Gettysburg Address

Dear Sugiyama Family,

(Connie's Part) Taki's parents were the first to visit us in our Owings Mills apartment. Although a little hard to find, it's been a nice place to live. Saturday morning we took a trip to Gettysburg, PA. Not really knowing where to go first we stopped at an information center where a nice lady suggested sites to see and a historic place to eat. We had a decision to make: subway, or the Dobbin House. Thankfully, we followed Taki's moms advice to eat at the Dobbin House Tavern, with colonial waitresses and candle lit tables, not to mention good food. I definitely recommend it. We spent the rest of the day traveling from site to site seeing memorials and reading little historical facts.

(My Part) There were many types of touring options. A CD car tour, a pay-an-old-guy-to-hop-in-your-car tour, and of course the drive yourself around tour. Before setting out on our self guided tour, we had to first get a grasp of what we were about to encounter. Being the do-it-yourselfer, my vote was to grab a flyer and head out the door, but mother insisted that we watch the "high tech - state of the art" electronic map show. What I thought was to be a sure flop, turned out to be one of the highlights of the entire trip. Yes it was cheesy, and not too fancy, but it definitely layed out all of the events of Gettysburg in a short 15 minutes, especially since I didn't even know which side was Confederate and which side Union. From there we drove around from site to site, recounting the battles displayed in the show.

One of my favorite "shots" came here at the cannons. Mother wasn't too happy that I forced Connie to pose in this picture against her will (hence her enthusiastic expression). Looking at it today, she did give in and say that it made for a funny picture. I'm sure there will come a time when she'll jump at the chance to pose in a "Blast Taki's head off" picture.

(Connie's Part Again) Perhaps the most anticipated site was Little Roundtop. Without the Union's occupation of this advantageous hilltop during the war, there may have been a different outcome. I found a handsome sharpshooter hidden behind one of the rocks pretending he had a Civil War gun that shot relatively far for that time period. We decided to take him home with us.

(My Part Again) That night we went out to eat at Don Pablos, where we "ravenously" devoured four baskets of chips. Dad made Pakai the next night following conference, afterwhich we settled down to a friendly game of Rumikub.