Harpers Ferry

We were in Harpers Ferry, so of course we went to the Harpers Ferry National Historical Park.  We had heard that parking in the town itself was next to impossible, so we didn't even try it.  We left our car at the lot provided by the park service and caught a ride down on their shuttle bus.  Easy peasy :).

The bus dropped us off and the first place we headed was the bookstore to purchase our Jr. Ranger books.  Those books are so awesome!  They really do give an outline of the park and sort of a guide to follow when walking around.  We took some time to sit on the porch and browse through the books before starting off on our edu-venture.

Walking down the street, we ventured into each of the buildings.  There was the gun-making shop, a museum with progressive videos that you have to go room to room to watch (different...), some buildings were just shells with dirt floors inside, so much to see...

the doors were so narrow!

The Visitor Center is in the old Master Armorer's House and includes a pretty good museum.  On one of our visits to the Ranger desk, a chest full of old style clothes was brought out for the kids to try on.  Bonnets, aprons, and shawls for the girls...Civil War hats and vests for the boys...

...and the windows, I just <3 old wavy glass like that :)

The VC overlooks the site of the Arsenal Square...all that's left is just some foundations.  Next door to that is John Brown's Fort.  The Armory's fire engine house-where Brown made his last stand after his raid to seize the weapons in the Arsenal had failed.

Just past the Fort there is a point that looks out over the rivers.  Harpers Ferry sits at the confluence of the Potomac and the Shenandoah Rivers.  And yes, there used to be a ferry...in 1761, Robert Harper (the town's namesake) established a ferry across the Potomac. 

After walking along the water and the old railroad track for a while, we turned back towards town.  As we were walking along one of the streets, we saw a sign that told of a certain Mr. Lewis who had come to Harpers Ferry to procure supplies in 1803 for an expedition out West.  So cool to think that THE Meriwether Lewis, of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, walked these very streets...

Just when our feet were starting to get tired from all the walking, it was time to join up with the Ranger talk.  I highly recommend this if you ever go!  The talk starts out at one end of the town, you gather around the Ranger and he starts telling of the town's history...for different parts of the talk, you walk to different areas of the town-all while he points out the places he is talking about (and you do get to sit and rest at some of the stops, btw).  Even though we had already walked the entire place on our own, we still enjoyed and learned some new facts from the tour.  Oh, and it's free :).

this is the spot where the tour starts

We saw ev.er.y.thing.  At the end of the day, we were pretty tired!  You see, this park offers kids the chance to earn not one, but THREE Jr. Ranger badges.  Three!  There are levels to complete, and for each level a different badge is earned.  Apprentice, Journeyman, and Master.  We were talking to the Rangers so much that day, that they knew our names when they saw us coming ;).  And yes, the four of my kids that still do the program each earned (and they worked hard for them) all three badges.  They wouldn't have had it any other way :). 

Antietam National Battlefield

While we were in the area, we took the time to visit Antietam...

Antietam was a very different experience for us than Gettysburg.  As you probably know, Gettysburg is more "popular".  The result of that popularity is a glaze of commercialization that sits over the whole experience (at least for us it did).

The commercialization was absent at Antietam and in it's place was a feeling so intense that it took me by surprise.  First a little background for you:

"The Bloodiest One Day Battle in American History

23,000 soldiers were killed, wounded or missing after twelve hours of savage combat on September 17, 1862. The Battle of Antietam ended the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia's first invasion into the North and led to Abraham Lincoln's issuance of the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation."

(from the NPS website)

...the bloodiest one day battle in American history. 

You could FEEL it.  I don't know how to describe it, but there was just a very heavy feeling there.  A very sad feeling.  I wasn't expecting to feel that way (Gettysburg didn't feel like that), I seriously had to struggle not to cry as we walked around.  And I rarely cry, so that should tell you how intense it was.

After walking around outside, we went back into the visitor center to check out the small museum and watch the film.  I recommend both, but with a word of caution for younger children.  The film was a bit graphic---when the kids were finishing up their Jr. Ranger books with the Park Ranger, he asked them what they thought of this or that...he asked my youngest what he thought of the film...Tristan replied, "I thought that it was inappropriate for children."---(Ha!  out of the mouths of babes...)

**A couple of pages from the NPS website that give first hand accounts of that hellacious day... here and here.  I warn you, though, they are very hard to read...

Almost Camp David...

After Gettysburg, we drove a mere thirty minutes down the road to a place out in the woods.  An oasis of peace and quiet nestled in the forest.  Perhaps you have heard of Camp David?  Yes...THE Camp David...as in the President of the United States' Camp David.  Well, we didn't go there (duh), but we were about as close as you could get.  We went to a place called Catoctin Mountain Park...which is Camp David's neighbor.  Seriously!  Right next door!  I thought it was pretty cool, anyway ;)...

Catoctin Mtn. Park is managed by the National Park Service...so that meant Jr. Ranger time!  This park was a fun one for the kids.  The main activities were to take a hike and write about it (love), make some leaf rubbings (also love), and...that's all I can remember right now.  The kids had so much fun tromping through the forest, looking for the "perfect" fallen leaf to add to their pages.

not a leaf...but a really BIG acorn!

Our favorite trail was the Charcoal Trail.  This was a short little trail, but full of great information.  All along the path were various boards and structures that taught us about the charcoal making that went on in those woods many years ago.  Something I had honestly never thought of (which made it even more fun to learn about)!

My little leader...we followed her lead (which made her quite happy)...

She did really well, too!  In places the trail was hard to follow because of the fallen leaves, everything pretty much looked the same...

...I saw her take her foot and brush away the leaves to make sure that we were still on the right path (there was a little bit of gravel here and there on the path).  That's my girl :).

