Day 32-Heading North to Gettysburg

 A travel day, so we were up by 6 AM, on the road by 6:45 AM, and heading toward Gettysburg, 360 miles  to the northeast.

Our first stop was in Lewisburg, WV, for coffee and muffins, which turned into coffee and breakfast sandwiches at the Wild Bean coffeehouse.  Our sandwiches were delicious, and the coffeehouse was definitely a cool, funky spot that hosts live music at night.  Lewisburg is a beautiful old city with gorgeous buildings in the downtown area dating back to the 18^th century and equally gorgeous residences from post-Civil War times.

Our last stop in West Virginia was at the Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs.  Known as America's Resort,  the Greenbrier has hosted presidents and other celebrities for over two centuries.  Slamming' Sammy Snead was the golf pro here, and since his time, the Greenbriar Classic has been become a regular stop on the PGA Seniors tour.  During WW II, the Greenbrier was used as a hospital, and during the Cold War, the Greenbriar was outfitted with a special bomb proof alternative to the Capitol in Washington, DC. Joni's parents stayed in one of the 700+ rooms, so we wanted to see the resort.

 

Main St. in Covington, WV.  Film location for TV series Dopesick, which focused on the opioid crisis.

Continuing along I-64, we stopped for lunch in Harrisonburg, Va., home to James Madison University, where we dined at Grilled Cheese Mania.  I don’t think I’ve ever had a grilled cheese anywhere but home, but these were very good!

We pulled into the Visitor Center at Gettysburg National Military Park around 4 PM.  Yes, we’ve been here before, but I’ve enjoyed every visit; there’s so much to learn!  We bought tickets to the film & museum which we have not done since 2016.  We’ve been listening to John Meacham’s Lincoln biography, And Then There Was Light,  so this visit was even more enlightening that previous ones.

The Battle of Gettysburg by Paul Philippoteaux.  A cyclorama painting depicting Pickett's charge on the final day.  This is just a small section of the painting which measures 42 ft. by 377 ft.  The first public display of this painting was in Boston in 1884 in the Cyclorama building on Tremont Street.

 

The Visitor Center closed at 5 PM, so prior to dinner we started the auto tour of the battlefield for which we have an audio guide on CD.  Fortunately our van has a CD player!  We only got through 1 of the 14 stops on this tour before it was dinner time.  

 

Creatures of habit that we are we returned to “Food 101” where we had another fabulous dinner.  In addition to having great food, it’s a BYOB, and we brought a fine rose from the Languedoc-Rouissilon region in southern France.

 

Apple Cheddar Chicken Sandwich:  Chicken, applewood bacon, shaved red onion, smoked cheddar, apple butter, hearty greens, ciabatta

Norway lobster (Langoustine), pappardelle pasta, onion, garlic, fennel, tarragon, cream

 

We pulled into our campground in the Pine Grove Furance State Park while it was still daylight.  After driving over 379 miles I was very tired. There’s no cell service so we were not able to listen to the Celtics game.  Thank you to the Bulls for texting us the score which we didn’t learn until the next morning!