Our Pennsylvania Trip

Apr 16, 2009 21:34


So, we were lucky enough to have two weeks off of school for Spring Break. City schools still do two weeks. And this year, unlike last year, our two weeks off were the same. So, we decided to go away the first week and do home improvements the second week.

So, we decided to go to Pennsylvania and check out some sites there. We went to the Crayola Factory, Philadelphia, and Hershey. We stayed in Reading, PA, and then drove to each place every day, then drove back to Reading at night. It was about an hour drive to each place, which wasn't bad. It saved on packing and unpacking a car every night.

(By the way, we went to an outlet in Reading, and it sucked. We went to a JCPenny outlet and it sucked. (I would like to know which JCPenny outlet you go to Tara, because I was not impressed with the one I went to AT ALL).

I'll cut them, for long entry sake...

Okay, I know. The Crayola Factory. Seriously? At our age? But, it started because we were talking the one day, and I said that I wasn't really a fan of Mr. Roger's TV show, but my favoriteepisode was when he went to the crayon factory and they showed how to make crayons. He looked at me and said it couldn't be, because it was his. So, I decided to look up the Crayola factory, found out it was in Pennsylvania, and thus how the idea to have this trip started. So, the first day we went to Easton, the last exit in Pennsylvania before New Jersey, to the Crayola Factory. The Crayola Factory is more of a musuem of the history of crayons, with a presentation how to make crayons. They took machines from the real factory (which is 7 miles away from the building), and brought them there for the presentations. I loved watching them make crayons. They had a sidewalk that kids could draw on with chalk, windows that they could write on with special markers...very hands on and fun for kids. You get tokens that you can put in machines and get your own box of crayons and markers. I got a purple marker. It's cool because the marker is like a sovenier...it has the name and city and everything on it. And not to worry...they give you a plastic bag to carry all your things in, so you don't have to bring your own. On the third floor, they had a Canal Museum, which would be awesome down at the Lockport Locks here. It's a model of a canal, and you take a boat and push it through the water and through locks. You have to manually move the locks to get the boat through and everything...very hands on. I knew a lot about how the locks worked and the history behind it because, well, I teach it and have been on the Lockport Locks field trip at least twice. They also had a Boat Model, had replicas of things along the canal, and had a model train display. That museum belongs here. As a teacher, I appreciated it. And yes, while we were probably the only ones there without kids, we are not the first ones that have been there without kids (we asked). As a teacher, I'd want my kids to go there for a field trip. I recommend this for families. It's very hands on and fun for kids. 
 
 This part of the trip was added last. We were watching a thing on ice cream, and they showed this place in Philadelphia, at the Reading Market, that had one of the most popular and best ice creams around...Basset Ice Cream. So, we decided to add that to the trip, and see the Liberty Bell while we were there. At the very last minute--maybe three days before we left, Matt decided to look and see what sporting events were going on while we were going to be there. We had a choice of a Flyers game or a Phillies game. We honestly didn't want to drive back to our hotel very late at night in a city we didn't know, so we picked the Phillies game in the afternoon (So I didn't get to see my Marty). Philadelphia was...crazy. Not NYC crazy, but close enough. It was very stresseful and to be quite honest, we didn't plan this part of the trip very well. We Went to the Liberty Bell, which was cool to see, and then went to the Reading Market briefly. Because of traffic and the afternooon game, we didn't have a lot of time and weren't able to go to get ice cream or Philly cheesesteaks, so we just walked through, then left for the game. The game was cool. We saw the World Series Championship Ring Ceremony. The ballpark was nice, we sat by some nice and interesting characters. The guy next to me and his friend were trashed, but they were friendly. I saw something at that park that I had never seen before: tailgaiting before a baseball game.  The one other thing I like was that the parking lot for the ballpark was HUGE. Just massive. But, the reason why is because across the street from the baseball stadium was the Eagles staduim, and across from that is the Wacovia center  (where the Flyers play) and then The Spectrum. Matt got his picture taken in front of the Spectrum (he has a thing for stadiums and Rocky). We were not able to see the Rocky statue or the building it is in front of. (Matt wanted to run up the steps). But seriously, Buffalo needs to put all the staduims downtown, in one spot like that, it's very convienent. There's enough room. And fill those empty mills with an outlet, like the one we went to in Reading. It was an old factory that they just remodeled and put store in. You do all that and a BassPro, and you got yourself a new city. Now, elect me mayor. LOL!

