July 22, 2005 - Auburn, NH - Gettysburg, etc.

Before we continue with our Gettysburg adventure, I've got to go back to the Tonka truck that son Doug's shop built.  Remember that little truck that was used as a model?  Well, it went back home where it belongs.

It was the 4th of July, and a neighborhood parade, and there went Huck (our youngest grandkid) with the truck.  Is he a cute kid or what?

OK, now we can get back to Gettysburg and wander around the cemetery.

The tall monument is the one mentioned in the plaque, and is close to the center of the cemetery.  Those longish strips of concrete have the names of the men buried there.  In the background are cement plaques with just numbers on them because it was not possible to determine who it was that had died during those 3 days.

While most the inhabitants of the cemetery are from those 3 days, there are WWI and WWII men and women buried here as well.

The base of the Soldiers National Monument with the dates of the battle on it

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Some more views of the Soldier's Monument.

It seemed to us (me, mostly I guess) that it was almost as if the various states were competing with each other as to who could build the most impressive monument to its fallen heroes.  This one, obviously, is New York's.  And that's my bald head Barb took a picture of as I was taking the preceding shots.  Impressive detail, and particularly interesting was the figure at the top looking down at me.

The Veterans memorial, and then the road that runs along the ridge just south of the town of Gettysburg.

If forced to pick a favorite memorial, this would have to be it.  An instant and profound visual reminder of our mortality and the instant transition from mortality to immortality/eternity (for those who believe).  Also, notice the fallen soldiers right foot, with the toes sticking out of his boot.  The sculptor must have liked feet.  And fingers.  The detail in this medium always impresses me I guess.

Another sad scene of how horrible war is, with all the wasted life.  Again, notice the right foot on the standing soldier; toes sticking out of the boot.  And now I'm wondering about the fallen one.  I can't tell from the photo if his toes are sticking out or not, and I don't remember looking at it when we were there.  Impressive nonetheless.

When we looked at this hill, and reflected on how the men struggled to get to the tree line, it sure seemed tough.  It would have been tough for us to simply climb it, much less with full battle garb and getting shot at in the process.  What a sad time in our nation's history.

Every state involved in the conflict had numerous memorials for its different troops that participated in the conflict.  Access throughout the preservation was great.  We could easily have spent several days admiring all the work done on these monuments.

Lots of the roads are one-way with parking on the right.  We never did figure out the meaning of this Native American and teepee except perhaps that they were part of the Civil War too.  And that was it for Gettysburg and our stay at Hershey.