olmue

My family gave me the soundtrack to Prince Caspian for my birthday, and oh my, it is perfect music to drive to! It was 72 degrees today (!) (and 17 the week before Christmas, and 38 tomorrow, so it's not like we live like this all the time), so for a last vacation event, I took the kids out to the other nearby Civil War battlefield--Pea Ridge National Military Park. We listened to Prince Caspian all the way there and back; it seemed to fit the outing as well.

Pea Ridge (as the film so nicely explained to us) was important because it was the decisive battle that kept Missouri with the Union. (The battle at nearby Prairie Grove apparently also captured northern Arkansas for the Union.) After Pea Ridge, the Yankees could split the South down the Mississippi.

Here's a view of the battlefield from the highest point in the area:

The park is set up for people to drive from station to station, although foot and horse paths do zig zag across it. We parked at the overlook and then walked to the next station and back. A park ranger met us and shook his head discouragingly as he looked at the stroller. "Nope. Not going to get any further than this point. You can't get through the cut in the rock up ahead."

Ha. I carried the stroller with child inside, and we fit just fine.

The final part of the battle was carried out near this house. Don't ask me what's up with the deer skeleton on the roof.

There were also these ruins (or reconstructions?) nearby. Next to this one was the outline of a brick house that was mostly rubble. It really reminded me of the Limes in Germany (Roman line of defense built against the Germans). (On that link--see "Start Rundweg" to "walk" through it--I was there a couple years ago and it was really cool.)