County Trip

B's goal for the past several years is to get 100 new counties a year. (He collects counties like some people do states.) The last couple of years he hasn't reached this goal. He hit 100 new counties for 2010 on Friday with a long road trip into Pennsylvania. New county totals: B=12, N=18, the kids=19.





We stopped at Gettysburg and saw the free parts of the museum (bathrooms, gift shop, statue outside). We talked about the kids' great great great great grandpa (John S.) who fought in the civil war, lying about his age to become a soldier at 16.
[Corrections from Grandpa M: Very cool stuff here. John S. was in the infantry for 6 months, got out in May 1863 and rejoined in late July 1863 for the remainder of the war (in a cavalry unit). He missed Gettysburg.]


We stopped in Dillsburg, PA to see B's Great Grandparents' grave. (Isn't it fun that someone who loves the Simpsons as much as B descends from people named Homer and Margaret?) It is a little creepy to see your own last name on a gravestone though.


We stopped and saw their old home (that B last visited when he was 4 years old).




We saw the State Capitol in Harrisburg.


We stopped at the Washington DC LDS Temple to see the nativity displays, Christmas trees, and lights. The trip took longer than expected so we missed the musical performance, but we still got to enjoy the lights and everything else.

Thanksgiving Break: Going Home

Yea! California! Oh, it's California, PENNSYLVANIA.
(Great Grandma M went to college here to become a teacher in the late 1920s/early 1930s)


The whole Ohio trip our kids were hoping for snow. I was not. Then Princess Sparkley decided maybe there would be snow at the high point in Pennsylvania. We didn't think so. But there was!


Highest Point in Pennsylvania: Mount Davis (3213 feet)

A deer hunter stopped us as we parked the car to ask if we were heading up to the observation tower. Then told us we were going to freeze. B told him how we froze at West Virginia's high point the week before and he asked how high West Virginia's high point was. Then said WV had them (Pennsylvania) beat. Sort of a fun competition.


It was cold. The "hike" was little. Little Guy didn't want to raise his arms (hence the two pictures). The plaque behind us says it's the highest point. You can see the observation tower in the background.


We hiked to the top of the tower. Our kids were a little nervous but very brave. And for once, all of us our looking at the camera (perhaps just to see if the wind was going to blow it over).


After climbing down, B saw a US Geological Survey marker on a large boulder and had his picture taken standing on it. Since he was climbing, Little Guy was climbing too. The picture of the kids with their hands in the air is on the neighboring boulder.


[Keep in mind that you can see these collages larger if you click on them.]