Moving On

We decided to take advantage of David's one week hiatus from rotations and drove two hours west to a little town called Hershey. As in the chocolate variety. I don't know where exactly we came up with the idea, but D's been there before and wasn't opposed to going again and I wanted to go to Hershey Park. So we made plans, got park tickets off eBay for an awesome price, consulted hotwire.com for a good hotel, and we were off for a two-day excursion.

We left Friday morning and the ride was very scenic. Just 45 minutes out of Philly the landscape totally changes and you can see farmland for miles and miles. It's like something out of Little House on the Prarie. After we checked in to our hotel, we went into Hershey to do some looking around and to grab some lunch. We knew were in Hershey first by the street names (Chocolate Ave. and Cocoa Ave.) and then by the smell. What an awesome advertising campaign they have going on near that factory. And there were distinctly different smells, too. Like a cocoa powder smell at one point, then a brownie kind of smell, and then the melted Hershey kisses smell. Yum, yum, yummy! We toured what was left of Hershey and made our way back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. D found this Mexican restuarant in our hotel directory and it was a cute little out-of-the-way place. It was set up like a hacienda (Mexican house) with authentic decorations which made it even more appealing.



















Next day, we woke up to some light rain and decided it could work to our advantage. We wandered downstairs to the "deluxe" continental breakfast offered by the hotel and stayed there until we were nice and full. We checked out a while later and noticed that it wasn't raining anymore, although it was still overcast. Unfortunately such weather didn't hinder the majority of people we thought it would and we arrived at a very crowded park. It didn't rain at all the rest of the day (thank you, Lord), and we even had to go back to the car to change into cooler clothing because the sun came out and the sky turned very blue.

Hershey Park is a very neat place. Well, really it's like most other parks with rides, food, games, shops, and the like, but it's very clean with a warm feeling to it--if you discount the fact that we had to get out of the first line we were in because the rollercoaster was stuck. We had better luck the rest of the day and went on three rollercoasters, the Skyride, and the Ferris Wheel before we left. We also saw the sea lion show, toured Chocolate World, and visited Zoo America. They moved the Hershey Factory tour out of the factory and into Chocolate World. You sit in this car and it takes you through the chocolate-making process and you get a piece of chocolate at the end! Then you can easily make your way to their gift shop where there is more chocolate and Hershey products in one place than ever before seen.

















We ended our day at the park around 8pm because we still had a two hour drive back. (Oops, forgot to mention that I got a funnelcake for lunch!!!) It was a great Fall trip and I'm glad we got a chance to go. Now D has started his Pediatrics rotation and I am one month into my third kindergarten class. Reality hits.