early two days in a row, but it sure was an easy way to get into DC. Don and Jerry didn’t have to drive, and we didn’t have to take the bus and subway system. I remembered the years I had to get up at 4:30 AM to go to work, so rising at 5:30 AM to do something fun was a whole lot better.

We started out at Union Station again, and got off at the Capitol building.

Don is pretending to hold up the Washington Monument…and he’s doing a pretty good job of it. As you can see, it was another beautiful sunny day in DC. The weather was in the mid-80's the whole weekend, with lots of sunshine. Just what we ordered!

Sandy and I peeked out of the vines that were by the U.S. Botanic Gardens. This was the beginning of the day, while we still had a lot of get-up and go. By the end of the day, it was G-O-N-E.

The Air and Space Museum was really interesting. This is my kind of place….Don says I’m “flighty” at times. Wonder what he means by that?? As you can see, everything was in "plane" sight and easy to find.

After lunch and much walking, we boarded the bus again so we could go to the National Cathedral. Wow! This was an absolutely beautiful church. The official name is the Cathedral Church of St. Peter and St. Paul, and is Episcopalian. It reminded me of the huge churches in Europe. The first cornerstone was laid in 1907, and the last finial was placed in the presence of George H.W. Bush in 1990, so it took 83 years to build.

Inside, I was in awe of the stained glass windows and the huge altar. This view is looking toward the back of the church. Martin Luther King delivered his last sermon here. Five days later, his memorial service was held in this cathedral.

On Sunday we took a Washington by night tour, getting off the bus at three different stops. Don got the picture of the Washington Monument with the night sky in the background. It was warm enough that evening to walk around with short sleeves.

Below is the Thomas Jefferson Memorial. Currently, they are doing some restoration around the base of the monument. This is one stop that the daytime tour bus didn't make, so I'm glad we took the 7 PM tour.

I managed to capture a picture of the top of the Jefferson Memorial and the moon above it. It was almost the end of our warrior weekend. By the time we got back to Cherry Hill Campground, it was 11 PM . Our feet and legs were begging to go to bed!

First Things First

First things first! So, you’re asking, what do you mean by that? Well, our sightseeing in this part of the country centered on a lot of “firsts”. We visited Kitty Hawk, where the first flight took place; toured Jamestowne which was the first permanent English settlement in America; and took a drive down the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, which encompasses 30,000 acres of land and is the first national seashore in the country!

Below is a statue of Captain John Smith, the first Governor of Virginia, looking out towards the James River. The weather was gorgeous, sunny and temperatures in the mid-80's. It was a perfect day to be walking around historic Jamestowne Island.

Sandy wanted to hold the hand of Pocahontas, the daughter of Indian Chief Powhatan. When she became a Christian, she changed her name to Rebecca. After marrying John Rolfe in 1614, she traveled to England with him, and died there at the young age of 22. The history books here say that her saving the life of John Smith was purely a figment of Smith's imagination. At any rate, don't rely on the movie made by Disney for her true story!

We also visited Yorktown, part of the historic triangle in Virginia. Below is the field where the second siege took place and Gen. George Washington and Marquis de Lafayette won the battle over Lord Cornwallis. This signaled the beginning of the end for England’s domination over us. If it weren’t for Washington and Lafayette, we might be singing “Hail to the Queen” rather than “God Bless America”! Would it have resulted in McDonald's asking if we would like chips with our bangers instead of fries with our hamburgers? Would we be calling guys "blokes"?

Here is the Moore house, where both sides agreed to meet after the English surrender. The Capitulation was signed on Oct. 19, 1781. The park ranger at Yorktown gave an amazing one hour speech about the battle here. Where was he when I was studying American history in high school?

On Tuesday, we drove south to North Carolina. Is that an oxymoron???? Anyway, our first stop of the day was at the Wright Brothers National Memorial at Kill Devil Hills. Here is a tidbit that we discovered: Kill Devil Hills was named after the foul tasting rum that washed ashore after shipwrecks, which locals said would “kill the devil”. Must have been pretty bad. The huge memorial in the background stands on Kill Devil Hill.

Another view of the monument, only much closer! ! I had to walk from one end of the visitor center and up the hill to get this picture.

After spending about 3 hours at this National Park, we headed south again, down the Outer Banks of North Carolina. So this is what the sign meant when it said, "Watch for sand and water on the road". The ocean was on one side of us, and either Currituck Sound or the North River was on the other side. There was no turning east or west in many stretches of the drive.

We made it to Cape Hatteras and got to view the famous lighthouse there. Standing at 208 feet tall, it is the tallest brick beacon in the United States. It was constructed in 1870, and certainly must be pretty sturdy, considering all the hurricanes and tropical storms that have passed by here.

On the way back north to our campground in Virginia Beach, we stopped and took a stroll along a deserted beach. It was lovely, lots of shells were scattered over the area and we had occasional glimpses of little crabs crawling into tiny holes in the sand. We did have to be careful not to step on the translucent jellyfish that had been washed ashore. Don caught this picture of me looking at something interesting. It was probably one of those jellyfish.

Sandy found this live starfish on the beach. Don’t worry, we treated it as a “catch and release” and the tiny thing was put gently back into the ocean by Sandy.

Sweet Savannah

Thursday was the day for us to explore historic Savannah. There were so many buildings, town squares, fountains and so little time. First stop: Forsyth Park with the beautiful fountain below. That was on my picture priority list.

Here is the walkway to the beautiful fountain. Wouldn’t it be great if we had that transplanted to Phoenix? It would probably be so crowded that there would be no room to walk.

The day had us partaking of many forms of transportation: first was walking down a long flight of stairs......

then along old cobblestone roads down by the river....
riding the 1935 streetcar that was brought over from Australia.....
and taking the free ferry ride. We also took the free shuttle bus around the city, which allows you to get off and on and specific spots.
I took a picture of the waterfront as we rode the ferry back to the dock by City Hall.

We got off the shuttle bus and walked a few blocks to St. John the Baptist Cathedral. That was also on my picture list as we drove into the city and I saw the spires rising above all the other buildings.

Sometimes you just have to re-check the map to see if you’re in the right place. Yep, this is it!

Before we headed back to the bus stop, we passed by the by the house of Juliette Gordon Low, who founded Girl Scouts of America in March, 1912. After a full day of sightseeing, it was time for us to head back to Skidaway Island State Park so we could relax before dinner. Dale and Mary made the shrimp boil for us again, like we had in Illinois. We enjoyed that a second time!