Date: 2008-05-01
From: Boiling Springs, PA

To: Home
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

Wow, what an intense day!! We got up at our leisurely pace (despite myreporting that I was up and hiking by 7:45 a.m. on most days, I am the biggestNON-morning person to ever exist). We went down to the continental breakfast,and I just have to say that I think the government or some grass rootsorganization needs to implement or develop some type of consistent "ContinentalBreakfast Guideline Manual". It's so hilarious, because you have NO idea whatthese hotels actually consider to be a continental breakfast.Sometimes it's just white bread a toaster and juice boxes, sometimes you get tomake your own hot and fresh Belgian Waffles (my fav), and then there are dayslike today where I have to give credit for the effort, but the food just fellshort of edible really.At this place, I think cardboard-flavored breakfast items was the theme. I'mnot quite sure if the sausage and eggs were actually cooked here, but my guessis that they were all frozen and then reheated in a microwave (maybe even leftover from the previous morning)? I was a bit skeptical of the eggs from firstsight, PERFECTLY round (about 3" in diameter) and totally yellow (no colorvariation) "patties" shall we say? (Yes, I'm still talking eggs here). Iplaced 2 of these egg-like disks onto my styrofoam plate and upon cutting intoone, placing it into my mouth, I had to really ask myself, "Did I justaccidentally eat part of my plate?" Well, I lifted up the "egg patty" anddiscovered that indeed, my plate was intact...whew...what a relief. I justcouldn't handle these things, but it did make me laugh. So I moved onto thesausage links, in which the flavor definitely resembled sausage, but thetexture wasn't quite right. Finally, I settlted for fruit loops (in individualun-opened boxes) and a blueberry muffin, which I know for a fact were notprepared or made on-site. I noticed Karen stayed with the banana bread aswell...smart woman.At breakfast, I did get to talk to some other hotel guests about their HarleyDavidsons. Sort of like hikers, there's a "vibe" to Harley owners. Theydon't have to have a t-shirt on advertising it for you to know they have one. So I randomly walked up to the man as we were getting coffee and said, "Youknow, I have to ask...what type of bike do you own?" Come to find out, he, hiswife, and recently his daughter all have their own Harley's. I just smiled,expressed how cool it was and said, "Someday, I WILL own one." They weren'triding them now, because they were on their way down to see the grandkids. Howcool huh?So we checked out and ended up driving to a nearby college campus that Karenused to teach at, so she showed me around and told stories, which was reallyfun. Then it was off to Gettysburg. I'll openly admit to being somewhathistorically ignorant. I think it's hugely important, but that football coachthat gave us 10-question multiple choice handouts and allowed us to work ingroups while he sat in front of the class at his desk scratching himself,didn't exactly fill my mind with engaging historical knowledge. In fact, Ifeel like a sub-standard citizen at times because my understanding of ourhistory is so lacking. All of this to say, I enjoyed Gettysburg immensley!!The brand new (as in 2 weeks old) Gettysburg Museum is something to see. Ofcourse we've all heard of Lee, Grant, Stonewall Jackson, but seeing ACTUALitems used/worn/owned by these people was amazing. It finally seemed toconnect the stories in my mind with my sense of understanding. The otherreally cool thing is that Karen actually owns a couple of Mini Balls used bythe Union (the bullets used in the rifles). There were some at this museumtoo, and that was cool to see.The only disappointment was that the Cycleorama was not yet open. This is aHUGE 360 degree mural of a moment in the battle and they've moved it into a newbuilding, which will not be open till Sept. 08. I had hoped to see it.So after making our way through the museum, gift shop (where I pounced on theVermont Maple Candy..mmmmm) we drove around the battlefield. We've bothdecided that driving is ok, but not optimum. The BEST way to tour this site ison horseback, and we saw some people doing it, so it is a trip we'll be takingin the future.It was surreal though, after having read and watched videosexplaining/describing this battle @ the museum, being at the battlefield andenvisioning the Confederate troops storming the Union line and knowing that atone time, these fields were places of complete carnage and human and animal(horses)suffering. It brought to me all to swiftly, just how brutal andridiculous war is. And it also made me understand even further just howpowerful words and ideas can be. I felt darkness this afternoon, and deep deepsadness for the loss of life, and not just for this part of our history, but forall of human history where we've taken weapons and just destroyed one another.I'm all about experiential learning, so this is as close to war as I think I'dlike to get. It was sort of weird though, how many little monuments andmemorials were placed all over the place. Then again, it gave me a feeling ofchaos in its way, and I know just from training to be in war while I was in theMarines, it is chaotic.So we finally decided to head for home. I was so excited to see my boys Hankand Henry. It was weird to be heading away from the trail, but wonderful toknow I can afford the time, tend to some personal matters and then be rightback out there again in a week or so. It's a lot easier to do this when youlive closely.I guess it was about 10:00 p.m. by the time we got home, Karen let me walk intothe house first, because the boys are always waiting right at the door. Notsure what I expected, but they both seemed completely focused on beingfed...NEVER MIND I was gone for 2 weeks! Typical of cats huh? Honestlythough, after they got fed (again) and everything settled, they both slepton/next to me all nite, so I took that as a "welcome home mommy" message.In the coming days, I'll be tackling this whole completion of grad school viatransfer credits to another state, figuring out the leg/shuttle options forwhen Karen takes me back up and hikes with me for a spell, looking into thatAEE organization, and maybe even applying for a few jobs now for the fall.I'll admit, it takes about 2 weeks to be totally "in the woods", so being backhome this quickly is screwing with my brain a bit. It is good to be homethough, it always is.~Certain