Chocolate!

      

      We returned yesterday to Hershey's Chocolate World in Hershey, Pennsylvania.  As soon as the door opens, you are surrounded by the familiar scent of the confectionary delight!  There is a free tour inside the facility that demonstrates the process of producing chocolate beginning with cocoa beans and ending with wrapped products.



      The shops are overflowing with familiar products and unique souvenirs.  There are several opportunities to explore your creative side, such as developing your own candy bar including choice of ingredients and designing the wrapper.  A 4D experience allows interaction with Hershey characters to solve a mystery.  There is a chocolate tasting adventure, a bake shop where special treats can be personalized, as well as a food court where you can enjoy fun, games and breakfast with product characters.



   
    There are so many attractions including an amusement park, a museum and Chocolate Avenue, where the streetlights are designed to look like Hershey's Kisses.  Valerie noticed that even the lavatories in the bathroom were chocolate brown.  And she was not at all surprised to learn that Reese's peanut butter cups are their top selling product.


      Our highlight was the trolley ride through town.  Fred was our outstanding narrator who left us with a sweet taste in our mouths and a thorough history of the town and of the life of Milton Hershey.  It's a beautiful city, and the philanthropy Hershey weaved into his empire is an incredible story.




      And somehow we came away feeling better about our past guilty pleasures, knowing that it has actually benefitted orphaned and underprivileged children http://www.mhs-pa.org/about/mhs-mission-vision.  Kisses and Hugs!

Happy Birthday to George!

     

      We began today at the Epic Buffet inside the Hollywood Casino in Grantville, Pennsylvania where we had boon-docked last evening, with a toast to celebrate George's birthday.  The food was excellent and the weather was beautiful.  Since we had no land power to bake a cake, George was happy with a slice of lemon meringue pie.



      The Harrisburg East campground where we had planned to stay for a week advised us they could only accommodate us for one evening.  With that in mind, and plans to meet with instructor Ray Casselberry and his wife tonight, we decided to make the short drive out to Hershey's Chocolate Town for a glimpse of the facilities and continue to drive west.



      Along the way, Valerie spotted a few nice barns which she was able to capture although we were on the move and found the video George had prepared to share with his family and friends on Facebook https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1ZF9m0heoU&feature=youtu.be.  George has always enjoyed putting together presentations for so many people and occasions, and decided it was time to finally celebrate himself.

      Valerie visited the shops and the tour while George purchased tickets for the hour-long trolley ride through the attractions.  When they again met up to board the trolley, George announced that his cell phone was either lost or stolen.  The panic began!  George notified security, who called the police, while Valerie attempted to call the phone and any relative that might offer advice on what to do.  We missed the ride when George re-traced his steps to find he had actually left it inside the car in the parking lot.  Happy birthday, George!




      We learned an important lesson from the chaos we experienced.  If you have an iPhone, password protect it, install the application 'Find my iPhone.'  Know your ID number and what passwords will need to be changed to prevent any fraudulent use of any of your personal accounts should your phone become lost or stolen.  We will take time to do all of this rather than panic if and when there is a next time!



       Upon arrival at Harrisburg East RV Park, we got lucky again.  There had been a cancellation and we would be able to stay an entire week as we had initially planned.  Happy birthday, George!


      We so enjoyed our meeting over dinner at the Capitol Diner with instructor Ray and wife, Barb, Casselberry.  He has much experience and has proven to be a great addition to our team.  We are delighted to have him teaching in the Harrisburg area.  The food was great and the company was even better!  We finally got situated at the campground just as darkness fell.

       The fascinating figures of candy production at the time of our visit for the day:  Reeses 61,752, Kisses 9,502,567, KitKat 115,828 and York 419,859.  That's a lot of chocolate!  We will simply have to go back for the trolley tour!

From Maryland to Pennsylvania

      Saturday was moving day, so although tired from our sightseeing excursions, we packed up our things and left Cherry Hill Park in College Park, Maryland with a mixed feelings -- looking forward to slowing down the pace and yet contemplating the many exciting things we had seen and experienced in Washington, D.C.



      It was a beautiful day to drive the Beltway, with traffic as light as we had seen it.  We actually never came to a complete stop.  But about ten miles south of Baltimore in the southbound lane, we noticed flashing lights ahead and a line of traffic that stretched for miles behind it.  On its side appeared to be a dump truck.  We counted our blessings that we were not sitting in that aftermath.




      We crossed the border into Pennsylvania, where Valerie got her camera out and went into barn watch.  She loves to photograph barns as we drive along the countryside, so expect to see more than usual in the blog for awhile.

      The hope was to stay at the Harrisburg East RV Park, but we were told they had no room for us until Sunday evening due to an alpaca show in town.  We found the Hollywood Casino in nearby Grantville accommodating, although we had to move once due to the anticipated high attendance at the horse races Saturday evening.

