Historic Gettysburg

Stan . . .

Leaving the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia we moved up into Pennsylvania to spend a week in the Gettysburg area soaking up as much of the history of the area as we could.

The Civil War battle at Gettysburg took place from July 1 - July 3, 1863 and resulted in the highest casualty numbers of any Civil War battle.  There were over 50,000 Union & Confederate soldiers killed, wounded or missing by the time the battle ended.  The 2,200 townspeople of the previously sleepy little town of Gettysburg were left to deal with aftermath of the battle spread out over a 60 square mile area when the Union & Confederate forces left the area beginning on July 4, 1863.

President Abraham Lincoln traveled to Gettysburg in November 19,1863 and spoke for just over 2 minutes to the crowd gathered to dedicate the Soldiers National Cemetery.  That speech - the Gettysburg Address - would become one of the most historic presidential speeches ever made.

Below is a view of the battlefield from Little Round Top as would have been seen by Union soldiers.

Another view of a portion of the battlefield is shown below.

Within a few years after the battle many states began to erect monuments located around the battlefield on the sites where soldiers from their respective states were positioned during the battle.  Pennsylvania had the largest number of soldiers involved in the battle and consequently has the largest commemorative monument located on the battlefield.  Below are several pictures of the Pennsylvania monument.

The National Park Service opened a new Gettysburg National Military Park Visitor/Museum Center in 2008 located on the eastern edge of the battlefield.  Within the Visitor Center was a 360 degree painted cyclorama depicting scenes from the battlefield.  Below is a picture of one area of the cyclorama.

And finally a bronze statue outside the Visitor Center depicting Abraham Lincoln as he awaited his turn to speak at the dedication of the Soldiers National Cemetery at Gettysburg.

Monticello Revisited

Stan . . .

We made our way uneventfully from Texas to Ruston, Louisiana, then to Meridian, Mississippi, on northeasterly to Fort Payne, Alabama (hometown of the country music group Alabama), then up through the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia to Verona, Virginia making one night stops at each of those locations until we got to Verona and decided to take a break for several days.

We chose to stop in Verona so we could do a little sightseeing and enjoy the natural beauty of the area, with our first destination being Monticello, the home of our third president Thomas Jefferson.  We had visited Monticello 27 years earlier on a 2 week family vacation during the time that we lived in West Virginia.  We remembered how much we enjoyed Monticello during that trip and wanted to go back and revisit it again.

The first picture below is the view of the house as seen from the south lawn area (the outdoor area where the family would spend most of their outdoor time.  The main entrance to the house where visitors would arrive was on the north side.

Thomas Jefferson was deeply involved in agriculture (gardening in particular) and raised over 300 varieties of vegetables and fruits during his time at Monticello.  His vegetable garden at the height of his experimentation reached a size of 60 feet wide by 1000 feet long terraced around the hilltop on which Monticello was built.  The below picture shows a portion of his vegetable garden area.

On another terraced area located just below the vegetable garden was were Jefferson unsuccessfully attempted to raise various species of grapes in an attempt to create a vineyard for use in making wine.  He experienced better success with other species of fruits such as apples and peaches.  Below is a picture of his fruit orchard area.

After departing Monticello we took a drive up along Skyline Drive northward before returning to our campground in Verona.  Below are several pictures taken at various points along Skyline Drive.

Back On The Road

Connie ...

Well, here we are back on the road.  It's very exciting to be making our way down the highway.
Our first day has been enjoyable and mostly uneventful, except for losing the vent cover for our water heater.  Not to worry; Stan has already ordered another and it will be waiting for us when we arrive in Gettysburg, PA  next Monday.
The park here in Rustin, LA is very pretty.  It's way back in the woods and backs up to a lovely lake.  The temperature is pleasant and the setting very peaceful. 
Following are some of the scenes from around the campground.  Hope you enjoy and we will be writing again as we go along.  Hope you enjoy!

Leaving Alaska

Connie ...

As we leave Alaska we take with us such wonderful memories, pictures, new friendships and life changing experiences.  It is truly a land to behold and will stay in our hearts always.  We hope that we were able to pass on to our family and friends the feeling of joy and wonderment through our blog that this journey has brought to us.
Here are some of the views as we leave Alaska and enter the Yukon.

After spending three months in Alaska, coming back into the Yukon looked just as pretty as it did when we entered the first time.

The lakes were just as bright blue-green as we remembered and the mountains as eye opening.

As we were making our way down the highway we could see the rain coming down through the clouds off in the distance.  It made for an interesting  effect on the picture.

We're not completely certain, but we think this might be fresh snow on the mountain.

The scenes are forever changing.  As the clouds broke up the sun cast a bit more light on the snow topped mountain.

Delta Junction - Milepost 1422

Stan . . .

Delta Junction is the terminus point of the Alaska Highway that was built in 1942 by the U.S. Military completing the 1422 mile highway that began at Milepost 0 at Dawson Creek, British Columbia (see our May 16th posting).

