Today was one of those days that Sonja has been waiting for her entire life! The Hershey Chocolate Factory Tour. Yep, believe it or not Sonja REALLY enjoys chocolate and man oh man does Hershey, PA have ALOT of it. The story of Milton Hershey and milk chocolate is quite interesting and definately worth a read.
Something that Sonja and I both noticed about the 'towns we all hear about' in PA is that our expectations of them were way off. We were thinking that our experience of Hershey and Lancaster, PA would be similar to Frankenmuth, MI. You know the quaint little towns ... but we found bustling cities and have had to take side streets and back roads to find the quaint littlle towns we had imagined in our heads.
Ok, back to the CHOCOLATE! The tour of the factory is fascinating ... actually, it's not the real factory at all, but a simulation. Regardless, they've done a great job and the tour which consists of riding in moving 'cars' through a life-like factory is interesting and educational.
Then there is the Chocolate World store ... more candy creations than you can imagine all in one place. Did you know that Hershey's makes a dark chocolate cherry cordial Kiss? Yummy. We saved the Hershey Museum to visit next time we are in town. Overall, a great experience and if you havn't been ... it's worth the trip.
Kevin's sister, Tara, came up from Frederick, MD and spent the day with us. The girls enjoyed having Aunt Tara around and we enjoyed our time together. On our way back to the campground we came across a store selling Hershey's Cocoa Mulch. Does that mean happier plants?
Last night Sonja and I were making plans for our Hershey Park trip today. After some investigating we discovered that the girls would only be able to ride on about 50% of the rides at the park. At the same time we learned that Hershey Park has a sister park called Dutch Wonderland in Lancaster, PA. After checking out their website we took the risk and gave it a shot.
Now that we've been ... what a great place to take kids under 12. The park is kept really clean. There are a wide variety of rides from the simple Swings to a exciting wooden roller coaster. There were many kid friendly and interactive shows with singing, dressing up, and even a diving show.
The girls had a great time ... psst ... so did Mom and Dad. The risk was definately worth it.
Sonja did say something to me today that put it into perspective a bit. She asked me if I had realized that WE were taking our own kids to an amusement park. I hadn't thought of it, but the more it sank I realized that we had become our parents. The changing of the guard.
Anyway, we highly suggest Dutch Wonderland in Lancaster, PA for your next children's amusement park adventure. Tomorrow, my sister Tara is coming for the day to visit and we are heading to the Hershey Park Factory Tour! Sonja is salivating just thinking of the chocolate:)
This past weekend with Kevin, Missy, Cory, and Emily Bonning was relaxing to say the least. Kevin and Missy are great hosts ... food and fellowship. Both Sonja and I cherished the time we spent together.
The girls played very well with both Cory and Emily the entire weekend. All were sad to say goodbye. They are already looking forward to the next time we can be together.
The Bonnings took us up through Smugglers Notch and into Stowe. If you aren't familiar with those places then you probably don't ski. There is a story behind Stowe though ... over 10 years ago Kevin and Missy took Sonja and I to Stowe ... at night ... to downhill ski ... it was our first time! Sonja and Missy gave up after it took us nearly 3 hours to get down the hill ... the first time. I had watched the ski instructors go by enough that I had picked up enough to try again.
When we left Vermont this morning I decided to head down 87 past Albany through towns like Saratoga,NY ... Catskill,NY ... Parsippany,NJ ... Bethlehem,PA ... Allentown,PA. Towns I had never been in. I can tell you though that towing the ROO is much less mentally challenging on back roads going 50/55mph. Sometimes ya gotta take the highway, but the road less traveled is something to look forward to.
What a grand adventure we have had today! We traveled from the KOA at the foot of Whiteface mountain up to Plattsburg,NY. We caught the ferry going across to Grand Isle,VT. We decided to take a detour into Grand Isle to find a place to pull over and have lunch. Whilst we were driving, Kevin spotted a unusal looking barn and we decided to drive to see it closer. On the turn off of the road to the barn there was a sign for "pick your own strawberries"! We instantly thought - we could bring "dessert" to Kevin and Missy's.
We actually drove by the old barn which turned out to be an apartment building for senior citizens - pretty cool! It was called the Round Barn Apartments. We drove past the farm because we spotted Lake Champlain in the short distance. We took a beautiful drive next to the lake and saw some beautiful homes. We turned around and pulled into the farm - made our sandwiches and sat next to the road to eat lunch! Such a site were we!
