I took my mom to Gettysburg Pa for her birthday as she is a HUGE Civil War buff...I am convinced she was a soldier in her past life....

It took us about 6 hours to get there, thank God for GPS!!!!

We stayed at the beautiful Brafferton Inn (which is actually a B&B) downtown Gettysburg....It was the first house built in (I think, 1786) the town and it's fantastic...

So our first day we got settled in, made an attempt at shopping but a lot of the stores were souvenir shops and antique dealers selling a lot of Civil War era costumes and repros of just serious junk. Then we went and grabbed dinner at a pub nearby and the food wasn't all that great, my beer was cold so I guess that counts for something...Afterward we went on a candlelight ghost tour. My mom and I were a bit sceptical at first because there were a lot of children and it just seemed like it was going to be super gay. It was however, super cool as they split us in two groups and our tour guide was a great story teller.

Let me just say it wasn't a ghost hunt or anything like that....She just took us to places that were used as field hospitals or to hold Confederate prisoners, buildings that withstood cannon fire (and one building still has a cannon ball stuck in the brick!!), roads that were used as battleground. Essentially the whole town is a giant graveyard. I took a ton of pictures on my moms camera so unfortunately I have none to post here. But I will post the pics that I took asap...There are unexplainable figures in some of them and can't be anything other than paranormal...They will blow your mind!!

We went to one of the reenactments on Saturday, which was okay...I was expecting to be front & center of this great battle just to get the feel for it, ya know? We did have great seats but it was still like sitting in the nosebleed section because they "fought" waaaaaaay across the field!!! WTF??? Then we meandered on over to the tents and I bought some maple candy (mmmm) but passed on the iron skillets and wooden combs;) I endured quite well, I think!

But the most amazing part of our trip was seeing the battlefields and walking on them. The fact that American soldiers fought eachother on that ground and that thousands, yes thousands were slaughtered among those beautiful fields and green hills, is sadly ironic. It's hard to imagine it happening but for the fantastic monuments that tell you where each battle took place and was fought by whom. It went on for miles and miles.... And my mom, who has read many stories about the young men and boys who gave up their youth and their lives for the cause, walked out in those fields and cried for them. Prayed for their souls....Because none of them should be forgotten. I'm glad she was able to finally do that, I know it was important to her.

I really didn't think it would move me the way it did. You can feel the horror of the past and even on a beautiful sunny day it can give you chills. The field in the picture is where Pickets Charge took place, it's where the Union kicked the souths ass and where the most lives were lost during the war.

With that said, I advise you- if you ever visit Gettysburg PA make sure you stay at the Brafferton B&B. And for the love of God- DO NOT EAT AT THE FARNSWORTH HOUSE INN!!!! Their food sucks out loud and is so damn bad, portions so small, prices so high, I couldn't stop laughing! I laughed till I cried and just couldn't help it. It was so bad, it was funny!

So that sums up only a bit of our trip to Gettysburg, I can't wait to go back <3>