Day 138 - The Idiots Guide To Gettysburg
Trip Start
May 19, 2008
1
140
172
Trip End
Nov 08, 2008
Fort Loudon,
Pennsylvania,
United States
Friday, October 3, 2008
Although it is only just the beginning of October and Halloween is almost a full month away, as we drove through the towns we noticed that many of the houses had begun to decorate their porches and gardens with pumpkins, ghosts and skeletons and such like. The last few days we have also been seeing signs saying, "mums for sale". We have had no idea what a "mum" was (apart from the obvious form which was surely ridiculous in this context!), until today, when we finally saw a sign saying "Chrysanthemums for sale"!! Oh yes, and everyone has pumpkins for sale!
After only a few miles we reached the town of Gettysburg, famous for the battle that occurred there during the American Civil war and the subsequent speech which President Abraham Lincoln delivered there
Halloween Decorations
. The town itself is very quaint with many of its establishments aimed particularly at the tourist market. The Gettysburg National Military Park visitor centre is located just on the outskirts of the town. The park consists of 6,000 acres (24.3 kmē) of park lands, 30 miles (50 km) of roads, and over 1,400 monuments and markers. The park itself is free to enter but there is an additional charge (not covered by annual passes) for entry to the museum. There is an "auto route" through the park, which you drive around in your own vehicle to points of interest such as battlefields and monuments, but as this requires around two and a half hours to complete, and it was already mid-afternoon, we didn't feel we had enough time to spare. As we know very little about the American Civil War, we felt that the best thing for us to do was buy "The Idiots Guide To The American Civil War" from the book store, as we would probably learn more that way than spending an hour in a museum looking at old rifles and uniforms. As we headed away from the visitor centre and out of the town we actually had to drive along parts of the "auto route" through battlefields and past monuments, which basically uses the regular county and state roads. Even in this "off-season" period it was quite congested, it must be horrific in summer.
The drive west from Gettysburg to Chambersburg took us through the densely wooded Michaux State Forest and the South Mountains
Mums & Pumpkins
. From Chambersburg it was only about a 15 mile drive to Fort Loudon where we picked up signs for Cowan's Gap State Park. We were both shocked and disappointed that as non-residents of the state we had to pay several dollars more than residents, and there was also another $3.50 premium as it was a weekend night. Talk about encouraging tourism!! Oh and all the sites had electric whether you wanted it or not, which meant that you had to pay for it whether you wanted it or not! Grrrrrrrr!! Thankfully it was a nice site and the showers were clean and hot. It was remarkably busy for the time of year though. We reckon everyone must have come out to see the "fall colours".
Miles travelled: 76
Total miles travelled: 12719
Days on road: 118
States visited: 25
National Parks visited: 19
