Alright kids, this is gonna be a quick post! My darling hubby decided to surprise me with a weekend jaunt to Annapolis to celebrate Valentine’s Day since he’ll be out of town next week. We’re getting ready to explore this adorable little town, so I have to make it a quick post. I promise I’ll take lots of pictures to share, but for now, I figured I’d stay in the historical vein and share some pictures from a recent trip to Gettysburg.

Gettysburg isn’t even a hop, skip and a jump away from DC. It’s more of just a hop and maybe a half a skip. In about two hours travel time from DC, you’ll find yourself smack dab in the middle of historical battlefields, storefronts advertising Civil War memorabilia and, of course, just your average Civil War reenactor. I know Gettysburg isn’t exactly the top destination to pop on a DCer’s radar; we ended up there for a friend’s wedding. However, it was a very cost effective, easy escape from reality.

The Historic Gettysburg Hotel

We stayed at the Historic Gettysburg Hotel,a Best Western property, smack dab in the middle of quaint downtown Gettysburg. For $100 a night, our room was decent enough. The hotel is very old, so don’t expect any bells and whistles, but the staff was nice (and in historic costume) and the rooms were clean. We were within a few blocks of cute restaurants, shops and a coffee shop with tons of character.

We wanted to leave Gettysburg with an improved knowledge of American history, so on Saturday, we ventured out to the Gettysburg battlefield. Upon arrival, we realized we didn’t have enough time to see everything we wanted to, so we set out on a walking tour of the battlefield site nearby. Here are some highlights:

A view from the walkway of the battlefield.
Some information about the battlefield.
Weaponry.
A fellow battlefield admirer contemplating what went wrong...
The whole gang.

All in all, we had a fantastic time. I recommend the Lincoln Diner, around the corner from the hotel, for some stick to your ribs grub and the Ragged Edge for a caffeine buzz, quick bite and free refills. Crazy concept, right? FREE REFILLS. Needless to say, I was a happy, albeit jittery, customer. Go ahead, give Gettysburg a try! Convenient, cheap and chock-full of things to do, it is an easy alternative to a weekend of the same old DC thing!