Gettysburg – A Visit to Civil War Battlefields

A short trip from Haymarket found us outside Gettysburg, PA. We stayed at a really nice campground in a pretty setting. They even let the lightening bugs out at night for us! Being Civil War buffs, we wanted to visit both the Gettysburg and Antietam battlefields again. We spent three days revisiting areas of the Gettysburg battlefields that we had been to before as well as seeing other areas that we hadn’t yet explored. We even went to the East Cavalry Battlefield where one of theUnion generals was George Armstrong Custer. Jim had recently read a book about the Michigan cavalry units who took part in this battle and wanted to see where it actually took place.

We also took a day trip to the Antietam battlefield at Sharpsburg, Maryland. On the way we drove through Hagerstown, Maryland which has a very quaint downtown area. A lot of the buildings look like they have been restored to their earlier glory (some to the mid-1800’s, some to the art deco of the 1920’s). The battle at Antietam was the bloodiest single day battle of the Civil War. We toured the battlefield with a National Park ranger who did a wonderful job of explaining the battle. He really brought it to life for us.

On to Haymarket Virginia and a Visit with Family

A short trip from Williamsburg to the Washington, DC area brought us to the Greenville Family Farm where we parked the motor home for our stay in Haymarket. It is a working farm with campground facilities in ‘the North 40’. We had a relaxing time visiting with JoAnne’s sister and family. It was great to see the nieces and nephews and grand nieces. We even attended Madeline’s graduation from kindergarten – the kids were all so cute and so proud of themselves!

We spent a day touring Jefferson’s home, Monticello, and James Monroe’s home, Ash Lawn-Highland. We were especially impressed with Monticello not only for its beauty, but also for all the innovations that Jefferson had designed and had built into the home. He installed such things as double windows to control the amount of cold and heat in the house, two dumbwaiters, one for delivering food from the kitchen to the dining area, and another for delivering wine from the wine cellar. There was also a set of automatic double doors, when one was opened it opened the other at the same time, and a seven day clock, with a gong, that kept everything on the plantation running on the same time. At Monroe’s house during the tour, one of guides even showed us how they spun wool onto a dradle (sp?). We had lunch at and toured the Michie Tavern, which dates back to about 1784. All in all it was an extremely interesting day.

As an aside, one thing we’ve noticed during our drives is that when a river or creek is noted on the highway, unlike in the west, they actually have water in them!!

Williamsburg Area -- Full of History

Our trip to Williamsburg was very pretty. We took the highway near the coast hoping to see the ocean; however, it’s not like the west coast – all we saw was trees. Nearby Williamsburg are the places where the first permanent English settlement is and the last significant Revolutionary War battle was fought. Jamestown was settled in the early 1600’s on the James River. The site is currently being excavated and many of the foundations of the original buildings can be seen. The National Park guide gave us a lot of interesting information about those first settlers and their interaction with the natives. Being on the river, it’s a very pretty place.

The Yorktown battlefield is still very much like it was during the Revolutionary war except that it is now interlaced with modern day settlements. But it was amazing to stand on top of the earthworks and imagine what it must have been like during those times. What fortitude our forefathers had!!!

We also spent time at Williamsburg walking around town looking at the old buildings and going into the shops. People there are dressed in colonial garb and, when asked a question, they answered as if they were still living in colonial times. There are also horses, beautiful carriages, and carts in the streets. They even have a garden with plants the colonists might have grown in their gardens. It was a lot of fun.

Asheville and Charleston--What Beautiful Places

We had a great time in Asheville. We spent two days at the Biltmore Mansion – walking up and down four flights of stairs, and then through some of the gardens – but what an amazing place it is. The grounds are huge but very beautiful. We also got a chance to drive part of the Blue Ridge Parkway and we ate at the most luxurious McDonald’s just outside the Biltmore. We stayed at a very pretty campground, but it was built on a pretty steep hill. All the sites were terraced and beautifully landscaped.

Monday we drove to Charleston, NC through a horrendous rainstorm. A trip that should have taken about 5 hours took 7 hours. But we made it safely and are in another beautiful campground. Jim sure did a great job of picking the RV parks for us so far.

