This post has been contributed by Vonnette Monteith, whose family won a Best Western 'Retro To Now Road Trip' This week, they'll see some popular northeast U.S. desitnations, first as 'retro' travelers without technology, then fully equipped....read all posts in the series here.

OK so it’s a little later than I had hoped to leave on the great adventure.  We were hoping to get out at 9:30 but its 10:00 - oh well.  I managed to find my backpack from when I was a kid and went on road trips with my parents and grandparents.  It actually still has all the postcards I got when I was a kid!  I threw it in the car so my kids could look through it.  Their one comment was, "Ewwww it stinks!"  Ok, the slight odor of mildew may be there! 

I also managed to grab all my music from the 50s, 60s and 70s that my parents used to listen too.  Teddy informed me she does not like Buddy Holly, but, oh well - kid torture in a car is an amazing thing.  I also grabbed some of the music I liked when in college like Ace of Base, etc. Our rental car is packed with probably more than we should take.  It was so convenient that Hertz let us pick up the car yesterday so we could get a jump start on packing!  Well, the van is packed, we are ready to go and the kids have already started to fight!  What's a good road trip without kids fighting though, right?
 
Gettysburg
The Monteith Clan arrived at Gettysburg! The first leg of the trip was pleasant as the kids were very involved in the car games AAA provided. They even had invisible ink games that I played with in the car when I was a kid. I am sure they will have no problem doing the first half of the trip with no in-car TVs because the assortment of games is perfect for all my kids. Every family should try this next time they hit the road – unplug that DVD player and play some car games!

After arriving we went immediately to the visitor’s center and saw the movie about Gettysburg. We then went to the National Park side of the visitor’s center and signed up for the junior ranger program. We love this program as it is a very economical way to see the park and get a souvenir.  The programs are very informative and the kids really have to pay attention and work to fill out the books, but in the end they all receive a badge which they can add to their collection. We try to do the programs whenever we are visiting a National Park.

Following the visit to the battlefield we checked in to the hotel and let the kids swim. This is sort of our compromise with the kids. I would love nothing better than to explore and sightsee all day, the kids would love to swim all day! So they know if they let me do sightseeing in the morning and are polite we will all take a break so they can swim. It is also a nice opportunity for Madeline, our youngest, to take a nap if she is tired.

The Gettysburg Best Western is by far one of my favorite hotels. It is located on the square across the street from where Lincoln wrote the historical Gettysburg address and it is just packed with history. As you can tell we are huge history buffs. My oldest Teddy loves it because she is sure there are ghosts who live in the hotel and she will get to see one. She is very fascinated with ghosts at this stage in her life. Unfortunately for some of her younger siblings she takes every opportunity she can to try and scare them with her "true" ghost stories. 

The kids are done with their swim now and we are going to head back to the battlefield for the "campfire" and try to find time for something to eat. Often times road trips with us are a little short on the meals as we just love to go and go and don't always break for food! Maybe I will lose a few pounds on this trip!

Gettysburg was a blast.  We thoroughly enjoyed the nice weather. We also got the chance to talk to some of the actors that reenact the battles by accidently wandering up to their campfire!  The interaction between the kids and the actors was the highlight of the trip.  The men truly seemed exhausted from a whole day of maneuvering, but the kids sat down and chatted up a storm. Asking questions that are extremely important to a nine-year-old like, "how can you sleep if a bug crawls on you?" The funny thing was, we thought we were at reenactment campfire discussion advertised in the National Parks Service newspaper, but when we left we 
found the "real" campsite discussion not too far from where we had been!

On our way out of Gettysburg we paid tribute to "Sallie", the 11th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment's mascot. Their historical marker has Sallie lying at the feet of her soldier. Great story and if you ever visit Gettysburg, go see her.