Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

Wow! Just look at this place!

Wow! I'm all the way in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania!! How amazing is that?

The Battle of Gettysburg was fought from July 1st, to July 3rd in 1863. It was the most costly battle of the entire Civil War. It's called the Battle of Gettysburg because most of the skirmishes and battles were fought either in or around the city of Gettysburg.

Some people think that the Battle of Gettysburg was the turning point of the Civil War, but the most famous thing from the Battle of Gettysburg was a speech President Abraham Lincoln gave. When the battle was over President Abraham Lincoln wanted to know how many people had got hurt or died when fighting. He even stopped to dedicate a cemetery where the dead soldiers could be buried. Now the speech Abraham Lincoln gave is known as the Gettysburg Address.

"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

That's a big Cannon!!

I decided to fly up to the top of a nearby tower and see what I could find. There were tons of amazing things to look at. There were a lot of battlefields you could look at from the top. There were so many people fighting and the battles were really big. When you climb the observation towers and look out you can see that the battles were huge and a lot of people were fighting. My friends Harper, Cordelia, and I went and looked at one of the cannons that was used during the war and it was HUGE!!

Eternal Light Peace Memorial

There are HUNDREDS of monuments and memorials on the grounds of the Gettysburg battlefields. They are all honoring men and women who fought, were wounded, died, or did heroic things. But my favorite was called The Eternal Light Peace Memorial. It was dedicated on the 75 anniversary of the battle. Now it's been 148 years since the battle. It's purpose is to remind us that we should never again divide our country and fight each other--like we did during the Civil War. That we should always work out our differences. Just like President Roosevelt said when he dedicated the monument. "All of them we honor, not asking under which flag they fought then - thankful that they stand together under one flag now."

Quack Report:

My quack was great!! The echo was fabulous!!! Definitely my all-time best quack. 

Dubai Mall

I love Dubai!!

So many shops!! 

I had a blast in Dubai! The beach was so much fun!! I decided it might be nice to go back and visit the mall.

The Dubai mall is very amazing. It's the largest mall in the world with 1,200 shops!! It's also the world's largest acrylic panel Aquarium! To get to the mall you have to go down Doha Street, which is really neat because it's a double-decker road. It was pretty crowded, the Dubai Mall attracts over 750,000 visitors each week!!

After adoring the amazingness of the mall I decided to go inside and take a look at some of their fountains. The fountains at the Dubai mall are very fantastic. They're the most majestic fountains I've ever seen!! Spurts of water shoot up from a pool at different times to make cool designs in the air. 

Don't you just love the fountains?!

I decided it would be fun to go ice skating. I was right. It was pretty awesome. They didn't have any skates my size, but it was still fun sliding around. I did run into a few people at first, but I soon learned how to slide in-between their legs.

Quack Report:

My quack wasn't very good. I tested it out in the cafe while watching the fountains. The echo was horrible.

Christmas in Italy

Wow! Looks like Pinocchio is ready for Christmas!!

Isn't Italy such an AMAZING place?? Well Christmas there is even better! I am sooo glad I was able to celebrate Christmas in Italy this year.

Salvation army Santa band

I was pretty disappointed when I found out that I was too late to see Santa Claus at the mall but I was okay. Later I was flying around town when I ran into Santa!! Actually I ran into his whole band!! It only consisted of four people, but it was still enjoyable listening to their music. I found out they were kind of like a salvation army Santa except instead of ringing a little bell they play music. I thought that was a really cool idea. The band had three accordions and a clarinet. I rummaged around a bit in a pocket I have attached to my scarf and donated all of the cash I could find. I hope to get some of my duck friends and start a band with them someday.

After listening to Santa's band it inspired me to go Christmas caroling. Italy has a lot of fun Christmas Carols. Some of my favorites are "Dormi, dormi, bel Bambin," (which means "Sleep, Sleep, Pretty Baby") and "Gesù bambino." (Which means "Baby Jesus") Another Christmas Carol is "Dominick the Donkey." This is a Christmas song written by Ray Allen, Sam Saltzberg, and Wandra Merrell. It's a song about a donkey who helps Santa bring presents to children in Italy.

