Day 15

As you can tell from the picture, WE ARE HOME!!!

We had originally planned on getting home on Thursday. Linwood's childhood friend Phil lost his mother this week. She had been ill for several months. We were able to see her a couple of months ago. She was so sweet and said if she could get up she would fix Linwood some collards. He loved her collards. The funeral is going to be tomorrow and Phil had asked Linwood if he would be a pall bearer whenever it was necessary. I am so glad we were able to get home in time for Linwood to do this last thing for Mrs. Uptain.

We had a wonderful time on our vacation. I have never had a vacation that lasted this long unless I was at the beach with my children. Each day was different and special. Some of our highlights were:

1. Getting to meet Jessie and Betty (Linda's mother's brother and sister-in-law.

2. Geing to be in Gettysburg for three days and watching the reenactment. Watching Linwood climb over the stone wall after walking the almost mile walk across a field that the South had walked on.

3. Helping Linwood find his Grandfather's grave site and watching him put flowers on it.

4. Getting to see the orphanage his dad had spent several years of his childhood.

5. Getting to see the place our forefathers wrote out our Declaration of Independence and later our Constitution.

6. Going to Washington DC again and seeing the Vietnam Wall and the WWII monument in daylight.,

7. Going to Williamsburg, VA. It had been a dream for a long time.

8. Going to the Jamestown Settlement and the Historic Jamestowne.

9. Come home

We are so thankful for the safe return. We laughed and talked the entire trip. I told Linwood the most difficult part of the trip was when I would wake up during the night to go to the bathroom and I could not remember if the tissue was on the right, the left, or in front of me.

Linwood drove every mile of our trip. Yes Scott, even in Atlanta. The trip was 2537.7 miles and it took 66 hours, 41 minutes, and 43 seconds.

We will see all of you again when we leave for our next trip.

Day 13 & Day 14

Yesterday I was unable to get anything to login, therefore there was no blog. I will try to catch everyone up for the two days.

day 13: We spent our day at Williamsburg, VA. It was hotter today and the humidity was higher that we have had since our vacation started. I always wanted to see Williamsburg but I must say I was a little disappointed.

This is the state capitol building of Virginia when it was in Williamsburg

One of the houses we looked at was the carpenter house. You can also see the tool box.

We then watched "George Washington" give his Farewell Speech.

We then visited a wigmaker, a silversmith, and a blacksmith.

If our children could see us now!!!!

Day 14: Today we started at the Jamestown Settlement. This is run by the state. Everything is a replica of the way things were. The Indians were a major part of the first English settlement. Their huts looked like the following pictures.

The first settlers came over on three small boats. There were the three 'look alikes' at the pier. The largest one was called Susan Content.

This picture shows the type of roof used by the settlers.

The church tower is the only thing that is original at Historic Jamestowne. They date it in the 1680's

Tonight we are staying in Charlotte, NC. I did get some good news last night. My realtor called and told me we had an offer on my house in b'ham. Today, I called back and made a counter offer. Please wish us luck on the sell going through.

Day 12

We started to DC after having breakfast at the hotel. Thank goodness for the GPS we got from Stacey and Bobby for Christmas. It has been so helpful on this trip. Most of you know how Linwood hates to drive in any place that has more traffic than Tallassee. Well, he has done great on this trip. I have not driven a single mile. He was nervous in DC but there was not a problem. We turned onto Constitution Ave and immediately saw a parking place. The last time we were in DC and saw the WWII and Viet Nam monuments it was night and raining. I really wanted to see them in the light and my sweet husband said we would do it. The WWII monument was only about three blocks from where we parked. It was so beautiful.

This is the Washington Monument

This is the World War II monument

We walked next to the reflection pool all the way to the Lincoln Memorial.

We then walked over to the Viet Nam Memorial. It is so simple but so powerful.

We left DC and went to the battlefields in Fredericksburg, VA. There were four battles during three years of the Civil War and the battles were only 25 miles apart. In 1862, the Union Army crossed the Rappahannock River. Lee's Army was on the high ground west of the city. His army was behind a stone wall. The Union soldiers was slaughtered in this battle.

In 1863. the battle was in Chancellorsville, VA. Stonewall Jackson destroyed Hooker's right in a surprise attact. Jackson was wounded by his own troops by accident. His arm had to be amputated and he died several days later of pneumonia. In 1864, Grant and Lee faced each other for the first time. This battle was after Gettysburg and was considered a draw. In 1864, both armies turned toward the intersection at Spotsylania about eight miles south of Chancellorsville. The battle lasted for 20 hours and many consider it the most intense hand-to-hand combat of the war. The place is also called "bloody angle.

The traffic from Washington DC to Richmond was terrible. I do not think we got over 20 mph most of the trip. We are staying in Williamsburg tonight. It was also on my wish list.

The house is on the battlefield. Look at the cat on the wall. I had to check to see if it was alive and it was. It did not move but I could see his body moving.

Day 11

We started our day by carrying our luggage to our car which was 2.5 blocks away. We then decided we would catch a bus to go to the Historical District in Philadelphia which was about eight blocks away. It was up hill though. After a stop at the Visitors Center to get a free ticket for the tour of Independence Hall we went to view the Liberty Bell.

We then saw Congress Hall where Congress met when Phil. was the Capitol. The first floor is where the Lower House met and the second floor is where the Senate met.

When we got into Independence Hall there was a short welcome speech by one of the Park Rangers. When we finally got into the room where the Declaration of Independence and where later the Constitution was written my heart started racing. I could feel such pride that my country took that first step. I can only imagine how hard it was for those men to come together for the good of our new nation This is something I never expected to be able to see and now I have. I am so thankful to Linwood and making sure I get to visit all the places that are important to me.

