Full day at Shenandoah.

On Wednesday we decided to take a hike to Camp Rapidan. It was a 4 mile hike round trip and the trail went over streams and passed by small waterfalls. The land you hike on is mostly untouched. When we arrived at Camp Rapidan we ate lunch and explored the 3 original buildings left of the camp. Later we took another hike up to Stoney man which had an amazing view of the valley below. The last thing we did was go to one of the many look out points on Skyline Drive and dad took Sunset/Night photos. Shanendoah was truly and amazing place to be at and the fact that it is so close to so many people is cool, but it is sad to see the view around the mountains is being taken up by more growth in the towns around the national park.-Isiah 

Gettysburg to Shenandoah.

Yesterday we ate breakfast at an old style diner. After we ate we went to General Reynolds statue and the monument for the Iron brigade. We then went to the visitors center and toured the museum. We watched a movie narrated by the best narrator, Morgan Freeman. After we toured the museum we got ice cream and lunch in town. Then we went back to the visitors center to meet up with our tour guide. We drove around the battlefield, we spent most of our time by where the fighting began on the first day. Which was where the mostly Wisconsin Iron Brigade had most of their action. Our tour guide was awesome and we are glad that we got the opportunity to go on the tour. After the tour we went around and explored the park. Dad decided to take sunset pictures on little round top. After that we went back and ate at a place called Dobbins. The restaurant building once served as a stop on the Underground Railroad and was turned into a hospital during and after the battle. Today we ate breakfast at the same place and we walked around the town. Then we drove to Antietam and toured the battlefield. After we finished we ate lunch in Sharpsberg. We then continued our journey to Shenandoah National Park. We made a quick stop at dinosaur land where we had to escape the island of dinosaurs that were genetically brought back to life.... Wrong story. After driving a little more we finally arrived at Shanendoah. We made plenty of stops up the mountains and saw some awesome views. We checked in and ate dinner at the dinning hall there. Finally we watched a beautiful sunset and are here now. -Isiah

Choices of travel

Last week before this trip I got news my grandmother was not doing well. Originally my Father was supposed to come with us as he is the big Civil War buff and could guide us.:) With the news of my Grandmother he stayed behind and I had to make the choice of pushing on with Isiah or staying. It was one of the toughest choices i have had to make and was in the midst of probably the busiest work week of my year. My Aunt Bonnie then sent me a message telling me how during last years trip she would show photos of it to Grandma and she made the comment about how that was so great and traveling and seeing things is so important. She tried to do that with her kids. This made my mind up. It was still hard to leave on the trip and leave my dad behind as well. We continued on. Yesterday evening I wanted to go out in the battlefield and shoot sunset photos. I thought maybe Little Round Top but figured it would be just and that's easy shooting. Something made me go anyway. While up on Little Round Top...the most amazing sunset happened. And then I got the call Grandma passed. The rest of he sunset was lackluster except for those 15 or so minutes. I snapped photos with my good camera but unfortunately do not have any internet to load them up. Attached is the photo I took with my cellphone around the time she passed. I made the right choice to come and I was exactly where I was supposed to be. Grandma and Grandpa looking down and keeping us travelers safe. We are a family of travelers and we have the two best guardian angels ever now. 

-Ty 

Rock and roll and Gettysburg.

We did a lot of driving yesterday and stopped in Cleveland. We ate dinner and walked around the city. This morning we visited the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. They had so many things there from so many artists, yet I failed to see anything from CCR. Then we started traveling towards Gettysburg. We made a quick stop at the cemetery where they filmed Night of the Living Dead and got back on the road. We arrived at Gettysburg at about 7:00 P.M. and went to check out the sunset along cemetery ridge. We ate dinner across the road for dad's birthday and now we prepare to go to bed.