Four Score and Seven Years Ago . . .

I just had the BEST, most fun trip ever!!! On Thursday, January 17, I flew to Baltimore, Maryland to visit my best friend Angie in Pennsylvania. Angie was one of the park rangers in Natchez, and she and I became best buds when I worked there. She is currently working in Pennsylvania and expecting a baby! Her husband Matt is still in Mississippi, but they're looking for a job for him up in Pennsylvania. I got to stay with Angie at her parents' house, and we had SO MUCH FUN. Before I jump into an everything, I'll give you a quick explanation of the pictures. The top picture is of Angie and me at the Dobbin House in Gettysburg, the second picture is of us on top of Little Round Top, and the third and fourth pictures are from the Gettysburg Battlefield. Picture number five is of Angie and me at Chocolate World in Hershey, Pennsylvania, picture six is of Fort McHenry in Baltimore, picture seven is of me at the Hampton House National Historic Site just outside of Baltimore, and the last picture is of me with Angie's cute mom, Chris.

So, on Thursday morning I took the train up to Chicago and flew from there to BWI. That day it snowed in Baltimore for the first time in a few weeks, and the roads were a little crazy, so Angie's dad, who works in Baltimore, picked me up at the airport on his way home. The Lurz homestead is near Jefferson, Pennsylvania, and it took us about an hour and a half to get from the airport up to the house. Angie's dad is really nice, and we had a great time chatting. It was fun to see Angie when we arrived at the house, and I got to meet her mom for the first time. Her parents are so nice--now I see where she gets it from! We ate pizza that night, chatted, and then went to bed to prepare for the good times to come.

On Friday, all of my Civil War dreams came true . . . I got to go to Gettysburg!!! I have always wanted to go to Gettysburg. I would say that it and Vicksburg are two of the most important battles of the Civil War--and both battles ended on the same day: July 4, 1863. When Angie and I got to Gettysburg, we started out at the National Park Service visitor center where she used to work. We then ate lunch at the coolest place in the whole world: the Dobbin House (see first picture up at the top)! The Dobbin House was built in 1776 and, four score and seven years later, in 1863, served as a hospital during the Battle of Gettysburg. It was also a stop on the Underground Railroad. They have a really cool restaurant set up in the cellar called the Springhouse Tavern. I had a delicious crab cake sandwich and some warm gingerbread with lemon sauce on top. After lunch Angie took me on a tour of the battlefield and we saw all of the places I'd only dreamed about or seen in movies before :-) The second picture you see up at the top is of Angie and me at the top of the New York memorial on Little Round Top--the famous spot from which the Union troops held off the Confederates and ultimately won the battle. As you can see, it was a little chilly. We saw the place where Pickett's Charge took place--when Confederate troops marched across a mile of open fields into Union cannon fire. This is also known as the "High Water Mark of the Confederacy" because it was as far north as the Confederate troops ever got and, while they had been winning battles for the previous two years, it was here at Gettysburg that things kind of started to go downhill for them. Angie also showed me the new visitor center that is scheduled to open in April, and then we headed downtown. The town of Gettysburg is cool too--it has a lot of historic houses, including the hotel where Abe Lincoln stayed and wrote his final draft of the Gettysburg Address. We also saw Jennie Wade's house--she was the only civilian casualty of the Battle of Gettysburg. She was baking bread in her house when a stray bullet went through the window and killed her. We went to some AWESOME shops there in town--including this one called The Horse Soldier, which has a whole bunch of old books, real Civil War uniforms, guns, and photographs for sale. I thought about buying a musket (just kidding). Even though it was cold outside, it was still nice and sunny--a perfect day in Gettysburg! The best thing about being there in the winter was that there weren't any crowds. I guess that in the summer it gets pretty crazy there--especially during the anniversary of the battle from July 1-4. Gettysburg is definitely a Civil War lover's paradise. After Gettysburg, Angie and I drove back to her house where her mom and dad had fixed a delicious dinner of steak, potatoes, and salad.

