Mr. Behrendt Goes To Washington: Gettysburg and Meal of the Week

Gettysburg
On Friday, May 30th, I went to Gettysburg, PA with a few people from church to see the Gettysburg National Military Park and Gettysburg National Cemetery. We left early at around 8:00 am. Gettysburg is about 1 hour and 40 minutes away from Alexandria.

While in the Visitor Center, we did many activities. We saw a movie about Gettysburg. Afterwards we went to the Cyclorama. The Cylcorama is massive oil-on-canvas paintings enhanced with landscaped foregrounds featuring grasses and fences. A 3-D view surrounded me while I stood on a central platform, literally placing me in the center of the battle. This painting brings the fury of the final Confederate assault on July 3, 1863 to life, providing a view with a sense of what occurred at the battle long touted as the turning point of the Civil War. Then we went through the museum that over viewed the whole Civil War especially the Battle of Gettysburg and the Gettysburg Address.

After the Visitor Center we traveled to Eisenhower's house and farm and the Gettysburg's battlefield, while doing a self-guided tour. The Eisenhowers bought a house right next to the Gettysburg battlefield as a retirement home after Dwight after WWII. Dwight wanted to take up farming and raised black angus cattle. Eisenhower was able to accept gifts as president (last one to do so) and his house filled with them. Next we went to Gettysburg battlefield. The battlefield is huge! It took us about 45 minutes to go over the while self guided tour. Along there road there a ton of signs and monuments. There are monuments to different divisions from each side of the conflict. I could not believe how many signs and monuments were present. They appears to occur every 100 feet.

I had a really enjoyable time! I am glad I was able to see where brave men laid down their lives for principle of human equality as espoused by Abraham Lincoln in the Gettysburg address.

Meal of the Week
This week I made soft shell tacos. I made the tacos by browning then draining ground beef (85/15). Adding water and a taco seasoning pack to the drained ground beef. The taco meat, salsa, and cheese was added to a flour tortilla. I was able to make 6 soft shell tacos.