Visiting Pennsylvania - A Quick Weekend Recap

Yikes!  The time has been flying by since Claire arrived almost three weeks ago; it's hard to believe that her visit to the States is almost half over already but I guess that's because we've been pretty busy going and doing and going some more since her plane landed on October 17th. This past weekend found us down in southeastern Pennsylvania in search of food, friends, and a couple of things we really didn't expect!

Friday morning found on us the road heading east at approximately 6:30 a.m. in the hopes to avoid any traffic back-ups on our way to Pottsville, Pennsylvania and the home of the oldest brewery in America - the David G. Yuengling and Son Brewery.  The plan was to meet up with Claire's friend Jenn who was driving over from Pittsburgh and go on the 1:30 tour before heading up to our hotel in Hazleton and figuring out what we wanted to do for the rest of the weekend.

Due to road construction and traffic tie-ups, we barely parked the car (in what I hoped wasn't an illegal spot!) in time to run into the brewery gift shop where the tours step off from.  Due to the same problems, Jenn was a few minutes behind us and there was barely time to say 'hi' before we started out on our tour of the caves beneath the brewery

From the caves we then climbed to the upper levels of the brewery to the room where the hops and other ingredients to make the beer were cooked and with the change in altitude also came a major change in temperature - going from 47 degrees in the caves to a heck of a lot more than that upstairs. Because of that and because she hadn't eaten since the night before, Jenn barely had time to tell Claire that she was feeling dizzy before she passed out in front of us as I was suggesting that she sit down before she fell down.  Had I been quicker, I might have been able to at least break her fall a little bit but as it happened so fast, Jenn was down on the floor before we could even blink and blood was pouring out onto the concrete.

One of the other folks on the tour called 911 while I rendered what aid I could and made sure that Jenn didn't try to get up again while trying to stanch the flow of blood with a small red hoodie from one of the two children that were on the tour.  Fortunately, Jenn said that the floor was much cooler and she was fine staying there until the local ambulance service arrived, got her onto a backboard, and transported her to the local hospital which was only a few blocks away.

Claire and I filled out the accident report as best we could and then hustled over to the Emergency Department Waiting Room while Jenn was stitched up over her eye, given some IV fluids to rehydrate her, and a CT scan was taken to make sure everything in her head was where it should be.  Thankfully it was and within two hours (a veritable miracle when it comes to EDs!), she was released and ready to roll ... though there was no way that we were going to have her drive her own car the 25 miles to Hazleton in the rain, the dark, and the traffic.

Enter in two more wonderful folks that Claire had met via blogging - Beth and her husband Cliff of Retroroadmap.com who live in Phoenixville.  We had planned to meet up with them for dinner after our tour of the brewery but when Claire messaged Beth to let her know that there was a change in plans and that we'd have to cancel dinner, Beth immediately asked what they could do to help and drove the 2+ hours to Pottsville to drive Jenn's car to the hotel for us. What is that Blanche DuBois said in "A Streetcar Named Desire"?  Oh yes, "... I have always depended on the kindness of strangers."  Wow was that ever the case this past weekend!

Once we got to Hazleton, we all trooped over to a retro-diner/dive for a late dinner.  Jimmy's Quick Lunch is a family-owned business that has been serving up hot dogs since 1937 and even though it might not look like much and most definitely fit the category of "dive", the food was pretty darned tasty and very reasonably priced!

After a good night's sleep for all three of us, Claire, Jenn, and I set out to do some exploring but not before we stopped at the Hollywood Diner and had a hearty breakfast as there was going to be NO passing out of any sort going on! Jenn and Claire had sausage gravy on a biscuit while I chose a childhood favorite, chipped beef on toast - though the waitress asked if I wanted it on a biscuit and I simply had to say "heck yeah!"

Following our stick-to-your-ribs breakfast, we drove about 25 miles southwest of Hazleton to the former town of Centralia where in 1962, workers set trash on fire in an abandoned mine and an exposed vein of anthracite coal also caught fire. Since then the ground beneath the former town with a population of 3,000 has been burning and everyone was relocated elsewhere - well, except for a small amount who refuse to leave. The 2006 horror film "Silent Hill" was inspired by Centralia and the video game has made it even more popular. Had I not gone to visit while we were so close, I'm sure that Amanda would not have approved!

I'll be writing more about our visit to the town on The Distracted Wanderer once I have a chance to fall back and regroup a bit but in the meantime, here are two shots and no, that's not Claire all pixilated checking out the smoke coming from the ground ... or is it?!?

From Centralia, we did a little more driving through the countryside eventually coming across a covered bridge that I simply had to take some shots of and then eventually winding up in Wyoming, Pennsylvania at another RetroRoadMap favorite - the Victory Pig.  They serve what's called "Old Forge" style pizza which ended up not really being much to our liking (there's just something about having onions overpowering the taste of everything even hours later) so we decided that a stop back at the Hollywood Diner near our hotel was in order for some pie!

