Gettysburg and Washington DC

 A map depicting the Union States and the Confederate States at the commencement of the Civil War  in 1861.
 The Civil War started because of uncompromising differences between the free and the slave states. The southern slave states declared secession from the United States and formed the" Confederacy". The states that did not declare secession were known as the "Union".

The Confederate Army triggered the war by opening fire and claiming the federal garrison(national military base) in 1861. Lincoln then call out the militia to suppress the insurrection.

The "Union" victory in 1865 preserved the United States as One Nation and ended Slavery.
The battle at Gettysburg played a significant role in the trajectory of that war.

 The Gettysburg Military Museum starts off with a documentary film of the battle at Gettysburg, then moves everyone up to a viewing of the  Cyclorama. A 360 degree painted mural  depicting the several  battles at Gettysburg. We were then provided with a map for a self-guided auto tour of the battlefield and the 16 monuments. The above is Gettysburg in 1863 during one of the battles. The 3 day battle at Gettysburg resulted in the most casualties of any of the 60 major battles of the Civil War.

Park bench chat with Lincoln outside the Gettysburg museum.

For a substantial fee, you can hire a fully authenticated licensed guide in full period attire to ride along in your car and regale you with Gettysburg Civil War history.
What fun that would be. Too bad, we have no back seat in the Jeep.

Norm at Gettysburg


To complete the visit, we took a tour of the Eisenhower Estate and David Wills House. In 1863 David Wills  extended an invitation to Lincoln, resulting in the Gettysburg Address.

Following that by a visit to Antietam. Home of the 1862 bloodiest one day battle in all  the history of the Civil War. Nearly 23,000 were killed, wounded or missing in that one day siege.





Moving on-------Washington DC

Smithsonian Institution Building. "The Castle" Washington DC.
This was the first Smithsonian building. Now there are a total of 19 separate museums and galleries.

White House visit. Apparently since 9/11, in order to get a tour you have to write your congressman 6 months in advance for tickets in order to actually tour the inside of the White House. Who knew?

United States Capitol building taken from the top of the Washington Monument.  The attached buildings at either end of the Capitol houses the Congress on one side and the Senate on the opposite side. When either one of them show up for a work day, they raise a flag from a flag pole on the roof of the buildings. Hmm? probably not a common sight.
 We arrived at the Washington Monument at 8:30 am and were given  free timed tickets for a ride up to the top. A 360 degree view of Washington DC. I recommend it.

Air and Space Museum in DC.
The original decommissioned Discovery Space Shuttle. The two Air and Space Museums were took almost 3 days of touring to get through them both.

We spent  8 nights parked in the Elks parking lot  in Fairfax Virginia.  Every morning we hopped on  the Metro train  to Washington DC, returning late in the evening.

We also visited the Holocaust Museum and the Museum of American History. The Postal Museum, both Air and Space Museums and Union Station for Lunch.
We ended the week  touring  the National Monuments.
Whew! This touring stuff is exhausting.


Above is the Metro station in downtown Washington DC. Just a moment before this shot the entire station was packed full of commuters and trains. I am amazing at the ability of the DC metro to move people. What fun we had riding in daily on the Metro with all the DC commuters. Everyone was kind and courteous at all times.