So, Latschar's baby is nearing completion....

...what does that mean? Is anyone afraid of what this thing might really be like?
The thing I fear most about this technological monster is that it will be so huge, so vast in scope, that people coming to Gettysburg for a weekend will spend too much time there, and not enough on the actual fields of battle. I can see it like this:

A family arrives late Fri. afternoon, they eat at Gen. Pickett's buffet (sure, it's where the charge happened, and it's named after a historical figure, so it can't be all that bad, can it?), and then take an evening stroll up and down Steinwehr, leaving behind a bit of money in some of the tourist-trap gifts shops. Of course, now it's time for a ghost-walk tour. This might be the night! Then, they stay in one of the many hotels (Hey, if we stay at the Quality on Steinwehr or the America's Best, or if we go west on Rte. 30 to the other Quality Inn, we can actually sleep on the battlefield? Awesome!)

Saturday comes, and it's a quick breakfast at McDonald's (we can't waste too much time. There's the new visitor's center to see!) So, then it's off to the new VC. Hours spent looking at the exhibits, more time spent watching the movie presentations. You can eat lunch there without having to leave, etc. (Hey, they even have gift shops here! If we'd have known that we would have waited!) Then, it's back to town. Maybe dinner in the Farnsworth House or some such. Then, it's time for some actual ghost hunting. Let's go to the Triangular Field/Devil's den area. People see ghost there all the time! Maybe we will, too.

Before you know it, it's Sun. morning. Breakfast at Friendly's. We got a lot done yesterday, so we can relax a bit. Can't believe we didn't see a ghost last night, but we sure took lots of photos of orbs! Well, we have some time to go on the battlefield now, so let's go to Little Round Top!...Cool, nice view!... Now the Devil's Den, then a ride by the Angle and the Copse of Trees for a photo op...lunch somewhere in town...a ride out to the the Peace Light, and maybe across Seminary Ridge...back into town to buy the t-shirt we saw, then home. We'll eat dinner along the way.

"Gee, dad! That was fun! I can't believe we saw the whole Gettysburg battlefield in like two days or so!" Maybe we can come back again sometime."

"Maybe so, son, but why? Like you said, we saw it all!"

"I know, but I really liked the ghost walks, and would love to go ghost hunting again!"

Wow, what a change!

Well, I know I've blogged about it in the past, and I know it's been discussed, most likely in too much depth, but I saw the picture on the top earlier today. It made me realize just how much this area changed last year, in a relatively short time. We've all seen it, and maybe too those who don't see it every week, it's one of those "Duh!" moments, but I saw it develop slowly. It's amazing how quickly we forget, and I actually did forget just how wooded this area was. To me, it's incredible, and I just wanted to share the almost-side-by-side views of this area.