Hershey and Home

One of our last days of vacation landed us for two nights in Hershey, PA--home of Hershey chocolates.  Much of Hershey can be kid heaven and parent nightmare, but we managed to squeak some great memories out of our time there.

We started off at Chocolate World, where you can spend a small fortune on various activities or take the free tour.  We opted for the free option, thinking it would be an actual tour of the factory.  Rather, it is an animatronic ride with singing cows that quickly walks you through the candy making process.  The kids loved it, and they especially liked the free candy at the end.  As parents, I felt extremely short changed... it moved so quickly and any real knowledge was drowned out by the constant singing of those cows... that, in the end, I'm not sure I know any more about chocolate than I did prior to my two spins on the ride.

We walked around the candy store forever.

Then, we actually did something interesting.  We visited the Milton Hershey school, which was actually very informative.  The school, founded eons ago, was founded to help orphan boys.  It has since evolved into an amazing campus with over 1,400 students, all of whom have been orphaned or are "socially" orphaned by extreme poverty. Every need is then provided for these kids: from travel to entertainment to a world class education to food and shelter.  It was very touching and awe inspiring.

Then, after lunch (my cute lunch date below), we headed to Hershey Park After Dark.  The Hershey amusement park was opened from 5-10pm, and we eeked out every single possible second of that time riding rides and having fun.  Bret and Grant rode too many coasters to count, and Grace patiently rode some rides with Trent (who is a ride junkie) until her time came!  It was a great evening with lots of fun memories!

Getting ready to ride the Tilt-a-Whirl.  Let me tell you how fast you can spin when you have one plump adult on one side and two little kiddos on the other!

A kiddie roller coaster...

We opted to come home a day early for a variety of reasons.  First, we stopped off at the Flight 93 memorial.  It was humbling to remember those brave men and women aboard that flight.  Grant and Grace didn't really understand, but they were quietly respectful nonetheless.  Afterwards, we made a several hour stop in Pittsburgh to eat and to scope, but instead of stopping for the evening, we headed home.  

This vacation ended up being one of our favorite vacations in awhile.  It was a great mix of culture, city, fun and family.  We have made some lasting memories...