On Saturday, Angie and I shifted from cannons to chocolate! First we had to go to a notary in the little town of New Freedom so Angie could get some documents notarized. It was pretty funny--the sign out in front of the house said "Notary and Magic Shop." We wondered what that went, but when we went inside, it was very clear. The lady who was the notary also sold magic stuff--like disappearing tables. We wondered how much of a market there was for that in New Freedom, PA. After the notary and magic shop, we headed up to HERSHEY!! The whole town is a giant chocolate wonderland. Even the lamp posts along the street are shaped like Hershey's kisses. We went down Chocolate Avenue to the famous amusement park: Chocolate World (you can tell by the name that it was a great place). At Chocolate World, we went on a ride that showed us how Hershey's chocolate is made--I felt like I was in the movie "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory!" It was totally cool. After the tour was over, they of course gave us a candy bar. Then we got to go to the Hershey's shop where they sell all of the latest candy. We tried some delicious dark chocolate strawberry kisses and the latest invention: cheesecake-filled kisses. We ate lunch there at Chocolate World. You would think that we had chocolate for lunch, but we actually ate pasta. We decided that eating pasta a Chocolate World was kind of like eating steak at a Chinese restaurant--it's not what they're known for, but it's still good. We did have some ice cream topped with Hershey's candy for dessert. After a day in Civil War lover's paradise, we spent the morning in Chocolate lover's paradise!

After Hershey, we took off for Amish country. We went over to Lancaster County which is famous for all of its Amish towns. There are some wacky town names like Intercourse, Virginville, Blue Ball, and Paradise. Supposedly all of these town names have very innocent origins, but I think somebody (or perhaps a group of people) was trying to be funny. In Intercourse, we went to this cool little place called Kitchen Kettle Village. It was a whole little village of shops. My personal favorite was the jams and jellies company--where they had all kinds of salsa, jam, syrup, soup, and fruit prepared right there in Amish country. They let you sample whatever you wanted. My favorite was the raspberry salsa and the pepper jelly. There were also a lot of shops that sold t-shirts and magnets that said "I Love Intercourse"--which, if you ask me, seems a little scandalous for the Amish people! After hitting the shops, Angie and I went to this place called the Amish Farmhouse. It is an 1805 stone farmhouse that is now owned by a private organization. They give tours of the home and explain some things about the Amish people. It was a very interesting tour--we even saw an old Amish casket! We walked around outside on the farm for a little while. They had some funny farm animals. My favorite was this cutest little black lamb that was born on December 26. Angie and I were standing outside its little stall talking to it, and when it saw us, it perked up its ears and started coming over towards us. Just then, Momma Sheep made a funny noise to the baby like she was saying, "Don't even think about it." The little lamb obediently stopped coming towards us and immediately went back to playing in the straw :-) It was soooooooooo cute! After spending time at the Amish Farmhouse, we headed back to Angie's house and had "breakfast night" with her mom and dad--they fixed some great pancakes, sausage, eggs, and bacon. I told them that this was quite a different eating experience from my usual "I don't have time to fix any food" diet of granola bars and bowls of cereal. Angie's parents have a gigantic TV, so that evening we watched a movie about Alaska, and it looked really cool on the huge screen--it almost felt like we were in Alaska!

