So far, double thumbs up on the reenactment.  Through a bit of careful planning and a lot of luck, we’ve avoided long lines in and out of town and had great views of the battles.  Here’s a picture of me looking out toward the confederate lines and glassing the battle.  You can see the union infantry lining up in the background, and the cannons were right here, too.  We were close enough that binoculars were often just a plus, and could hear the guys talking or giving orders–at least while our hearing lasted!

With guns this close, the smoke was near constant and the noise pretty loud–but it was really cool!  The next day we watched the cavalry charge from pretty close up, too, which made me particularly happy as I’ve always wanted to see the non-hollywood version of horses coming together in battle.

Let’s see…other highlights so far: the circa 1776 tavern, Dobbin’s, where we had dinner.  Lovely atmosphere, complete with rough stone walls and candles, and good food, plus glimpses of a very modern kitchen through the swinging door.  The only real con to the restaurant was brought on by my tomato greed.  When my husband offered me his salad tomato, I snatched it up.  Turns out that it had either been soaked in a weird new vinegar, or gone really, really, bad.  Wow!  Almost, but not quite, enought to turn me off tomatos for life.  However, Dobbin’s gingerbread lemon cake was the best of that kind I’ve ever had, and washed out the icky tomato taste.

We also took a carriage ride and historic tour around the town of Gettysburg.  We caught a glimpse of Penelope, but I plan to have myself properly introduced and will hopefully be posting the photo op in a later blog.  We took the tour while we waited for our seating at Dobbin’s, and since it was also raining and the carriage was covered, we counted it as time well spent.

The kids squished pennies in the Museum, we beefed up on our understanding of shrapnel and how to load a civil war musket, and enjoyed a short film about the Civil War and Gettysburg called A New Birth of Freedom.  We plan to re-visit the cemetery when it’s not raining, if possible.

We went half-way through a self-guided auto tour of the battlefield, and will pick up where we left off, at the monument of Lee on Traveler.  As you can see, it was raining here, too.

 

The consistent dribble of rain made viewing the monuments perhaps a bit more hasty, but it never really soaked us, and kept conditions wonderfully cool out on the reenactment battlefield.

Tomorrow is a new day, let’s hope our luck lasts.  I’m really looking forward to Pickett’s Charge.

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