Brian was now living in Harrisburg , PA
Because it wasn’t too far away, one
of the days I was there, we decided to drive to Gettysburg . I’d there once before, back
in 1979 when it was a side-bar stop to break up the long drive back from Tampa . Then I
recalled going through the museum, and seeing a lot of things my nine-year-old
mind didn’t comprehend the significance of. One of the things I recalled
from that visit was a film which had moving dioramas to enhance what you were
seeing.
Since I drove the long distance
from New York ,
Brian drove us every place here. There
was a slight drizzle covering the area when we got to the battlefield, so we
decided to do a driving tour to go from monument to monument. Had it been
a nice day, it would’ve made a nice, although long, walk checking out the
inscriptions. We’d pull up to a statue, roll down the window so we could
read the inscriptions, perhaps take a photograph, and then travel a short
distance on to the next. There was a few which were a further back from
the road, which I’d jump out and quickly snap a shot of.
In addition to the cannons here
(which were set in approximately the same placements during the battle), there
were memorials to those who lead portions of the campaign, and some which
remembered a specific event. Unfortunately with everything that was
there, and the way which we were quickly from one to another, it ended up a lot
of absorb and recall. There was a consistency among the statues of
mounted people where you could tell if they survived the battle depending on
how many hooves were in the air. If they were all on the ground, the
person survived unscathed, one hoof in the air meant they were wounded, and if
the horse rearing back, they died.
Being here reminded me of going to
the Saratoga Battlefield (even though that was a Revolutionary War site).
Here was the actual ground which has pretty much remained as it was when
the historical events took place. This was not an area which was “updated
for modern times, and restored to its former glory,” nor was this used for any
other purpose since. Looking out over the rolling hills of the area, I
could picture the Blue and Grey armies clashing here.
One particular memorial was
constructed in 1938 to commemorate the end of the battle. Known as the Eternal Light Peace Memorial, this
large obelisk was made with two different types of marble, one quarried from
the South, and one which came from the North. By constructing a monument
with tangible aspects of the participants, it’s a way to heal the wounds of the
conflict which had divided the country. One of Lincoln ’s best ideas upon the conclusion of
the war when asked how to deal with the defeat Confederate officials he said to
“embrace them as brothers.” I’m paraphrasing it of course, but you get
the general intent. The construction of this monument was a way to honor
those who fell in the line of duty, and serve as way to always remember them.
The Gettysburg Battlefield is
pretty good size, and that’s not even counting the museum and other historical
buildings which played some role in the drama. We worked our way into the
museum proper, and took a quick look around. We ended up going through
this in a hurry, as we didn’t have the time remaining in the day to do this
justice. Still, that just gives me a reason to return for another look.
Upon returning to Brian’s place,
what better way to put everything I’d just seen today in proper perspective
than by watching the Gettysburg
CHOCOLATE WORLD AND HERSHEY PARK
The first thing we stopped at in
Hershey was Chocolate World, so we could take a factory tour to see all the
products Hershey makes. We sat in a little tram which moved us along a
track, where we could view the machines that mixed up the various ingredients
to make the different types of chocolate. A recording over a loud speaker
described to us what we were seeing. The machines squirted the
partially-liquid chocolate into various molds or patterns, depending on what
the desired shape was. The Kisses were made by the nozzle shooting out a
small amount on a sheet, and withdrawing at the same time, which created that
teardrop shape.
At the conclusion of the tour when
we exited the tram, a factory employee handed a handful of Kisses as we passed.
We were then herded into the gift shop. In addition to shirts,
hats, and the like, and type of consumable product they made was present.
I’d been requested to bring back “the largest Kiss I could find.”
