• Maryland - National Parks

    Monocacy and More

    July 14, 2024 - By 

    After a little time back at our hotel to recover from our Appalachian Trail adventures, we took a short drive to the Monocacy National Battlefield. When we had first been creating our itinerary for this trip and I mentioned this battlefield to my history nerd husband, he was perplexed. He had never heard of this battle, and was surprised that there was one this far north so late in the Civil War. While this battle may not get the fame and attention of others such as Gettysburg and Antietam, it is actually known as “The Battle that Saved Washington, DC.”…

  • Maryland - National Parks

    Antietam National Battlefield

    July 8, 2024 - By 

    After leaving Gettysburg, we hopped over to Antietam National Battlefield. It was our first time visiting, and we found it to be much more our speed; smaller, quieter, less people-y. We started at the newly-renovated Visitor Center. It’s small but has a nice little store and the usual friendly staff. We got there in time to be a part of an interesting talk with Ranger Olivia not about the battle itself, but about perceptions and interpretations of this bloodiest day. We learned that the six upside-down cannons around the battlefield indicate where a general was killed or mortally wounded, and…

  • National Parks - Pennsylvania

    Gettysburg National Military Park

    July 7, 2024 - By 

    It was another beautiful yet brutally hot day for the second day of our trip. We got up bright and early and made our way to Gettysburg National Military Park. Now I’m going to be honest, we didn’t spend a lot of time here because we’ve been here a couple of times before and didn’t feel the need to explore the exhibits again. It was a quick pop into the park store for souvenirs, some stamps in our passport, and then part of the driving tour. So this post will mostly just be a photo dump. Of course we had…