November Challenge: Day 23 ....

The view from my window. Russet.

I am a failure....

I have been trying so hard to keep up with posting both the DDW November challenge and LeeAnn's colour challenge. But today it seems I have failed.

But the failure was worth it. Let me explain....

Several weeks ago I read in the paper that there was to be a lighting of luminaries at Gettysburg Soldiers' National Cemetery to commemorate Lincoln's reading of the Gettysburg address. This year is the 150th anniversary of not only the Gettysburg battles but also the reading of the Gettysburg address by Abraham Lincoln and there has been a lot of events taking place there. But the annual Remembrance Illumination was what I was most looking forward to.

So off we went on our 2+ hour journey to Gettysburg. Once we arrived in Gettysburg we visited the welcome center to get more information on the illumination and a map of the battle fields.

Our first stop after the welcome center was Little Round Top. Our timing was perfect as there was a dedication reading in remembrance of Maj. General Gouverneur K. Warren. The statue on the right is him and the man on the round rock to the left is portraying him. Also on the far left in the distance is the cemetery.

After that we drove around to some of the other battle sites we headed to the Soldiers' National Cemetery where the illumination ceremony was to be held. When we got to the cemetery all the luminary bags (over 3500 bags!) were laid out on the graves but were not lit as of yet. The lighting was to be from 5:30 to 9:30 pm and we were there just before 5:00 pm.

Then to our great disappointment the ceremony was canceled due to the high winds! Unbelievable! It wasn't even 5:30 yet and they were canceling it! You would think that they would wait it out for a little bit, but, noooo, they started collecting all the bags & candles from the graves! We did take some pictures of the unlit luminary bags, but it just wasn't the same. Maybe next year......

So, we left Gettysburg quite disappointed and headed home. And to add insult to injury we had to drive through some snow coming home!

There might be some russet in this picture, but was not taken from my window.

I have updated my journal starting with Simba, if you are interested. I will be back later to have a look-see at your journals.