Gettysburg bus tour

[SevenMilePete]

We bought a cassette tape, and it was really easy to follow along, and pause the tape, then do it at our own pace. Of course that was back in the dark ages when cars had cassette players. lol My kids were 8 or 9, and now they are both in late forties.

[JAKIII]

A guided tour is on my bucket list. My plan is to drive out Friday afternoon check into a B&B, tour all day Saturday, have a great steak dinner and return on Sunday. Looking at Fall timeframe when crowds are lighter and temps cooler. I just need to commit.

[ROCK-IT3]

We bought a cassette tape, and it was really easy to follow along, and pause the tape, then do it at our own pace. Of course that was back in the dark ages when cars had cassette players. lol My kids were 8 or 9, and now they are both in late forties.

There's an app for that.

[ShadeRabbit]

There's so much to see at Gettysburg, I never got the point of the two-hour bus tours. Seems a smidge disrespectful to the sacrifice of the men who fought and died there over a period of three days to condense it into two hours. Not sure what you'd really get out of it. Might as well not go at all, if one is not planning on spending some additional time there.

Last time I went to the battlefield in 2015, I was laughing as the tour bus passed by, seemed to be mostly Asian tourists.

[Walleye Hunter]

There's so much to see at Gettysburg, I never got the point of the two-hour bus tours. Seems a smidge disrespectful to the sacrifice of the men who fought and died there over a period of three days to condense it into two hours. Not sure what you'd really get out of it. Might as well not go at all, if one is not planning on spending some additional time there.

Last time I went to the battlefield in 2015, I was laughing as the tour bus passed by, seemed to be mostly Asian tourists.

When I'm overseas and I have a week or ten days, I don't spend three days in one place.

[ShadeRabbit]

When I'm overseas and I have a week or ten days, I don't spend three days in one place.

True. But I guess I left out the part where they all had cameras in hand the moment the bus would make stops and the doors would open.

But it's not just the fuzzy foreigners. My local township recreation committee runs a bus trip out there, where you do the bus tour, visit the museum for an hour or two, then come home. 2015 was my third and last trip there, and it was the first time I went to East and South Cavalry Fields. Do they even mention either in the bus tour?

[sota]

There's so much to see at Gettysburg, I never got the point of the two-hour bus tours. Seems a smidge disrespectful to the sacrifice of the men who fought and died there over a period of three days to condense it into two hours. Not sure what you'd really get out of it. Might as well not go at all, if one is not planning on spending some additional time there.

Last time I went to the battlefield in 2015, I was laughing as the tour bus passed by, seemed to be mostly Asian tourists.

I prefer to think of the short tours as, a tasting of the history, especially if you have no clue at all about it. Hopefully it encourages them to delve deeper into the history, which itself takes significantly more time to explore. 3 visits so far and we're still not done yet. Hell 2 tours of the Jenny Wade house and we still learned new things. 3 Tours of the museum and we still have more to take in.

Also: Mr. G's ice cream shop down from the 1863 Inn (where we stayed) is kick ass, the Dobbin House is a must stop (do the downstairs), O'Rorkes is like a Dobbin House lite; cheaper but still good food, Farnsworth/Sweney's Tavern is recommended, Blue & Gray Bar and Grill does all right, Food 101 is also a good eats.

And i'm going to say, Gettybike Tours is the way to get a great mix of sights and knowledge, in a reasonable pace. They were introducing electric assisted bikes last time we did it, but I don't see them on the site as of now. We brought our own bikes though. Done it with the kid on a trail-a-bike once when the kid was 9, and again with him on his own bike at 13. He *might* be able to beat me up Little Round Top next time, but i'm not gifting it to him.

[spartakis252]

Please keep the Gettysburg tips flowing, my wife and I are planning on visiting later this year. I don*t think we are doing any guided stuff so we are probably going to wonder aimlessly. We don*t plan vacations very well, we just kinda pick 1 or 2 things and make sure we do those.

Any gun shops and/or antique shops we should check out?

Anything/anywhere we should avoid?

[Sgt.K]

Back on track.
You can carry in the park and on the bus. The visitors center is another story all together. Technically it is owned and run by a private entity but there are park employees who work in that building, which means you can not carry in that building.

something something equal treatment something under the law something...

Can someone explain to me what makes a federal employee more important than me in a place with no metal detectors or security? Inquiring minds...

[Sgt.K]

We bought a cassette tape, and it was really easy to follow along, and pause the tape, then do it at our own pace. Of course that was back in the dark ages when cars had cassette players. lol My kids were 8 or 9, and now they are both in late forties.

It was available on CD at least 10-15 years ago. That's how we did it. Kids are now 31 and 32...