Game on!

Orchids at Phipps Convservatory; Pittsburgh, PA

Pennsylvania State Monument at Gettysburg

There's really nothing to say about this stop at Gettysburg other than that The Goobs went up to the top and waved at me.  I didn't go up with them so I can't verify this, but they said the entire thing was hollow.  Pretty cool, right?  I mean, it sure looks substantial to me.

I didn't post this picture to tell you the monument was hollow, though.  I posted it to laugh at myself, because I frittered away nearly half an hour playing with this picture in PSE6.  I can't even begin to remember all the things I did; it's the most photoshopped picture in the history of the world, and it looks it.  And now I'm telling you all about it because I feel that I have to confess.  I could have been cooking something or cleaning something or teaching something, but all I have in exchage for my thirty minutes is one heavily photoshopped picture of a monument I don't really care about.

Be ye warned, people.  PSE6 will suck you in and you might never escape.

Soldiers' National Cemetery; Gettysburg, PA

We stopped by the Soldiers National Cemetery one evening to pay our respects.  I like to visit as many national cemeteries as I can.  The Goobs must learn that freedom has its price, and while their father being deployed is a pretty good illustration, those rows of headstones drive the lesson home like nothing else. 

Plus, I like cemeteries.  Always have.

The cemetery is beautiful.  There are wonderful old trees planted throughout the grounds, and each one is labeled so you can walk around and say, "Oh, so that's what the Kentucky coffee tree looks like."  I really appreciated that.  JellyMan liked the plaques along the walks which told Theodore O'Hara's poem, "The Bivouac of the Dead" in manageable little snippets.  Of course, that meant we had to walk around the ENTIRE cemetery, but I'd walk to the ends of the earth for my JellyMan so I didn't mind too much.

This is the Soldiers' National Monument, which stands in the center of the cemetery. 

Yes, The Goobs just HAD to add their pennies to the plaque.

I can't bear to write a big old essay on how the cemetery came to be, but it's a really good story and you should read it.  There's a nice summary right here. 

And this is where the battery in my camera died.  I was so bummed out!  The Goobs really wanted their picture with the cemetery gates, which they saw in the Ken Burns documentary about the Civil War.  (I can't recommend that series enough - it turned my Goobs into Civil War junkies by the end of the first episode!) And just across the street was a park dedicated to the battle on Cemetery Hill.  The Goobs had a hard time during this trip - they really, REALLY wanted to play war, but felt bad even pretending to fire on fellow Americans.  Luckily there was a field of cows down the hill just asking to be hit with artillery.  Rotten cows - they're always trying to take over the world.

Gettysburg, PA: Marsh Creek

The Goobs were in the creek within five minutes of parking at the campground.

They were soon out again, but only because they wanted their swimsuits.

If we’re not out on the battlefield, they’re in the creek.  They’ve been having a fantastic time, though JellyMan seems to fall down an awful lot.  (I think he must do it on purpose, but I just smile benignly and go back to my book and my peach iced tea with vodka.)

Other mothers have been giving me dirty looks because now THEIR children want to play in the creek.  I know how they feel.  Anything could be in that creek - parasites, fishing hooks, human waste, pesticide, leeches, water moccasins.  Yes, they’re right to be concerned.

They should get themselves some peach iced tea and put some vodka in it.  That’d calm ‘em down.

Carnegie Science Center; Pittsburgh, PA

JellyMan is working on the astronomy merit badge for scouts, so we took him (and Anemone, too) to Pittsburgh, PA to visit the Buhl Digital Dome, which is located in the Carnegie Science Center. We thought we’d see a cool planetarium show and learn all sorts of new and exciting things about space.

Can you tell? Can you tell by their faces (and those are NOT my parents’ faces, because my parents would never, ever consent to being photographed for this blog and I would never, ever do such a thing without their permission) that they are beyond excited? Ready to learn? Eager for understanding? We really thought we were going to see something fabulous.

We were so wrong. Except for that man who is absolutely NOT my dad. His face says he is expecting this whole thing to really suck. He was so right.

The show was geared for people with absolutely zero knowledge, and when I say zero, I mean zero. It was perfect for five year olds who had never been outside after sunset; in fact, we learned how to find Spongebob in the stars. Wow. The Goobers have never wanted to see Spongebob in the stars or anywhere else. It was a total waste of 30 minutes (closer to an hour if you count the time waiting for everyone to finally get settled). We had hoped to attend an observation session on the roof, but the only night we had free was cloudy. Bummer. (Don’t feel too sorry for us, though. We had several excellent stargazing sessions out at the farm.) The museum had lots of information available in pamphlet form, but it was all information we already had in our own books. Bummer again. We did see a piece of a meteor - those are always cool, but this one was a little cooler because it came from Barringer Meteor Crater in Arizona. My parents sent The Goobers postcards when they took a trip there a few years ago. This particular chunk of meteor weighs 746 pounds.