On Sunday morning, Angie and I headed for Baltimore. I had never seen the harbor before, and it was so pretty! Angie thought it was funny that I thought it was the ocean :-) I learned that the harbor goes into Chesapeake Bay, which then goes into the ocean--so I was a little off. Our first stop was Fort McHenry--another National Park Service site. You may recognize the origin of its fame in the words "O say, can you see, by the dawn's early light . . ." It was at Fort McHenry that the "Star-Spangled Banner" was written by Francis Scott Key in 1814 when the harbor was being attacked by the British. It was neat to see the American flag flying there over the fort and to think that it was a scene much like that which inspired the words to what was to become the national anthem. One thing I found ironic was that Francis Scott Key's grandson was held as a prisoner at the fort during the Civil War. In the 1860s, the fort was used as a prison for captured Confederate soldiers and Southern sympathizers from Baltimore. Key's grandson fell into the latter category, and one of his journal entries was very interesting. He said that he found it ironic that the scene he saw from his prison window--the stars and stripes flying over Fort McHenry--was the same scene that his grandpa had seen only a few decades before. To his grandpa, the scene had been one of freedom, but to him it was one of captivity. Angie and I wanted to do some walking around at the fort, but it was SO COLD with the wind blowing off the harbor. We were frozen to the bone, so we ran back to her car and decided to continue our journey. I had another crab cake for lunch--Baltimore is famous for crabs--when we ate at a cool restaurant called the Green Turtle. After lunch we went to yet another National Park Site (I love traveling with Angie because she loves National Parks as much--or more--than I do!): the historic Hampton House in Towson, Maryland--just outside Baltimore. The mansion was awesome!! It was similar to Melrose in Natchez in many ways. It was the home of the Ridgely family--prominent Baltimorians--and was constructed in the late 1700s. They had tons of really neat furniture, artifacts, paintings, and stories. I especially loved it after having taken my Material Culture class last semester. After visiting the Hampton mansion, we headed out and went back to Angie's house. Her parents wanted to take us to a fun little Italian restaurant in a closeby town called Glen Rock, Pennsylvania. After dinner we went back and watched the Giants beat the Packers, then headed to bed.

Yesterday morning, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, we had a famous Pennsylvania breakfast (or dessert) item: Tasty Cakes! I had never eaten Tasty Cakes before. They're kind of similar to Hostess treat--only much tastier. Yummm! Then, unfortunately, I had to say goodbye to Angie's parents, and she and I took off for the airport. We stopped at a grocery store to get some Berger Cookies, which Angie has been telling me about for months. These are a famous Baltimore creation, and you can only get them there in the greater Baltimore area. They are SOOOO GOOD!! They consist mostly of fudge with a little cookie underneath to hold everything together. :-) Angie and I had a good time chatting on the way to the airport, but it was REALLY, REALLY hard to say goodbye--especially to think of what I was returning to: the crazy people at school! Angie is a great friend, and I feel very, very lucky to have met her in Natchez. We had such a great time together, and I found that I love Pennsylvania. All of the little towns are so cool! There are bunches of old houses and cemeteries, and the architecture in all of the towns is very neat. The people are very nice too, and I love the winding country roads. I also really like Baltimore. This was one of the most fun trips ever, and it was a welcome and much-needed reprieve from the craziness of Illinois.

I flew from BWI back to Chicago Midway, and then I took the CTA train downtown to Union Station. There are some pretty nutty people in Chicago. When I was on the CTA train last Thursday, this giant black man stood up in the train car and announced to everyone that he was recently released from five years in prison and was in need of money to help him start a new life. If you're looking for money, the whole "recently released from prison" bit probably isn't the best tactic to use. The funny thing is that when I was on the CTA train back to Union Station yesterday, the same guy was on there with the same story!! Creepy. I just kind of pulled my snow hat down over my eyes and pretended like I wasn't there. (And it was okay because there were a lot of people on the train.) I ate dinner at Union Station and then caught the 8:00 p.m. train City of New Orleans back to Mattoon. The City of New Orleans runs all the way from Chicago to New Orleans, and I was tempted to just stay on the train to escape my school troubles, but I realized that running away from things probably isn't the best way to deal with them. The train was very nice--I could even stretch my legs clear out in front of me and fall asleep. It was supposed to be snowy in Mattoon, but luckily the snow held off until I drove back to Charleston and was safely back in my warm apartment. Aly had made some chocolate chip cookies for me, which was very nice of her. I did find, however, upon checking my e-mail last night, that Dan hates me even more than before (because I sent him an e-mail telling him that it was lame to be worrying about the exhibit website right now--since we don't have anything to put on it), and that all heck broke loose in all of my classes while I was away. Welcome back to Charleston! Oh well, at least I was able to have a few GREAT days when I didn't have to worry about anything. Now I guess I'll try to buckle down and deal with everything--but I am going to stick to my new resolution to not let my classmates--especially Dan--affect me in any way. Tomorrow we're going up to Springfield again to do more collections management stuff, so we'll all be spending more quality time together, but I'm just going to sit quietly and think of the good times I had in Pennsylvania!