Independence Hall: The Bell Tower is where the Liberty Bell originally placed.

The room where everything 'good' happened.

On our "walk" back to the parking lot we stopped at Dunkin Donuts. It has been a long time since I was in one of those and I must admit the two donuts I had were wonderful. We also had lunch outside at one of the many cafes in the area. Linwood and I decided that Philly was just not 'our kind of town.'

Our lunch outside.

After we got through Baltimore, we decided it was time to stop for the day so we are in Laurel, Maryland tonight. For those you our age, you will remember this is the place that A. Breamer shot George Wallace when he was running for President. We hope to spend some time in DC tomorrow. There are several places I was to see again.

Day 10

We left Hershey this morning and headed for the Amish Country. We ate lunch in Bird in Hand, Pa. Yes, that is the name of the town.

Linwood wanted me to make sure I took a picture of an Amish barn. So, here it is.

We had a wonderful lunch with lots of different foods. We then went to Strausburg, PA where we toured Choo Choo Barn, Traintown. It is a 1700 square foot miniature display. The exhibit has 22 operating toy trains and more than 150 animated and automated tigures and vehicles. We both loved it but, I must admit Linwood would have gone through again if I had suggested it.

On the way out of town I finally got a picture of a horse and buggy that did not have a tourist in it.

We are in Philadephia tonight. Linwood actually drove us all the way into town. We are staying at an historic inn downtown. The only problem is that the parking lot for the Inn is two blocks away. Linwood hates that and especially since we have to walk to it. We plan on getting a cab tomorrow to take us to Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell Center. We hope to be out of here by midafternoon.

Day 9

I forgot to tell you two stories that we heard yesterday at the orphanage. The boys and girls were kept pretty much apart. If a girl sibling was sick in the infirmary, the matron would approach her brother and say to him. "You do not look well, I think you need to check with the nurse." We thought that was so sweet. Another story was that same matron would watch the teenagers walk across the field on the way home from school (about a mile). If she saw them holding hands, the BOY would not get any dessert than night. Hum, wonder what happened to the girl?

Yesterday when we checked into our hotel in Hershey we decided we needed to stay two nights. It is a good thing we did because this morning we did not wake up until 11:45 a.m. I do not think I have EVER slept that long. We ate lunch and then headed to Hershey World.

We first took a tour of Hershey and loved all the street lights. They were wrapped and unwrapped kisses. The ones downtown have beautiful flower baskets attached to the poles.


We saw a 3-D show with dancing candy bars. We felt the critters that came off the screen at our feet and we also felt water blown from above. I think our favorite was when we went to 'chocolate testing'. We did a wine tasting in Ashville, NC several years ago, but I think this was much better. We had to look at the color, listen to it break, smell the aroma, let it melt on our tongue, and decide what flavor we could taste. It was so much fun. We then took a ride through a model candy factory. We were given a piece of candy each place to went to. The store was delightful. I wish we could have bought lots of it but we were worried it would not survive the trip home.

This next picture is for Lincoln. He will know what I mean.

I promise Linwood did not buy or eat this candy bar - but he wanted to.


This is my favorite picture so far of our trip. I think it is great.





After we got back to the hotel after supper, we decided we needed to go to the indoor pool. Linwood wanted to check his email first so I read the paper while he did that. When I asked him if he was ready to go, he jumped up and said yes. Then he looked down and realized he only had his boxers on. Thank goodness we did not get out of the room, but we did have a good laugh.


Tomorrow our plan is the head out (early) for Lancaster, PA and then on to Philly.

Day 8

Our treasure hunt continued today. We started by looking for some flowers to take to the cemetery in Camp Hill. We found what we wanted and the florist said she would deliver flowers to the grave site anytime we wanted them.

We visited the library in Camp Hill to see if we could find an old address for any of the family. We could not find an address but we did see the 1920 census report. It showed James and Charlotte Erb and their six children. James was listed as working for the railroad (the same as Linwood's gd on his mother's side of the family). Charlotte was a listed as a housewife.


The we drove north for about an hour and a half to Lewisburg, PA to see if we could see the orphanage where Linwood's dad, Oscar, and his brother,Robert lived. Everything went better than we thought possible. We visited the Slifer House which was built by the third owners of the large parcel of land. Later the owners sold the property to the Evangelical Church. They stared with a home for the elderly and then added the orphange in 1923. Peter Geschwindner, who is vp of the headquarters of the Albright Care Service (senior living & assisted livine), showed us around. He was so helpful. The orphange is now called the Gamber House.

The orginial kitchen floor is now in a storage room.

The next two pictures show what was two study rooms. One side for the girls and one for the boys. They even had two different doors to the balcony and two separate fireplaces. There was a wall in the middle of the room separating the rooms.

We were able to go to the area where the boys lived and we also went to the top floor that has not been redone. It originally was where the matron lived and another lady who ran the infirmary.

Linwood's dad and his brother entered the orphanage on June 21, 1924. Oscar left in August, 1929 to live with one of his sisters in Lemoyne. Robert, the other brother, stayed until 1935. The two boys were about 4.5 years apart.

Peter made us a copy of two pictures of the Boys Band. Linwood thinks he can pick out his dad in one of the pictures. He would have been about 13 years old. We alos took pictures of the Elementary School that was on the property.

The boys also attended Lewisburg High School.

The next picture is one showing the boy's side of the orphanage. They lived on the top floor of the brick area.We drove on the Hersey, PA for the night and decided we will stay two nights here. We are physically tired but also emotionally tired. We are going to enjoy the indoor pool and rest up for the reminder of the trip. It is 58 degrees here tonight. The weather was been so nice.