Friday, March 16, 2018

Friday, March 16, 2018

Today was much less walking than we've had the rest of the week.  We began our morning by going to the Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Smithsonian Museum.  This Air and Space Museum houses many more aircrafts than the other air and space museum we visited yesterday.  The aircrafts are hanging from the ceiling and are on the floor; everywhere you look there are aircrafts.  The most well known museum exhibits are the Enola Gay (the aircraft that dropped the first nuclear bomb on Japan during WWII), the Concorde (air craft that used to take half the time to travel from the US to England), and the Discovery Shuttle.  Many people also enjoyed the flight simulators and observation tower. We also had to eat at the museum.  The only option for eating was McDonalds. This wouldn't have been an issue, but there were a couple other groups there who had the same idea we did. It took an hour to wait in line and get food-yikes!! Everyone was great sports and didn't complain.

From there we took the 1.5 hour drive to Gettysburg to tour the battlefields. Once we arrived we saw a video about the battle and then visited the cyclorama. The Cyclorama is a 360 degree oil painting on canvas. It depicts the battle. There is a light show and speech that goes with the painting to make the cyclorama experience. It is very neat.  What is amazing is that painting wasn't done by someone who was at the battle. It was painted overseas by a crew of painters who went off of peoples writings and topography maps.

We then got back on the bus to tour the battlefield. Our first stop was Little Roundtop. Although the weather was very much NOT like the weather during the Battle of Gettysburg (90 degrees and humid) we could still envision what it would have been like for people who were in the battle. We then visited the National Cemetery where many soldiers were buried. If they were unidentified they are buried with a small tombstone and a number. We also saw approximately where Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address.  It is gated off inside the cemetery so we could not go right to it.  David did a nice job reading the Gettysburg Address.  

From there we went to General Pickett's Buffet for dinner. There are many dinner choices that the students like there (and some even tried new foods!). 

Right now the students are packing in their hotel rooms. Some groups actually kept their rooms pretty darn clean! Tomorrow will be an early morning to visit Arlington. See you late tomorrow night! 

My favorite part about today was when we went to the aircraft museum and seeing all the aircrafts. -Ryleigh

(This tree witnessed the Battle of Gettysburg. The other trees were all given from different states)

(We learned to tell a real cannon from a fake one, look for the writing. If there is writing on the end pictured above then yes, it is real. If there are no numbers, it is fake.)

(President Lincoln stood to the right of the building about 20 feet to give the Gettysburg Address)