Gettysburg was really fun and it was history. And it was October 13, 2005. And that's history. Dillon

Gettysburg was very cool because we got a CD you could play in your car and that was our tour. I am making a movie about Gettysburg and what happened there. I am only at the beginning but I will get there. The hotel we are staying in is very cool. We have a suite and that's sweet. We have been playing outdoor shuffle board. Liam

It's October 14, 2005 and we are leaving Lancaster, PA. Happy Birthday Jill Oberly and Calista Mayer.

Yesterday was a powerful day. Gettysburg. If you haven't been there you should go. The area has hundreds of monuments which describe the battle which occured there. More poignant, however, is gazing across the Pennsylvania countryside and imagining the incredible scene unfolding in front of you. Although the town of Gettysburg is a working town with stores and lawyers offices and all, much of the countryside has gone undeveloped, allowing you to look over large expanses that have changed very little since July, 1863. Combined with all of the monuments you can really get an idea of how the battle progressed. We were there in the afternoon, when much of the battle took place over the three days, which put an eerie light on the whole scene. It was a worthwhile experience for all members of our family. We all enjoyed the audio CD tour which we bought at the Park Service Headquarters and allowed us to travel the battlefield at our own pace. We got the one with battle sounds, the better to keep young boys engaged.

October 11, 2005 finds us back in Pennsylvania. Lancaster to be more precise. We are staying at a wonderful Best Western Hotel and are taking a break. D.C. was incredible and exhausting. So much to do and I think we really tried to do it all! At this moment, Liam and Dillon are outside having P.E. We are engaged in doubles shuffleboard. Very fun game. I decided to take a break and try and update our Home page. We're going to lay low until Thursday and they check out the surrounding areas. Gettysburg is also in our future and that could be very interesting.

Speaking of interesting, yesterday we did stop by the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum and that was awesome. A huge hanger filled with all types of aircraft and information. We tried to get a picture of the space shuttle Discovery but could not fit it into the picture frame. That is one big bird. Lots of aerobatic planes, the Concord, and the Enola Gay. Liam and Dillon were totally impressed with the SR-71 spy plane and I will have to admit it was pretty impressive looking at it from the ground up!

We went into Washington D.C. from Springfield, Virginia on October 5. It was memorial day, Oberly style. We took the Metro in and got off at the Foggy Bottom stop. We couldn't answer Dillon's question as to where the foggy bottom was, but were quite surprised when we rose up to street level to be facing the George Washington Univeristy hospital and medical school. The GW campus is spread over dozens of streets with one brick building housing a school department and the next a fraternity (we missed the toga party on Oct. 1 starting at 11 p.m.). Cars mix with skate boarders on the streets and the sidewalks are a combination of students with books, tourists and Washington government types.

From the subway we walked to the memorials. First was the Albert Einstein Memorial at the National Academies. This was a good place to start as it was somewhat whimsical, having a celetial map at the foot of a seated and sockless (he NEVER wore socks) 21 foot, 7,000 pound Albert Einstein. From there we went to the Vietnam Memorial, which can best be described as sobering. You get some idea of the numbers involved by the sheer size of the book at the entrance which tells you where each name appears. The Wall, combined with the statutes of three soldiers and the nurses statute is a great tribute to a time we should not forget, lest we repeat it. (already?) Liam was very moved by the Vietnam memorial and vows to keep our country from repeating the mistake -- if he can. The Lincoln Memorial was next, which is very impressive. A Large statute to a large man. The Korean War Memorial was also moving and very interesting, nineteen stainless steel statutes of soldiers on patrol. We were told it is even more amazing at night when lights make the patrol seem eerie. Our last memorial was to be the relatively new World War II memorial. It is an impressive combination of fountains, friezes, quotes and solemn feelings. It was dusk and the view from the memorial reaching to the Lincoln Memorial was quite beautiful.

One thing that has changed over the years, the automatic reaction to reach in your pocket and throw a coin in the fountains was discouraged. There was a sign by each fountain stating "Coins stain the memorial." Have to wish upon a star. All in all it was a day which affected each of us, made us appreciate those who we were meant to appreciate, and made us hope there is no more war. -B.O.

And now, a word from Liam O. In Washington, D.C. I liked the spy museum -- very cool, very cool. Also, I liked the zoo, especially seeing the giant panda bear. The American History Museum was also very cool with exhibits on some big wars that happened in the past, like the Civil War. Monday, October 3, we went to the Air and Space Museum. It was an awesome place to visit and we saw an exhibit on the Wright Brothers, a U-2 spy plane and we went on some crazy simulator rides. The rides were crazy to the extent that I couldn't really control the ride. Dillon was with me and we I kept doing barrel rolls, flipping back and forth while my younger brother was able to fly very straight! This was opposite from our first simulator ride in Philadelphia at the Franklin Institute Science Museum. There was also a small Blackbird spy plane on display, an X-15, and the X-1 which was first plane to break the sound barrier. There were also a number of rockets and there was a Buzz Bomb which bombed England in World War II. A B-2 bomb was also on display and both the Buzz and B-2 bombs were created by the Germans and used on England.-L.O.

