Pandas to Picket's Charge!

My writing friend, Kymberly Dakin, hailing from the Great State of Maine, and I have been on a roll since she departed her plane at Dulles Airport in Virginia on Friday morning. For the last 36 hours, it’s been lights, cameras, and action. A panda visit was first on our list!

Oh, we had a good sleep and walked 4 miles on the Crofton Parkway on Saturday morning before heading to Gettysburg, PA, National Military Park, where the Battle Fields took too many young lives (7,058 combined deaths from both sides) in a three-day hard-fought fight between the Union and Confederacy in 1863.

Traveling to Gettysburg on Saturday with my friend, Janet, a Civil War expert, was not to be outdone by our day on Friday when we visited the cute pandas at the Washington DC Smithsonian Zoo. We grabbed a free street parking spot, walked up to the entrance, and rushed into the Panda enclosure (outdoor one). Once there, Kym overheard a panda fan claim that the Pandas were not coming out until 2:30 pm. I looked at my watch, which read 1:20 pm. I was willing to wait it out since we were right there, and Kym agreed! As we got situated by a clear area on the fence line, we glanced back to the outdoor panda play enclosure. A female panda caretaker was replacing the wilted-hours-old bamboo with fresh and delicious bamboo and a single red apple!

My mind was thinking that a panda appearance was imminent.

At 1:30 pm on the dot, the cutest baby boy, a panda cub with fluffy fur, came lumbering out of his indoor lair. Bao Li is his name, and he wowed the crowd with his cuteness. He deliberately and delicately began eating the red apple left just for him while young kids screamed at him like he was a rock star like Mick Jagger. Luckily, Kym and I had a front-row spot to watch in earnest all Bao Li's antics, not only with the apple but with the fresh bamboo that he twirled and tangled with to get just the right angle to bite into the freshest branches. Practically every moment was met with oohs and ahhs from the crowd, including us. The visit was epic, and we were happy we waited that extra 10 minutes!

As mentioned above, on Saturday, we returned to our history classes from junior/senior high school—the Civil War. Ken Burns did a great job with his documentary, but if you can visit the area and walk the Battlefields with monuments to honor the fallen heroes of the war, all the better. It was Kym's first time in Gettysburg. Janet McCabe took no prisoners as she methodically and interestingly shared human interest stories about the soldiers and facts about the bloody three-day battles on July 1-3, 1863. The weather was cool and foggy, which lent an ephemeral feeling regarding the battles and smoke that must have descended over the rolling hills and farmland over 150 years ago. Eerie, really.

A delicious meal after our tour was just the ticket we needed to warm up and have some grub before returning home.

Today, Sunday, I couldn't drive Kym to Northern Virginia (she's attending a conference this coming week) without first taking her to the state capital of Maryland—Annapolis! We enjoyed the downtown area, perusing shops and taking in the sights of the Chesapeake Bay, all in the shadow of the US Naval Academy.

Yep, Kym and I were weekend warriors for sure! I hope I/we didn't wear her out too much.

bSoleille!

Terri

Photos: 1) Janet McCabe, Kymberly Dakin, and me; 2) The North Carolina State Monument at Gettysburg depicts North Carolina soldiers charging during Pickett's Charge. It was sculpted by Gutzon Borglum, the same artist who created Mount Rushmore! (Good Jeopardy answer!) 3) One of several Witness Trees; 4) The Eternal Light Peace Memorial is a 1938 Gettysburg Battlefield monument dedicated on July 3, 1938, commemorating the 1913 Gettysburg reunion; 5) Entrance sign; 6) Bill, me, and Kym on the Crofton, Maryland, Parkway!