Gettysburg, day 2
Four generations of Sperger men stood on the battlefield that day:
We closed out the battlefield tour and our boys' weekend in high style. Sunday morning we went to Mass and then had a leisurely breakfast. Around mid-day, we headed back to the auto tour to pick up where we had left off the night before. There was another of those dadblamed observation towers to climb:
Gramps wisely stuck with guard duty at the van... this was the highest of the observation towers, making this picture look like it was taken by a satellite:
We wound our way around to all the old familiar places - Little Round Top, the Wheatfield, Devil's Den. The joint was jumping on Sunday, with lots of tour buses coming through:
Lots of opportunities to look stoic along the way... this is my uncle Mick at Devil's Den:
Nick clambered up to the top of the New York state monument on Little Round Top:
We also got to climb up to the top of the Pennsylvania monument, which was closed during our last visit. It's an utterly dark stone spiral staircase, only a person's width in size, and that was a hoot:
There was one more observation tower to climb, at Culp's Hill on the northeast end of the Union line:
All of the towers have these great line-of-sight guides for identifying landmarks... you just line up the two triangles and you're looking in the right direction:
Our battlefield tour, and our weekend at Gettysburg, concluded with a visit to the site of Pickett's Charge and the high water mark of the Confederate campaign:
I want to close this entry with one more picture of my grandfather, who has given three generations of Spergers an example of integrity, creativity, and good humor to follow. Doesn't he look fabulous? What a fine traveling companion to have on Father's Day:
Next year, we think we might go to Manassas, and cross into Confederate territory.
We closed out the battlefield tour and our boys' weekend in high style. Sunday morning we went to Mass and then had a leisurely breakfast. Around mid-day, we headed back to the auto tour to pick up where we had left off the night before. There was another of those dadblamed observation towers to climb:
Gramps wisely stuck with guard duty at the van... this was the highest of the observation towers, making this picture look like it was taken by a satellite:
We wound our way around to all the old familiar places - Little Round Top, the Wheatfield, Devil's Den. The joint was jumping on Sunday, with lots of tour buses coming through:
Lots of opportunities to look stoic along the way... this is my uncle Mick at Devil's Den:
Nick clambered up to the top of the New York state monument on Little Round Top:
We also got to climb up to the top of the Pennsylvania monument, which was closed during our last visit. It's an utterly dark stone spiral staircase, only a person's width in size, and that was a hoot:
There was one more observation tower to climb, at Culp's Hill on the northeast end of the Union line:
All of the towers have these great line-of-sight guides for identifying landmarks... you just line up the two triangles and you're looking in the right direction:
Our battlefield tour, and our weekend at Gettysburg, concluded with a visit to the site of Pickett's Charge and the high water mark of the Confederate campaign:
I want to close this entry with one more picture of my grandfather, who has given three generations of Spergers an example of integrity, creativity, and good humor to follow. Doesn't he look fabulous? What a fine traveling companion to have on Father's Day:
Next year, we think we might go to Manassas, and cross into Confederate territory.
