No snow coming down today so off we headed to Gettysburg. A fellow traveller took the snow off the windscreen with his snow shovel. Driving along the highway, many cars had snow on their rooves and occasionally a large piece would fall off onto the road.

Arrived in Gettysburg in time to watch a 20 minute video on “A New Birth to Freedom” then straight in to view the cyclorama. A very interesting piece of artwork around the inside of a room but it also included a narration and lights and sounds. An hour or so to visit the museum, telling the story of Gettysburg – before, during and after the battle. But the highlight of the trip was the bus ride.

Miss W could have done a car audio tour, but decided with the snow still on the ground, we would do a narrated bus tour instead. The tour guide was fantastic – extremely knowledgeable. Lots of little stops to check out the three days of battle. But the most amazing part of the tour was all the memorials around the roads in Gettysburg. Each regiment that took part in the battle has had the chance to put up a memorial to represent their fellow soldiers who took part in the Civil War.

The other amazing part about the historic park is that the National Park Service is gradually buying or leasing the land and restoring it to what it looked like back in the days before the battle. The reason they can do this is they have so many historical artifacts like diaries and maps explaining what was happening and where. They are removing trees from areas that were not treed and planting trees where they were originally. It will look fabulous once it is finished. Miss W took lots of photos around Gettysburg so remember to check out the photostream.

We moved onto Chambersburg for the night where the next morning frost was all over the windows of the car. Very cold part of the Appalachian Mountains.

Up hill and down into the valleys for the next couple of hours. We were well and truly in the Appalachians. Still lots of great fall foliage but now surrounded with snow. Looks like it will be a while before some of the snow melts in these cold valleys.

We planned to get onto the major highway to head to Zanesville for the night, but again we missed the turnoff and decided to carry on highway 30. Suddenly there was a turnoff to Flight 93 Memorial Park. We would have missed this totally if on the interstate. They are developing a memorial for those people killed on Flight 93 where the passengers and crew stopped the hijackers flying to the intended target.

It was a  quiet trip into the area only 25mph then a lovely walk to a wall where all passengers and crew are named. They have restored the area where the plane went down and that is at the back of the wall. They are still developing the visitors centre and carpark but once it is done, it will be a very contemplative place to visit.

Back onto the interstate at Somerset and a straight run through to Zanesville. We crossed the border just before Wheeling. This was an interesting town as part of it is on an island in the middle of the river and one of the entrances to the bridge to get on the island is through a tunnel.

Into Zanesville which a week before had been in the national news. A wild life preserve owner  had let loose all his wild animals including Bengal tigers, lions, grizzly bears and then killed himself.

In U.S.A. there are many National Parks or National Historic Sites. Which ones have you been to? Which did you enjoy the most?