Happy New Year - 2020 !

"Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a better man.”

-- Benjamin Franklin

Happy New Year, everyone!

This will be the year when either our democracy dies (Trump wins) or it is saved (Trump loses). Therefore, it will at least be interesting, per the Chinese curse.

So I hope everyone has a happy and prosperous new year. And hopefully, not too interesting.

Looking forward to the new Circa hotel in Vegas.    

Other vacations on the 2020 list:

- Santa Fe, Taos, Albuquerque, Flagstaff

- Gettysburg, Mill Run-PA (Wright's Falling Water house), Frederick MD

- Montreal

- Coastal NC/SC

I am hopeful for 2020.  I have a new business venture launching and a couple of more brewing in the background.

Wow. That's quite a list.

You'll love New Mexico, but don't go there in the summer. (Flagstaff is nice then, though.) Have some green chile. In fact, have LOTS of green chile. On everything. Drive the High Road to Taos.

Gettysburg is a surprisingly interesting and moving experience. Plan on spending the whole day. I assume you're also visiting Fredricksburg to see the Civil War battlefield. You'll like Falling Water, by the famous Japanese architect Flank Rroyd Light.

Montreal is like Paris without the insane prices and the rudeness. You'll love it.

The Outer Banks are incredible, but avoid them after July (weather). I've only been to Myrtle Beach in SC, and it's like a cross between a California beach town and The Dukes of Hazzard. Eat shrimp. Eat grits. Eat shrimp and grits. Repeat.

Flagstaff is great if you are  into outdoor sports. I have gone skiing there. 

The Lowell Observatory is very good. 

Grand Canyon is nearby. 

Santa Fe & Albuquerque very nice & historical. 

Gettysburg is a 2 day visit. The village was the scene of much of the fighting & many of the original buildings remain. 

There is is an excellent Civil War museum &

several tour options.  We did the bus tour & there are horseback & bike options. 

Looking from the Union positions, what were the Confederates thinking!

I'm looking forward to Circa, but I don't think that happens for a year.  Enjoy all of your trips, PJ!

The presentation makes it pretty clear--Lee was "old school" and considered the army that left the field to be the one that lost--despite the pleas of Longstreet to just march the army around the strong defensive Union positions and head straight for Philadephia. He also had WAY too much confidence in his army. At that time, defense was much stronger than offense. Two armies of equal size, the defensively positioned army would always carry the day. And Lee's army was SMALLER than Meade's.

Also, the tactic of simply marching up to a fortified position line abreast was idiotic. Lee's army only survived until 1865 because he finally realized that and went for trench warfare late in the war. But in 1863, everybody was still in bloodbath mode. Lee, all the heroic legends and statues aside, fought a modern war with Napoleonic tactics. That's why the Army of Northern Virginia had by far the highest casualty rates of any army on either side.