Hershey, Pa

This post is from June 1st, 2016!

__________________________________

We arrived at the Hershey, PA Thousand Trails with John and Linda and found two 50 amp sites up in the "H" Loop. I really liked the sites we were able to get.

Hershey TT Campsite

This is the view out our door, simply spectacular!

View out our window

I want to take a minute to share my opinion about Thousand Trails. It is far from perfect! It used to be you had to be a member to use the parks, but now that Encore owns TT it is open to the public. Also at many parks, you can buy an annual site which many times means the annuals get the "best" sites, HOWEVER.........

as you can see in the pictures above we usually find great sites, and have never been refused a site. It is always easier then using a "public" campground and the price is spectacular because we do use our membership! On this eastern trip we are using TT 145 nights. This year we are using TT 205 nights. 

Campgrounds have gotten expensive. I would have to say an average of about $40.00 a night or higher. Up in Wells, Maine they are $75-$90 a night! At an average fee of $40.00 a night the 145 nights on the eastern trip would have cost us $5800.00 in camping fees! At the 205 nights this year it would have been $8200! That's just the nights we spend in TT! We pay about $635.00 a year in membership dues for TT. This averages out to $3.10 per night including electricity! We couldn't full time without TT!

OK now to Hershey......

Hershey is a chocolate town. Here is Chocolate Avenue. Notice the Street lights are Hershey Kisses, but with wrapped and unwrapped.

Chocolate Ave

We went to Chocolate World with John and Linda.

Chocolate World

We expected to smell chocolate when we got into town, but sadly things have changed.You can't even do a real factory tour, but instead you ride a simulation showing the chocolate making process. You can also buy large $50.00 candy bars. Oh well, wish we had come when the factory was actually here!

We  went to Lancaster, Pa with John and Linda to the Shady Maple Smorgasbord.

Shady Maple Smorgasbord

For $12.50 a person you eat and eat and eat! There is over 200 feet of buffet eating! They even have an Icee machine!!!

Shady Maple Smorgasbord

This is definitely Amish country! The Amish drive amongst the "English" as they call us.

Amish Wagon

And there were many Amish farms where they plow the fields the old fashion way.

Horse Plowing

We came across this covered bridge.

Covered Bridge

The Bentons had to go back to their property early so we had a few days by ourselves. We found this old furnace.

The furnace was a leading Pennsylvania iron producer from 1742 until it was shut down in 1883. The furnaces, support buildings and surrounding community have been preserved as a historical site and museum, providing a glimpse into Lebanon County's industrial past. The site is the only intact charcoal-burning iron blast furnace in its original plantation in the western hemisphere. Established by Peter Grubb in 1742, Cornwall Furnace was operated during the Revolution by his sons Curtis and Peter Jr. who were major arms providers to George Washington. Robert Coleman acquired Cornwall Furnace after the Revolution and became Pennsylvania's first millionaire. Ownership of the furnace and its surroundings was transferred to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 1932.

Cornwall Iron Furnace

At one time cannonballs were made at Cornwall.

Cannonballs

In 1742, Grubb replaced his bloomery with a 30-foot high charcoal-fired cold blast furnace. The blast furnace burned hotter than the bloomery and was able to render molten pig iron ("charcoal iron") from the ore.

Furnace

Outside of the furnace building.

Cornwall Furnace

That's it for today.

Thank you for reading,

God bless you,

Brian and Patty

Gettysburg, Pa

This post is from May 23rd, 2016!

_______________________________

This is our first time in Pennsylvania having driven from Virginia and driving through Washington, DC, and Maryland.

Pennsylvania

We pulled into the Gettysburg Farms Thousand Trails RV Park. Our friends John and Linda were already here. In fact the 5th wheel directly behind us is theirs!

Gettysburg Farms TT

The main reason for coming here is to go to the Gettysburg Battlefields. We were not ready for the size of the fields!

Gettysburg

Here is a selfie of the four of us at Gettysburg. From Left to Right it is Linda and John Benton, and Patty and Brian Hunt.

John and Linda, Brian and Patty

We were so blessed to have the Benton's with us. John is such an expert on the Civil War! There are 41 miles of roads at Gettysburg and 1320 memorials! Without a tour guide like John and Linda it would not have been the same!

