Gettysburg Report
This weekend was Jason's and my 5th anniversary. Considering the expense of moving and the fact that the NC family trip was later in the year than usual, we decided to only do a very brief weekend jaunt up to Gettysburg. Hopefully next year, we're going to do Salem. I absolutely love Gettysburg in the fall. The leaves are amazing, the food is the best kind of comfort food, and the ghost walks are seasonally appropriate.
The Food:
We had lots of really tasty things. The first lunch I got was at the Gettysburg Cupcake Cafe, where, gasp, I did not have a cupcake. Generally speaking they have a tiny menu, but it's all good. Since they didn't have tomato bisque, I got a turkey, apple, cranberry, and pesto wrap. Very crisp and tart and delicious. The first dinner we had was our traditional one at the Farnsworth's Sweney's Tavern. Kind of a disappointment, honestly. They changed up the menu a lot since last year. No more game pie, which is usually unbelievably good. They still serve it in the upstairs dining room, but that place strikes me as overpriced. The new menu doesn't even have the hot turkey platter (my other favorite) or the sauerkraut platter (Jason's favorite) on it. It's now basically burgers, a few soups (the cheddar potato soup, which we had as an appetizer, was delicious), and a new selection of flatbreads. It just doesn't have the same feel. We ended up with a peach, goat cheese, and arugula flatbread. It was ok. But it wasn't why we came to the Farnsworth. Especially when you factor in just how hard the Farnsworth gets hit by tourists (so the service was understandably slower), we should have gone to the Dobbin House tavern instead.
The year we resolved to try out new places that we have never eaten at before. Aside from the Ragged Edge Coffee Shop (which has really tasty hot caramel apple cider), we tried out the Cafe St Amand for brunch (unbelievably delicious and surprisingly cheap-- but be prepared for a wait). We split a cupcake at Johnny Como's (pumpkin spice with buttercream). The major find for us was the Garryowen Irish Pub, where we ate our last meal of the stay. We split a shepherd's pie, and a shrimp-and-brioche platter with whiskey sauce and a side of asparagus. This shepherd's pie was sent from heaven, I swear to god. It was perfect. Plus they had a live band playing traditional reels, which was very nice.
The Spooks:
We did two haunted-type events. The Farnsworth has a new "creekside storytelling" program, where you get to have someone tell you the region's spooky stories by campfire. Only a) it was a little chiminea, not an actual fire pit, boooo, and b) the "creekside" is by a dry creek in a goddamn parking lot. Kinda hard to get in the campfire spirit with people driving by and little kids babbling as they're getting strapped into carseats. I know that with the EXPLOSION of ghost tour companies in the last five years (they went from 2 to something like 7, with multiple tours for each company per night), space is a little cramped, but... come on guys. The storyteller still did a good job, though. He had a very personable style. Didn't oversell things, didn't overact. Just told us some really cool stories from the East Coast. I also appreciated that he didn't stick to the same Gettysburg tales-- he covered the Bunnyman killings, the Lee Masters story from Westminster, Black Aggie... so props to him for making a good thing happen in kinda shoddy circumstances.
The other tour we did was our staple, the Farnsworth Mature tour. Being close to Halloween, the group was nearly 80 (!), so unfortunately, Cliff & Mike had to split us up into two groups. Cliff handled the walk to the base of Cemetery Hill. Mike handled the storytelling in the cellar. Considering it starts at 11pm, most of the time, there is nothing else (human) happening in the woods, but with the other tour companies horning in on everything (the Farnsworth's tours were the first, and frankly, they're the best), there were two other groups in the woods at that time that gave absolutely zero thoughts to disturbing the other tour groups. Ugh. It very much took away from what is generally a very spooky tour. The cool thing about the tour is that to this day, Cliff tells a story that happened on the second time we ever took the tour. It's cool to hear a story that we were actually present for and can vouch for. As for the cellar portion-- that's a part that stays pretty fairly consistent from year to year. For the most part, I anticipated the punchlines. But in its way, it's a tradition that I wouldn't give up. Our trip to Gettysburg would feel incomplete without it. Mike suggested coming back in the winter, if we can brave the cold. Far fewer people, and apparently Cemetery Hill in the snow is gorgeous. Plus, if we go when nobody else is there, maybe they'll pull out the less-known stories for us!
History:
By now, I'm pretty versed in the battle. I've read books on it, we've done the driving tour a few times. I wanted something else. We got to the visitor center a little late in the day to wrangle a private park ranger tour (they drive your car and can customize the experience), so we did the bus tour. In all honesty, it didn't cover a lot that I didn't already know, but I can say it's great for beginners. And I did have some gaps filled in my knowledge when it comes to how the topography shaped the battle. I mean, practically everyone knows about Little Round Top's role in the Union victory, but it was nice to hear more about the roles that McPherson Ridge and Seminary Ridge played in day 1's fighting. Plus our guide was very knowledgeable about the history of the monuments.
