The Pennsylvania Review

   

About a month ago I was in Pennsylvania on vacation. My friend and I went through three different parts of Pennsylvania, and I thought I would share my experience.

 The first place that we stopped was Gettysburg, PA. Gettysburg is a place for a person who loves history, and I'm a person who loves history. I enjoyed going through the Gettysburg National Military Park. It was a self-guided tour in a car. We had a map from the welcome center, and while we drove around, we had markers on the trail and were able to read about what the monument or place was on the map. The scenery and the houses were beautiful too. Two colleges that are there is the Lutheran Theological Seminary and Gettysburg College. Finally,  great place to eat when in Gettysburg is called Lincoln Diner. The food is cheap and excellent. We went to eat there on a Wednesday around seven at night. The address to this diner is 32 Carlisle St, Gettysburg, PA 17325. It's worth checking out if you are in Gettysburg, PA.

 Now, the next place that we visited in Pennsylvania was Lancaster, PA. We stayed at the Economy Inn. The room was clean and comfortable. There was no elevator, so if you have a lot of luggage get ready to lug it up some stairs. The people that work at the Economy Inn are sweet and kind people. We had a conversation with one of the men who works there about God and how amazing He is. That was pretty cool! 

While we were in Lancaster, we went to eat with an Amish family for $16.00. I am not going to give out the families personal information out of respect for the household. But the family was very sweet and hospitable. The food was fantastic and at the end of our time together everyone in the room sang "Amazing Grace" together and I could feel the Holy Spirit in that room. That was one of the best parts of the trip in Pennsylvania! The only thing that was tough was that there was no air condition, and it was sweltering!

The last thing we did in Lancaster was paying $12.00 for a thirty minute Amish Buggy ride around Lancaster. The man who drove the buggy was friendly and kind. He gave plenty of information on Lancaster and the Amish people, and the buggy ride was fun.

 The last stop in Pennsylvania was in Hershey, PA at the Hershey's Chocolate World. Now, the Chocolate World is free to experience, and that is what we chose to do. The decorations were neat and fun to look at. It was neat to see my favorite chocolates as cartoon characters. The next thing that I liked was that Hershey's Chocolate World has a little ride that a person can ride on and learn how the chocolate that people enjoy is made. The ride is somewhat kiddish and would probably keep kids attention very well, but it's fun for adults also. I will warn that the candy in the store is pretty expensive, along with anything else in the gift store. We didn't check out Hershey Park because it was too expensive for us with everything else that we wanted to do.

This post my Pennsylvania Review and I hope that it's helpful if you ever plan a trip to Pennsylvania. God Bless!

Resolved: Freedom and Independence

      "Proclaim Liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof:" ~Leviticus 25:10
   Fireworks, picnics, a long weekend, red, white, and blue pride. 
   These are a few things that the people in the United States have come to see the 4th of July as. I am one of those people. To me, 4th of July was about getting to see fireworks and spending the weekend in different states with my best friend. In 2014 I watched the fireworks in Washington D.C. and 2015 I watched them at a concert in Tennessee. This year I was going to watch fireworks in Flordia, but now it's Tennessee.
   Watching fireworks is not the most important thing to me this year, though. The phrase "Let freedom ring" has been in my head for a couple of days, so I started doing some research. 

   Documents, ideas, team work, and a bell all play a part in the reason America gets to celebrate the 4th of July today.

   In 1776 there was a meeting in the Pennsylvania State House to discuss the thirteen colonies freedom from England. A man from Virginia named Richard Henry Lee came up with a resalution and said: "Resolved: That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown,an that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved," (The History of the 4th of July). 

   Richard Henry Lee's words resulted in John Adams, Roger Sherman, Benjamin Franklin, Robert R. Livingston, and Thomas Jefferson to write and sign the Decloration of Independence. It took time to write the Decloration of Independence, and to proof read it. Therefore, the Decoration of Independence was not finished until July 4th, 1776. 

   It is said that the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was used to gather the people for the very first public reading of the Decleration of Independence on July 8, 1776. However some historians doubt that the Liberty Bell actually rang when the Decloration of Independence was read because the steeple of the bell was in really bad condition by 1776. It's possible that the Liberty Bell is associated with the reading of the Decleration of Independence because a man named George Lippard wrote a fictional story that told of a man waiting to hear that congress had declared independence so he could ring the bell. This story was published in The Saturday Currier in 1847, (The Liberty Bell).

   Freedom was hard to achieve for the men (and women) who sat out to have religous and other freedoms. Freedom is still hard today because there is always someone who disagrees about how things are being run. So, on this 4th of July take a moment to appreciate all that our forefathers had to go through to get us where we are today, and about all the men and women who are away from home keeping us safe and free. Be thankful for your freedom, don't just enjoy "the show." Thank you to our soldiers! And happy 4th of July everyone!

   "Proclaim Liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof:" ~Leviticus 25:10