Two More Fabulous Days!

We have covered a lot of territory. The pictures sort of start in the middle and work both ways.

1. Approaching Frank Lloyd Wright designed home--Falling Water

2. More of Falling Water

3. The Clarion Hotel Morgan lobby

4. Singers at the Black Bear

5. Judi and Lee rememberng being in Breezewood

6. Outskirts of Breezewood, Pennsylvania

7. Gettysburg Cemetary memorial

8. View of the location of the bitterest fighting

9. Gettysburg address memorial

10. Memorial to all the Pennsylvania soldiers

11. National Park Service guide in front of the Eisenhower farm house.

12. The Eisenhower's sun room

13. The Eisenhower putting green

Monday dawned bright and hot again and we didn't arive in Gettysburg until after lunch. We got right on a tour to the Eisenhower Farm which was very impressive. It is hard to imagine the people who visited or lived in that comfortable rambling farm house. It is surrounded by beautiful land that is still being farmed today. You can see why Ike and Mamie loved it so.

Next on the agenda was to stop by the Visitor Center and pick up a CD to play in the car as you drive around the battleground. It was very sobering and I found myself standing looking out over the rolling hills, fields of grain, rocky promontories, and dozens upon dozens of memorials tucked in amonst the trees and along the road, unable to imagine the carnage that took place there. 51,000 men killed or wounded in three days. Sobering is putting it mildly! The last stop was a visit to the cemetary where we had to walk past hundreds of graves of men who were never identified. Standing near the spot where Abraham Lincoln delivered his famous address I was overwhelmed. Thought to recite the Gettysburg Address from memory but was lucky to choke it out reading from a card! And we continue to not be able to settle our disputes without bloodshed. Regardless of your politics you can't help but be moved by what happened there.

This morning we were up and out and on the way to Falling Water, perhaps Frank Lloyd Wright's most famous work! And it is magnificent. Designed for a Pittsburg Department store owner it is a beautiful work of art as it is part of the stream and the rocks! Wright was a genius! As we were finishing the tour we began to hear thunder and soon we were in a downpour. Lee and Judi took the offered umbrellas and hoofed it back up the hill. I wimped out and took the offered van with a bunch of old people (stop that snickering, I hear you!) back up the hill. I figured it would take me days to stop huffing and puffing. The ride on in to Morgantown West Virginia was uneventful except for the beautiful scenery. This part of Pennsylvania and W. Virginia is really spectacular.

On the way to Falling Water along Highway 30 which was a gorgeous ride, we came on the little town of Breezewood where Lee remembered stopping with her parents and Judi on a trip across the country almost 60 years ago. We looked around for the motel that their mother particularly loved but of course we decided it was long gone. A nice little journey down memory lane.

Pulled into Morgantown West Virginia where Lee and Judi's grandfather was born 167 years ago. It is a darling town from what we have seen and we are staying in a wonderful old 1920's hotel. It was renovated in 1999 and is very comfortable and our room is huge. Lobby has all the original paneling and is quite grand. It is rather quiet tonight but this hotel is often used for public and private events. Makes you think of a bygone era.

For dinner we walked down the street to theBlack Bear where we dined on fancy wraps and listened to some good old blue grass music. Not the kind of place we frequent but it was really fun. The other two are asleep and this Gotta Go Girl isn't far behind. On to WashingtonDC tomorrow. I can hardly wait!!!!!!