After saying goodbye to Jenn around noon on Sunday, Claire and I then wandered over to Lisa's house for a lovely afternoon visit with her and her delightful daughter, Megan. We had originally kicked around the idea of taking a drive around to some of the covered bridges in the area but as Megan had the sniffles and the weather wasn't exactly all that great, instead we sat in Lisa's living room eating brownies and beer bread with a delicious herb and spinach dip and just chatted for close to five hours.  It was really a great way to end our visit to eastern Pennsylvania and I was happy to have had the chance to get together again with Lisa as well as give Claire the chance to meet her in person.

It was the perfect end to a not-quite perfect weekend but one that I'm sure Claire and I will remember for a long time to come! 

Looking at the Sky on Friday

Fridays are skies day and that works out great when I'm juggling time and not doing such a great job which is truly the case today! Still, I've got a day off and I'm going to try to make the best of it and that does not include sitting home on the computer! So what better than a nice quick post courtesy of a nice meme by one of my nice blogging friends?

Tisha's Looking at the Sky on Friday is a great way to share some of our skyward photos like this picture that Amanda took outside of Kutztown, Pennsylvania last Tuesday while we were driving from the Dutch Country up to visit Mark & Lisa. Despite the clouds, it sure was pretty!

Here's wishing everyone a very pretty Friday wherever you are and whatever you're doing. As for me - I'm going to pick some apples, take some pictures, and hang out with my cousin. Sounds pretty good to me!

Looking at the Sky on Friday

If you like to look at pictures of the sky then be sure to check out my friend Tisha's fun photo meme - Looking at the Sky on Friday.

The picture below is another that Amanda took from the passenger side of the car while we were driving through Pennyslvania. She took so many good pictures that I'll have sky shots for weeks to come!

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggety-Jig!

Norwich looked about the same as always when Amanda and I finally arrived back home last night around 6:00 - perhaps there was a little more color in the trees but it was hard to tell as clouds covered the sky and and it was getting dark even earlier than usual. Still, Norwich is home and after driving a little over 1,060 miles since Saturday, I was happy to be here!

I've got lots of pictures to post and stories to tell since Saturday but for today it's no rest for the wicked and back to work for me for a double-shift. Tomorrow I'm working a day shift to cover for the guy who covered one of my shifts while I was away so it may be awhile before I get the time to get caught up. Ah well, at least I've got 'blogging material' for awhile!

In the meantime, I'll leave you with a picture that Amanda took from the passenger seat on Tuesday night as we drove up to Scranton to meet with Mark & Lisa - as you can see, it was a beautiful drive in spite of those dark clouds overhead!

"To Ponder and Dream ..."

"In great deeds, something abides. On great fields something stays. Forms change and pass; bodies disappear, but spirits linger, to consecrate the ground for the vision-place of souls. And reverent men and women from afar, and generations that know us not and that we know not of, heart-drawn to see where and by whom great things were suffered and done for them shall come to this deathless field, to ponder and dream; and lo! the shadow of a mighty presence shall wrap them in its bosom, and the power of the vision pass into their souls."
- Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, 1886

Travel Plans

First and foremost, if you get a chance please meander on over to my friend Jeni's blog at Down River Drivel and wish the old seasoned gal a very happy 65th birthday. She had told me yesterday that she was going to more or less just ignore the day but I told her that birthdays were meant to be celebrated and not ignored. Jeni - and everyone else - can ignore them when they're dead and buried but if you're still on this side of the dirt - celebrate!!

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, our upcoming road-trip this weekend is going to be a bit longer and cover a bigger expanse of places than past ones have as I'm trying to turn it into an actual vacation and not just a jaunt down to Baltimore and back. Amanda and I were supposed to be flying out to Southern California with our friend Amy and her mother at the end of the month to spend Halloween in Los Angeles but - without going into too many details - Amy and her somewhat famous rock star sister had a bit of a falling out and the trip was canceled. Amanda had really been looking forward to it and was understandably disappointed so we moved to Plan B which was Poe's funeral. Amy was originally going to go with us on this trip but couldn't get her time off from work adjusted so now it's just myself, Amanda, and Darci - again.

I'm actually taking four shifts off from work which gives me until next Thursday off so after we attend the funeral on Sunday afternoon, we're heading northwest to Pennsylvania and Gettysburg National Battlefield which is only a little over an hour from Baltimore. After we get settled into our hotel there, it's off to the Farnsworth House for one of Gettysburg's famous ghost walks on Sunday night and then we'll spend as much time as possible on Monday covering at least the highlights of the battlefield. Neither Amanda nor Darci have ever been to Gettysburg (and Darci is a history nut) but they're both looking forward to it. Plans also include meeting up with a blogging friend who is spending a few days at Gettysburg with her husband; we may actually meet up at the ghost walk if things work out right.

