Future Vacation Plans

It has been a long couple of weeks for me. Been trying to get some on-line training done, but the site has not been very cooperative. Par for the course...

My wife has been planning the majority of our vacations for the last few years. Because of my work load with Drill, work at the prison, etc., I have been happy to let her do it. However, during our last vacation, Sharon told me that it was now my turn to plan a vacation. Fine by me...

So far, our vacations have been focused on having fun and being entertained. We have taken day tip to nearby places to learn more about history and science. But, so far, that has not been a focus of our vacation. Enter my planning...

It has been almost two decades since I visited my alma maters, Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary (LPTS) (http://www.lpts.edu/) and Centre College (https://www.centre.edu/). I have been interested in visiting them for a while. Then, an interesting idea came to me.

Near Centre College, there is State Park commemorating the Perryville Battle. I have been to the site at least once while I was in college, but I don’t remember a whole lot. It is a major battle ground in Kentucky, remembered as ‘the bloodiest battle’ in Kentucky.

While thinking about all of this, I was reminded of a class that I had taken while at LPTS, one of my favorites. It was an ethics class on the life and works of Frederick Douglas, a runaway slave who became very involved with the American abolitionist. It was one of my favorite classes for a variety of reasons.

Then the idea hit me, do an educational vacation concerning the Civil War. As I started doing my research, I saw that there were quite a number of really good places, both State historical sites and National Parks. So, I will have quite a few places to choose from.

Why am I interested in this? For several reasons. Part of it is because racism is, unfortunately, still a major issue today. Although my kids are growing up in ‘small-town America’ where it is not ‘in your face,’ there are still all sorts of movies, news articles, etc., that make it ‘in your face.’ Another reason is that the Civil War was about Federal Rights verses State Rights. This is something that has been in the news, too. Whether it’s about Federal laws dictating how we are all supposed to live, or how people want to make their own decisions with how to live, what religious beliefs to follow, what to do in their free time, etc.

And, that is what America was founded upon, to be honest. The right that each of us have to pursue our own dreams, whatever they may be. Be it our choice of careers, things that we enjoy to do in our spare time, etc. Such things are just as relevant then as they are now, especially with how much the Federal government, through all sorts of regulations, has been making things even more difficult for many of us.






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