Fall 2016 Family and Europe Trip - part 2 - Visits with Family Before Flying to Europe

We arrived in Maryland to the home of Aaron and his family late in the evening of Sunday (Sept. 11). We drove past Washington DC and I thought of the memorial services that had taken place in honor of those who lost their lives 15 years ago in our nation's capitol.

We were very happy to see our family and the beautiful granddaughters (and their cat).



The Girls and cat Bandon

We enjoyed a few days of relaxing and helping the family. Some of the children had bouts of illness, but we ended up having a good time with the family.



Headed out for a walk

We also helped with the errands and around-the-house activities, and all was well except I sprained some back muscles some and that slowed me down for a few days. I found me a walking stick in the nearby woods which helped me get around, but only needed it for a few days. Their place is near some woods and there are deer and squirrels in abundance. Several deer were often around the house. It drove the dogs crazy, but the deer just mainly ignored them.



Deer may safely graze

Later in the week, we went up to Gettysburg and were joined by Mary and her family from New York. Here is a picture with some of the family as we climbed to the top of one of the strategic hills of Gettysburg.


Exploring the hills by Gettysburg

It was fun to see how the kid cousins love each other!



Here I am next to a coupe of trees that seem to be hugging each other.


Shauna looking over the Gettysburg battle area





Shauna spoke with one of the guide volunteers: "On the crest of one of the hills, I saw an older man telling stories about the Battle of Gettysburg.  He was dressed in a Union uniform and told how important this hill was to winning the battle.  They had sharpshooters along the edge who could shoot accurately at 1000 yards.  The rock formation in the gully was about 500 yards away.  Impressive!  As the battle became more intense, one of the Union General's was racing with two aides riding along the edge of the ridge to get to this hill.  An old farmer stepped out from behind a tree and grabbed the bridle of the General's horse.  He told his barn had been burned down.  "And who is going to pay for my barn to be rebuilt!" he demanded.  The General listened to his ravings and then leaned over and slapped the old farmer across the face, who stepped back in surprise and dropped the bridle.  "If I don't get to the top of this ridge in the next few minutes to help support our cause, you may not have a country left tomorrow!"  Later I saw this same Union clad gentleman walking through the dusky evening, heading towards his home.  We were at least 2 miles away.  He stopped long enough to warn us about the 4 kinds of ticks in the grass and then moved on.  I called thanks to him, but he didn't show he had heard.  What an act of service to share those stories with us."

Here is a panorama shot Shauna took with her phone.


On the 17th, during the day, we went to a park area on the Seneca River and the kids played in the water.


In the later afternoon, we went to the swimming pool. In the evening, they had pizza for the kids and we went to an Italian restaurant as adult couples.

Sunday, Sept. 18 - We got up and going and went to church as a group. Later, we had a nice dinner together and played some games in the evening.



The next day, we drove up to Cunningham falls and spent time at a reservoir near there.


After a while, we all hiked up to the falls.




Hava at the falls

The next day, the two of us traveled, Quinn with us, north to New York. The following day, in the morning, he drove us to the airport in Rochester for our flight to Europe - continued in the next blog entry.