Harper's Ferry and Antietam...

Daddy and William laughing together...
William contemplates man's inhumanity to man...


Filmore the Frog and William playing on the trestle at Harper's Ferry...

Cleaning up all the rocks on the river's edge...

We were practically at the halfway point!

This is where the Shenandoah and the Potomac meet up...
Harper's Ferry is built on the point.

William prepares to pull the fire cart, just in case...

An old train car wheel...

William spent a long time pretending to be a train on this little hunk of track...

The National Historic Site at Harper's Ferry...

Today, I had the day off work, so we were going to drive up to Skyline Drive in the Shenandoah. Thankfully, I called ahead and found out it was still closed due to ice and snow. We rethought our plans and decided to spend the day learning a little more history. Neither one of these areas took very long to see, we left at 10 am and were done by 4. Just the right amount of time for an almost 3 year old. Harper's Ferry was first, and we saw a lot of interesting paraphernalia related to old John Brown and his rebellion. I have always thought he looked just a little crazy in his pictures and honestly, after what he tried, I don't think I was too far off in my assessment! I admire his courage though, and I found out today that he lost 4 children to illness in just one month. When I learned that, I thought that maybe his lunacy was justified. The Appalachian trail also goes right through this town, and it was neat seeing the actual long haul hikers passing through. I can't imagine doing that trip, and after reading "A Walk in the Woods" I would never even contemplate doing it. After seeing all the sights, we headed off to Antietam. It reminded me very much of Gettysburg. Lots of monuments, and long winding roads showing you where each big battle happened. It is good to see these in person, because you can imagine how it would have actually gone down. When you see a cornfield in which 2,500 people were killed in 30 minutes, you can imagine how horrific that must have been. Especially when you consider how long it would have taken them to reload the gun! Yikes! I am grateful that we live so close to all these historic places, but I am happy to cross each one off my list and never revisit the depressing history which occurred there.... On a happier note, we ended the day at Cracker Barrel where I got my beloved hush puppies, so I was a happy camper!