We took a bus tour through Charleston (in the rain) but had a very interesting guide who told us a lot about the history of the city as we passed some beautiful houses and other points of interest. Charleston extends onto several islands, so there are a lot of interesting bridges to be seen. There are houses called ‘single houses’, unique to Charleston; they are a single room wide with a side ‘piazza’ (porch) where the entrance to the house is. The house itself may be quite large, extending quite deeply into the lot. Houses, churches, and other buildings have a lot of beautiful iron work as fences, balconies, or just as decorations. Of course, a visit to Ft. Sumter is a must. What an interesting place it is. Tomorrow we’re going back to some of the houses we saw on the bus tour and then to the beach so we can dip our tootsies in the Atlantic.

We have now been through 10 states!! Soon we’ll head up the coast to visit Williamsburg and beyond. Some interesting wildlife we’ve seen along the way include wild turkeys, skunks, turtles, egrets, white swans, deer, and Palmetto bugs.

Starting Our 2010 Summer Trip

Well, we’re off on our next adventure. This year our trip will take us through at least 23 states and 5 Canadian provinces and over 10,000 miles! We’re heading south and east, up thru the Maritime Provinces, to Quebec to meet some friends and to do some camping with them, then back west again to our family reunion.

Our first stop was in Brush, CO for a short visit with Jim’s Mom and sisters. As always it was great to see them. Mom is 92 years old and is doing pretty good for her age. Of course, she has her forgetful moments, but so do we!!

Then off to St. Louis to visit with Bob and Cathy Hall, long time friends whom we hadn’t seen for a long time. We had a great time with them going to wineries, driving the Great River Road along the Mississippi and Illinois rivers, and of course just catching up on old times. Now we’re in Nashville for just a short stop and then off to Asheville, NC.

We’ve seen some beautiful scenery so far – a lot of trees and greenery, and of course the humidity to go with it (something we’re trying to get used to). So far we’ve avoided any serious weather, although while we were in Brush there were tornado warnings one day and we got a pretty good thunderstorm. On our way though Kansas we even saw some storm chasers! But we are looking forward to our travels.

Off We Go for the Summer

This year we left Tucson in early June. We went from Tucson, with the saguaro and other colorful, high-desert plants, to Flagstaff where it was cooler and up in the pine trees (our first overnight), and then thru the Painted Desert, with all the oranges and reds with a hint of purple. What a wondrous country!! And that was just in Arizona.

We entered Monument Valley where it was cool and overcast with not many photo ops, but it was good for driving. We made our way thru Mexican Hat and Blanding on our way to Moab, where we spent our second night. We stayed in a beautiful campground with red rock spires on one side and high alpine mountain views (the La Sal’s) on the other side. The next day we decided to take a scenic road thru Castle Canyon on our way to Grand Junction. Castle Canyon was carved by the Colorado River and again we saw beautiful red rock formations, some with desert varnish, rafters and kayakers on the river, and a lot of nice campgrounds for small rigs – none of them big enough for us unfortunately!

We spent three nights in Grand Junction and visited with our son and family. It was so good to see them, even for such a short time. Then we were on our way to Breckenridge for the Colorado Model A club’s week-long regional meet. We got a chance to catch up with old friends and chat with some new ones too. We saw a lot of beautiful Model A’s from all over the country. It is also our club’s 50th anniversary this year. The banquet culminated all the festivities with very good food and a concert by the Queen City Jazz Band – what a treat!

Sara and her kids joined us for part of the meet and then we stayed an extra 5 days in Breckenridge to spend time just with them. We parked at the Tiger Run RV resort, so had an indoor swimming pool to use in addition to all the outdoor activities. The kids especially liked the Alpine Slide.

After our time in Breckenridge, we traveled to Brush to spend time with Judy and Bob, Sue, Jim’s other sister and his Mom. We had a great time with all of them; we hadn’t seen Sue or Mom since last year, so it was good to catch up with all their happenings. Mom is doing much better and she is now residing in the assisted living facility in Brush. Judy and Bob were such good hosts!

Now, we’re in Ft. Collins and were able to ‘hook up’ with our friends from the Bay Conspiracy, Ray and Chris. We’re staying at a very nice, and quiet KOA, where they have all kinds of activities available (paddle boats on their small lake, a nice swimming pool, a playground, fishing, and much more). There even is a robin’s nest with baby chicks in the tree, right outside our window and bunnies running around the grounds! We had Shannyn, our granddaughter, with us for a few days, so she had a lot of things to choose from to keep her busy. We really had a good time with her.