One panel of the Vietnam Wall documenting the beginning of the war's death toll and MIA - 1959.

October 5, 2005

Washington Monument

September 28, 2005 - Washington, D.c.

Vietnam memorial. No words can describe this statute after seeing 59,000 dead and MIA names on the Wall.

October 5, 2005

	October 4, 2005. Springfield, Virginia. I've always wanted to visit Virginia. Both of our mothers names are Virginia, although Bill's mom went by Ginny. It seems as if the Country's history will continue to present itself to us, that is if we can get ourselves out of Washington, D.C. Bill and the boys took the subway today into "The District" and spent the afternoon at the Air and Space Museum. The flight simulator was a huge hit among other items. We will update this tomorrow as Bill is reading to Liam and Dillon and I don't want to interrupt. The District is an awesome place. I still can't get over the FREE admission to all of the Smithsonian museums, including the zoo. It makes it such a dooable thing to revisit these places as we just can't see everything. We are planning to stay in this area for another week. We've got some great photos of our Nation's Capital and will get those on tomorrow. Today is Thursday, September 29.  Happy Birthday to Grandpa Larry.  We arrived in Washington D.C. two days ago only to find our web site/host was "down."  We seem to be back up and running both in cyberspace and on the ground!  As one can imagine, there is soooo much to see in D.C.  We started this leg of our journey off by having the good fortune to stay with Cousin Kay and Haynes in their beautiful mansion located in the Massachusetts Avenue Heights section of the City.  What a beautiful place to live.  Kay and Haynes have been so kind to us and are wonderful hosts.  We are a few blocks from the Woodley Park Metro station and love riding the subway.  However, our first trip to this station took us all by surprise.  We rode an escalator down a bit, entered a HUGE tunnel, and then stepped onto another escalator going down.  This escalator must have had at least a 200-foot VERTICAL drop!  Holy smokes.  We couldn't believe it.  It was a long ride, too.  In fact, some poor gentleman in front of us must have let go of his suitcase because it ended up at the bottom - there was no catching it and no stopping it.  We left him checking for broken items.  Our first Smithsonian museum did not disappoint.  We spent the afternoon in the American History museum and saw tons.  Personally, I enjoyed the 1960's section of the museum as it brought back many memories.  They were reenacting the news broadcast regarding the Vietnam War and had 10 TVs stacked together.  All different types from the 1960's.  That was the only "cool" part about that exhibit as the subject matter was very sobering.  Hearing Walter Cronkite's voice brought Bill and I back to a very sad time in America, but it cannot be forgotten the price that was paid by so many innocent young men and women and the Vietnamese people.  We promised ourselves we would return to this museum as we did not see "Fonzy's coat, or "What Happened to Polio" which featured Elvis getting a shot in the arm!  Today we spent over 4 hours in the Spy Museum.  An absolute must to visit as it covers espionage from around the world.  All of the wars were represented and they had sooo many hands on items.  Mostly testing one's spy skills.  I will try and tap into Liam and Dillon's memories a little more so I can add to this part but at this moment they are Spy Team 1 and want Spy Team 2 (Bill and I) to come and participate.  More later. Today, September 22, finds us in Baltimore, Maryland. We left the wonderful city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday afternoon September 20. We rented a car and drove to Baltimore! So far so good getting through traffic, round abouts, and taxi cabs! September 21, our first full day in Baltimore was very different than New York City and Philadelphia. To begin with, we are staying outside of the City, school for the boys is taking our whole morning, and psychologically, we should be heading home. This may be the longest break the Oberly family has taken from its 10-year routine in Alaska. However, yesterday held a lovely surprise for us -- we were down at the pool in the late afternoon and met Elizabeth, Sarah, and James(we met Simon at dinner) from England. Facinating family in that they have been living on their sail boat for the past 3 years and homeschooling their children on the boat. They are continuing their adventures in their boat travelling the East Coast! We ended up talking to Elizabeth in the whirlpool for 1 1/2 hours! The boys and James (age 11) seemed to have a good time in the pool and Sarah (age 14) was sticking close to the adult conversation. If she was bored she never showed it. Lovely manners! The late afternoon quickly turned into evening and we were done with day 1. Happy Birthday to Aunt Leasa today. We will spend her birthday going to Washington DC later today and catching a San Francisco Giants vs. Washington Nationals baseball game!! Go GIANTS! The above photos were taken at Fort McHenry in Baltimore, Maryland. We took time out for a little re-enactment by the Oberly soldiers. This is the place where Francis Scott Key wrote the Star Spangle Banner. It's Thursday, September 15, and we have moved on to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Hello from Philly! New York was definately "a trip." We seem to have travelled back in time in arriving in this wonderful city. Soooo much history. The buildings here are incredible and other than the Convention Center and modern hotels, there seems to be an intricate design on every building. How did they do that so long ago? We took a walk around some blocks while we were waiting to check in to our hotel and passed a building built in 1805. Dillon was clearly impressed that it was 200 years old and still looking good. I believe it was an art school. I will try and verify that today on our