Monday evening after I've bored the girls to death with all things Civil War, we'll be driving over to Lancaster to put Darci on an Amtrak train back to Philadelphia as her father doesn't want her missing school on Tuesday and then Amanda and I will spend the night somewhere in Dutch Country. I haven't made definite plans on just where yet (though I'm leaning towards the Strasburg area) but I hope to have that nailed down by Friday afternoon. Tuesday will be spent touring as much of the Amish countryside as possible, including one of those delicious Pennsylvania Dutch Country restaurants, before heading north to the Wilkes-Barre area where plans call for meeting up with another blogger and her husband who live in the general area.

Tuesday night will be spent either in the Wilkes-Barre or Scranton area depending on where I decide we're going to hang our hats and then I'm hoping for a nice leisurely drive back to Connecticut either through the area of the Delaware Water Gap or further north depending on the weather and the amount of foliage. Of course I'd like to try to find the most scenic route if possible and if that involves staying off of the major roadways for awhile, I wouldn't mind that in the least as I'm sure I'll have spent more than enough time on major highways and could use the break! I'm hoping to be back in Norwich at a reasonable hour Wednesday evening so Amanda can go back to school and I can go back to work on Thursday - much to what will be, I'm sure, both of our disappointments!

Obviously Amanda is going to miss two days of school but I figure she was going to miss that if we went to California later in the month anyway and she's promised to get any assignments she's going to need from her teachers ahead of time. Come to think of it, I need to remind her of that!

In an effort to get somewhat more organized for our upcoming road-trip than I have been for the last couple, I'm going to try to spend tomorrow doing some packing so I'm not scrambling around wondering what I forgot at the last minute - again. Considering we plan on leaving Connecticut at the god-awful hour of 4:30 a.m. on Saturday, I really need to be ready to go ahead of time as "scrambling" isn't even my dictionary for that time of the morning - including when it comes to eggs! However, I figure that time should get us through New York City and well down the Jersey Turnpike before traffic becomes an issue - I hope!!

After we get home from this trip I'm going to try to stay put for a little while though I've also got plans in the works to attend the Annual Lantern Tour in Derby, Connecticut on October 24th with my friend the Princess Patti and her hubby Ralph - two wonderful bloggers and Nutmeggers I've had the pleasure of spending time with in the past; a trip to Fort Adams in Rhode Island with my cousin on the 23rd; and it also looks like Amanda and I will be heading to Salem, Massachusetts with Amy and Jason for Halloween. So ... maybe I'll stay home next weekend??

"We are met on a great battlefield of that war." ~ President Abraham Lincoln, The Gettysburg Address

********************

July 1st, 1863 saw the beginning of the bloodiest battle of the Civil War in a small town in southern Pennsylvania known as Gettysburg. What began as a skirmish turned into three days of fierce fighting between 160,000 Americans that in the end claimed 28,000 Confederate causalities in dead, wounded and missing as well as Union casualties totaling another 23,000.

For me to try to explain in entirety the three days of fighting that occurred in this small Pennsylvania town in the blistering heat of early July would require a virtual novel that would probably take me hours to write and you to read. It was a battle that never should have happened where it happened or when it happened but it did and it is cited as the turning point in the War Between the States.

Shortly after his success over the Army of the Potomac at Chancellorsville, Virginia General Robert E. Lee led his Army of Northern Virginia into Northern territory in the hopes of finding supplies for his troops. He also hoped to pressure Northern politicians to give up on the war in support of the growing peace movement in the North while he threatened Washington, Baltimore, and Philadelphia with his 73,000 troops.

Meanwhile, President Abraham Lincoln had replaced yet another of his incompetent commanders, Major General Joseph Hooker who resigned shortly after his defeat at Chancellorsville, with Major General George Meade who took over command of the Army of the Potomac on June 28th, 1863. Meade was ordered by Lincoln to pursue Lee and run him back out of Pennsylvania.

The battle began almost by accident as the result of a chance meeting engagement between Confederate infantry under the command of Major General Henry Heth and Union cavalry led by General John Buford just south of Gettysburg. Buford knew the importance of maintaining the high ground in battle and fought valiantly to defend the land around the Lutheran Theological Seminary. It was during the fighting on the first day that popular Union commander Major General John Reynolds died while directing troop and artillery placement when he was struck by a single bullet behind his right ear.

