I have to admit my knowledge of the American Civil War was very limited but now having visited Gettysburg in Pennsylvania it has improved somewhat. We stayed at the Battlefields Park Resort - this camp and its affiliates is run by membership and we had to attend a two hour sales talk! When we purchased the travel trailer we were given a voucher for a total of 30 nights free camping at this camp and a few others, and of course we were keen to use. We had no idea we had to attend the sales meeting. However saying that, if we were locals we possibly would have seriously considered purchasing. $13,500 for lifetime free camping in six camps in four states, plus $10 per night camping in about 1000 others across the U.S. Not bad value if you camp often and great way to pay for retirement holidays. The first impression of Gettysburg is that there are statues and cannons everywhere - Google tells me that in 2008 there were 1320 monuments, 410 cannons and 148 historic buildings. No wonder they were everywhere! The visitors centre is well worth while spending some time. The Gettysburg Battle was 1-3 July 1863 and there are regular re-enactments staged, plus an amazing museum and a cyclorama which is a massive circular oil painting depicting one of the battles. Unfortunately memory is a problem these days - can't remember the actual size of the painting but it was huge. After the museum and cyclorama we did the self drive tour of the battlefields - an organised three hour tour of in depth information was just too much for us! There are only so many statues and cannons we want to see and it didn't include 1320 monuments or 410 cannons. A visit to the former home of President Eisenhower was really interesting and to learn something of him and his wife. They don't allow self drive to the farm so again an organised tour was required. It was very warm the three days we stayed in Gettysburg with temperatures of around the mid 90's and high humidity and no surprising we had electrical storms with rain in the early evenings. Our neighbours on both sides in the camp ground had huge bus type motor homes. One couple invited us in - as our friend Paul Harris would stay, they may as well have stayed at home. Three television sets, two bathrooms, full laundry, double door fridge/freezer, island bench and easy boy lounges. The back third was a garage to take the two motorbikes, housed the three dogs at night, and if they have the grandchildren visiting has drop down bunks, or a double bed, or two sofas. Certainly luxurious. Meantime we make do with me sleeping on the bottom bunk, Peter making up a bed at the other end of the caravan as he doesn't want to sleep on the top bunk, toilet and shower and normal basic caravan kitchen facilities and we are comfortable. We could drop the table down and make up the double bed but we don't bother. We do have power, battery, gas fired hot water, fresh water, grey water and black water tanks. People are surprised that we don't have want to have the "normal" camping accommodation of local people our age. After three days of history it was time to move on again to a place I have wanted to visit for a long time - Lancaster County which is Amish Country. I will leave it to you to investigate the Amish people if you don't know anything about them. There are groups of Amish and Mennonite people in many parts of rural America. The Amish people are rural people and this area in Pennsylvania where we visited was surprisingly very near the city of Lancaster - about six miles. As soon as we came off the freeway on to the side road we saw our first horse and buggy. We could hardly believe it as we were wondering if we were heading to the right area. We certainly were. Before long we had seen at least six buggies and horses trotting along the road. It was just what I had wanted to see. We booked into a camping area in Intercourse - yes that was the name of the town! The camp turned out to be adults only, not for any reason other than they did not want children to accommodate children. It was a great choice, as looking one direction there was an Amish farm and regularly going up the side road (which we backed on too) were horses and buggies as the local hat maker lived at the top of the road. The Amish people will not have their photograph taken, even if you ask. This is based on the Biblical commandment "Thou shalt not make unto thyself a graven image". They want to be remembered by the lives they lived and the examples they left, not by their appearance. However, as they rode past in the buggy they would often wave out if you didn't have a camera and were friendly in the street if you passed someone. I was surprised by the houses. There was no way of telling which was an Amish house from another - they are stylish and always well maintained with lovely gardens. However, there were a couple of things that gave it away. They often sell what they grow or make so many homes have roadside stalls or even shops for the tourists. They have extra long clothes lines with a pulley system so that the washing hangs very high from the ground. There might be a buggy parked in the driveway or the garage open with the buggies parked inside. There is no power line into the house. They do not connect to modern conveniences but do use some forms of battery power, and we also saw a compressed air operated fan and sewing machine. Use of electricity, computers, television, cars etc is considered tempting elements from the outside world. Use of a community telephone is allowed for emergency family or animal medical reasons and some other business reasons but definitely not social. Apparently it is not the use of the 'phone that is forbidden rather than the ownership. The Amish people are astute business people and have adapted their lifestyle to meet changing needs, such as tourism. The best way to see the Amish people is to wander the rural roads. We visited a well recommended ice cream dairy where they make ice cream and sell milk and eggs produced on the farm. It is a large set up and we had to queue to be served. They also have a drive through and it was interesting to see a horse and buggy lined up there. Unfortunately I wasn't quick enough with the camera but it was being driven by a young teenage girl with a younger child with her. The roadside stalls sell homemade bread and baking, jams, relishes, pickles etc as well as vegetables and fruit and also quilts and hand sewn items. The stalls are manned by family members and we were served one time by a young boy who said he was seven - teaching skills while they are young. They are always friendly. The farm work is done with horses rather than tractors and we saw a team of horses working cutting and bailing the hay. Certainly hard work and in the heat dressed up always in long trousers with braces with long sleeved shirts and wearing a felt hat. The women wear long frocks of various colours with black aprons and the hair covering. From little children to adults they all wear the same, and often a full family has the same colour in either dresses or shirts. The quilting skills were amazing. The quilts are machined initially and all the actual quilting is done by hand. I was very tempted with buying one that would have suited our bedroom but carrying it for the next few months put us off. They cost between $US450 and $US1000. We watched an elderly lady hand stitching the final binding on to a quilt. She had sewn it using a compressed air sewing machine using her knee to power it. She was friendly and said she had lived within six miles of her shop her whole life. To give variety to our visit we took in a dinner and Amish show. The dinner was pretty ordinary - no alcohol served as the Amish do not take alcohol. It was a huge restaurant serving 200-300 in a sitting. After dinner we attended the show "Josiah for President". It was a musical with only ten actors telling the story of a presidential election where an Amish man was encouraged to stand for election and the consequences. It was funny, sad, thought provoking, gave an insight into the Amish way of life and thinking, and provided many laughs. It was a small theatre holding around thirty people including some Mennonite people who are very like the Amish but a bit more liberated in that they use cars, have electricity, attend some movies and plays etc. however they share the same religious beliefs, dress plainly, women do not wear trousers, and women wear a hair covering but it is slightly different from the Amish ones. The Mennonite couple in front of us chatted to us at half time asking where we were from etc and said that they had flown to Africa when their daughter was a missionary there but never been to NZ or Australia. They were keen to know about our family and share about their family. They were very proud of their nine grandchildren. Sunday is a definite family day and no business is conducted. Therefore all the shops etc were closed. There was a reasonable amount of buggy traffic as the families attended their church get togethers. They do not have actual church buildings but meet in various homes on a rotation. From my bed I watched a buggy pass with the family all in it, dressed, hats on and the children hanging out the back of the buggy and it was only 7 am. Clearly they were up early to be so organised. Did we enjoy our few days in Amish land? We certainly did. We chose not to ride an Amish buggy as we thought that far too touristy but loved seeing the people. Do we recommend a visit - yes definitely and we would happily visit either this area or another similar again.