pennsylvania: valley forge

confession.... since i waited so long to post this lovely pennsylvania outing i nearly forgot something else we did on day 1.
on our way to lancaster we stopped at valley forge,
because i love history;
deeply.
driving through the grassy hillsides of american battle history equals the finest of roadtripping for this gal.
so we took the sweet loop around valley forge.
soaking up the american pride oozing from the wooded landscape.
it wasn't quite like i expected.
i've been to gettysburg before and i guess i preemptively expected valley forge to be the same-
valley forge was glorious in it's own sad way- we lost a lot of american's at valley forge in the name of freedom.
i'm grateful for such unselfish american's that sacrificed everything to spearhead the creation of the united states as we know it today.
with all that being said here's some pics.

mary was less than pleased with containment

 freedom is her forte

 it was windy

which resulted in one of my favorite pictures of all time...

 thick wooded areas are lovely in every eerie way. 

 i love arches

especially ones with incredible sayings and equally incredible stonework

 i liked this monument a lot. 

a lot. 

epic overlook of the country side- 

i think yes. 

 then there was this great one lane bridge

 which led to our first spring tease

 swoon. 

this is what the majority of the country side looked like. 

can't even imagine posting up camp here and staying for the winter. 

remarkable the sacrifices they made for freedom's sake. 

 they stayed in cabins like these. 

they were tiny- and it had to be worse than miserable. 

real glad we got to drive around this historic place. 

i learned a lot and had to google a lot to learn even more. 

my patriotic loving self was filled clear full of gratitude after leaving these hollowed grounds. 

happiest of monday folks. hope today is great in every way.