Game Plan

I've decided that we need to do more "touristy" stuff around here. That way, maybe I'll forget I'm actually living here and might start to believe we're just on an extended vacation.

First up: Visiting the Antietam. You know, the Civil War battlefield. This is what we did for the fourth. We went the day before because Jesse had to work on the fourth, but it was really neat to think about our independence while at a place where so much history took place.

You can read about it here. It was really neat, especially because it's still very rural out there so you can really imagine it happening. This is the view from the visitor's center:

Unfortunately, you're going to have to imagine it, or else visit it, because the pictures we took don't really do anything to help you picture it; they're mostly just of fields. The trip was driving from point to point (it would've been cool to bike it) and reading various signs and looking at the map. Kind of hard to do with a kid like Ian, or kids that have to be strapped in and out of car seats, but I'm glad we went.

Of course, then had cannons:

And monuments to the divisions that participated in the battle. This is my favorite, for the Georgia Confederate soldiers. It says "We sleep here in obedience to law; when duty called, we came, when country called, we died."

This is Bloody Lane:

And Burnside Bridge:


And Kellan, for good measure:


I really liked re-learning about the Civil War, so you guys should go read about Antietam so you'll feel smart.