Summer Holidays - First Long weekend trip

We are still driving and few miles away from the great historic place. On our way we crossed a nice 2 mile long tunnel. The lights in the tunnel were so dramatic that it felt as if we were in the middle of a 'Batman' or 'Men in Black' movie. We all were so thrilled to drive in.

In fact, to watch the full video you can click this Youtube  link :)) Enjoy !

Sudharshun and Thani took the front seat and me and Karthik shared the back seat. As soon as we were out of the tunnel we took an exit and started driving in 'Lincoln Highway'. Let me tell something about the great Lincoln Highway.

The Lincoln Highway was the first road across the United States of America. Actively promoted by entrepreneur Carl G. Fisher, the Lincoln Highway originally spanned coast-to-coast from Times Square in New York City to Lincoln Park in San Francisco through 13 states: New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, and California.

The first officially recorded length of the entire Lincoln Highway was 3389 miles (5454 km) in 1913. Over the years, the road was improved and numerous realignments were made, and by 1924 the highway had been shortened to 3142 miles (5056 km). Counting the original route and all of the subsequent realignments, there is a grand total of 5869 miles (9445 km).  (From Wikipedia)

This highway is called 'US Route 30' in PA. This one was so different compared to all we come across earlier. Its a one lane road, had sudden ups and downs, more sharp short curves. Also had very less or no shoulders. Karthik forced Sudharshun to take over the back seat and he drove the car, because we all felt little scared. Absolutely not because of Sudharshun Driving, the road was like that.

I really cant explain that in words, once you drive in that you all can understand what I am telling. Though we were little scared we enjoyed the scenic view around us.

At last, by 1.00 pm we reached the Great historic battle field in Gettysburg. This was the most important battle field and was a turning point in the US Civil War. The battle was fought for 3 days starting from July 1, 1863. The causalities were horrible, around 8000 killed and 36000 wounded or missing.

US government painstakingly restored the whole battle field to the way it looked during those fateful July days. States which contributed troops for this battle have erected individual memorials for their regiments who served in the battle.

We spent around 3 hours in this place, Sudharshun and Karthik were so excited they both were talking about all the events happened here. They both like History a lot. After seeing this battle field we went and saw a huge painting called "Gettysburg Cyclorama"

 The painting is the work of French artist Paul Dominique Philippoteaux. It depicts "Pickett's Charge", the failed infantry assault that was the climax of the Battle of Gettysburg. The painting is a cyclorama, a type of 360° cylindrical painting.original painting was 22 feet (6.7 m) high and 279 feet (85 m) in circumference. The version that hangs in Gettysburg, a recreation of the original, is 27 feet (8.2 m) high and 359 feet (109 m) in circumference,[1] although that version has lost some of its size due to the ravages of time. Its original size is estimated at 42 feet (13 m) high and 365 feet (111 m) in circumference. (From Wikipedia) 

I was so shocked to see that painting. It doesn't looked like a painting at all to me. It was looking so real like a 3D picture. When we were planning this trip, Karthik was telling me about this painting but it was much bigger and breathtaking than what I imagined.
Just posting some photos, these are only a small part of the big cyclorama painting

It is fantastic isn't it !  Oh, I enjoyed it...

Its 4.00 pm we all were hungry, couldn't find any place to sit and eat. So drove out few miles away from the battle field pulled over near a Wendy's parking lot, opened our bag and had our lunch in the car itself. It was a different experience for us, 4 people eating inside a car, where all the foods are to be served from the box and nothing was ready to eat.

If you get a chance to pass that place, don't miss the US 30 route and the Cyclorama painting. Those were the highlights of our day.

Hm, from there we went to sweet, yummy delicious place. I m not kidding. Will tell about this in my next post. Bye !!!