Day 1-2 of Spring Break Trip

We got moving about 2:30 on Friday afternoon, heading for Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The most interesting part of that trip was driving over a mountain pass in the Appalachians with a 9% grade. That's the highest I've ever seen! It was pretty fun, although it was dark, so we didn't see much.

In Gettysburg on Saturday morning, we went to the visitors center for the Battle of Gettysburg and hired a private tour guide (as we were told it was the best way to see Gettysburg). Turns out, whoever told us that was right. The man who drove us around was very knowledgable and made the Battle of Gettysburg come alive for us. It was really neat. We spent a little time in the Museum Giftstore, buying some Civil War books. Then we got back on the road and drove to Maryland, where, as it turns out, it's very difficult to find postcards.

After Maryland, we drove north to Harrisburg, then got back on the Pennsylvania Turnpike and headed for Philadelphia. We discovered that Valley Forge is on the way, so we stopped there for a brief time. After arriving in Philadelphia, we started looking for a hotel, which for some reason was a very difficult process. We got completely lost in the slums of New Jersey, which was scary, and drove around and through Philadelphia till we were sick of it with no luck. Finally we headed back into the suburbs and decided to hang the price, we were staying at a Mariott. As luck would have it, the Mariott was the same price we had budgeted for our hotel rooms, so we are going to stay here for all three nights that we are in Philly.

The last thing to do was find some food. So far we have avoided spending much money on food on this trip, but we were pretty hungry last night, so we went to a place called Dave and Buster's, with no idea what it actually was. Turns out it's like an arcade, for adults. We got carded, for the first time in either of our lives, which was a little embarrassing because I didn't have my wallet on me. They let us in anyway (apparently I look older than 21), and we ate some food in a place that was buzzing with people. It was very nice to get back to our hotel and finally go to sleep.

High Point of the Day: the Tour of Gettysburg
Low Point of the Day: Getting lost in New Jersey with no internet

General Lee and some members of the Confederate Army

Minnesota Monument

This is a Union cannon. They ran out of balls for them on the third day of battle as the Confederate troops were attacking. The Confederates thought they were completely out of ammunition, so they started advancing more quickly. The Union soldiers had some canisters full of scatter shot, however, and they were able to stop the advance of the Confederate soldiers within about 25' of their line.

We made a quick lunch excursion across the border from Gettysburg to Maryland.

This is the Benjamin Franklin Bridge across the Delaware River into New Jersey.