On a sadder note, we lost our last two ‘old ladies’; our cats, Frosty and PiLin, were 20 years old and finally their organs just started shutting down. We now are down to Callie, our 5 year old Tortoise Shell cat. She is a joy and a character!

Starting the Year’s Travels at Quartzsite Again

This now seems to be an annual start to our travels each year – the Bay Conspiracy and friends invading Quartzsite!! This year five rigs left from Tucson and then we met some other friends while we were there. Fortunately, we didn’t spend as much money this year as last year (no motor home purchases). As always we had a great time partying with our friends after a day of wandering around and shopping.

Since Quartzsite is so close to California, we decided to continue west to visit JoAnne’s brother and his family. We had a great, but short, visit with Dale and Debbie. Debbie’s folks were so gracious to let us park on their Christmas tree farm, just steps away from Dale and Debbie’s house. There we were among the pine AND palm trees and right next to an orange grove full of all the ripe sweet oranges we wanted. It was great to spend time with them and to get to know the kids again. It had been several years since we had seen them and they are all grown up now!

Visitors, Visitors, Visitors

Well, we have been telling everyone to come to visit, and this year several people did just that. And we were so glad they did. We so enjoyed a quick visit with our friends, the Yutzy’s early in the year. A few days later we finally got together with our friends from Green Valley whom we hadn’t seen for over a year.

Then a few days after our return from California, Jim’s sister, Judy, and her hubby, Bob came for a visit and to attend the Tucson Gem Show. We got to go to the show with them – what an eye-opening experience!! There are many venues all over town where the vendors display their goods. We spent about 6 hours and only visited two of them; it was overwhelming! Judy and Bob ended up spending more time in Tucson than they had planned – they bought a new-to-them motor home. They had some modifications made to it and a few needed repairs. Of course, everything takes longer than the dealer says it will, and several things did not work correctly the first time. It was a little frustrating for them at times but it was great for us having them around a little longer.

Our friends, Dick and Jane, also came to stay at the Voyager for a time. We had met them last summer in Denver. We had a good time visiting with them; they taught us to play Mexican Train, a domino game, and now we’re hooked. We look forward to meeting them again later this summer.

Sara and the kids came for a visit in early April during Shannyn’s and Sara’s Spring Break from school. We took them to the Desert Museum (one of our favorite places) and then to Sabino Canyon, where the kids had a lot of fun playing in the stream. We took a picnic lunch and spent several hours there. Sara wanted to visit with a friend who lives in Phoenix, so went met them at the IKEA store. It is a wonderland of shopping. Of course, there were visits to the pool, general playing, and dying Easter eggs. We had so much fun.

More Short Trips

In between our visitors, we managed a few shorter trips. In February, we traveled to Phoenix with our friends, Fran and Bob (Moochie’s servants), to see the Chihuly glass exhibit in the Botanical Gardens. If you’re not familiar with Chihuly, he makes amazing glass shapes and displays them in very unusual ways. In this particular exhibit, he placed his glass shapes all over the botanic gardens among the plants. It was spectacular!! The next day we visited our round dancing friends, the Chaffee’s.

In April, Fran and Bob, and Judy and Bob, and we travelled to Albuquerque for the Good Sam Rally. We had never been to a Rally, so since it was so close, we decided to try it out. We met in Truth or Consequences (Judy and Bob had left Tucson earlier), spent the night there and arrived in Albuquerque the next morning. We were parked on the Balloon Fiesta grounds, along with over 3000 rigs and new friends. They parked us on the grassy field, so it was very nice. The weather was very changeable, from overcast and rainy to fairly warm. Layers of clothing was required attire. The rally was 5 days of shopping at the vendors booths, attending seminars, looking at various RV’s, and eating. And every night there was entertainment. We saw Neil Sedaka (what a show he put on!!) and the Osmond Brothers (three of the brothers – another good show). They also had Rita Coolidge and a couple of 50s and 60s rock and roll/do wop bands. But, we were so tired, we didn’t get to those shows.

At the end of the rally, we parted ways: Fran and Bob headed back to Arizona and Judy and Bob and we went to Taos for a few days. Judy and Bob did some sight-seeing while we visited JoAnne’s uncle. Then Judy and Bob headed back home to Colorado and we came back to Tucson and started to get ready for our big summer trip.