From the Webmaster:
Last day of the Founders Tour! And what a great way to end it, too.
Today I hopped in my father’s 1978 Corvette and we headed to the Gettysburg Battlefield Visitor’s Center. We were split into 2 groups to view a short film (produced by the History Channel and narrated by Morgan Freeman so of course, you need to go see it) and then the Cyclorama. Created in 1883 by French artist Paul Philippoteaux, it’s a 337 foot long, circular painting of the (in)famous battle. The Cyclorama underwent an extensive restoration project in 2008, and it’s well worth the ticket. Sorry, no photos allowed.
After that, I spent a a bit of time in the museum, which is deceptively large, so I highly recommend leaving yourself a good 2 hours minimum if you’re a history buff and want to make an attempt at taking it all in.
Afterwards, most of our group went on a driving tour of the battlefield. My father and I had a personal mission to find a gift for a friend, so we headed to the shops downtown. We plan on going back to the battlefield and purchasing an audio tour.
Lunch was at Gettysburg Fire Company, and then we headed back to the hotel to prepare for the closing banquet.
Special guests for the evening included AACA National President Tom Cox, and Pat Buckley from Headquarters who also put in a lot of hours helping Carol Barlup with registration.
Apart from a delicious dinner, attendees were treated to a slideshow organized by our photographer Ken Myers and Carl Davis our videographer. Winners of the Chinese Auction were announced, and some special awards were handed out including:
Youngest driver: Kailyn Schaedel (20 years old)
Oldest driver: Ernie Screen
Hard Luck Award: Philip and Grace Roitman
Furthest driver: Ruby and Richard Wolens
President’s Choice: Doug and Ronnie Seybold
Also, Annette and Dan Yost were given an award from the AACA National Board of Directors for hosting a national tour.
The banquet and thus the 2018 Founders Tour ended on a high note as Lynn Lech stepped up to the podium and gave a sneak peak at what’s in store for the 2018 Founders Tour.
Well, it was a blast. And now I think we’ll all need a few days to recover, but the GRAACA can’t rest quite yet as we still have our Latimore Valley show tomorrow. Hope to see some of you Founders Tour people there!