Harpers Ferry to Sharpsburg and Valley Forge.

While staying at Gettysburg we hired a car and drove around the beautiful country side of Pennsylvania, Maryland and West Virginia.

West Virginia on the far side at Harpers Ferry.

The Potomac River

The Potomac again.

The Battlefield around Sharpsburg

The Dunker Church.

 After stopping in at the visitors centre we drove around the battlefield.

Near the sunken road.

 No trip to the Sharpsburg battlefield would be complete without seeing the famous bridge over Antietam creek known as Burnside's Bridge.

 Very warm and peaceful the day we were there and hard to believe that once this was the scene of some bitter fighting.

I also had plans to visit the Brandywine Battlefield but it was closed for some sort of repair work so instead I hopped on a bus and went out to Valley Forge.

 I spent several hours wandering around taking photos.

This guy was busy explaining about the huts to some visitors.

The artillery park.

A huge monument in the middle of the park.

So that is about it until my next trip over to that side of the world.

Gettysburg

It was a totally unreal feeling overlooking Gettysburg and realising that I was actually there.

I had a fantastic time driving around the battlefield and around the countryside.

Just a few of the many photos below.

Taken from between Cemetery Hill and Culp's Hill

Looking back at Cemetery Hill.

Meade's HQ

The Angle.

 Wandering along between The Angle and the Copse of Trees and looking toward where the Rebels started from was a strange feeling.

The trees that where the target for the Confederates on July 3rd.

 It's also quite a long walk retracing the steps of Pickett's Charge when you think of the amount of lead that was flying around that day!

The round tops in the background.

Lieutenant General James Longstreet

Moving through the rocks at Devil's Den.

Devil's Den from Little Round Top

The view from Little Round Top

Trostle farm was important for me to see. Having made a model of it a few years ago, for our 150th anniversary game, I was keen to see it up close.

Near Trostle Farm

The Round Tops.

A covered bridge near the battlefield.

The cyclorama at the visitors centre is well worth a look

 In the town of Gettysburg is this amazing diorama. They do a light show over this layout to explain the battle and then you are free to take a closer look. Thousands of Airfix troops can be found here.

All in all a fantastic time that I will have to do again.

Miniature World. Vancouver Island.

After spending a couple of weeks with family in Bellingham ( about one and a half hours drive north from Seattle) we headed to Vancouver. While there we went across to Vancouver Island and ended up at the very interesting Miniature World.

85 dioramas that are truly amazing. Some in 54mm scale and others in HO. There are a lot of the good old Airfix figures here!

Here a few shots of just some.

 First up is a bunch of photos  from the Normandy, June 1945 diorama.

Battle of Saratoga 1777.

Western France, August 1918.

Chelsea, June 1815.
News of Napoleons defeat at Waterloo.

 30 Years War. I think.

Germany 1945.

1st Manassas, 1861

This last group depict Vancouver in 1885, then Calgary also in 1885 and then Toronto in 1915.

 Although not all wargames related there is some wonderful model building going on here.

We took over 700 photos at this place and although I will do another post on this place you are getting off very lightly!