Date: 2006-08-12
From: Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

To: Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
Miles today: 0.0

After Mrs.Hvozda picked us up we headed to her hotel so that both of us could take showers and change cloths. My parents wouldn't be arriving till the next evening, but they had sent down a bag of cloths and other essentials.That evening we headed over to Jon's sister Leslie's apartment for dinner. His mother had made an amazing array of meatloaf, broccoli, potatos, and blueberry pie. It was a great meal. Later that night we looked at all of our pictures from the first half of the trip.The next day we got up and took care of some of our business such as laundry and shopping. We then went back to the hotel and swam for awhile. Right next to our hotel was a eatery/brewery where we had lunch. During lunch The General's cousin in law showed up and had a beer with us. He had driven up for a visit from Washington DC. That afternoon we went to play putt putt golf at a very difficult course just outside of town. I ended up the victor, but the course had us all thoroughly beaten. Dinner was had at the Blue Parrot Bistro which was a delicious meal. I had a cajun alfredo pasta. It was a beautiful day in Gettysburg and before it got dark we played some frisbee on the college campus. Then they drove me over to my parents hotel and I went inside to wait for them to arrive.My entire family showed up after 10PM sometime and we all sat around in one of the rooms talking for a few hours. It was the first time we had all been together for a significant period of time in a long while. Eventually we had to go to sleep or the next day would be a total bust.Waking up we had a relatively relaxed morning as I used my computer and attempted to update the online journal. It was a gorgeous day as we walked around downtown to find a restaurant for breakfast. We went to a regular American diner which was good.We decided to take a bus tour of the battlefields that afternoon. While passing time till the tour started we wandered around the cemetary and looked at monuments in the adjacent battlefields. The bus tour was a great idea. It gave a good general history of the battle and allowed us to get a good idea of the size and layout of the entire battlefield area. The sun was beating down on us as we rode on the upper floor of a double decker bus. In the afternoon we relaxed around the hotel before heading to the Farnsworth House Inn for a dinner with the Hvozdas. The Inn is rumored to be haunted, but there was little evidence of that during our meal. The restaurant has an authentic 1800's feel and the food was realy great. Many of the items I had never seen on a menu before. That night we walked around town and visited the Gettysburg College campus.The next morning we took our time again and cleared out of the hotel by 11AM. We then went to Walmart where I got some groceries before heading to Ruby Tuesday's for a meal and a place to look at pictures. I brought in the laptop and ran a slide show before and after the meal. It was another great day outside and to kill a bit of time before we headed back on the trail we went and walked around an outlet mall for a little bit. I got a pair of sneakers to replace my old boots on the remainder of the journey.We met the Hvozdas at Leslie's apartment and took care of a few loose ends before saying our goodbyes. It had been a really nice break and I am glad that my entire family could come down. It takes quite a bit of luck and organization to pull that off these days. So my family headed home, and Jon's mother took us back to the trail for another push south.