Piazza Navona stockings at the Christmas mart

After caroling, I decided to look at some Christmas things around town. I found a Christmas Mart called "Piazza Navona." They had racks and racks and racks of stockings. They had birds, dogs, ogres, the seven dwarfs from Snow White, Mickey and Mini mouse, dogs, cats, Santa Clause, etc. I was disappointed to find out that out of everything they had there wasn't one duck!! I talked to the people that were in charge of selling the stockings, and they said they would try to work something out. I bought a Santa Claus stocking and it's really nice. I like it quite a lot.

Quack Report:

I tested my quack at the end of every carol. It gave a little pang to the music at the end of the song. It did get a bit tiring though. My first one was great! By the time I did my last one my throat was sore and my quack was hoarse. The echo was even worse. Though I am very proud of my first one.

Dr. Pepper Museum-- Waco, Texas

Dr. Pepper signs at the museum

 "Liquid snack puts energy back", "Drink your bite to eat", "One kind of household 'help' that never lets you down", "King of beverages" or in other words, Dr. Pepper.

You guessed it! This week I had the pleasure of visiting the Dr. Pepper museum in Waco, Texas!

This is me at the front of the museum.

Dr Pepper was invented in Waco, Texas at Mr. Morrison's Old Corner Drug Store by a young man named Charles Alderton. Alderton was a pharmacist so he mostly mixed medicine, but in his free time he liked to serve customers carbonated drinks from the soda fountain.

He loved the way the drug store he worked in smelled--with fruit flavors and syrups mixing together. So he set out to create a drink that tasted like that smell.

After he found a mix he liked, he let the owner of the drug store try it.  What do you know?  He liked it!  They started to offer his new drink to the soda fountain customers. They liked it too.

Word about the new drink spread but it didn't have a name so when people wanted one they called it "a Waco" because it was from Waco, Texas.

No one knows how it got named "Dr. Pepper" but they believe it was probably named that by Mr. Morrison.

Here I am in "Foot's" office

Once inside the museum, we decided to head over to Foots' office. Foots is just a nickname, his real name is Woodrow Wilson Clements.

Foots started working as a delivery truck driver when he was in college. After 6 ½ years and three attempts, he was finally hired by the Dr. Pepper company. 

He became the vice president and general manager of Dr. Pepper in 1957. He worked hard and in 1980 he served as president, CEO, and chairman of the board. While Foots was in charge Dr Pepper grew more than ever and eventually became a major player in the soft drink industry.

Me in front of the projected Foots

Just outside Foots' office we saw an actor playing Foots. I wanted to know how much he got paid to do that kind of thing, because if they pay well than I wanted to apply, but when I got closer I noticed that he was just a projection!

When I walked by the projector turned on and he walked up and started talking. I thought that was really cool. I still think it would be pretty fun to dress up for something like that.

When we were ready for lunch, we decided to get hamburgers and head over to a soda shop in the museum. I got a Dr. Pepper--we were at the Dr. Pepper museum after all. My friend got some soda that had a really weird name. I can't remember the name anymore, but I remember thinking it was a kind of different sound that I really liked.

My favorite room in the museum was the room that has the equipment that was used to bottle soda the same way it was done when Dr. Pepper first started. It had all sorts of really neat pipes and gears.  They said that some of the equipment may have come from the Dr. Pepper bottling plant but most of it came from other bottling plants that were going out of business.

The machine used to bottle soda

One more neat thing I learned was that when they were remodeling the plant to make the museum, they discovered the original well that supplied the plant with water. You could look into it, but I didn't want to fall in, so I made sure I didn't get too close to the edge. When they discovered the well, it was filled with broken glass Dr. Pepper bottles.

Quack Report:

I tested out my quack on Foots before I realized he was just a projection.  I wanted him the hear it because I thought he'd be impressed and arrange a job for me. But then I realized he was just a projection. The quack turned out really well anyway. It was long, loud, and the echo was fantastic!! I was disappointed that I'd wasted my all-time-best quack on a projection.

Back to Baltimore, Maryland

I'm back in Baltimore! I liked The Science Center so much I decided to go back and take a look at some of the other things Baltimore has to offer. 

