Washington, DC, 1

Here for 2 weeks.  We've seen a lot this first week but have barely scratched the surface as we are beginning to find out.  Everyone knows there is a lot to see and do in Washington and everyone knows there are some things you must see....but there are so many things not on the lists of must sees that you must see!!!! Whew:)

To date we have seen and or explored the following:  The Mall, Lincoln Memorial, Washington Memorial, WWII Memorial, Vietnam Memorial, Korean Memorial, Thomas Jefferson Memorial, FDR Memorial, Museum of African American Culture, Museum of American History, Museum of American Indian, Museum of Art West, Museum of Air and Space, National Archives, The White House, Library of Congress, night tour of memorials, drove to Baltimore to visit Fort McHenry....just week one!!!

first day on The Mall and 90 degrees!

statue of the 3 soldiers at
the Vietnam Memorial

Vietnam Memorial

Museum of African American, opened just one year ago

wonderful drum music
performance outside of
the museum

Mike buys us a
couple of gyros at
one of many food
trucks on The Mall

Natl Museum of Amer History

Archaeology, artifacts and lots more at this museum. This is the gun boat, Philadelphia, raised in 1935

walking by the FBI building....

...and the Justice building.....

....which houses the office of the Attorney General

Hope diamond

love the Natl Museum of
Natural History!  All sorts
of wonderful things to see,
learn and explore

mummified bull

grey whale and others

a favorite, the Natl Museum of Art West

a Renoir

Monet

Degas

Croff - Italian Sculptor

a Thomas Cole

Natl Museum of the American Indian

Natl Archives, what a thrill to stand in front of the Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights!

Passed through 3 security stations
to do the White House tour

It is like a mini palace;)

Gettysburg, Part II, PA

After throughly exploring the battlefield, we did a walking tour of Gettysburg and visited the Knob Hall Winery tasting room and then popped over to the Battlefield Brew Works for a nice IPA!

Lincoln Gettysburg Address Memorial located near where he gave the speech at the cemetery 

Soldiers National Monument in Gettysburg Cemetery , on the actual spot of Lincolns Gettysburg Address

Indiana Monument

the Eternal Light Peace Memorial

Tennessee Memorial

North Carolina Memorial, American sculptor Gutzon Borglum (Mt Rushmore)

Virginia Memorial

Florida Memorial

Louisiana Memorial

Mississippi Memorial

very touching memorial showing brothers on opposite sides dressed in their respective uniforms helping each other after the battle

note the upright cannon, headquarters marker, to the back right.  this house was Lee's headquarters

the train station in Gettysburg where Lincoln arrived to give the Gettysburg Address

Several buildings still bear reminders of the war
with projectiles imbedded in walls and scars
from rifle shots

Note the projectile under the window


Below, the side of the Farnsworth house was
riddled with bullet holes, all the little white
specks you see

David Willis house, you can see the room Lincoln stayed in the night before giving his 3 minute speech

Many of the building in Gettysburg are originals from the Civil War era

Gettysburgh, PA

We are spending 4 days in Gettysburgh to visit the battlefield.  As it happens, our campground is located at the southern end of the battlefield and we can literally walk a few feet to the battlefield from here.  We were able to do that the first 2 days without too much backtracking. Now that we are on day 3, we had to hop in the car and drive to areas not yet visited.

The battleground covers an area of about 15 square miles and there are approximately 1300 monuments/markers and structures of interest in that area.  It is a lot to cover!  There are some big wide open spaces, fields of corn, soy and sorghum within that space but still an awful lot to see.

So, lest we forget, the battle ran from July 1st - 4th, 1963.  165,000 men.  Of those, 51,000 were killed, wounded or missing a the end of the battle.  Every structure in the small town of Gettysburgh that could be used as a hospital was and 15% of the wounded would die there or later of their wounds.  It was the decisive turn in the Civil War which would still go on for 2 more years.


I am just putting up pics of some monuments I found interesting, including most of the large state monuments, and story boards for refreshers.  This is part one due to the number of pics:

chatting with Lincoln over the Gettysburg Address

So many monuments and markers
but some really caught my eye

an Irish brigade

view Union troops had from Little Round Top

a New York monument on Little Round Top

Alabama monument

Arkansas monument

South Carolina monument

Georgia monument

New York monument

Minnesota and Pennsylvania monuments

Vermont monument

PA monument at sunset