May 27, 2013 (Monday)
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| Wills House Sign |
Downtown Gettysburg was the first stop of the day. There was free
on-street parking since it was a holiday. We walked around a bit while waiting
for the David Wills House to open. David Wills played a very active role for
the efforts that he provided the area after the battle, Mr. Wills notified the Pennsylvania Governor
about the condition of the battlefield – improper burials – largely due to the
heavy rains in the areas right after the battle. In return the Governor, put
Mr. Wills in charge of establishing a permanent national cemetery for all of
the Union’s dead.
The president at the time, Lincoln, spoke at the cemetery opening
ceremony, while on his visit he stayed at the Wills home. It is said that
Lincoln completed what is known as the Gettysburg Address in the bedroom of the
home.
There are two videos available for viewing as well as much of the home.
An hour is adequate time to allow at the site. The cost is $6.50/adult and
lesser cost for seniors and youth. There is $1 off with the AAA discount.
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| Catoctin Mountain Park |
Upon leaving Gettysburg, (we wanted to get out of the area since we did
not want to get stuck in the Memorial Day parade) we headed south to Catoctin
Mountain Park. We headed to the visitor
center first – the parking lots were overflowing! The park was created during the 1930s
Depression. Back in 1939, the Civilian
Conservation Corps (CCC) worked hard at this site to turn old farm land back to
the native landscape of Eastern hardwood forest. Camp David is located in the heart of
Catoctin Mountain Park – that area is closed to the public. Catoctin Mountain Park has 25 miles of hiking
trails. Upon recommendation, by the rangers at the visitor center we hiked to
Chimney Rock overlook and Wolf Rock.
Roundtrip the hike was about 4 miles in length and took us around 2.5
hours. I would say it was a moderate
hike – about 600 feet of elevation change and rocky terrain. There were a lot of families with children
hiking – I did not hear any complaining – amazing!
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| PA Capitol Building in Harrisburg |
Continuing with our visiting the state capitol buildings for photos we
headed to Harrisburg, PA. Parking was a little tough to find, probably largely
due to a big festival that was going on a few blocks away. Harrisburg was selected as the capitol
location because of its access to the nearby Susquehanna River. Harrisburg was
a large port city in the 1800’s and it played part in the early development of
the Pennsylvania canal system. The capitol building has Italian Renaissance
style. The dome is modeled after St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. The capitol
offers 40 minute tours pretty much every day, but apparently you have to call
ahead of you would like to take the free tour.
Since we did not have any other plans we headed over to Hershey, PA. Three
guesses as to what you can find there…Chocolate! There is a ton to do in
Hershey – Hersheypark (amusement park), Hershey’s Chocolate World, ZooAmerica,
Hershey Gardens, concert venue… We just visited Hershey’s Chocolate World.
There are a few different attractions to pick from – we just opted for the free
“Hershey’s Great American Chocolate Tour” Ride. It was a fun little ride that
was not too long. You get free chocolate once you get off the ride. Other
attractions included a 4D movie, trolley ride, create your own candy bar, and
chocolate tasting adventure – pretty much each costing between $5 to $15. There
is free parking for up to an hour or if you buy the attractions you can get a
free parking also. There is a huge store, café, ice cream shop, and bakery on
site also.
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| Welcome to Hershey! |
May 28, 2013 (Tuesday)
The time came to pack up the camper and head into Maryland
for the remainder of the trip. We stayed at Ramblin’ Pines Campground in
Woodbine. There really were not many
pines at the park so I am not sure how they came up with the name. The park was better than the last park, since
the roads were paved (less dust) and the showers were hot. The site we had
(D-12) was $49.50/night.
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| A stop along the way...Monocacy National Battlefield |
On the way to the park, we stopped at Monocacy National
Battlefield. There was room to park with the camper at the visitor center and
we asked about how parking would work at the driving tour stops and were told
that we should not have much problem other than at one stop. Well…if there were
many cars at stops, we probably would have had some issues but we made it. The visitor center was very nice (allow at
least an hour), with lots of interesting displays – especially the light up
map. The park ranger gave a 45 minute talk about the battle that took place.
The ranger said that a lot of people really are not aware of this particular
battle, but the battle was actually really important. The battle delayed
Confederate forces from advancing to Washington, DC and ultimately forced them
to withdraw to Virginia. The driving
tour covers around six miles. The sites really are not that interesting – just
some old homes and farms. I would highly recommend the ranger presentation and
visiting the visitor center exhibits, skip the driving tour if you do not have
time. There are a few hikes at Monocacy. We took the hike at the visitor center
(totally not worth it in my opinion) and the hike at the Gambrill Mill. The
Mill hike offered decent scenery; again if you do not have time I would skip
it.
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