Hershey, by far, was the best part of the trip. You drive through farms and country for what seems like forever...but after you leave Hershey, you drive through the farms and country with a new respect, because if it wasn't for those dairy farms, we wouldn't have chocolate. So, the amusement park wasn't open, but we don't do rides anyways. We did the Chocolate World Part, and boy, was it worth it. We went on the Chocolate Factory Tour, which is a ride. You sit in what looks like a Hershey's Kiss and it takes you around a makeshift factory, which songs and cows and everything, and shows you how they get the bean, break it down and turn it into chocolate. It was so cool. (Yes, I like the show How it's Made). After we got out of the ride, we recieved a piece of chocolate. Then, we went and watched a 3D movie on chocolate. That was cute. When we were done with that, we returned our glasses and got a piece of chocolate. We went to a chocolate tasting and that was interesting. It was Hershey University, and we got a lecture on chocolate, and then we were able to taste test different chocolates. We had to taste a hershey bar, hershey kiss, reece cup, a bliss chocolate, and dark chocolate. We has to taste them though, like wine. We had to look, listen, smell, then taste the chocolate with our whole tongue. So, we had six pices of chocolate, bringing the total to 8 so far. At the end, we got a Master's Degree in Chocolate tasting. We have the actual certificates, and yes, we are framing them and adding them to our wall. I figure, that's my second Master's Degree, so I can apply for Administration jobs now. LOL! The best part was the Trolley Tour of all of Hershey. We got on the trolley, met Fred, our tour driver, and then our tour guide Brandon. Brandon, I'm not kidding you, was (for all who know him) Matthew Kelly's twin. Talked like him, same humor, made us sing, even looked like him. I have a picture, if you want to see. He was SO GOOD! I swear, Matt could have a future in Hershey. But we got to see where Milton Hershey was born, how his franchise came to be, the factory that runs 24-7, 365 days a year, his golf course outside the factory and in front of his mansion of a house. We also toured the Founder's Hall and saw the Schools that he built. Little FYI for all of you....since the Hershey's couldn't have any children, they made a school for orphans, which still runs today. It is a whole school district, K-12, and since he had no other family, he willed all his profits and future earnings to the school to keep it running. So, when you buy Hershey products, it all goes back into his school. It's all for education. We will be sure to buy Hershey products from now on--it's a good thing Matt's favorite is Reece's. That is owned by Hershey too...there were so many awesome facts and stories we learned from our tour. It was such an awesome time. Matt loved the tour and Brandon. He even shook his hand and thanked him for a good time. I think he had fun because Brandon asked a question and Matt answered it...they have street lights in Hershey that are kisses--the tops of them, the shades if you will, are all kisses. Brandon said they are good for your health because they are light chocolate (haha), but then he asked what you call a hershey kiss light when the bulb goes out and Matt said 'dark chocolate' and he was right. Same humor as my father, and he loved it. During the tour, we got kisses, peanut butter cups, and another random piece of chocolate, and at the end of the trolley tour, they gave you a full size Hershey bar. So, grand total of candy came to 11 little pieces of chocolate and a regular size candy bar. I had heartburn so bad driving back that I seriously thought I was having a heart attack. But it was such a good time. We will definitely be going back there. They had a museum there too, but we didn't go to that.

So, that was our trip. It was a lot of fun!

I'm teling you, all the stadiums in one place, turning Bethlehem Steel or any of those mills into Outlets, getting Bass Pro in, and having General Mills make a factory a la Hershey or Crayola, and you got yourself a booming downtown Buffalo.

As for the home improvements...I have two more rooms to paint and I cannot wait until everything is fixed and put together, because I cannot wait to clean this place from top to bottom. I need another week vacation just to get my house back in order!

Edit: I have no idea why Hershey and Philly were in one cut, but oh well.
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