Memorials

We were surprised to learn that California had a regiment fighting here. They fought with the Pennsylvania regiment, but they were indeed here!

California Regiment Memorial

We also learned that although slavery was an integral part of the Civil War, it was just part of it. It was also about states rights, and taxes and economics. The things we still struggle with today!

Here is the New York 44th Infantry Monument. It sort of looks like a castle.

New York Monument

We really like this picture. In the right you can see the New York Monument from above.

Brian and Patty

There was about 400 Civil War cannons in the park. They were ALL authentic Civil War Cannons.

Civil War Cannons

This cannon was a re-creation cannon. On this day they were having a living history day.

Fire!!

The union soldiers were charging us!

CHARGE!!

These are Confederate Soldiers.

Confederates

And of course the Union Soldiers firing back!

Union Soldiers

This is the Virginia Monument. Some of fairly plain like the California one, and some are fairly elaborate like this one.

Virginia Monument

And some are very large like the Pennsylvania monument! You could climb to the top of this one. That is me next to the cannon on the left and Patty next to the cannon on the right.

Pennsylvania Monument

Eisenhower National Historic Site preserves the home and farm of Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Eisenhower National Historic Site

Throughout his long army career, Dwight Eisenhower and his wife never had a house to call their own, with the couple moving from army post to army post. After he became Columbia University's president in 1948, Mamie requested that they finally have a place to call their own. A married couple that were friends with the Eisenhowers, George and Mary Allen, had recently purchased a small farm around Gettysburg, and recommended the area. In 1950, they found a "run-down farm" on the outskirts of Gettysburg, and purchased the farm and its 189 acres for $40,000 from Allen Redding, who had owned the farm since 1921. Eisenhower stated that he could feel the "forgotten heroisms" that occurred on the grounds as the Battle of Gettysburg.

Eisenhower Farm

For $7.50 a person you take a shuttle bus from the Gettysburg Visitor Center to the Eisenhower Farm. That is the only way you can tour the farm. You can tour the farm on your own, but you must take a guided tour through the house.

Living Room

We took the tour of the house which is included with the bus fee.

Bedroom

Probably spent an hour or so here before taking the bus back.

Kitchen

We saw on Google that there was an historic round barn near Gettysburg. There are just a handful of these so we thought we should go check this out!

Historic Round Barn

They were no longer using this as a barn, but instead using it as a produce stand and also selling different types of do-dads.

Adams County Round Baarn

They were selling apples really cheap. Like 50 cents a pound, every type even Fuji. They were all the same price, so we grabbed a couple of each type!

How About Them Apples?

That's it for Gettysburg,

Love you all,

Brian and Patty

Washington, DC

This post is from May 18th, 2016!

_______________________________

We have moved to the Harbor View Thousand Trails RV Park in Colonial Beach, Va. This park is about 60 miles south of Washington, DC.

Harbor View Thousand Trails

DC is not a good town for a large truck like our dually Ram. There is very little parking available and what is available can be VERY expensive! We decided to go into town two separate days. I will combine them in this entry. Although we do not generally like bus tours, we decided to do one the first day so we could get a good overview of DC. I found a great deal on Groupon for a full day deluxe tour with free parking at the pickup point. We were allowed off the bus at most points.

DC Trails

Here we are at the Capital Building.

Capital Building

The bus let us off a couple blocks from the White House. You could see sharpshooters on the roof. We had about 1/2 an hour before we needed to back to the bus. We looked into doing a tour of the White House but found we needed to get background checked months beforehand. Maybe next time!

White House

We walked up the steps to the Lincoln Memorial.

Lincoln Memorial

We traded talking pictures with another couple we met at the memorial. The memorial is at the west end of the National Mall while the Washington Memorial is at the east end. The Gettysburg Address is inscripted in the memorial.

Lincoln Memorial 

This photo is taken from the steps of the Lincoln memorial looking over the National Mall pool. You can see the Washington Memorial and the Capital Building in the distance.

National Mall

We found that you also need to request tickets to the Washington Monument months ahead of time. It's possible to go up the same day if you wait in line for hours, but it may or may not happen. Next time we will know.

Washington Monument

The Jefferson Memorial sits due south of the White House. It honors one of the most important of the American Founding Fathers as the main drafter and writer of the Declaration of Independence, member of the Continental Congress, and governor of the newly independent Commonwealth of Virginia.