The rest of the museum was okay, but it was definitely geared towards younger children. The Goobers liked the model train room, but they would have liked it a lot more when they were little:

JellyMan told us all about the different cars and the controls and other obscure things I don’t care to remember. That’s the great thing about merit badges - if you do it right, you learn an awful lot!

We also enjoyed touringthe USS Requin. 

I don’t know who these people are, but they are NOT my parents.

We had a good laugh while we were walking through - we heard a lady in front of us say,”Oh, this isn’t so bad! I thought they’d have a lot less room to sleep.” We laughed because we knew we were walking through the officers’ quarters. She was singing a different tune once we got to the enlisted section! “Oh, my! This is just terrible!” Those guys had it rough whether they were officers or enlisted, though. I have such respect for those serving aboard submarines. I could barely handle just touring the thing. I did like the kitchen. It’s only the tiniest bit bigger than mine, so I didn’t have to feel too envious:

They did a very nice job with the displays; in addition to having props set up like it was in service, they had video screens showing interviews with veterans who had served on the ship. That was cool. I wish we could have seen more of them, but it was crowded, and I was practically clawing the walls. I had to GET OUT.

And now the moment you’ve all been waiting for - the announcement of the winner of the $20 Barnes & Noble gift card giveaway! The totally random winner is … Kelley! Yes, really! I know, I know. It’s crazy. My friend Tressa won the last giveaway, and now my friend Kelley wins this one - I’m afraid everyone must be thinking the random winners of my giveaways aren’t all that random. That’s why I had The Man pick a second name out of the hat. The winner of the 2nd $20 Barnes & Noble gift card is … Lisa! Yay, Lisa! Congratulations! Just email me with your address (use the contact form in the sidebar) and I’ll get your gift card in the mail. Kelley, I’m keeping yours. I will think of you while I am at Barnes & Noble.

Fort Necessity, PA

The whole family (except for The Man - he's off keeping the world safe for democracy) drove up to Pennsylvania to visit the site of the first battle of the French and Indian War: Fort Necessity. To prepare The Goobers for this unplanned field trip, I read the beginning of Benson Bobrick's Angel in the Whirlwind aloud in the car on the drive up. I love that book. It's about the Revolutionary War, and it's a fantastic read. The Goobers love listening to it, and I always bring it along on trips because you never know when you'll happen upon an 18th century battlefield.

The park has a great little museum. We really like museums, especially the little ones. This one has exhibits all about Fort Necessity and the French and Indian War, of course, but it also has a section devoted to the National Road. Hey, Goobers! We saw the tollhouse in this picture on the way here. Remember? No? Well, look for it on the way home.

The story of Fort Necessity in a nutshell: A very young George Washington marched from Virginia to tell the French to leave British territory and on the way got himself into an unexpected skirmish with a group of French soldiers. Washington whupped 'em good, and then, anticipating an attack from nearby Fort Duquesne, hastily erected a tiny fort in the middle of Grand Meadows. JellyMan says, "What a stupid place to build a fort."

Indeed. The French creamed the British, and Washington, for the first and last time in life, was forced to capitulate. How embarrassing. (It wasn't entirely his fault, of course. Half ofthe expected reinforcements never showed up, and the half that did was hardly fit for battle.) Naturally the British couldn't let this slide, and sent Washington back up to Pennsylvania with Major General Edward Braddock to take Fort Duquesne.

The French and their Algonquin allies stomped the British again, but this time it was General Braddock's fault. (He was regular army, and it showed. I think that about covers it.) Nevertheless, he was a brave man. Four horses were shot out from under him during the battle. He took a bullet in the lungs, and died on the retreat to Fort Cumberland. His men buried him in the road, and the entire company drove over him so as to erase any sign of his grave. They didn't do this because they were disgusted with him (though who could have blamed them?) but because they did not want his body to be discovered by the Algonquins.

This was a lovely field trip - the weather was beautiful, we had a nice walk, and welearned a thingor two. You can't beat that with a stick. Oh, and I saw skunk cabbage! I've always wanted to see skunk cabbage, just because I like the name. I can mark one thing of my "someday" list.