Mount Airy, North Carolina - Home of Andy Griffith

On Wednesday 6 October we stopped at noon at Fancy Gap KOA on Frog Spur Road, just over the NC border in Virginia.  We were about 12 miles from Mount Airy, NC so decided to drive over and check out Andy Griffith's home town.  They have a neat Museum and town has several shops, restaurants, etc that make reference to Mayberry.  It was a fun afternoon.  The next morning we drove to LaGrange, NC to Pat, Teresa & Tristain's house.  Right now we are parked next to their house and hooked up to water and electricity.  We will enjoy our stay here.



 They have at least two of the police cars and they take you on a tour of Mount Airy

Andy Griffith's boyhood home is now a B&B you can rent.

 Walking down main street of Mount Airy feels like you're walking down main street in Mayberry RFD

We had dinner here and the BBQ was good.



Outdoor World's Farm at Gettysburg

This was a really nice park.  We met some nice people mostly from Pennsylvania who use this park alot.  Sounds like a great family park especially during the summer.  The kids especially enjoy the animals and being able to feed them and pet them.  Larry didn't know what to think of the animals.  The first morning Ray had him out he and a black lamb touched noses, of course Ray doidn't have his camera with him.

Larry didn't know what to think of the farm animals,

 Office, Store, Recreation room



Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

We spent 3 nights at a really nice RV park about 20 min drive outside Gettysburg.  It is a Thousand Trails park, Outdoor World Gettysburg Farm Campground.  It is a working farm.  There are animals for the kids to feed and pet.  They have about 150 full hook up sites and 100 electric and water along the river, but they run a free honey wagon everyday.  The park was very clean and staff friendly.  Saturday they had a chili cookoff by the staff and then free chili, cornbread, lemonade dinner at 5:30pm.  There were all kinds of activities during the day.

On Sunday we spent the day in Gettysburg.  We went to the The Gettysburg Museum of the Civil War first.  We saw the film, "A New Birth of Freedom", narrated by Morgan Freeman and then the restored Gettysburg Cyclorama, which depicts the final fury of Gettysburg- "Pickett's Charge". The next hour we spent wandering through the Gettysburg Museum of the Civil War, featuring items from one of the largest collections of Civil War relics in the world,   We had lunch in the cafe and then took the auto tour of the Gettysburg National Military Park.  The tour was about 2 hours with 16 stops.  There are monuments, plaques, etc all over the battle field area.  If you are interested in Civil War History it was very interesting. 

Monday was a rainy, cold day.  We decided to stay an extra day.  Got laundry done and just relaxed for the day. 

The flags carried into battle on July 1.  The 47th NC Infantry carried the Confederate flag and the 149th PA Infantry carried the American flag

McPherson Ridge - The Battle of Gettysburg began just beyond the barn on July 1, 1863

Light Peace Memorial, dedicated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, July 3, 1938,

North Carolina Memorial- On July 2, 1863 the Confederate army held position on this spot

Beside the Virginia Memorial.  Nuns were touring the Battle field also.

Virginia Memorial.  On top is General Robert Lee on his horse.

Little Round Top - Union soldiers defended this hill

 Trostle Farm, notice the cannon ball damage on side of barn

Pennsylvania Memorial on Cemetery Ridge held by the Union artillery

Looking up to Little Round Top

 High Water Mark = "Pickett's Charge" final battle

The field where the final battles took place on 3 July

Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, A Seminary of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. On July 1, 1863, the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg, the campus became a battleground and then the center of the Confederate line for two days. The cupola of the Old Dorm served as an observation tower. The rest of the building served as a hospital for the wounded from both sides for two months following the battle.



Soldiers National Cemetery

Vermont Teddy Bears and Echo Lake Aquarium & Science Center

Monday was spent doing laundry in the morning and then a  delicious steak dinner at Nancy & Rich's house.  Tuesday was a lazy day.  We all went to dinner at the Castleton Pizza Place and then to Rutland.  Nancy & Rich had tickets for us all to go to the Paramount Theatre in Rutland to see Arthur Miller's classic Death of a Salesman starring Christopher Lloyd.  Good play and nice evening.  Wednesday we were off to see how Teddy Bears are born at the Vermont Teddy Bear Company in Shelburne, VT.  We went on the tour and saw how the Teddy Bears are made....all by hand.  Was really interesting.  Next stop was in Burlington, the largest city in Vermont.  We walked along Lake Champlain boardwalk and went to the Echo Lake Aquarium & Science Center.  We were planning to leave on Thursday, but because of the big storm that hit the Northeast we stayed an extra day.  We called Nancy & Rich and they came to our house for spaghetti dinner.  We did leave about noon today and only drove to Woodstock, NY.  As you can see our trailer was surrounded by water.  Our site was not flooded, but all the sites below us were.  They received over 5 inches of rain.  Tomorrow we will be in Gettysburg, PA.  Hopefully we will move away from flooding.

They make 1000 bears a day.

 Lots of bears!

 Lake Champlain

 Burlington Breakwater North Lighthouse

 The Echo Lake Aquarium & Science Center

 Lake Champlain

 Car Ferry that crosses Lake Champlain

 Yes that's a camel with the sheep!

Don't expect to see a camel in Vermont. 

Lake Bomoseen

Water, Water everywhere except our site.