Day 27 – July 15, 2019

We got up around 8, consumed our delicious free hotel breakfast, and headed back to the Gettysburg visitors center.

We had decided to attend a ranger led hike called “Three Days in Ninety Minutes”. It started at 10:30, before the heat and humidity of the day hit.

The ranger, who was great at telling stories about the war, walked us to Cemetery Ridge. Here, the Union troops held the high ground and maintained a defensive stance against the Confederates.

Ultimately, the South, who had taken the opposite position on Seminary Ridge, began a campaign of cannon bombardment. The North returned artillery fire.

After an hour, the Rebels, led by Robert E. Lee and feeling confident, started their ground attack by sending thousands of troops across an open field. In the end, the Confederates were slaughtered. Even though the Civil War continued for two more years, this battle marked the beginning of the end for the South.

As we listened to the talk, it was easy to imagine the bloody skirmishes that took place more than 150 years ago at this place.

As we hiked back to the visitors center, Ashley squeaked that she wanted to earn a Jr. Ranger badge. So she got a booklet and got down to work.

One of the tasks was to attend a ranger led talk. Because she did two, she was almost done before she started.

With badge number 7 in the bag, we had a quick lunch in the van. We got the full Gettysburg experience we were hoping for.

Our next stop was Hershey World in Hershey, Pennsylvania. We had been here in 2005 with Cassie and Trevor. As we approached the front door I remembered a photo that the kids posed for 14 years ago. And here it is.

We shot the same photo with Ashley.

Fun fact: Cassie and Ashley are almost the same age in these two photos.

We took the chocolate tour – a dark ride that is sort of lame. But at the end, we were each handed a mini Hershey bar and then dumped into the gift shop.

We purchased some chocolate candy (not pictured above) which we had to eat – we didn’t want it to melt.

Next, we were off to Allentown for a pop in to Dorney Park to just, you know, check it out.

We had dinner and rode one roller coaster. It was a huge floorless coaster. I enjoyed it, but Ashley complained it was too slow.

We raced off to Quakertown so that we could get to the campground before the sun set.

After the tent was up for the first time in a week, Ashley spent the remaining dusk catching fireflies. She discovered one that had a large body and long legs. It freaked her out but she still stuck it in the bottle.

As we settled into the tent, the night was still and warm. I was looking forward to sleeping in the fresh air.