All last week I was pretty much stuck in a car. My family and I went to Ohio and Pennsylvania. We went to Gettysburg, PA to visit the historic battlegrounds and such, then we went to Columbus, OH to visit my extended family.
We arrived in Gettysburg around 7 o'clock on Monday evening. The whole town was pretty much closed, so we found a little hotel--a Holiday Inn--which was actually an old plantation-style home converted into a small hotel. We went to what we had assumed to be a quaint little down-home diner, but it turned out being a crappy town diner that wasn't as good as we thought it would be. We proceeded to walk around in the rain (I was coatless, wet, and starting to freeze) trying to see if there were any shops open. None were open at all, not even the fudge shop, which had a young woman in kneading fresh fudge just staring at us...sad. We went back to the "hotel" to enjoy hot showers and the floor (i.e. my bed). The next morning we went to the brand new "cyclorama" which is really just a giant museum with a huge mural in a rotunda that had sounds and everything! There were tons of cool artifacts and historical facts about the battles that took place in Gettysburg. It was a great museum and such a wonderfully awe-inspiring experience (despite all the fighting we children participated in).
Tuesday afternoon, after the museum, we drove straight on to Ohio. We arrived at my uncle's home at around 8 o'clock. We talked and goofed off for a while before my cousins had to go to bed (unfortunately they had school the next morning). So we went to bed too. The next morning we went into the city, Columbus, and we visited Ohio State University. We got into the football stadium and took some pictures quickly before getting discovered. Then we spent the rest of the day shopping and spending time at an arcade and laser tag game center (it was Mikaela's birthday and my uncle's birthday). The next day was Turkey Day!!! We ate such wonderful food (my mom and I wait for long periods of time to eat my aunt's delicious yam/sweet potato dish) and enjoyed sitting around just watching T.V. and playing games. There were lots of yummy pies and there was only one piece of cake left from the birthday celebration from the previous night...it was so amazing! The next day we went to Amish country to buy lots of cheeses, fudge, and breads. There was also a trip to a light show one night, but the exact day eludes me.
I absolutely loved the trip, even though I spent most of it fighting. :-( I ate so much food and loved hearing stories from my mom's and my uncle's childhood. It was my last trip for a Turkey Day celebration in Ohio...so I guess I tried to make the most out of it.
