Mini Trip - Day 1

0530 - Awoken by the Very Thirsty Dog. Consider staying up and getting started on all the packing I didn't finish yesterday. Decide that it is just too early and go back to bed after I let Darby back inside.

0630 - Alarm goes off -time to get up. Departure goal: 0900

Finish packing. Finish gathering various items needed for the trip. Clear out the van a bit and load it all up.

1011 - Everyone is in the car. We have taken our pre-departure photo with Vacation Mouse. I program my new GPS (a birthday gift from Ron yesterday!) for Gettysburg. And we're off - only one hour behind schedule.

1020 - Stop at McD's - our traditional first stop -so I can get some breakfast (too busy packing to eat) and iced coffee.

1040 - Maryland

1116 - Ryan is reading off a list of random holidays such as National Ding-a-ling Day and National Twinkie Month from his book.

1128 - Sneaky cows! I saw some goats a few minutes ago which reminded me that we hadn't seen any cows yet. These two cows were lying down in the barnyard and I almost didn't see them. So sneaky...

1141 - Pennsylvania

1158 - Arrive at Gettysburg National Military Park visitor center. Bathroom break then we walk through the gift shop. Grandma R tells them they can all buy something. Felisa of course chose a stuffed horse that she wanted last time we were here. Bella bought a small pillow with a quote stitched on it. Ryan bought a Yankee soldier's cap and a bag of cinnamon candies. We also picked out a box of Abe Lincoln trivia cards for Thomas and Grandma bought a book.

12:25 p.m. - Back at the car. As we were headed back to the parking lot, a bus full of high school kids was loading. Very slowly. And blocking the entire sidewalk. And talking about how slowly they were moving and "how long does it take to get on a bus anyway?". I politely asked them to please excuse us so that we could cut through the line and pass through along the path. She looks at me and says, "we're getting on the bus." Um, yes, I know. We just want to pass through if you don't mind so we don't have to wait for all of you to board so that we can get through. Sheesh. Were they not just discussing how long it was taking? They were blocking the ENTIRE sidewalk for crying out loud. Oh well. I suppose my young children and I could have just walked in the road on the other side of the bus instead.

1:09 p.m. - Leaving the cemetary. Ryan was able to answer all the questions in his book so now he has earned the Gettysburg patch for Cub Scouts. We were here with the pack in April but ran out of time to finish the tour/questions. Our review of the cemetary:
S - nice breeze and great trees made it a pleasant walk through the park.
B - lots of treese
F - "I like the cemetary"
R - liked the poems that were on signs throughout the park
L - huge, clean, sad

1:45 p.m. Leaving McD's after lunch. Program the GPS for our hotel in Lancaster.

1:58 p.m. - Gas. $2.69/gallon

2:00 p.m. - I forgot my towel AGAIN!!! When we left this morning, I realized that I had forgotten to bring a towel to put on the seat so my legs don't stick. I forget it every year I think. And I even wrote it on the list. Too bad I was using the mental version of the list to pack with rather than the written version! I had planned to grab a beach towel from the back to put on my seat when we stopped at Gettysburg but I forgot. I'm not stopping now so I'll just have to suffer.

2:26 p.m. There is a lot more traffic out here today than I expected. Our estimated arrival time on the GPS keeps getting later and later.

2:48 p.m. - We're in York. We were on the highway for about 30 seconds and now we're back on a 6-lane road with lots of cars and stop lights. I don't think we're ever going to get there!

3:07 p.m. Susquehanna River

3:30 p.m. Arrive at the hotel. When we get to the room, the kids are very impressed and think that it is a most fancy hotel indeed. Bella says that it is even fancier than Fancy Nancy! It's just a Hampton Inn. Nothing too fancy, really. Just a regular nice hotel. Though our room does have a back door that opens out to the pool area which is much fancier than usual... :)

4:00 p.m. The car is unloaded for the night and we're headed to the pool.

5:35 p.m. Done swimming and now it's time for dinner! Initially we walk to the shopping center next door but the restaurant has only sandwiches and nothing Bella will like. So we pull out the GPS but nothing great shows up in the immediate area so we all pile into the car to go find somewhere to eat. I decide to program in a museum that we may go to see tomorrow and head that way, seeing what there is to see on the way. An adventure if you will. Ron would be so proud - he's always going on exploratory adventures but I never do. I prefer to stick to what I know. We end up at Perkins.

7:15 p.m. Back to the room. The kids are watching Disney Channel and playing DS. Grandma R reads for a bit while I update the blog. Now it's time to figure out the plan of action for tomorrow...