Our first stop was Gettysburg. We camped at a "family" campground. But it was Biker Week in Gettysburg. The combination wasn't a good one for us and we ended up thankful that we weren't in Gettysburg long.
We started off by heading to the Gettysburg National Military Park Museum and Visitor Center where we found this great field of flowers.
We bought a CD that allowed you to self-tour the battle grounds.
I wimped out of climbing some of the higher observation towers. I felt like I could see just fine from where I was. Bruce took my picture on his way up the tower with the kids. It's not that I'm actually afraid of heights. I just don't like seeing my kids in that situation. And I'm not overly fond of feeling the sway of a structure I'm standing on.
Here's Clay at the top of one of the monuments. It was either at Big Round Top or Little Round Top... I can't remember which.
And the same monument with all of them on top.
The kids and I took a breather from walking around by sitting down on a bench inside the Gettysburg National Cemetery, the site at which President Abraham Lincoln gave his famous Gettysburg Address on November 19, 1863.
It was very moving to read the words to his address after seeing so much of the battlefield.
Lincoln said, "We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that this nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate - we cannot consecrate - we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here."
I was never a good history student, but I love visiting historical sites. I'm hoping that visits like these will make history come more alive for my kids than it did for me at their age.
After subjecting the kids to hours of history, we decided to decompress by heading to Boyd's Bear Country. On the way, we stopped at our first covered bridge. My aim was to have Clay take a picture of just Bruce and me, but Spencer crashed our photo.
Guess what? We got to the Boyd's Bear place about five minutes after it closed. You can imagine how that went over with the kids. So we just let them play on the grounds for a bit and decided we'd go back again the next morning.
The next day, after our spending spree at Boyd's Bear, we went to visit The Historic Round Barn and Farm Market nearby.
They had a cool little place for kids in the middle at the silo. Spencer took advantage of that while I bought fresh blueberries and some apple butter, Clay's favorite.
That was it for the portion of our trip near Gettysburg. The rest of our trip we camped at Lake in Wood Resort in Narvon, Pennsylvania. It was an awesome campground.
We arrived near dusk and decided to go on a walk/bike ride around the camp grounds, knowing we needed to get back to our site before dark because the kids didn't have lights on their bikes. From our camp site back to the playground and check-in area, the road looped. We played on the playground a bit and started heading back.
Allison darted ahead of us before we got to the split in the road where you could take a right or left on the looped road to get back to our site, but by the time the rest of us got to that spot, she was long gone. And we had no idea which direction she had gone. And both directions had side streets to veer off of. And it was in a wooded area, so it was dark enough where passing cars would not easily see my little bicycling girl.
These things stress me out. Not to mention my basic distrust of people and the thought of someone snatching my daughter.
I told Clay to bike ahead, fast, to see if she had made it back to the camp site.
Long story, short... Allison was safely back at the site, clueless to the stress she'd caused. I reamed her out for riding off on her own and giving me hundreds of extra gray hair I don't need.
But while it was just me, Bruce and Spencer worrying on the walk back, Spencer asked me why I didn't let him ride ahead to look for her. I didn't want to make him feel like a baby and say, "You're too little for that" because he thinks he can do anything his older brother can do. Before I could come up with a good answer, Spencer said, "I know why. It's so you'll have at least one kid left if you lose those other two."
That was a much needed laugh right about that point.
We try to factor in some lazy days when we do our family camping vacations. That's for me and the kids. Bruce would run non-stop every which way. The rest of us need a break!
Our next day of vacation, we stayed at the campsite and relaxed part of the day and the other part we went swimming. Well, the kids swam. Bruce and I read and watched. But we were in our swimsuits in case we needed to jump in. (At this point, though, the kids are better swimmers than I am.)
Our ever-present checkers board made an appearance, too, for a challenge between Allison and Bruce.
Spencer noticed this little bunny one day behind our camper. We crept around and got a few pictures of him. He visited us nearly every day we were there.