First, I stopped by the strange old tower on the east side of town. My friend NG and her family like to call it "The Shot Tower" though it was originally called "The Phoenix Shot Tower."

In the early 1800's people would make buckshot for rifles in towers like these. Then workers would drop melted lead from the top of the tower through a sieve and it would fall all the way down into a pool of cold water. As the bits of lead fell, gravity would cause them to become round and once the bits hit the cold water at the bottom, they would harden into that perfectly round shape. Isn't that a pretty cool process??

In 1828, this tower was the tallest building in the United States and remained that way for 18 years.  Now, there are a lot of taller buildings in the US, but not many of them are 183 years old! It is one of only a few remaining shot towers in the country. I really wanted to climb to the top to see what it felt like, but they don't allow ducks to go up there anymore. I was really disappointed. Maybe next time.

Have you ever seen the TV show "Ace of Cakes?" Well guess what!! Duff, Mary Alice, Geoff and all the guys at Charm City Cakes live and work in a neighborhood in Baltimore, called Hampden. The place where my friends were having lunch happened to be right next to where they work!!! While NG and her family were at lunch I ran across the street and said hello. My friends ate burgers while I got to help myself to a whole Ace of Cake's cake!!  It was soooo delicious.


Baltimore has a lot of nicknames. One of them is "Charm City." Duff named his bakery after that nickname for Baltimore! He has been in Baltimore for years making TRULY scrumptious cakes. Not only do they taste good, the also look amazing.

NG said that The Paper Moon Diner is one of their favorite restaurants in the world. It's also in Baltimore so I  wanted to check it out. It was really busy so we found another place to eat that day, but I did stop to pose for a couple of photos. They were great!!

The Paper Moon is something you have to experience to believe. I was told the food is really good.  NG also said it's hard to describe just how much there is to look at in that awesome place unless you've been there. I would really like to visit The Paper Moon Diner someday. If you ever visit Baltimore you should, too.


Quack Report:

I tested my quack while eating cake with Duff and the gang. Duff was really impressed with my quack. The echo was AMAZING!!! My best one yet.

Salzburg, Austria

Salzburg Central Rail Station

Isn't Salzburg a cool name? I like it quite a lot. I was very excited when I found out I would be able to visit Salzburg, Austria.

I decided it would be fun to go have a look at some of the shops I could find. When I entered the shop I immediately found new friends!! They were ducks just like me! They had the traditional costume you can find in Austria, Switzerland, and south Germany on. The costume they were wearing was called Dirndl and Lederhosen. They were pretty cool looking. 

Wow! That's a lot of ducks!!

I also met three other friends that were supposed to impersonate the musician Mozart, Kaiser Franz (a former emperor of Austria,) and Sissy--Kaiser Franz's wife.

Mozart, Kaiser Franz, Sissy

I also got a picture in front of the birth house of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It was pretty cool.

Mozart's House

 After talking with my friends and saying our goodbyes, I came across a lake. I decided I could do for a bath just then so I hopped in. I was having a very good time bathing in the lake when I saw another duck. His name was Aldmond. We splashed around a bit and played a few games.

Aldmond and me

After bathing I decided it might be nice to go for a fly. I flew around a bit until I noticed a land mark. In former times they were marked by stones beside the street. I thought that was pretty awesome.

Whoa! Those markings are old!

A while later I noticed a cross. It was very pretty. I liked it a lot. You can find them a lot in Austria. They're called Wegerkreuz and are often found in more religious areas. They mark difficult or important areas--or they are just meant as a sign of recognition.  

A Wegerkreuz

I have always enjoyed hiking and this hike was no different!! I think it was my most favorite hike yet. I was almost to my destination when I noticed a wooden cabin. I stopped for a rest before I began hiking again. I got some pretzels--they were delicious! It turned out I got lucky! While eating my pretzels one of the Urban people played an old folk song for me. The tune was very catchy, and the song was well played.  

Wooden Cabin

Those pretzels were yummy!

 After having all that fun I decided I should look around the city. I had a fun time looking around. Salzburg is a very fun place.

Quack Report:

I tested my quack when I was with Aldmond. It was okay. The quack wasn't very good and the echo was even worse. But that's alright.   



