President Washington Home

Front of Home

Rear of home

View from the rear of home with river

That is grandma (Maile) with light clothes

Notice the chair. Washinton cheap ride

Washinton's fancy ride

Just for fun the mama pig on left had babies three weeks ago. She got tired of them and went to sleep it was hot day

Finally the last resting place of George and Martha Washington. He is on the right and she is on the left

Today we visited the home of President Washington today. The home was built in 1754 by Washington. He stayed there untill 1799 when he died at the age og 67 from a bacteria infection. He had many slaves that worked on the farm which totaled more than 8000 arces. The home's rear entrance faced the Potomac River with a view that is remarkable. I have included a picture. Both Washington and his wife Martha are buried on the farm. The home was restore back in the 1850's but the civil war started and was not finished until many years later. The funny thing is that this was our first President and the government back then did nothing to restore the home. It was started by 11 women who thought that it was important to restore the home. To this day it is being upkeep by private donors and the admission price to see the home.

Gettysburg

For the grandkids The state that started the Civil War is the flag you are looking at. It was started no more than 15 miles from where I was born. Harbor of Charleston, South Carolina

What a cannon looked like during this time

This is the lines of General Lee and General Mead

General's Lee Quarters during the battle

Uniforms of the South and the North

After we left Gettysburg the Maryland border was within 30 miles.

Well we left Hershey and went to Gettysburg. Most of you kids that have studied about this place think of President Lincoln's speech (Gettysburg Address). But there is a lot more to this area. General Lee brought 90000 troops to this area and General Mead had about 70000 troops. The first battle was on July 31 and lasted for 3 more days. At first General Lee's forces won the first battle but General Mead's troops out number held to defeat General Lee's troops. Now the interesting facts. The American Civil War on both sides of the war lost 620,000 troops. That does not count the civilian population. During the Gettysburg battle there was 44,000 troops killed or wound. That is more than 14,000 people for each day of the battle. I took some pictures of the things about the battle but no actual places of the battle. All that is around the city is just cannons marking the lines each General held. Even after this battle the war lasted 3 more years. If the south had won this battle General Lee was trying to flank the Union army and invade Washington D C and put an end to the war fast so that the South could win. During this war the country almost lost 10% of the population of the country on both sides.

Hershey Park

Entrance to the park building

The grade school they just spent 100 millions dollars to upgrade

The street where the plant is located

Milton Hershey's birth home

Another view of Milton's birth home

Hershey's Hotel

Well we made it to the Hershey Park where they make all the chocolate candies. When you enter the town you can smell the candy. Our first day Maile (grandma) fell and injured her knee. She is OK but sore. Today we went to the park and went to numerous park museums. We had a very good day. We took a tour of the town and the tour guide was so funny he had me laughing. We went to the Hershey Hotel which sits atop a hill over looking the park for dinner. I have included a few pictures of the park and area. One thing here in Hershey is a program that Milton Hershey started in 1909. He took orphan boys and later on girls and build a private school and housing for the children. When the children graduated from high school, they are given a choice for what college they want to attend. When they decide then they are issued a 100% scholarship no questions asked. There are 1800 kids in the program today. Milton Hershey could not have children so he wanted children that there parents were killed or abandon them a chance in life without any wants to get ahead in there lives. To this day the trustee that he set up in 1915 still provides these children the money for there schooling. At the end of there schooling the trustee gives each person 100 dollars. It is something Mr. Hershey wanted and is still kept tradation today. I know it sounds like something small but they get a free education and all needs until they finish schooling.

Statue of Liberty

We first went to Ellis Island

This is the floor where people were process to enter the USA

Another view of the building

The background is New York Skyline

Front of the Statue

Maile (grandma) did not cut my head off in Picture

Very Nice Picture

Model of the torch

The french people donated all of the money to build the Statue of Liberty, these are some of the items they sold for money for statue

Picture from the statue about half way up

My little humor of ships in the harbor

Yep we made it to the Statue of Liberty. Even with all the problems we had in the falls we shook that off and continued our trip. Everything was not all that good since we lost another trailer tire due to the fine smooth roads in this country. Maile (grandma) and I spent an all day tour of the Statue. This time we got to go inside the Statue. Gee  grand kids we got that because we are senior citizens LOL. I got some great pictures. The last time  we were her was August 2001. During the visit we went to Ellis Island, where this country in the 1909 to 1954 processed immigrants into this country.   Hope you enjoy the pictures.