Gettysburg, PA & Shenandoah National Park – Thursday, July 25, 2024 (Author: J)
Thanks to a great night’s sleep at Hotel Gettysburg (which has very comfortable beds), we woke up on Thursday refreshed and ready for more exploration. The first order of business was deciding whether to eat some of our road trip provisions or splurge on a hot breakfast. Once we realized that we were only half a block from the Lincoln Diner, our decision was made.
The Lincoln Diner is, well, a diner. And it’s a diner in the old school sense of that word: basic menu options at affordable prices. The bill for our three breakfasts – pancakes, an omelette, and an egg and cheese sandwich with juice and coffee – just barely exceeded $20. Our meal was quick and tasty, and we were soon back at the Hotel Gettysburg to complete the always tedious task of packing up. The upside of a short stay is that there isn’t much time to make a mess, so our bags were soon repacked. Then, we replenished the ice in our cooler and checked out.
The plan for the day was to explore more of the National Military Park and then continue on to Shenandoah. We decided to start at the visitor center so that our explorations would have more context. The visitor center has all the basics (maps and information, a gift shop, a cafeteria, restrooms) along with three paid attractions: a film, museum, and cyclorama. We sprang for the combo ticket that included all 3 paid attractions. It was well worth the $20.75 for adults and $15.75 for children.
We were lucky to arrive just a few minutes before the next movie screening, so we headed directly to the theater after purchasing our tickets. The movie, A New Birth of Freedom, provides a 22-minute overview of the Battle of Gettysburg and its place within the larger war. It is narrated by America’s most prolific source of fatherly-sounding voiceover work: Morgan Freeman.
After the movie, you proceed directly to the cyclorama. A cyclorama is a 360° painting. Apparently, cycloramas were popular entertainment before movies were invented. Lighting and sound effects, music, and narration were used to convert the paintings into a multi-sensory experience. The cyclorama at the visitor center is Paul Philippoteaux’s 1883 painting of Pickett’s charge on the 3rd day of the Battle of Gettysburg. I was expecting to just look at a painting, but the cyclorama is presented with light and sound effects just as it would have been in the 1800s. You are on a platform in the middle of the painting during the show, with freedom to walk around and take in the details of the painting. I haven’t had an experience quite like it anywhere else. Together, the movie and the cyclorama provide great context for exploring the battlefield; we were glad that we decided to see them.
From the cyclorama, we proceeded into the museum. The museum covers the events leading up to the Civil War, the War (with lots of detail on the Battle of Gettysburg), and its aftermath. There are relics from the war, interpretive displays, and lots of interactive touch screens that allow you to explore things like maps and primary source documents (such as the Declarations of Causes for the Seceding States, all of which more or less say, “cause we want to keep owning other people”). I most enjoyed learning about the civilian experience during the Battle of Gettysburg. That’s where I learned about my new hero, Elizabeth Thorn, who – 6 months pregnant with 3 young children to care for – helped the Union generals scout their position for the battle by walking next to the general’s horses and pointing out places of interest.
After exploring the museum, we made an obligatory stop in the gift shop and then used the NPS App to start a driving tour of the battlefield. The app is really well done; it provides GPS directions between stops on the tour and narration at each of the stops. We made it as far as the Virginia Memorial (coincidentally the location of Pickett’s charge, shown in the cyclorama) before we decided that it was time to head towards Shenandoah. We had a quick picnic in the car, fueled up, and then continued our journey south. To my surprise, P and D had really enjoyed their time in Gettysburg. We all agreed that a day was not enough time to spend there. Hopefully, we will be able to return and give the town and Military Park the time they deserve.
It takes about 3 hours to drive from Gettysburg to Skylands Resort, our next homebase. In the interest of time, we made the tough call to skip a planned stop in Harper’s Ferry, but we did notice how picturesque it looked as we sped by. After about 2 hours of driving, we entered Shenandoah National Park at the top of Skyline Drive. (There are entrance booths here where you either buy a park ticket or show your pre-purchased park ticket, available via the park website about a week before your trip.)
I was in for a couple of surprises once we entered the park. First, P wanted to stop at every scenic viewpoint we passed in the park. And he got out of the car and took pictures at each one. Second, Skyline Drive was nearly empty. I had been expecting crowds, so having the park to ourselves was a treat. We were able to stop at each viewpoint and then easily merge back onto Skyline Drive. Along the way, we also saw our first wildlife of the trip, a groundhog waddling along the side of the road. We all love chonky animals, so this was a real treat.
Around 5 pm, we arrived at Skylands and checked in. It was at this point that I realized that my research on park accommodations had not been thorough enough. I booked a hotel-style room instead of the cabin that P requested because I expected the hotel rooms to be near the restaurant. However, Skylands’ rooms are located in multiple motel-like buildings, many of which are some distance from the dining room. Needless to say, P was disappointed by the clear lack of cabin at this stop, especially when we later walked past some of the cabins on our way to dinner at the restaurant.
After settling into our room and relaxing for a bit, we headed up to the restaurant to eat. Skyland has two choices for a sit-down meal: the Taproom and the Pollack Dining room. The dining room has big windows overlooking the park, but we chose to eat in the Taproom because it features live music every evening. We enjoyed veggie burgers and local beers/root beers while we listened to the evening’s music act. The food quality and ambiance made the relatively high price of our meals worthwhile.
After dinner, we walked back to our room to turn in for the night. It was at this point that our room began to shake. The people staying above us were on the move, stomping back and forth across the room. We made jokes about staying underneath elephants, but those jokes were unfair to pachyderms, who apparently walk quite quietly. It is unlikely, then, that our upstairs neighbors were elephants. Whatever they were, they walked back and forth in their room for hours, quite literally nonstop. It was hard to sleep with the noise and vibration, but I eventually succumbed to a fitful sleep. That brings us to the most important tip of the day: listen to my son and book a cabin at Skylands. Don’t risk sleeping below a herd of elephants in the hotel-style rooms.
Travel Monkeys 