The one that I found was about a foot high, and was five pounds of solid
chocolate. While Molly would’ve been wildly happy with that, I also
didn’t want to drop $50 on chocolate (on the fear that it wouldn’t survive the
trip home). I got two smaller ones instead that were about as big as a
soda can. Those were foil-wrapped, and contained in a box, so less chance
of them losing their shape completely if they got too warm. I put them in
a locker for safe keeping (as opposed to Brian’s all-black truck) while we went
over to nearby Hershey
Park
As Brian and I got sat into the
cart, I had an idea. Having the nice instant “point and shoot” camera
with me (as opposed my manual 35mm), I had it ready. The strap was
secured around my wrist, so the camera wasn’t going to go anywhere.
There’s a chain track which slowly pulls the carts to the top of the
first hill to get the ride going, and it was at that point I quickly shot my
hand out to take a couple shots. The camera was back inside my belt case
before the carts accelerated for the rest of the trip. I expected to get
some sort of blur shot, as I had to wait until the rolls of film came back from
being developed. It was nice to see the picture turned out decent.
We put in a full day at the park
going from ride to ride, and had a good time.
What did we decide to do today?
Let’s drive a couple hours to Baltimore .
Coming from Harrisburg ,
we were able to skirt the northern portion of the Washington Beltway.
Past that we could see what a war zone the suburbs around Baltimore were, and how
crazy the drivers were. That’s why Jamie always referred to them a
“Baltimorons” when she had to deal with them. Baltimore itself is a nice city, very modern
and well-constructed. But the surrounding area looked like the urban
sprawl one would see in post-apocalyptic movies. I think of the places
I’d been, and only the Bronx was worse.
We located a place to park, and
found a restaurant inside one of the high rises. It was set up like a
food court you’d find in a mall. The cuisine was a little higher than
what I was used to pay, and the quality was about what I’d expected. But
the view made up for it. Being on the tenth floor allowed us to look over
the Baltimore Harbor
(near Chesapeake Bay), and see Fort
McHenry
A ferry ride brought us across to
the historical site. During the War of 1812, British boats where shelling
the American defenders at the fort. After a long siege, a lot of smoke
filled the air, so the British commanders ordered a cease-fire so they could
see how badly they’d pounded the Yankees. As they’d survived the assault,
in a way show their middle finger to the Limeys, the Americans found the
largest flag they could and ran it up the flag pole. Aboard one of the
boats was an American by the name of Francis Scott Key saw this. He
composed some lyrics to the melody of a then-current song, which later became
our National Anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
The tour guides at the Fort
explained that to us. They also noted the flag currently flying over the
Fort was much smaller than what Key saw back during the September 1814
bombardment. Unfortunately little of that flag survived intact, so it
can’t be viewed. The guide did point out on the wall behind us (which was
a familiar star pattern on a blue background) would give an indication as to
the size. Each of the stars on the wall were a foot across. That
gave you a good idea of the size the thing! If you were going to snub
your nose at your enemy, that was certainly a way to have done it.
It was also explained to us about
the origin of the tune which Key used to compose his poem. The guide said
that most people didn’t know the melody was that of bawdy song sung in British gentleman’s
clubs, a drinking tune called “To Anacreon in
Heaven.” Right on cue, I began
singing the first few lines of that song. See, I’d learned that little
tidbit over a decade earlier listening to Dr. Demento, when he played a recording
of it. From the expressions of the
people around me, they must’ve thought I was a heckler or being disrespectful
of the anthem. I saw the smiling face of the tour guide as I did
this. He promptly commented that in
twenty years of giving these tours, he’d never encountered someone who actually
knew the words to the song. The mood of the crowd became more positive
after that.
The rest of the tour was showing
the various parts of the Fort, like the barracks, formation grounds, powder
magazines, and such. While the defense capabilities of the Fort had been
updated circa the Civil War to house Confederate POWs, and then some additions
during WWI to reflect modern potential threats, it was mostly restored (in
1925) to its early 19th Century condition. There were some
people in period costume acting as a “living history” exhibit to show what life
was like during that time. It was a great piece of history to see, and
certainly worth the trip.
For current information on the places visited:
Hershey Chocolate World: http://www.hersheys.com/chocolateworld/
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