Though the Union was fighting a losing battle at this point, General Lee had no idea how many troops might be in reserve as his Calvary Commander, Major General J.E.B. Stuart was not to be found. Even though he did not have the "eyes" of his calvary, Lee knew that if the Union Army held the high ground they would have an advantage over the Confederate Army so he sent orders to Lt. General Richard S. Ewell, his Second Corps Commander, to take Cemetery Hill "if practicable". Not knowing what lie on the other side of the ridge, Ewell chose not to attempt the assault, a decision that resulted in a missed great opportunity for the Confederacy as had he pursued they would have not only won the day but the battle as well.

With the arrival of the remainder of the Army of the Potomac throughout the night and the early morning of July 2nd, the second day of battle saw fierce fighting between two armies at their maximum strength at Little Round Top, Cemetery Hill, and Culp's Hill. The Union lines formed what is known as a "fishhook" formation while Confederate lines stretched for nearly five miles in length.

As fighting raged in The Wheatfield and Devil's Den, the 20th Maine, under the command of Colonel Joshua L. Chamberlain, held their precarious hold of Little Round Top, an important hill at the extreme left of the Union line, with a bayonet charge that became one of the most fabled stories of the Civil War. For his gallantry, Colonel Chamberlain, a college professor from Maine who became one of the Union's most respected and well-liked officers, was awarded the Medal of Honor and given the honor of commanding the Union troops at the surrender ceremony ending the war at Appomattox Court House on April 9th, 1865.

The third day of battle saw seven hours of fierce fighting by Lee's forces in attempt to take Culp's Hill from the Union troops which ended in defeat at approximately 11:00 a.m. At that point Lee was forced to change plans and decided to launch an attack on the Federal II Corps position at the right center of the Union line on Cemetery Ridge. At approximately 3:00 p.m., 12,500 Southern soldiers in nine infantry brigades stepped from the ridgeline and advanced three-quarters of a mile across the open Pennsylvania fields towards a copse of trees that marked the Union line in an attack that became known as "Pickett's Charge". Although some Confederates were able to breach the stone wall that shielded many of the Union defenders, they could not maintain their hold and were repulsed with over 50% casualties.

Lt. General James Longstreet argued with General Lee against the attack predicting its futility, a move that made him very unpopular with the South after the war ended, but Lee insisted that it was the right move. It wasn't. "Pickett's Charge" was a bloodbath with horrendous command losses as Pickett's three brigade commanders and all thirteen of his regimental commanders were casualties of the attack; in all his division suffered 2,655 casualties . The results were an avoidable mistake from which the Southern war effort never fully recovered.

On July 4th, as weary troops faced each other across the bloody fields, Major General George Meade decided not to pursue another attack. This was an action for which he was later severely criticized and the opportunity to end the war passed as the bulk of Lee's Northern Virginia Army left Gettysburg in a driving rain on July 5th. Meade's army followed but the effort was half-hearted and Lee's troops managed to escape over the Potomac River and back into Southern territory before the Union Army was able to catch up and subdue them.

The defeat of Lee's Army of Northern Virginia electrified the North and any hopes of peace were dashed for both sides as the war continued on for almost another two years of bloody fighting with enormous losses on both sides.

Today the U.S. National Park Service maintains both Gettysburg National Cemetery, dedicated by President Abraham Lincoln's famous Gettysburg Address on November 19th, 1863, and Gettysburg National Military Park as two of the nation's most revered historical landmarks visited by thousands upon thousands each year.

There is no way to describe what it feels like to visit this hallowed ground. I have been to Gettysburg four times - the first two when I was stationed at McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey in the late 70's; another time in July of 1999 with my cousin Amy and son Michael; and a fourth time with Amy in May of 2001 as the final leg of our "Battlefield Vacation". I hope to go again several times over.

I have taken the 19.5 mile auto tour route with a pre-recorded tape for a guide; I have taken the two-hour Battle of Gettysburg tour on an open air Double-Decker bus; and I have toured the battlefield on horseback which allowed me the opportunity to see the view across Seminary Ridge towards Cemetery Hill just as Lee, Longstreet, and Pickett might have seen it on the morning of July 3rd - minus, of course, the incoming artillery fire. Each and every time I have been blown away by the magnitude of what happened on those fields and in those woods and I leave with a greater sense of respect and awe for those men who died fighting to keep our country as one Nation under God.

By the same token, I also understand how desperately the Confederacy believed in what they were fighting for and just how noble their cause was, too. It boggles my mind to know that brother fought brother - neighbor fought neighbor - and each believed firmly that God was on their side. Go to Gettysburg - walk amongst the thousands of monuments left to those men who died on the fields there - close your eyes and picture the ground running red with their blood - and then come back and tell me you felt nothing. I will be happy to call you a liar.

In conclusion, I would like to leave you with the words of President Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address to reflect upon as we approach our Fourth of July holiday:

"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate—we can not consecrate—we can not hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."