Jefferson Memorial

We were given time to walk up the steps of the memorial.

Inside the Jefferson Memorial

This is the WWII Memorial. It is on the east side of the National Mall. It is a very impressive memorial. We saw these soldiers so of course we thanked all of them for their service!

WWII

Within walking distance of the WWI Memorial are also a Korean and Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

Here is the Korean Memorial.

Korean Memorial

And the Vietnam Memorial.

Vietnam Memorial

This is the original Vietnam Memorial Wall that has names of Vietnam war casualties on it. The wall is recreated and sent around the country. I have seen the traveling one before, but this one really gives you pause!

The Wall

The Iwo Jima Memorial is a national monument in Arlington, Virginia. Dedicated 62 years ago in 1954, it is located in Arlington Ridge Park, at the back entrance to Arlington National Cemetery and next to the Netherlands Carillon. The war memorial is dedicated to all U.S. Marine Corps personnel who have died in the defense of the United States since 1775.

The memorial was inspired by the iconic 1945 photograph of six Marines raising a U.S. flag atop Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II.

Iwo Jima Memorial

We were let out by the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. I thought this was an interesting photo with the Washington Memorial to the front of him. The FDR Memorial was also in the area.

Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial

We were then taken to Arlington Cemetery. This is quite a somber place. The gravestones all line up side to side and front to back.

Gravestones

The eternal flame is at the John F. Kennedy grave.

John F. Kennedy Grave

The Eternal Flame.

The Eternal Flame

There were two things we wanted to see at Arlington, The Eternal Flame and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

The Tomb of the Unknowns is a monument dedicated to American service members who have died without their remains being identified. It is also known as the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, but it has never been officially named so. It is located in Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, United States of America. The World War I "Unknown" is a recipient of the Medal of Honor, the Victoria Cross, and several other foreign nations' highest service awards. The U.S. Unknowns who were interred are also recipients of the Medal of Honor, presented by U.S. Presidents who presided over their funerals.

Unknown Soldier

We arrived just in time to see the Changing of the Guards ceremony.

There is a meticulous routine that the guard follows when watching over the graves. The Tomb Guard:

Marches 21 steps south down the black mat laid across the Tomb.

Turns and faces east, toward the Tomb, for 21 seconds.

Turns and faces north, changes weapon to outside shoulder, and waits 21 seconds.

Marches 21 steps down the mat.

Turns and faces east for 21 seconds.

Turns and faces south, changes weapon to outside shoulder, and waits 21 seconds.

Repeats the routine until the soldier is relieved of duty at the Changing of the Guard.

After each turn, the Guard executes a sharp "shoulder-arms" movement to place the weapon on the shoulder closest to the visitors to signify that the Guard stands between the Tomb and any possible threat.

Out of respect for the interred, the sentinels command silence at the tombs. If the guard walking the mat must vocally confront a disturbance from spectators, or a threat, the routine is interrupted, and remains so until the disturbance is under control. The sentinel will exit the mat, place the weapon in port arms position, and confront the disturbance. Once under control, the sentinel then walks on the pavement to the other side of the mat, turns to shoulder arms, and continues the routine.

Twenty-one was chosen because it symbolizes the highest military honor that can be bestowed—the 21-gun salute.

Changing of the Guards

There are 19 Smithsonian Museums in DC. The Amazing thing is they are all FREE! Because we have limited time we had to choose only one to go to. We were suggested to go to the Air and Space Museum, however we had just gone to the Kennedy Space Center and we were planning to go to the National Air Museum in Dayton so we wanted to go to something different. We chose the American History Museum.

American History Museum

We are pleased we chose this museum. Everything from the Gunboat Philadelphia to the original Star Spangled Banner the inspired Francis Scott Key.  From Dorothy's Ruby Red Slippers from Wizard of Oz to mask made of President Lincoln.

Ruby Red Slippers

From a piece of Plymouth Rock to a Thomas Edison Lightbulb.

Plymouth Rock

And of course we can't forget about Archie and Edith Bunker's chairs! "Stifle

yourself Edith!"

Archie and Edith Bunker

That's it for today,

Thanks for reading,

God Bless you,

Brian and Patty