These are one of those moments when I understand my parents when they comment about how wierd my husband is! We had a ball picking almost 10lbs of berries and eating another lb! All this and it still was before we arrived at Kevin and Missy's!
Today was our trip up Whiteface Mountain. Absolutely, amazing. We drove up Whiteface Memorial Highway and I mean UP:) Once at the top we walked through a 425 ft. tunnel then rode an elevator up 27 story's to the top. By the time we got to the top a storm had moved in and we were covered in clouds. The couds broke here and there so we were able to get some photos.
Sometimes I wonder if God made mountain tops just so we could see breathtaking views and just know down deep inside that there is a creator God that made this earth we live on.
Somehow, gazing through clouds at miles and miles of gorgeous scenery tends to put life a little more in perspective. Knowing that God architected landscape like that is a reminder to me that our 'problems in life' are really small potatoes to what God can really handle.
Did some fishing again today on the famed Ausable River ... caught a 11in. trout. It was absolutely beautiful ... throwing my line out into the air ... watching the water glisten in the sun as it sprayed off the line.
Sonja purchased some party lights for under the Roo awning ... tonight we had a Luna Moth visit and hover around for a bit. First time we had ever seen one in the wild.
Tomorrow we head off for Cambridge, VT to see the Bonnings.
We left Watkins Glen, NY for Lake Placid,NY on Monday morning. We stopped at a Camping World store in Syracuse ... what a disappointment. Maybe our expectations were off, but it wasn't that amazing.
We headed North to Watertown, NY and took Route 3 all the way through the Adirondack State Park. It took us about 4 hours to get over the hills and valleys, but it was beautiful. Great little towns like Felts Mills and captivating lakes like Cranberry Lake. Stopping once or twice at a stream/river.
As we drove through Lake Placid we began to realize that the KOA we were staying in was actually in Wilmington literally at the foot of Whiteface Mountain along the Ausable River ... Gorgeous.
Once we pulled in and setup camp we quickly realized that one of our water lines must have vibrated loose around a crimp. Kevin had to spend Tuesday morning running back and forth to a couple of hardware stores before correcting the problem. It's bound to happen with a home on wheels and 1,000 miles later.
We packed up Saturday morning and headed out for Watkins Glen, NY to stay with his folks and to be there for Fathers Day. Instead of our usual jaunt through Canada we decided it best to stick to the USA with our camper and all our goodies. Ya never know with Customs/Border anymore.
The 9 hour trip took 12, but we stopped often ... had to fill up with gas quite a bit. We only drove about 60/62 mph and still had gas mileage of 8/9 mpg. Doesn't sound all that great and we have gotten some strange looks with gas prices so high and still traveling nearly 2500 miles this first trip.
We figure we havn't spent money on plane tickets or really taken any family vacations in over 5 years ... we are due!
It was great for Kevin to spend Fathers Day with his Dads (bio/step). It's been 9 years since he'd been home for that. The girls had a chance to visit with their cousins for a few hours ... they really enjoy that.
We are on the road today for Lake Placid, NY so look for another post coming soon.
This past weekend (Memorial Day Weekend) we took the Roo to Coldwater Lake Family Park in Weidman, MI. It was just a short drive (60 minutes) from home so we could 'break ourselves in' to camping with our new Roo.
I was personally impressed by the park. It's only a county park, but well kept up with lots to do. Big play area for the kids, nice facilities, good fishing in the lake, and some really nice campsites. We stayed at #91, but #10 and #19 were the ones to shoot for next time.
The girls had a blast and it was a walk down memory lane for Sonja. Growing up she had stayed there with her grandparents during the summers for weeks at a time. Her grandmother has passed on and so I thought it appropriate to have our first camping experience with the Roo at the same campground.
In a few weeks we head off for a Ohio, New York, Vermont, and Pennsylvania trip.
Today was one of those days that Sonja has been waiting for her entire life! The Hershey Chocolate Factory Tour. Yep, believe it or not Sonja REALLY enjoys chocolate and man oh man does Hershey, PA have ALOT of it. The story of Milton Hershey and milk chocolate is quite interesting and definately worth a read.
Kevin's sister, Tara, came up from Frederick, MD and spent the day with us. The girls enjoyed having Aunt Tara around and we enjoyed our time together. On our way back to the campground we came across a store selling Hershey's Cocoa Mulch. Does that mean happier plants?
