Run Gettysburg

So last week I was in Gettysburg for work. If you have to travel for work, Gettysburg isn't half bad. It was like a mini-vacation/school trip combined with 3 days of meetings and 21 hours in a van. Sounds like fun, doesn't it!

I managed one run while I was there, and I thought I'd share my run with all 4 of my readers. From my room at the good ole Travellodge (highly recommended!), it was just a few steps to the Battlefield. I hit the road at 6:15 AM along Cemetery ridge. I vaguely remembered from my last trip to Gettysburg (1989 or so) that there were a few ridges and hills that were part of the battle. Yup, there are a few hills in Gettysburg! I climbed for about a 1/2 mile then down, down, down to the Pennsylvania Memorial (the big dome.) On the way down the hill,I ran into a couple out for a morning run (And I thought I was the only one with this brilliant idea!) They waved and asked if I knew where the trail was. I shrugged. They gestured for me to go ahead of them, and I smiled and said, "I'm sure I'm slower than you." Boy was I right....in a flash, they were gone!
I ran around the dome and up the road towards this rock that caught my eye.....it was actually a monument(to the left of the barn). I have to say it was the strangest and coolest monument I saw in Gettysburg(and there are 1,300 on the battlefield!) I later found out it was Roxbury Puddingstone placed there for the 20th Massachusetts Regiment. Now that's a cool use of a "Rock"

It was getting late (and I'm slow,) so I turned and headed back to the Travellodge so I could get ready for my day of meetings. I cut through the site of the old Visitor's center and Cyclorama. The visitor's center has been demo'ed, but the Cyclorama is still standing (something about a lawsuit because it has some historic architectural significance - it was built by a pupal of Frank Lloyd Wright.) A new visitor's center opened last year - it's very cool!
Instead of heading back the way I came, I jumped the fence to the Gettysburg Cemetery for the last part of my run. It was here Lincoln spoke the Gettysburg address. So surreal. What a quiet, peaceful way to start my day.