Bertram Adventures: Massachusetts, New York and Pennsylvania!

We have covered some miles since leaving Acadia. Rain kept us from doing more hikes and seeing more of that park! I hope we can go back again sometime. We drove down into Massachusetts and found a campsite on the beach. It was nice listening to the ocean as we slept....then it turned to rain! The next day we headed to the Catskill Mountains in New York. We drove through Woodstock...a very interesting hippie town. Our next campsite was at Woodland Valley State Park--way, way in the boonies. Our campsite was right next to a running stream and very pretty. We enjoyed a nice campfire and a good night's sleep listening to the water. The next morning we are off to another state...Pennyslvania. It was a beautiful drive as we left the Catskills. We spent the night in Caledonia State Park just west of Gettysburg. A few miles of the Appalachian Trail runs through the park. We saw a few hikers and they looked like they had been on the trail for a while! I had hoped we could do a few miles of the trail....but weather interfered. We planned to stay 2 nights in Caledonia, but a severe storm was headed in so we broke camp and drove in to Gettysburg.

Gettysburg is so interesting. I was not prepared for how it would feel driving through and looking out over fields where thousands and thousands of Americans died. It was emotional. Don and I were surprised at how huge the area was that has been preserved as open space where the battles happened. When we were driving the route through the battlefields and viewing all the monuments, we could see the storm coming in from the west (where we were camping). All of the sudden the winds blew in and rain came in sheets! We took shelter in the Visitor Center where they had a very good movie and informative museum. It rained on and off all afternoon. Sooooo glad we broke camp and everything stayed dry!

Below you will see a picture of a small portion of the Cyclorama titled the Battle of Gettysburg painted by Paul Philippoteaux and completed in 1883. It is 377 x 42 feet! It is in a circular building and is amazing! It took 6 years and millions of dollars to restore and was then placed in Gettysburg. In front of the painting are actual rocks, cannons, and other items which just blend into the painting itself.

Tonight we are in York. Tomorrow we head to Lancaster County. When Lee graduated from Philadelphia Biblical College, we all came up here for that event. We ate at an Amish restaurant called Good and Plenty, and it was SO good. We are going back there tomorrow!

Here are a few more pics....

Campsite in Caledonia, PA

Beautiful flowing creek

Gettysburg

One of the many, many monuments to the men who died in Gettysburg

Cyclorama

Here comes the storm. I love these fences.

Now we know exactly how the tent poles that are in Don's office were used! They have been handed down from generation to generation and were given to Don. Don's great-great grandfather P.R. Smith fought in the Civil War and survived.