We spent the weekend celebrating my husband’s birthday on a battlefield.
We walked the hallowed ground of Gettysburg, where a 3-day battle culminated in the famous Pickett’s Charge that ended with 7,000 dead soldiers. I’m feeling very irritated at Robert E. Lee right now. I felt sorry for the Confederate soldiers who had to scramble over a picket rail fence just about the time they were in range of Union muskets.
To my way of thinking, Gettysburg is rather an odd place since it’s known almost exclusively for being the site of slaughter. What do the people who live there do with that fact?
As is often true of our jaunts to battlefields, the weather seemed extreme — surprisingly cool for the time of year, and raining almost constantly.
We went to see the new interpretive center, which is top-notch. I urge you to go check it out. The film, narrated by Morgan Freeman, is very well done. I would love to see it again as I couldn’t catch all the info as quickly as it went by. The museum portion is also great. We were on information overload so I’d like to go back and focus on the Aftermath portion of the exhibit. Did you know that Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address was roundly criticized?
We stayed at the Wyndham, which I found through Hotwire. I love staying at 3.5 or 4 star hotels on the cheap!
In the elevator at the hotel we met some young guests in finery. The wedding they were attending, which was supposed to be held on the battlefield, had been rerouted to the hotel because of rain. I think God was being very nice to them. Who really wants to get married on a battlefield? Weddings are often plagued with bad ideas, but honestly, why would you choose a battlefield for your nuptials?
Perhaps Christians don’t speak of karma, but do folks have no appreciation for the fact that land can hold memories?
On Saturday night we had a steak and martini dinner. All weekend it was fun to say: Whatever you want, Sweetheart.
This getaway was a great example of what we old-marrieds call The Cleveland Principle. Meaning that it doesn’t matter where we are (Cleveland is fine) or even what the weather is like, as long as we have a lovely room, a decent restaurant or two, and Thou.