The Gettysburg Pilgrimage

As part of my educational strategy for my visiting brother-in-law, Josh, I took him on a pilgrimage to the Gettysburg Battlefield. In his younger days, little Josh was intrigued by the novelty of the Southern girl coming to Oregon and became somewhat fascinated by Southern Culture, including our mysterious and enduring nostalgia regarding a particular skirmish in our nation's history.

The day began at Farnsworth Tavern, where I required my much loved Goober Pea Soup. Great food. But bad choice for a hot summer day. Oh well, it was good at this particular moment.


If you haven't been to Gettysburg lately, I highly recommend it. They have a brand new visitors center, the battlefield is more "user friendly," and the newly restored cyclorama (the 19th century version of IMAX) is pretty impressive. In fact, Josh wanted to make a return visit.

Once on the battlefield, it took a few moments to convince Josh that Phantom of the Opera was not an appropriate audio track for the day. We came to a compromise with The Civil War. Broadway plus era appropriate music. Bingo.

At the Alabama monument, Josh and I paused for a moment to remember. And to re-enact. Notice the childish nature of the Yankee and the firm response of the Southerner.

Amazingly, I convinced Josh to hike up Big Round Top. And even more amazingly, convinced him to do a little scrambling around Little Round Top. We were getting hungry for that ice cream at Friendly's.After Friendly's, we made one last trek around Cemetery Ridge before heading back to DC. Good times, good times.