      In need of diesel fuel and fresh water, we stopped at a nearby Pilot, where the discounted price was a painful $4.11/gallon.  The rolling hills provided a nice change of scenery, but the wind was gusty to the extent we felt the need to put down our roof-mounted satellite dish.


      Aside from the Captain having one of his unexplained anxiety attacks, our overnight stay at the casino proved quiet and peaceful, and we look forward to the Epic Buffet Brunch inside to celebrate George's birthday.

      Safe travels and great adventures!

All Good Things Must Come to an End...

      Frustrated at not accomplishing her sightseeing goals on Thursday and tired from the night cruise, Valerie took the Metro back into the city Friday, determined to fulfill her wish list.  Her first stop was Washington Harbour in Georgetown for the riverboat cruise, which involved riding the bus for the first time, which proved to be an adventure.



      She boarded the Nightingale II, operated by Capitol River Cruises, with her pass provided by the Big Bus Tours and set out just in time to return to the pier before the storm clouds arrived.  The views of the Kennedy Center, the Washington Monument, Jefferson and Lincoln Memorials from the Potomac River were especially nice.



      The planes were continually flying low overhead on final approach to Reagan International Airport, and the canoes and surf riders also provided a degree of entertainment.



      Unable to locate the return bus stop, she walked a couple of miles to the nearest Metro rail station and took the subway back to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum where she took in a few more displays and an IMAX 3D Unseen Universe.



      The only goal unaccomplished was the American History Museum which was closing and there was simply no more time.  Oh well, a good reason to return for another visit to this intriguing, historic, and busy place!



      It rained hard during her short walk back to the train station, reminiscent of the day we arrived in the nation's capital.  It was time to pack up and continue the journey to Goshen, Indiana, after an important meeting in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Sightseeing D.C. -- Big Bus Tour, Day Two

       On Wednesday, after checking the weather, Valerie purchased the 48-hour ticket from Big Bus Tours USA for herself and a night-tour for George, http://eng.bigbustours.com/washington/home.html.  Thursday, she set off on the second day of this hop-on, hop-off tour with a list and a plan.

      The first stop she chose was the Natural History Museum, which was larger than anticipated and very crowded, so she skipped the American History Museum and headed further along the yellow route to view the tour's free add-on museums -- the Crime and Punishment Museum and Madame Tussauds Wax Museum, since they opened later in the day and were fairly close together.

      Expecting that things would fall as nicely into place as the first day, if not even better since she had planned so well, she optimistically continued along the yellow route to the Capitol River Cruises.  Well, she just missed the bus and waited for the next bus and traffic moved slowly so that it was nearly 4 p.m.  She began to consider that if she indeed caught the 4 p.m. cruise and rode for an hour, the bus may not get her back to Union Station, where she was meeting George for the night tour.  

      So, even her aggressive plan to return to the IMAX theater inside the Air and Space Museum to see Hidden Universe 3D, failed to materialize as she sat on the bus for over two hours.

      But the night tour did not disappoint!  The weather was cool but pleasant, and our tour guide, Tom Thompson, was exceptional in both his knowledge and presentation.  As the sun set on Washington, D.C., we visited the Lincoln, Jefferson, FDR, Dr. Martin Luther King and Korean War, World War II, and Marine Corps Memorials, with breathtaking views from the upper deck of the tour bus.

 

Sightseeing D.C. -- Big Bus Tour, Day One

       As we mentioned in a previous blog, Barb at the Cherry Hill Park resort where we're staying conducts sightseeing meetings daily.  We bought SmarTrip passes which work for Metro buses and  trains.  Rather than take the bus approximately 25 minutes from the RV park in to Union Station, we drive about 3-1/2 miles to College Park and pay $4.50/day to park the car and catch the rail to a stop nearby what we plan to see.




      George's legs began giving him some difficulty, so we made the decision that Valerie would continue to see the sights on her own.  We bought the 48 hour Big Bus Tour and added the Night Tour, which is only two and a half hours, so George could join her for that part.  

      Valerie covered a lot of ground today and hopes to cover much again tomorrow.  There are lots and lots of photos, which will follow without a lot of commentary at the moment.  A picture tells a thousand words -- or so they say!



      She took the train from College Park into town and took a walk past the White House.



      From there she caught the bus at the Willard Hotel and headed for Arlington National Cemetery, where she visited the graves of President and Mrs. Kennedy, the amphitheater and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Arlington House, and the marker of the buried bones of 2,111 unknown soldiers.

       From the top deck of the Big Bus she had a great view of local monuments, statues and architectures, and some more renown buildings such as the Pentagon, the Hilton Hotel (where President Reagan was shot), Dwight D. Eisenhower Building, and the Department of the Treasury, to name a few.

       Next she took a trolley ride out to the National Zoo and the Washington National Cathedral.

       The trolley returned her back to the bus, where she was able to visit the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial Wall.  She made a stop at Union Station for dinner and rode the train back to College Park.  Since she purchased the 48 hour ticket, she'll be back out in the morning as there is so much more to see!