Pennsylvania—Lancaster, Gettysburg, and Hershey

We got to Gettysburg on Monday. Mark and Julie were also here in Gettysburg, but at a different campground about 15 minutes away, so we planned on doing some sightseeing together this week. (We are at Granite Hill Camping Resort and we'll be here for another week.) When we got here on Monday, we found our site was pretty unlevel, so leveled up, but the 5^th wheel hitch wouldn’t detach. We changed up the leveling several times, but it still wouldn't unhitch. Finally, it did, but that wasn't a good thing. The front left of the trailer was on leveling blocks and when unhitched, the trailer slid off the blocks😱 We got super lucky and still don’t know how, but the trailer came to rest on the small fire extinguisher that is mounted on the wheel well in the truck. Had that fire extinguisher not been there, it would have landed on the truck rails, and we would have had damage to both the truck and the 5^th wheel. I found someone in the park with a bottle jack and Mark came over from their campground to help and while it took a few hours, Brett was able to get the trailer back up and hitched to the truck. We then moved over to the site next to us as it was a bit more level. Crisis diverted! But adrenaline did run high there for a bit! We do have some minor damage to the stabilizer jack, but we’re all good now and Brett will work on that later next week. We also bought a bottle jack so we have one handy should it be needed again. (For those that know our story of the motorhome tire blowout in New Mexico many years ago, you would think we would have had that jack with us!)

Our plan was to tour the battlefield on Wednesday, but shortly before it started, we got a call that our guide had to cancel, so we headed out to Lancaster instead. We went to The Amish Village and took a tour of a typical Amish home and then a bus tour of the Amish countryside. While we lived near an Amish community for many years, Mark and Julie had never seen the Amish, so it was fun to see them witness it for the first time. (They also saw their first lightening bugs a few weeks ago!) Our guide was a Mennonite and his parents used to be Amish, so he had first-hand knowledge of the customs and traditions. Since his parents left the Amish community, they were shunned. One of the rules is that when you are shunned, Amish are not allowed to eat at the same table as you. He explained how they would get around that rule, by setting up two tables and his grandparents, who are still Amish, would eat at one table, and his parents would have a separate table right next to it, so they would be together, but technically at different tables.

In this area, only about 30% of the Amish are still farmers. As many now work in regular businesses or even run their own business, phones are now often used; however, they are still not allowed in the home, so they have phone shanties at the end of the driveways. It’s basically a phone booth where they have to use the phone there, so that it discourages unnecessary use.

One key teaching in the Amish culture is forgiveness. An amazing example of this can be seen in the school shooting that happened at the Amish schoolhouse in 2006. The very night of the shooting, parents of some of the children killed went to the family of the shooter and offered their condolences. About half of the people at the shooter’s funeral were Amish and they even contributed financially to the shooter’s family. I find this so powerful and thought provoking! Interview with mother of shooter  There’s also a movie about it that you can find on Amazon Prime, called Amish Grace.

They have the most beautiful yards

On Thursday, we had a guided tour of the Gettysburg battlefield. The guide drove in his car and we followed and had him on speakerphone as he narrated. The tour was scheduled for 2 hours and he spent almost 3 hours with us. Last night, we were talking about the battle and how much (or little) most Americans know about our country’s history, so we did an informal poll, kind of our version of “Jesse Watters hits the streets”. We called Californians (so they didn’t live in an area where the Civil War was fought) and asked them who fought in the American Civil War and what was the war about. Only about 50% were able to correctly answer those two questions. All polled were adults and some were recent high school or college graduates. Without naming names, here are some of the answers we received. 

Who fought in the Civil War?

• Soldiers (I guess technically this is a correct answer)
• Red coats and blue coats
• Germans
• Mexicans

What was the war about?

• Something about the McCoys
• Something about Germany
• I don’t know
• Something about the British

Eeek! 😬

Monument to George Gordon Meade, Union General

Monument to Robert E Lee, Confederate General

View from Little Round Top

Tennessee monument

Brett, Mark, Julie, and our guide, Eric

Friday, we headed to Hershey, PA. The first couple of attractions we did were super cheesy (probably great if you are under 8 years old). Then we did a “Create Your Own Chocolate Bar” which was fun. You choose what type of chocolate (milk, dark, or white), what kind of fillings are in it, and design your own packaging.

The finished product. We haven't eaten them yet.

The best part of the day though was definitely a trolley tour through the town. The story of Milton Hershey is both intriguing and inspiring. To me, the most fascinating was learning about The Milton Hershey School. Milton and Catherine never had children, and they wanted to provide a home and education to orphans. That dream has grown over the years and is now a boarding school for over 2000 children coming from low-income homes. The Milton Hershey School sits on over 7500 acres and the students live in student homes with houseparents rather than in dormitories. The school is 100% no cost for the families and covers all of the medical and dental care, housing, clothing, food, haircuts, etc., for the students. In their senior year, they transition to an independent living situation, where they live with other seniors. They are provided a budget and are responsible for doing things like their own grocery shopping, getting themselves to school on time, keeping their home clean, etc. Attendance at a weekly non-denominational service is required, but if the student wishes to also participate in another religious service, transportation is provided for the student to do so. The school is fully funded by the interest from a trust set up by Milton and Catherine Hershey. There was so much more that they did to benefit the community, such as donating $50 million (in 1963) to Penn State to establish a medical school and teaching hospital. Our tour guide had attended the Milton Hershey School himself, so once again we got a great tour from someone with personal experience.

Back to the candy part, here’s a staggering fact—70 million kisses are made every day!

We did a lot this week! I worked early each day before we headed out for excursions and then we often had a late dinner in town, so it wore me out! (We won’t be doing that again anytime soon.) I slept till noon today which is about 6 hours later than usual! We ran to Lowes this afternoon and on the way home, I saw this neon “Gluten Free” sign, so of course we had to stop. It all looked so good, but the coffee was what I needed most! This cute little coffee shop reminded me of the places that Sandy Haskins introduced me to through the Coffee Meetup group in Columbia.

Some other miscellaneous shots from the week:

At a tavern, Brett asked for a bowl of whipping cream and the bartender did not disappoint. Eileen Combs...they still don't have you beat! 

The Lincoln statue in front of the David Wills House (where Lincoln stayed the night before giving the Gettysburg Address).

These folks are part of a group called The Time Travelers. The couple are from Texas and were visiting Gettysburg and getting ready to join a ghost tour. The lady on the left lives in the area. It's all volunteer and they dress in period attire and provide information to tourists.