The U.S. Military built the highway to provide a land link between the lower 48 and Alaska which had previously only been reachable from the lower 48 via air or sea.  The military wanted to be able to maintain a land link to various military facilities in Alaska (particularly in Fairbanks with Ft. Wainwright and Eielson Air Base) as a line of defense against a possible Japanese invasion of American soil during World War II.  As shown on the below picture the Richardson was already in place from the port of Valdez up to Fairbanks passing thru Delta Junction.  Thus the Alaska Highway terminated at Delta Junction and used the existing Richardson Highway to complete the land link to Fairbanks.

The next 2 pictures are some of the yard art/signage found at the Delta Junction Visitor Center.  Alaska claims the mosquito as the "unofficial" state bird since everything is "bigger in Alaska".  The buffalo signage is a humorous way to caution "Watch Out For Livestock".

The next 3 pictures are of some of the original road construction equipment used by the U.S. Military during the Alaska Highway construction and abandoned at Delta Junction and the end of World War II.

The North Pole

Connie ........

Traveling north from Fairbanks we arrived at the North Pole.  It is a real town and Santa really does live there; along with Mrs. Claus and his reindeer.  During the other 364 days of the year Santa is available for visits and photos at The Santa Claus House.  Santaland is decorated with everything Christmas and goodies available for purchase.  There are lots and lots of wonderful items.  We did not see Mrs. Claus, as she was busy taking care of her everyday duties.  We did however enjoy seeing some of the reindeer.  Ruldolph was taking a nap in his house; resting up for his big night no doubt.

Our campground was located just next door so we were able to walk over and browse around.  Everyone is very friendly and obviously proud of this famous little town.

The official greeting to Santa's House.

This was a beautiful mural created from ceramic tiles on the Santa Claus House

Yes, this is really Santa.  We visited with him and  talked about our grandchildren.  Of course he already knows who they are!

This is Dancer.

and here is Comet.

Bigger than life statue of Santa checking his list!

Fairbanks - Our Northernmost Destination

Stan . . .

After reluctantly leaving Denali we continued north on the Parks Highway to Fairbanks which would be the northernmost point of our Alaska adventure.  After Fairbanks I guess it's all downhill (so to speak).  We spent 3 days roaming about Fairbanks and the below pictures are a sampling of our roaming about.

A statue of a family of Alaska natives located in a beautiful downtown park is shown below.

The sunflower below (at least 15" across the seedpod) was part of a very colorful display of flowers at the Fairbanks Visitor Center located downtown.

A street scene within Pioneer Park which preserves much of the original structures from Fairbanks earlier years is below.

A signpost we found during our wanderings within Pioneer Park.

A sampling of some of the beautiful floral and structural colors found throughout Pioneer Park.

Located on the northern outskirts of Fairbanks is an area named Creamery Field.  It has become over the years a migratory waypoint for Canada Geese and Sand Hill Cranes during their annual north/south migrations.  We were lucky enough to be there during the time that both bird species were passing through on the start of their southerly migration.

We spent the better part of a day at the Museum of the North located on the campus of the University of Alaska Fairbanks (the campus is beautiful).  The displays, artifacts and information presented were outstanding and well worth the time spent touring the museum.  Below are 2 pictures of the museums unique and impressive design.

More Beautiful Denali

Connie ......

O.K., for most of you who have followed our blog, you have figured out how much I love mountains.  I feel drawn to them and love photographing them.  While Stan posted most of the wildlife  from Denali, I would like to share the beautiful landscapes and mountains; except for this little guy above who was so adorable.  He continued posing for as long as we wanted to take his photo.   Sadly being a ground squirrel he is considered a BFC. (bottom of the food chain)

 Mt. McKinley on our second trip in and oh what a sight!  We were really lucky to have a cloudless window for such a photo.  It rarely shows itself in such magnitude.

This is part of the Alaska range seen in Denali Park.

This mountain range is opposite Mt. McKinley and notice the glacier.

    This photo was taken at the Eielson Visitor's Center about 65 miles into the park.  The caribou antlers in the foreground weigh around 40 pounds.

                                                                  
On our third day in Denali we decided to go back into the park in the evening for the first fifteen miles that tourists are allowed in their own vehicles.  So glad we did.  It was getting toward dusk and the park took on a whole different look.  There had been a short rain shower and this rainbow was a great view.

 As we drove further into the park looking for wildlife we spotted a mama moose and her baby.  They were a little shy, but didn't run away.

     Mama was mostly munching on willow and baby was frolicking near, but every once in a while he would come up to her for a reassuring nudge.  We watched them for a good twenty minutes.  Then finally they went off into the trees.

As sunset was ascending upon us  they view of the mountains this time of day is absolutely stunning.  We looked at this very mountain earlier in the day in the bright sunshine.

  Slowly the sun sets on the great mountains of Denali.  A place that will stay in our hearts and minds for always.  It was truly my favorite!

  Now we see only shadows of mountains and the sky looks to be on fire.  It's time to go home and leave the wildlife and mountains for another day.  See you next time Denali.