State # 14 - Pennsylvania! Fun at Gettysburg Farm, The State Capitol, Amish Country, Father's Day, & Gettysburg National Park!

After we left Delaware, we headed up to Pennsylvania.  We stayed at the Gettysburg Farm Thousand Trails RV park for almost 2 weeks. The older boys still had some schoolwork to finish for the year, so most of the time they were busy studying with Alan while I took the younger two out to explore the farm.  We had a blast feeding the animals, going on a hay ride, and playing on the playground.

The Country Store sold animal feed for us to give to the animals on the farm.  The alpacas were hilarious! One of the employees told us they really enjoy eating peanuts.  She even gave us a bag of peanuts she had in her car for the boys to give them!

This guy even posed for the camera:)

There was a Jersey Cow there too...

Nate got a nice handful of alpaca slobber...

There were a TON of goats there! At first, the boys fed them through the fence.  I love how Joshua imitates the goat in this photo below...

They even had a peacock! When we walked by, it really ruffled his feathers!

After being there only a few minutes, we noticed some goats had escaped the pen and they were coming after the feed bags!!! Oh my!

We found out that we were staying really close to the snack capital of the U.S.! So- we decided to take a field trip to Snyder's of Hanover (in Hanover).  They offer free tours to the public during the week.  We were not allowed to take any pictures inside...too many secret ingredients could be exposed that way I guess! :)  It was fun to see how they bake, sort, pack and deliver so many yummy snacks! And- they gave us all free snacks at the end of the tour!!! Wahoo!

We also took one day to visit the state capitol in Harrisburg.  We had heard that this capitol building was ranked #1 in architecture in the U.S.  As you can tell from the photos, it is pretty obvious why!! The building is HUGE and it is very fancy inside as well!

We are so tiny compared to the capitol...can you see us in the photo below?

 We were so amazed at the architecture and design on the inside of the capitol as well...

Here is the inside of the dome...

The senate and house chambers are pretty dark rooms, so it is hard to tell what they look like from these photos.  There were paintings and stained glass windows throughout the rooms.  The chandeliers were incredibly ornate as well.

The public gallery...

After our tour of the capitol, we drove to the Amish Country for a fabulous traditional Dutch dinner at the Plain & Fancy Restaurant.  (Hey Golden Gang - this restaurant was featured in Man vs. Food!)

Then we took a scenic drive in the countryside.  It was so beautiful!

It was fascinating to see so many horse drawn buggies sharing the roads with automobiles.  There were mothers with children, whole families, and young men driving the buggies.  We had to remind the boys that this was not a living history museum!!! The Amish were not in costumes and they were not actors.  As much as I really wanted to take pictures, out of respect for their privacy,  I did not take any photos with people.  

We also spotted several homes with a buggy or two in the driveway...

The businesses in the area had special parking spaces for horse and buggies...

While were were in PA, we celebrated Father's Day and honored Alan with a special lunch at his most favorite place...CiCi's Pizza!!!!

They made him a special pizza full of spicy buffalo chicken and vegetables!!! If you know Alan, you know that he LOVES spicy food...he puts jalapenos and hot sauce on just about everything!  Just looking at it, makes my eyes sting...yikes! 

Before we left the area, we had a very important historic field trip to take - the Gettysburg National Park!  The Battle of Gettysburg was the Civil War's deadliest battle with 51, 000 casualties.  It was also the inspiration for President Abraham Lincoln's famous "Gettysburg Address".

We watched an inspiring film narrated by Morgan Freeman and toured the museum inside the visitor center.  There is a beautiful painting cyclorama from the 1880s that has been restored and is on display there too.   This enormous painting circles the entire room as it depicts the battle at Gettysburg.  The photo below is only one small portion of the painting.

We left the visitor center and took an audio tour in our van of the actual battlegrounds.  Several monuments were spread throughout the area, honoring the soldiers from different states who fought in the Civil War.

Lastly, we stopped by the cemetery to see the actual location of the Gettysburg Address.

This monument marks the very site where Abraham Lincoln stood during the speech.  Several pennies were laid there...

Before we left, Nate added our Pennsylvania sticker to our RV map!

Oh- and we forgot to put Delaware on there from earlier! So- Micah added that sticker too...

The hardest part of our stay came when we had to say good bye to our dear, sweet neighbors and new friends, Bob and Joann. (Hi Mr. Bob and Mrs. Joann!) While we were camped here, they invited us over and introduced us to mountain pies and Martin's potato chips...SO GOOD!  We had such a great time visiting, sharing stories and laughter of living life full-time in an RV!  We were very blessed to get to know them throughout our stay there.  It was sad to say goodbye:(  Hopefully, we can meet up again someday down the road.  The boys still talk about Mr. Bob and Mrs. Joann!!

Blessings to you and yours,

Jill and the boys:)