At some point on one of our laid-back days, Spencer fell down the metal stairs leaving the camper. He skinned up his back a bit and bruised his rear end pretty badly. He was so sore, poor kid. We didn't even know about his bottom being bruised until shower time that night. He took one look in the mirror after he saw my reaction to how bad it looked and his face just crumpled. He said, near tears, "I'm going to have to be good for a few days so I don't get any spankings."
Pennsylvania farmers grow a lot of corn. A lot! After awhile, every time we'd come upon a field of corn, the kids would say, "What? More corn?!"
I like visiting state capital buildings, and Bruce and I have been to several since we've been married. This trip to a new state wasn't going to pass without a visit to Harrisburg and the Pennsylvania state capital building.
The kids hopped around outside on the grounds nearby before we went in.
Bruce took this picture for me. I joked and told him that in a parallel universe, this is where I'd be working. Oh, some days I miss reporting. But not enough to give up my current position!
Ah-ha! The Ten Commandments. In a government building. I'm sure someone somewhere is in a tizzy about this.
And, finally. What the kids had all been looking forward to. Well, almost. From the parking lot...
We went on the hokey little tour that tells you how the chocolate is made three times. Because they gave out free Hershey bars at the end each time.
Then we headed to Hershey Gardens, which overlooks the amusement park, planning to go back to the amusment park IF the kids' happy moods and good behavior held out. Can you tell where my crew would rather have been before the gardens? Hey, the gardens were my bit. I insisted.
And Spencer, my little gardening shadow, got on board quick enough.
This tree was so cool. It was like being inside of a natural umbrella. We were perfectly cocooned underneath.
Spencer and Allison sitting on top of upside-down Hershey kisses.
The park also had a neat butterfly house, which was so full of butterflies that they asked us to do a quick check for "hitchhikers" stuck on our shirts before we left the building.
Then we went to Hershey Park.
I didn't take a lot of pictures at the amusement park, so I'll share this story. We went on a ride at night that was a little like a ski lift that took you over the park grounds, including a small lake. Bruce loaded on the first chair lift with Clay and Allison, and Spencer and I took the second chair lift behind them. I tried to take a couple of pictures, but because it was dark, they didn't turn out.
I was wearing my Birkenstocks and kept flexing my feet to be sure my shoes wouldn't fall off and go straight into the lake.
When we got off the ride, Bruce and Clay and Allison were waiting for us, and they weren't looking happy.
And Clay was wearing only a sock on one foot.
I thought, "No, please. Not the shoe!"
Sure enough. Bruce and Clay told me that Clay had lost his one-size-too-large shoe over the lake.
I was steamed. We were on vacation. They were play shoes, because we don't pack good shoes when we camp. I didn't want to shell out any money to buy a new pair so he could ruin them camping.
Then those boogers started laughing! And Clay pulled his shoe from behind his back.
Oh, they got me so good!
More swimming at the campground on another relaxing day.
And on another drive... What? More corn?!
These people are serious about their corn cribs.
This picture was taken as we were leaving the campground one morning. I wish I was a painter, because I'd have to capture this scene. Beautiful!
We passed what I thought might be an Amish funeral, but none of the Amish were around, so I had Bruce turn the car around and take a picture of their buggies all lined up.
We spent part of our day at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Strasburg. The kids really enjoyed that.
There was this interactive area that allowed the kids to run model trains.
And this area was made of LEGOs. I had no idea until we got home and I was looking at these pictures that the glass area I'm pointing over says "Do not lean or reach over glass." Oops!
Then we headed to Lapp Valley Farm, on the recommendation of another lady at the campground who said if we timed it right, we might get to see the cows being milked. Our kids have never seen that, so I thought they'd enjoy it. But let's face it... the big draw was the homemade ice cream they were selling! It was yummy! But I think the kids enjoyed the animals the most.
Back at the campground on another day. We had a perfect camp site, right on a large circular drive that was just right for biking. Spencer worked on riding without hands.
The campground also had a lake where you could rent row boats or paddle boats. Bruce took the kids for a ride, and I snapped pictures from the shore.
And that's all, folks. Finally!
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