We had a very eventful weekend which culminated in the purchase of a new minivan. We found a nice 2012 model with lots of lovely upgrades for us--for instance the sliding doors both open every time you want them to, the speakers don't randomly make a horrific buzzing noise that only stops when you hit the dashboard repeatedly, the AC actually blows cold air, and (and this is the one that pushed us over the edge to finally get rid of old unreliable) the headlights don't randomly turn on even though they are clearly turned off making it necessary for you pop the hood and disconnect the battery every time you want to turn off the car. It's the little things. We didn't splurge on any actual upgrades but we were able to buy the car outright with the money we've been setting aside every month for just this occasion so that felt good. Really good.
We ended up finding the van out in Manassas, VA which led to us visiting the Civil War battleground there. Serendipitously, this was where the first major battle of the Civil War took place--which I did not know until we got to the visitor's center--so it was the best first battleground in Virginia to visit. We enjoyed the park and the information there was really well done, but the Civil War is just such a depressing war since the enemy we were fighting was ourselves. My knowledge of it is also fairly muddled, which I blame on my high school history teacher who, when discussing the subject and referring to "we" or "us," actually meant the Confederacy and not the Union. A fact that I didn't realize until very close to the end of our studies. Southern problems. With the plethora of Civil War sites in the area and the boys' interests in all things 'war guys', I'm sure it won't be our last battle site visit so hopefully I can remedy my confusion on the subject soon.
Do any of you have a favorite Civil War site to visit?