April 25-28, 2014 - Winding Down this Trip

Our trip is finally winding down. DC was the last big stop. But as one friend said, how can you go to WA DC and not stop at the Gettysburg Battleground? So I looked it up and it is only 40 miles north of our route to visit family in Lexington KY. 

So we got up on Friday and headed north into Pennsylvania.

 

Of course we had our normal luck with the weather, it was rainy and cold. So we left the bikes in the trailer and decided to go to the museum and the Cyclorama.

A cyclorama is a 360° cylindrical painting that is intended to immerse the viewer in the scene being depicted.  When completed for display, the full work included not just the painting, but numerous artifacts and sculptures, including stone walls, trees, and fences.  Along with a narrator who told the story of this failed assault that was the final battle of the 3 days we call Gettysburg, there would be people behind the painting making the sound effects and using lanterns to highlight the different scenes as the story unfolded.  Viewers would be in the center with the painting all around them. This form of painting has been described as the nineteenth century equivalent of an IMAX theater.  Today when you view the cyclorama they do the same things, but using higher tech options!

There were 4 versions of this painting, each displayed in a different location.  The painting that hangs in Gettysburg, a recent (2005) restoration of the version created for Boston, is 27 feet high and 359 feet in circumference, although this version has lost some of its size due to the ravages of time.

The Cyclorama alone was worth the price of admission!

 

From Gettysburg we headed back south and then west through Maryland. This town had a number of neat looking churches.

 

On our way to Kentucky we cut through West Virginia (I want to come back and ride some of the hilly country there). Then we headed to Lexington to visit with our niece Rachael who is a Doctoral Candidate at University of Kentucky. 

 On Monday Rachael and her boyfriend Courtney took us out to one of the stops on the Bourbon Trail, Woodford Reserve.

 Here the mash is cooking

 Woodford Reserve is triple distilled, here are the three stills

 Once kegged, the bourbon sits in the keg house for between 6-9 years. It is tested periodically and bottled once it is decided that the correct taste has be achieved.

 This 18 year old kitty lives on site.

 Rachael and Courtney at the tasting table

 Yum!!!

 

 From there we went to the Keeneland Racetrack.

 For a photo op with the jockeys!

We had to look at the track

We didn't see any racing but you could see how everyone was gearing up for the Derby the following weekend.

 

From here we are headed home.  We will spend the next couple of months visiting friends and family so I will not be posting until we start the Trans-America Trail in July.

 

But I will leave you with one more photo,

 

 

Do you think we need new tires? We wore these out on this trip. But new ones have already been purchased and we will be ready to ride again soon!

Check back again in July for the TAT!  In the mean time, keep the rubber side down and be safe!