Day Two - Getting to Gettysburg!

Today is Taber's turn to post.

We spent last night in Country Inn and Suites outside of Toledo and we were on the road by 6:30, which proved to work in out favor later on.  The day started off on a great note with a very friendly hotel clerk who chatted us up during the "free" breakfast.  We made terrific progress until shortly after we entered the long state of Pennsylvania and found that the Turnpike was closed.  Note to self - next time we drive on the east coast keep a tally of what we pay for tolls!  I was surprised that the turnpike was closed - it seemed like it was closed for construction, but who closes a turnpike?  Pennsylvanians apparently, as they closed a lot of it.  The good news was the we saw some beautiful rolling countryside Including the photo of the bridge), some interesting store names (more from Luke on this) and getting on the road early paid off as a 7 hour ride turned in to a 10 hour drive.  It was ten hours because when you close a turnpike an re-route all traffic on to small two lane roads traffic tends to get backed up quite a bit.  We had great opportunities to sit in the car, play games and listen to podcasts on the Civil War, hauntings in Gettysburg and other bits of interesting information.

We arrived in Gettysburg around 4:30 and we rolled right into part of the battlefield, which was exciting, navigated through a great town and then up to the hotel.  Beth took a little nap and then we were off to dinner at a great Irish Pub in town.  After dinner we walked about the town, did some planning for tomorrow and then visited some easily accessible portions of the battlefield.  There is a presence there and both Luke and I felt it as we explored.  Tomorrow we plan to start the day at the visitor center around 8 and then meet our personal tour guide at 10 for a two hour guided tour, which will include the First Minnesota and 20th Maine.  In the afternoon we hope to do some more exploring, dine at the Dobbin House http://www.dobbinhouse.com/ and we make join a haunted Gettysburg Tour (if we can find a non-"farby" tour!).

More soon!  Thanks for reading.