I was sad that the bus tour doesn't cover the fighting on Culp's Hill, which is the major blank spot in my understanding of the battle as a whole. I've heard the sound bytes about it, but never really incorporated it into the story of why and how the battles happened where and when they did. We did drive over to Culp's Hill right at sundown on our way out of town, and we climbed the observation tower there for the first time. What AMAZING views. You can see the entire field of battle from it! You can see the Lutheran Seminary, the town, Cemetery Hill, the Angle, and the Round Tops all from one spot. It was pretty breathtaking for that alone, but once you factor in the light of sundown and the brilliance of the Autumn trees, it was very very much worth it.
We also took a walk through the National Cemetery, which was a first. We didn't have a lot of time to do so, so I'd like to go back. Interesting to note that the only time all weekend I had cell battery issues was in the 20 minutes we were there. My battery dropped from 70 to 20 in that time. Very odd.
I would like, in the future, to do more tours that focus on the civilian experience-- we've been to the Shriver house, and that is very good. But I want to dig in and find out more about how the civilians fared in the weeks to months after the battle. I will probably read some books about it in the interim (because lord knows there are a lot of them), but I love to go and see things, especially relics and preserved rooms.
Wine:
One of the things I did was check out three of the local wineries and do some tastings. Adams County has several vineyards, and a couple of them have storefronts in the town. The thing about Adams County vines is that they all taste young and pretty acidic. Even the reds! So I, mostly a pinot noir drinker, was really surprised to learn that and find that most of the pinot noir is in a nouveau/Beaujolais vein. Definitely not my favorite, but sometimes it can be pulled off.
The first stop was the Adams County winery, and blech. I tried two or three reds and they were just not good. Overly sweet, overly thin. Nope. Second was the Hauser Estate Winery. The Cab Franc was the winner here, with nice mocha notes. The Meritage Reserve wine was also very good, but certainly not $40 a bottle good. The third and final one we visited was the Reid's Orchard Winery right across from the Farnsworth. Really nice guy there sort of walked us through his family winery's reds. The pinot still didn't taste like a pinot (he said that in about 30 years, it will taste different, because the vines are slow growing, and also the sunlight in PA can be less than consistent), but it was ok. Very tart and cranberry-like. I disliked the Sangiovese very much-- it tasted like a white wine with a lot of citrus. Like, it almost tasted lemony! The merlot was surprisingly good, with a mocha nose (but a blueberry taste). The blueberry wine was not so much my thing but I could see it being really good in mixed drinks. Ended up buying one of the apple wines as a gift.
That's all that's fit to print. We had beautiful weather, delicious food, and some of our favorite haunts. I didn't take too many pictures, but what I did is posted to my instagram: http://instagram.com/sihayadesigns
I miss it already.
The Food:
We had lots of really tasty things. The first lunch I got was at the Gettysburg Cupcake Cafe, where, gasp, I did not have a cupcake. Generally speaking they have a tiny menu, but it's all good. Since they didn't have tomato bisque, I got a turkey, apple, cranberry, and pesto wrap. Very crisp and tart and delicious. The first dinner we had was our traditional one at the Farnsworth's Sweney's Tavern. Kind of a disappointment, honestly. They changed up the menu a lot since last year. No more game pie, which is usually unbelievably good. They still serve it in the upstairs dining room, but that place strikes me as overpriced. The new menu doesn't even have the hot turkey platter (my other favorite) or the sauerkraut platter (Jason's favorite) on it. It's now basically burgers, a few soups (the cheddar potato soup, which we had as an appetizer, was delicious), and a new selection of flatbreads. It just doesn't have the same feel. We ended up with a peach, goat cheese, and arugula flatbread. It was ok. But it wasn't why we came to the Farnsworth. Especially when you factor in just how hard the Farnsworth gets hit by tourists (so the service was understandably slower), we should have gone to the Dobbin House tavern instead.
The year we resolved to try out new places that we have never eaten at before. Aside from the Ragged Edge Coffee Shop (which has really tasty hot caramel apple cider), we tried out the Cafe St Amand for brunch (unbelievably delicious and surprisingly cheap-- but be prepared for a wait). We split a cupcake at Johnny Como's (pumpkin spice with buttercream). The major find for us was the Garryowen Irish Pub, where we ate our last meal of the stay. We split a shepherd's pie, and a shrimp-and-brioche platter with whiskey sauce and a side of asparagus. This shepherd's pie was sent from heaven, I swear to god. It was perfect. Plus they had a live band playing traditional reels, which was very nice.
The Spooks:
We did two haunted-type events. The Farnsworth has a new "creekside storytelling" program, where you get to have someone tell you the region's spooky stories by campfire. Only a) it was a little chiminea, not an actual fire pit, boooo, and b) the "creekside" is by a dry creek in a goddamn parking lot. Kinda hard to get in the campfire spirit with people driving by and little kids babbling as they're getting strapped into carseats. I know that with the EXPLOSION of ghost tour companies in the last five years (they went from 2 to something like 7, with multiple tours for each company per night), space is a little cramped, but... come on guys. The storyteller still did a good job, though. He had a very personable style. Didn't oversell things, didn't overact. Just told us some really cool stories from the East Coast. I also appreciated that he didn't stick to the same Gettysburg tales-- he covered the Bunnyman killings, the Lee Masters story from Westminster, Black Aggie... so props to him for making a good thing happen in kinda shoddy circumstances.
