Back From Pennsylvania!

We are now back from our wonderful vacation to pennsylvania. we had a really great time, and got to see lots of neat sights. We arrived after a 10 hour drive in Dillsburg, which is just south of Harrisburg on Sunday night. We stayed with Nathaniel's grandma and aunt for the first two nights, and got to spend some time with them. Then, on tuesday morning, we left Dillsburg and headed about 30 minutes south to Gettysburg. Nathaniel, being the history dork that he is, was very excited to explore the battlefields. This is a picture of the fences that they built during the civil war.



This is a picture of what the country side probably looked like at the time of the war.



Here is Nathaniel next to one of the original cannons.



This is a picture of where Pickett's charge was supposed to end. the grove of trees in the background are all thats left of the place the men were aiming for. They attempted to cross a huge area of open ground to reach the enemy's army, but of course, they failed miserably.



after spending the day in Gettysburg, we traveled on to Washington D.C. We had reservations for a four star hotel, where we quickly learned that four star does not mean that you get a bunch of extra stuff for free. We relaxed in the hotel the first night, then went to the Smithsonian Museums and saw all the national monuments the next day (wednesday).

The Washington Monument:





The White House (this is about as close as you can get. Notice the security guard in the background):


The Archives Building, which we went in, but forgot the camera. This is a picture from the road.



The Capitol Building:



While we were heading out of town to go to six flags the nest day, we stopped right outside the white house on Pennsylvania Avenue to buy a sweatshirt I just HAD to have. A Police officer told us not to leave because he had blocked off the road to the white house. He said he had "somebody important" coming through. The next thing we know, there is an entire processional of motorcycle cops, SUV's, and a limo. I snapped this picture, which didnt turn out too well because I was too concerned about the police officers holding rifles inside one of the black SUV's with all its windows down. Afterwards, we asked the officer who it was, but he said "he didn't know".



This is a picture of all of us having breakfast once we got back into Dillsburg to finish the vacation. Notice the sunburn from the Six Flags Waterpark.