We finished up our visit back at the Visitor Center... 

The Ranger was very friendly, we spent a long time just chatting with her and a student volunteer.  They gave us quite the education on deer herd management and the signs of a healthy population vs. well, the opposite.  The park had in the past had problems with maintaining their resident herd.  The logging that took place (making that charcoal...) had simply wiped out the food supply for these animals.  Now that the forest is thriving, the population has gotten out of hand.  They told us that they actually hire snipers (their words) that come in at night and shoot deer.  The meat is donated to local food banks to feed those that can't afford to feed themselves and the deer that remain in the park are healthier than ever because they are able to get enough to eat, too.  Excellent!

One other thing that kind of took me by surprise...when the Ranger was going over the kids books she commented on their handwriting.  The kids all know how to write in cursive and this really impressed her.  She said that public schools aren't teaching that anymore...  Really?  If that is true, then it's a shame.  Do any of ya'll teach your kids to write in cursive?  I hope so...

Chincoteague Island, Virginia

After touring Fort McHenry in Baltimore yesterday, we drove east, north, and then south.  East and north to get to the top of Delaware...just because we wanted to drive all the way through it from north to south...and then south and east some more until we arrived on the island of Chincoteague in Virginia.  This is where we spent the day, today...

Chincoteague Island is home to a famous herd of wild horses...you may have heard of them from the Misty books.  Well, I'm here to tell you that they are real!  We saw a small group of them across a marsh today and it was SO neat.  The looks on my kids faces was priceless...complete and total awe :).  So much so that we stopped and bought several of the Misty books to have for our own...any of you that live in a tiny space know that this is a big deal since books are heavy and often bulky.  Totally worth it - I have happy kiddos this evening, curled up reading stories about wild ponies that they have seen with their very own eyes.  Love, love, love :)...

 

I just skipped straight to the end of the day, haha!  Let me back up a little...

The first place we stopped this morning was at the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center.  The sign going in said we had to stop there to pay our entrance fee and what we found when we went in totally surprised us.  The lady at the desk was really friendly, she answered all of my questions and then gave the kids each a Jr. Ranger book...for the Wildlife Refuge!  We didn't even know they had a program, so this was a nice surprise.  She told us that the answers could be found in the vc, and they mostly were (some you had to get from outside).  The other surprise was how nice the vc was!  We probably spent a good two hours in there reading exhibits and trying everything out...

learning about plover habitat...

studying plant cells under the microscopes...

junior ornithologists hard at work...

When the kids had done all they could on their own, they went to get some help from the Ranger.  One thing they needed was a bird identification guide and the Ranger had it.  She could have just handed it to them and told them to help themselves, but she didn't.  She was so great with the kids!!!  She went through the book with them and helped them while chatting about all the different birds and laughing with them...I'm pretty sure the kids didn't even realize they were learning and doing their school for the day at that point :).

When their books were finished and they were given their badges/patches we grabbed some maps and headed out to explore the island some more.  It was just down the road a bit that we saw the horses...

Heading further south, we came to Tom's Cove.  The NPS has a visitors center there that is part of the Assateague Island National Seashore, this was our next stop...

Chincoteague Bay on one side of the vc...

Hoo, boy!  There are no trees around the cove area where we were and the WIND WAS CRAZY!!!  We darted quickly inside as the wind pushed against us and literally took our breath away...

...and the Atlantic on the other

What we found inside was very different from the Wildlife Refuge VC, but just as interesting and fun.  The Ranger that was there today was great with the kids and happy to answer alllll.... :) their questions.  We spent at least two hours in there, also, and other than one lady we were the only ones there.  The Ranger said the wild winds and chilly temps (it was 38 F) were keeping everyone away...everyone except us :).

The kids (of course) got their Jr. Ranger books.  They were only required to do 6 pages to get their badges, but the books were so much fun that they did the entire thing...12 pages.  Some of the required activities included sticking their hands in the touch tanks and then writing about the creatures they held, looking through the telescope at the beach and marsh and then drawing a picture of what they saw...fun and creative activities (the perfect compliment to the more studious books they had just completed at the other vc).

this clam squirted Trevor...

...and then Tyler could barely contain his excitement at the thought of that clam squirting his sister, haha!

There was also an area full of bones that the kids were encouraged to hold and examine.  These were a big hit :)...

When the books were done and badges awarded, the kids and I chatted with the Ranger and the other lady at the desk for a while about all kinds of things. --- Did you know that horseshoe crabs have blue blood?  And that new vaccines are first tested for bacteria on horseshoe crab blood because it clots much faster than human blood?  She told us this is because it is copper based where ours is iron based...interesting.  And before you get upset, the crabs aren't harmed (much...other than a pinch).  They have small amounts of blood drawn (just like when we give blood) and then they are released. ---

We were just about to walk out the door when the Ranger told us to wait a minute, she had something else to show us.  She took us to the touch tank area and we got to watch her feed all of the creatures!  She had the kids gather all around and she explained how each thing ate, etc.  It was VERY neat, our own private little show!

We left there and went into town to get a (very) late lunch.  Then it was right back out to the beach!  We rode the wildlife loop, but we didn't see much of anything.  The cold day had most critters hiding...except for some birds...

Next, we went back out to Tom's Cove with hopes of spending some time walking on the beach.  Hahaha!  Funny.  We walked quickly from our car down to the edge of the water, stood for about 2.5 seconds, and then RAN back to our car :).  It was c-c-c-cold!!!  It was pretty, though...

the only pic I got of the kids before they bailed....

Before leaving, we took a quick peek at the lighthouse...

Then, it was time to go home and read our Misty books :).

Chincoteague Island on Dwellable