walking tour. Bill, Liam and Dillon dove back into school this morning and at this moment they are having "gym" down at the pool. Afterwards, they will do some more book studying and then we are off to see the sites. We got lucky and are staying in a lovely hotel, the 11th floor, with a marvelous view of the downtown area. We have a perfect view of William Penn's statue which is at the very top of City Hall. There appears to be a clock on two sides of the tower and it lights up at night with a yellow background. Simply beautiful. Ahhhhhh, they're back from the pool and all of their energy came with them! :) We will share more of Philadelphia in the Trip Log. Independence Hall in Philadelphia. This is the place where the Constitution was formed. Interestingly, our forefathers never thought what they were doing was or would be historical. The exact seating arrangement was never preserved, historians can only guess on who sat where, i.e., they think Benjamine Franklin must have been seated in the front because of his age and because he could not walk very well. The Liberty Bell.  Rumor has it Philadelphia and its sister city in China exchanged gifts. Philadelphia received a beautiful archway which is located in Philadelphia's China Town section and China's city received a replica of the Liberty Bell - which they promptly sent back because it was cracked and they thought it was broken! Hello to everyone from New York City. We arrived in Manhattan on September 7 and haven't stopped yet. School began for the boys on Tuesday, September 6 and they have already had two vacation days! We had to give them a travel day to get to New York and then of course no school on Liam's birthday, September 12!! They are loving the schedule! The first full day in Manhattan found us at the the Museum of Natural History. We could have used two days to get through everyting but what we were able to see in one afternoon was fascinating. The boys' favorite exhibits seemed to be the North American Mammals, the Small Mammals, the Hall of African Mammals, and the Dinosaur display (we logged an hour and a half at this exhibit alone). So many bones, so little time! Huge dinosaurs, and little tiny fossils were some of the many treasures they had there. We also spent considerable time learning about the "Big Bang" and the Scales of the Universe. Liam discovered a kiosk regarding the Mars rovers - Discovery and Spirit (I think I have the names correct). That was really fun to listen to because it's happening right now. The scientists who developed these rovers giving them the ability to move, gather data, AND transmit information back to earth is amazing. We had one more look at President Roosevelt's statute and we were gone. Big Nick's on Broadway provided us with our first dinner in NYC and this place did not disappoint. Very small but soooo busy and wonderful food. We all found something to eat. The end of day 1 - whew! September 10, 2005, found us taking a boat out to Ellis Island and admiring the Statute of Liberty from afar. I couldn't help snapping the above photo of Liam and Dillon with a "mobile" Statue of Liberty. We are on the 86th floor of the Empire State Building on September 11, 2005. Up until the doors of the elevator closed we weren't sure if there was going to be 3 or 4 Oberlys heading to the top. We are on our way! After 7 days on the Alcan, we are now in Washington. We camped in some great places along the way like Red Goat Lodge in Dease Lake. According to a local couple, we hit some terrific weather there. The boys were able to fish and go out in a row boat and party float. We averaged 350 miles a day. The three passengers (all under the age of 10) did AWESOME. Honest!! Thank you Bob, Connie, Henry and Rebecca for the Harry Potter book on CDs. We plugged in the second book on day 5 of the trip and got at least 100 miles under our belt before anyone started asking for a break! Again, THANK YOU, THANK YOU Loeffler family. Washington was wonderful and stressful! We camped on Anderson Island for 2.5 weeks and made the most of great weather, having a boat tied up at the dock, and seeing Grandma Virginia, Grandpa Jim, Grandma Kathy, Grandpa Larry, and just a few friends. We wanted to get together with everyone but time was slipping away (that's the stressful part). Liam and Dillon were able to spend some quality time with their cousins, Calista and Daniel Mayer (Callie and Danno!). The first adventure found us at their ranch in Cle Elem (sp?) where the boys promptly had a water fight that lasted quite a while. It was fun having Callie hang out with the girls. The second adventure the Oboys had with their cousins was at Wild Waves! What a fun, fun water park. It's the third year in a row we've spent money, time and energy and had a great time. This year both sets of grandparents participated and that really made the tradition complete. The rest of our time was spent golfing on Anderson (the boys and Bill played a couple of rounds), swimming in Lake Florence and shopping for the last minute items we thought we might need. We also threw in a road trip to Sequim to see Auntie Lydia. The boys really bonded with her and had a great time walking/running her dogs, Whinny and Abby. We adore our Auntie Lydia. Bill had a great weekend with Jim Reinhardsen and was able to secure our travel bags/backpacks while he was "off Island." However, I filled the backpacks too full and will have to downsize on the East Coast. Grandma Virginia and Grandma Kathy organized a picnic for all of us on September 4, and Tuesday, September 6, Grandpa Larry and Grandma Kathy came to our hotel in Seattle and took our van home with them. We, again, were on our way. Wednesday morning, September 7, found us at SeaTac airport heading to New York! Click this picture to go to Big Photo Album Click this picture to go to Big Photo Album Liam and Dillon taking a break with Teslin Lake in the background. Teslin, Yukon Territory, August 12, 2005.

Page Created By Jeff and the Oberlys