Tom and Angela, Air and Space, and a soggy Gettysburg Farm

Tuesday, April 15, 2014
Gettysburg Farm, Dover, PA

Welcome to Pennsylvania Dutch country

We left D.C. yesterday with threatening weather approaching. Today we're at Gettysburg Farm, a campground and farm combination. The rain started last night and has continued all day. The area around us is turning into a mud bog. The ducks, geese and alpacas don't seem to mind.

Our plan in coming here was to stop in at the Gettysburg battlefield, but we got here too late in the day, and the weather for the following day was not forecast to be good. And besides, we're pretty well battlefielded out. So we went to the local potato chip factory for a free tour and chips instead. "Much better than another battlefield", Peg said. Here is a picture of the entry way.

Unfortunately they requested that we take no pictures of the of the factory floor. It was a self-guided tour that looked down on the floor from above through a glass wall. Recorded audio commentary was given at each stage of the operation. I would have loved to have taken pictures, and could easily have sneaked some, but I was good. The factory makes Utz potato chips among other snacks. It's in Hanover, PA and has been family owned since it's inception in the 1930s. After the tour and free bag of chips we made our way several blocks to the outlet store, where we stocked up on enough carbs to last a month.

We wanted to buy some beer on the way back to the rig. Pennsylvania makes that really difficult and I'm glad we're not staying here for very long. They make you go to one kind of store for wine and spirits and another for case beer and another for six packs. I asked the clerk in the wine store why they separated them like that. He said it was done in the 1930s to "create jobs". I told him I thought that was stupid. His answer was "We like jobs." You can't argue with that kind of logic.

Anyway, we found a dark, smoky bar with a cooler in back and bought a six pack of average beer at an inflated price. Peg said "This place feels like New York. Welcome to back east." I said, "I want to go home, where you can buy your beer and ammo in the same store. "

On Sunday the day before we left D.C. we went to Vienna, Virginia to the home of Peg's cousin Tom and his wife Angela. Tom took us to the second site of the Air and Space museum near Dulles airport, while Angela worked on her Osso Buco. Before we left she treated us to a breakfast of cappuccinos and home made ricotta tarts.

The downtown Air and Space is incredible but the second museum is even more spectacular. There is more room for one thing. They have the shuttle Discovery and the SR-71A Blackhawk and seemingly everything else that can fly or at one time tried to.

Lockheed SR-71A Blackhawk, with Shuttle Discovery in the background

The docent was Rob Leeds, a former Navy pilot. He was excellent, very knowledgeable and led us on a 2 1/2 hour tour of the "highlights" of the museum. I'd love to be a docent like that, but you gotta know something first. Tom had been on the tours before and said he learns something new each time.

Docent Rob Leeds, on left

When we got back Angela was stirring the risotto.

Making risotto

Tom poured the champagne and wine, as he always does, and we sat down to a wonderful dinner, great conversation and Tom's pop quizzes.

There is more to say, especially about D.C. and I may get to it eventually. Tomorrow we are off to visit the Amish for 3 days then it's on to Philly. It is supposed to snow here tonight. Amazing.

Here are a few more pictures from Sunday.