If not you can check out this site for info and pictures: http://www.nps.gov/anti/planyourvisit/luminary.htm
Just to give you an idea, volunteers put out 23,000 luminaries in honor of every soldier that was a causality of that battle. The battle of Antietam was the single bloodiest day of the Civil War. It was a neat sight to see (that is ...what I was able to keep my eyes open for b/c it was way past my bedtime by the time we made it to the park - ya'll know I start falling asleep by 9:30 no matter where I am).
Sounds neat right....well let me give you a few tips to be prepared in case you decide to adventure out on your own next year...
1. Be prepared to sit for a long time! We drove 1.25 hrs to get there, then sat in line for 3 (yes 3 exactly) hours just to get into the gate to the park. Then we drove through the park for 45 minutes and then another 1.25 hours home. With potty breaks along the way, you can round that to 7 hours in the car. Note- I don't know that getting there early saves you anytime, nor getting there late. We arrived at 6:00 when the gates opened. I imagine you'd have to line by 3 or 4pm to get to the front of the line. We left at around 10:00 and the line was still at least two hours long.
2. Take toilet paper. You can't drive to a local gas station to use the potty ladies.. that is unless you want to go to the back of the line... so yes you'll appreciate having some toilet paper handy when you have to hop out of the car and go pee on the side of some farmer's field behind a tree. Luckily it's dark, so the other cars can't see much. A flashlight might be a good idea too since the fields can be lumpy. Oh- and for those other cars... please turn your headlights off! You don't really need them since you're only 5 feet from our bumper!
3. Take lots of food and water. You will get hungry and thirsty. Then 2 hours later you'll be hungry and thirsty again!
4. Take a laptop or DVD player. We passed an hour by watching a DVD about the Battle of Antietam. Or for my friends from back home, we Southerners call it the Battle of Sharpsburg. I guess the South prefers to call it's battles by the town's name, while the North prefers creeks...I dunno... just guessing?? :-) After over 100 years you'd think we could agree on what to call it, but I suppose that's not the case.
5. Take a book, deck of cards, magazine, anything to keep your brain occupied after your batteries run out on your electronic device.... or better yet, buy yourself a car adapter for your laptop/dvd player.
6. Take a blanket and seat cushions. After about 2.5 hours of sitting in the car, my little toushy got sore. So, I wish I'd had our little stadium seat cushions. Luckily Jan had an extra blanket so I folded that up for extra "fluff"under my bum, bum. But, the blankets also come in handy b/c you probably won't want to leave your car idling for three hours. Since it was in the low 30's Sat night, it was nice to have blankets to keep us warm!
7. Don't take KIDS! For crying out loud, I thought I was going to loose it waiting in line that long. I can't imagine how any child could sit through that! I don't even want to imagine how many times I would have been asked "Are we there yet" if we had a child with us.
So, now that you know all of these little tips, I think you'll have a much more enjoyable time!
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