 

Broadway--New York

Holy quackers!  Have you ever been to Broadway?  Well, I have . . . . It. Was. Awesome.

I had a great seat!

Here I am with my friend in the audience of the Shubert Theatre. It was huge!! The Shubert theatre was built in 1913.  The ornate decorations have been preserved for audiences attending shows today--that's almost 100 years!  

I went with some friends to see the show Memphis. It was soooo cool!! It is a musical that is set in the 1950's in Memphis, Tennessee. I really enjoyed it.

During the 1950's black and white people were kept separate. That was called segregation. It was interesting how in the musical the lead character is a white man who wants to show the world that everyone is equal and that black people sing great music! I tried singing once, but it ended up in a total disaster!! You don't want to know what happened after that. In the end the white man ends up becoming a radio DJ and spreads rock 'n' roll music to the world!  It is a really fun show with great music.  The friend I was with even knew some of the performers in the play!! I had a really wonderful time!

One of the most famous long-running shows on Broadway was performed at the Shubert Theatre from 1975-1990 for 6,137 performances--can you imagine that? It was called A Chorus Line. Other famous shows like Chicago, The Producers, Gypsy, and Spamalot also played there.

Wow!  Being on stage was AMAZING! Even if I did miss my mark.

The Shubert Theatre is right next to Shubert Alley.  That is an open space right in the heart of the city in Times Square. They have a lot of outdoor performances there.

This is me on the stage of the Shubert theatre looking out into about 1600 seats!! I would like to give a special thanks to my friend James--for helping me up on the stage. It took a lot of effort to jump up all those steps!! I would also like to thank him for giving me permission, and taking the picture of me.


Quack report:

While on stage, I decided to test out my quack echo. My quack turned out really well because the acoustics in the theater were fantastic. But there was no echo because it is a theater and doesn't have parallel walls.  Echos aren't something you want to hear when you're enjoying a musical so they build it that way on purpose.

Silver Springs, Maryland

I took some time off from working with some of my friends in Silver Springs, to go across the street and visit the Discovery Channel World Headquarters!!

Isn't that the coolest shark costume ever?!!

The Discovery Channel World Headquarters is a pretty cool building. They even dress it up like a shark for Shark Week!! I thought that was pretty awesome. I wish I could dress up like a shark some time. I could even be a flying one!! I was pretty upset when I found out the costume wasn't being used for Halloween, but maybe I can talk to them about that.

After seeing the shark building, my friends and I stopped by the lobby to visit Triceratops, the Tyrannosaurus Rex, and even a baby Woolly Mammoth!! The Woolly Mammoth is also called the Tundra Mammoth. They're probably the most well known species of mammoth. This mammoth species was first recorded possibly 150,000 years ago. I was pretty disappointed when I found out even a baby Woolly Mammoth was bigger than me. I'm still waiting for that growth spurt.

Quack Report:

I tested my quack in the lobby and my it was awesome. Even Tyrannosaurus Rex congratulated me! I was pretty proud of myself.  

Circus Rigolo-- Amsterdam, Netherlands

I needed to stock up on poffertjes, so I decided to meet up with my friends in Amsterdam again. I had such a good time last time I went, I knew I would have a great time this time too. We decided to go see various sights, stop by the flea market, then hit the circus.

We looked at a lot of cool things. We saw statues, paintings, and some amazing architecture.

At the flea market, we tried on hats and slippers. I even got to buy some little nick-nacks. Unfortunately, none of the hats fit me--they were all too big. That's okay though. I still had a lot of fun trying them on.

After stopping for some lunch, and getting some more poffertjes, we headed over to the circus.

Circus Rigolo, is a fun little family circus where they do various acts that are funny and very entertaining. My favorite act was when this old man walked and danced across the tight rope. I was very impressed with his tight rope walking abilities!

This is a picture of me with the ring master. His acts were my favorites. I even got to go up on stage with him! I bounced around quite a bit. I had a very fun time! We laughed and laughed. I'm glad I went.

Quack Report:

My quack this time was truly amazing (as my new CAS friend Sophia would put it) and it's echo was even better!! I had a great time at the circus. I am very glad I went.