The other tour we did was our staple, the Farnsworth Mature tour. Being close to Halloween, the group was nearly 80 (!), so unfortunately, Cliff & Mike had to split us up into two groups. Cliff handled the walk to the base of Cemetery Hill. Mike handled the storytelling in the cellar. Considering it starts at 11pm, most of the time, there is nothing else (human) happening in the woods, but with the other tour companies horning in on everything (the Farnsworth's tours were the first, and frankly, they're the best), there were two other groups in the woods at that time that gave absolutely zero thoughts to disturbing the other tour groups. Ugh. It very much took away from what is generally a very spooky tour. The cool thing about the tour is that to this day, Cliff tells a story that happened on the second time we ever took the tour. It's cool to hear a story that we were actually present for and can vouch for. As for the cellar portion-- that's a part that stays pretty fairly consistent from year to year. For the most part, I anticipated the punchlines. But in its way, it's a tradition that I wouldn't give up. Our trip to Gettysburg would feel incomplete without it. Mike suggested coming back in the winter, if we can brave the cold. Far fewer people, and apparently Cemetery Hill in the snow is gorgeous. Plus, if we go when nobody else is there, maybe they'll pull out the less-known stories for us!
History:
By now, I'm pretty versed in the battle. I've read books on it, we've done the driving tour a few times. I wanted something else. We got to the visitor center a little late in the day to wrangle a private park ranger tour (they drive your car and can customize the experience), so we did the bus tour. In all honesty, it didn't cover a lot that I didn't already know, but I can say it's great for beginners. And I did have some gaps filled in my knowledge when it comes to how the topography shaped the battle. I mean, practically everyone knows about Little Round Top's role in the Union victory, but it was nice to hear more about the roles that McPherson Ridge and Seminary Ridge played in day 1's fighting. Plus our guide was very knowledgeable about the history of the monuments.
I was sad that the bus tour doesn't cover the fighting on Culp's Hill, which is the major blank spot in my understanding of the battle as a whole. I've heard the sound bytes about it, but never really incorporated it into the story of why and how the battles happened where and when they did. We did drive over to Culp's Hill right at sundown on our way out of town, and we climbed the observation tower there for the first time. What AMAZING views. You can see the entire field of battle from it! You can see the Lutheran Seminary, the town, Cemetery Hill, the Angle, and the Round Tops all from one spot. It was pretty breathtaking for that alone, but once you factor in the light of sundown and the brilliance of the Autumn trees, it was very very much worth it.
We also took a walk through the National Cemetery, which was a first. We didn't have a lot of time to do so, so I'd like to go back. Interesting to note that the only time all weekend I had cell battery issues was in the 20 minutes we were there. My battery dropped from 70 to 20 in that time. Very odd.
I would like, in the future, to do more tours that focus on the civilian experience-- we've been to the Shriver house, and that is very good. But I want to dig in and find out more about how the civilians fared in the weeks to months after the battle. I will probably read some books about it in the interim (because lord knows there are a lot of them), but I love to go and see things, especially relics and preserved rooms.
Wine:
One of the things I did was check out three of the local wineries and do some tastings. Adams County has several vineyards, and a couple of them have storefronts in the town. The thing about Adams County vines is that they all taste young and pretty acidic. Even the reds! So I, mostly a pinot noir drinker, was really surprised to learn that and find that most of the pinot noir is in a nouveau/Beaujolais vein. Definitely not my favorite, but sometimes it can be pulled off.
The first stop was the Adams County winery, and blech. I tried two or three reds and they were just not good. Overly sweet, overly thin. Nope. Second was the Hauser Estate Winery. The Cab Franc was the winner here, with nice mocha notes. The Meritage Reserve wine was also very good, but certainly not $40 a bottle good. The third and final one we visited was the Reid's Orchard Winery right across from the Farnsworth. Really nice guy there sort of walked us through his family winery's reds. The pinot still didn't taste like a pinot (he said that in about 30 years, it will taste different, because the vines are slow growing, and also the sunlight in PA can be less than consistent), but it was ok. Very tart and cranberry-like. I disliked the Sangiovese very much-- it tasted like a white wine with a lot of citrus. Like, it almost tasted lemony! The merlot was surprisingly good, with a mocha nose (but a blueberry taste). The blueberry wine was not so much my thing but I could see it being really good in mixed drinks. Ended up buying one of the apple wines as a gift.
That's all that's fit to print. We had beautiful weather, delicious food, and some of our favorite haunts. I didn't take too many pictures, but what I did is posted to my instagram: http://instagram.com/sihayadesigns
I miss it already.