Today was another beautiful day even if the morning did start out rainy. We had planned to get up and cook breakfast and take our time since we were only about 15 mins from Antietam and the park didn’t open until 9, but the rain put a bit of a damper on that. Instead, we rode in towards Antietam and stopped at Bonnie’s at the Red Byrd dinner for breakfast. This place was fantastic. Will and I sort of keep forgetting where in the world we are, so we were pleasantly surprised to be able to order breakfast foods we’re so used to. Will had eggs and cheesy grits and I was able to get corned beef hash with eggs over easy. It was a nice start to the day to have such good comfort foods.
Antietam, in Sharpsburg, MD, is another National Battlefield that you can tour by way of a self-guided driving tour. Fortunately, there are no options to get on a huge bus and be driven around by tour guides at this site. We took our time driving through the tour, stopping at several of the sites, and really just admiring how beautiful the farmland is here. Our favorite stop at this battlefield was surely the Sunken Road, more fondly called the Bloody Lane. We made a point to stop at this site on the tour to walk the Bloody Lane and climb the observation tour to look out over a good majority of the battlefield.
We also really enjoyed the Bloody Bridge. There was a massive tree which was once a small, young tree standing right at the end of the bridge, that was photographed immediately following the battle and is still standing to this day. We walked across the bridge and up to the tree as close as we could get, both of us intently searching for musket balls lodged in the bark. We didn’t see any, but that didn’t take away from the oddity of standing next to this tree that had witnessed such horrific sites, while the sun shone down, and a nice spring breeze blew the smell of wildflowers through the air. There’s something a bit odd about standing in these places. These places that have witnessed so much death and devastation bear true witness to the fact that time marches on. It’s all a bit surreal.
And of course, as time does march on, we finished the battlefield tour at Antietam and made our way back to our campsite for a late lunch and relaxing afternoon. Since we had a bit of free time today, we put up our Fox Wing awning to give us a little shade to relax in. Late in the afternoon, a huge thunderstorm rolled in and this awning, which spreads out about 280 degrees around provided us a bit of a reprieve from the rain. With that rain pounding down all around us, Will was able to continue cooking our dinner while I ran from section to section of the awning making sure that the pulling rain was dumping off the top. Just imagine me doing small sprints around three corners of the teardrop frantically pushing up the awning so that the pooling water would flood over the sides and onto the ground. It’s okay to laugh. We both ended up quite yet, but just about all of our things stayed dry and the clean-up was really easy.
We ended the day by playing another game of chess. So far Will has beaten me both times we’ve played, although I’m quickly learning the game and am working on beating him soon. I am, however, kicking his butt in Gin Rummy. He’s losing, by like, a lot.
We’ve got a bit of a drive tomorrow as we’re off to Ohiopyle State Park in PA.
Life in the right lane,
Rachel
DMG Exploration 