Starting Location: Hershey, PA
Destination: Hershey, PA
Dining Locations: Kit Kat Cafe, Hershey, PA, Bear’s Den, Hershey, PA
Travel Time: 4 minutes to the park
I think I’ll call this one “Greetings from the Comfiest Bed on Earth” or “Greetings from the Town That Poisoned Me.” You decide after reading.
Emily here again. In an effort to catch up before the last leg of our trip, we are sharing journaling duties. I am actually typing from the bed in Hershey, as I have been poisoned tonight by one of two things: 1) tainted tomatoes on my earlier sub 2) too much Hershey’s chocolate. We went downstairs to dinner and I ordered some soup and then had to leave the table and return to the room as the poisoning took full effect. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
Today did not turn out like we expected. We intended to get up, head out early, revisit Hershey Park, then hit Chocolate World for the activities there. Well, by the time H graced us with his second awakening of the day (who can argue with a kid who wants to nap?), it was 11 before we got in the car. Since the fahrenheit had already hit the chilly temp of 95, we decided to reverse the order and hit Chocolate World before the park. Air conditioning versus sweltering, unshaded park… tough decision. We went inside and bought our tickets for the trolley that was conveniently boarding that minute. It was for a 45 minute tour of the town of Hershey guided by two “actors.” You will soon understand why I use quotation marks. We grabbed the tokens, headed out to the trolley, and sat down in our front row seats. Perfect! Well, until the driver flipped a switch and the trolley shut off. Flip. Flip. Turn key… nothing. Flip. Flip. Driver disembarks… comes back. Turns key. Nothing. Disembarks. Another trolley person comes on and tells us the manager is on his way and we will hopefully be on our way soon. Meanwhile, Hunter squirms on my lap, contributing to the sauna effect of the now-un-air-conditioned trolley. When the manager arrived, he politely explained that the trolley was broken (um, duh) and that we were all welcome to go in and get tokens for a different trolley time. We went back in, exchanged our tokens, and headed for the “factory tour.” Again with the quotation marks…
The factory tour, which apparently used to be an actual tour of an actual factory (novel), is now a ride similar to a Disney ride whereby you ride in a Spaceship Earth type vehicle and ride through a simulated factory experience. There are singing cows and lots of mocked up conveyor belts, but the whole thing took about 2 1/2 minutes total and did not contribute much to my overall knowledge of anything cacao related. After the tour, the nice lady gave us two candies each (even two for Hunter.. sweet!) and we were dumped into – what else – a gift shop. Chocolate and more chocolate. At one point I started to feel like it was Halloween and I was in overload… there comes a point when there are SO many sweets everywhere that they lose their luster. And if you know me and my penchant for really anything to eat, you know I do not say this lightly!
We decided to get some lunch before the tour and for that we passed up the dull-looking food court for the more fun sounding Kit Kat Cafe. Fun sounding… but to borrow a term from Patrick, I was averagely whelmed. It was not bad, not good… just there. And I was poisoned, possibly, by the tomatoes. So I’m really not a fan. There is not much to say about lunch except that it was overpriced. We did run into Ricky Reese’s Cup again, though, much to Hunter’s delight.
After lunch, it was time for the trolley again. We crossed our fingers and headed outdoors. We were unpopular in the crowded line due to Hunter’s insistence that I let him “DOWN,” and you could see these people thinking, “Oh, thanks for bringing your cranky baby on OUR trolley tour.” We ended up in the next to last row on the warmish trolley (Patrick’s FAVORITE environment, if you’ve been paying attention) and off we went. We were guided by Amanda and “Wilbur,” the “actors” who were going to tell us about Hershey. From what I could make out between the muffled microphones and patchy script, Hershey almost failed a buncha times and then made out big when he sold his “carmels” to England. Being of the camp who pronounces all the “a”s in her “caramels” I was having a hard time focusing on anything other than the word “carmels” and feel I may have missed some important history. There was talking and some singing and some hokey skits involving Wilbur getting on and off the trolley and coming back as different historical characters, but the best part for us was Hunter completely passing out in my lap. He was SO out… mouth open, drooling, sweating… it was priceless. He’s not much of a cuddler normally so I enjoyed my brief snuggly moment.
After the trolley, it was back to Chocolate World for dessert. Hunter had some vanilla ice cream (some = two bites), Patrick had a dark chocolate milkshake, and I had a piece of mini Reese’s Pieces cake (see: poisoning, Part II). After eating, there was some shopping to be done (of course), and then we decided to head back to the hotel. We wanted to give Hunter some time to run around and maybe nap again before we headed back to the park this evening. The nap plan worked and both he and I fell asleep (separately… see: not cuddly) for a good solid two hours. By the time I woke up at 5:30, it was time to get the show on the road if we were going to accomplish anything. This is where the night started to go downhill. Hunter woke up, got a change of clothes, and we headed for the elevator. I remarked that I felt weird… kinda dizzy and a little nauseous (again, not to be all Ashlee Simpson, but I know you’re all thinking, “Ooh, Hunter’s getting a new little brother or sister!” and I assure you 100% that is not the case). We got seated for dinner, and I continued to feel worse and worse. Before the food even hit the table, I told Patrick I was coming back to the room. Like the champ and great dad that he is, he managed his own dinner AND Hunter’s in the restaurant and then brought my soup back in a takeout container. My boys took good care of me when they returned. Well, Hunter crawled over my face a few hundred times and hurled his pacifier at me another few times, but he does it out of love.
So here we are. What about our return to Hershey Park, you ask? Not in the cards, I’m afraid. I felt so bad because Hunter had such a fun time there last night and we really wanted to see his face light up again. He was having a pretty fun time in the room, though, and who knows if he would have discovered the same joy in the park again tonight. We unfortunately will not know, as I have been ensconced in this cozy bed for the last three hours watching crap TV (aka my favorite kind) while Hunter sleeps in his “cozy cave.” Patrick being the genius “arcing” thinker that he is, realized in one hotel that those blackout curtains make great room dividers. We shove the pack-n-play in the corner, wrap the curtain around it, and voila… Hunter is immune to our laptops and TV watching, and we don’t have to live in a dark cave starting at 8 PM.
Tomorrow we head back to the road for our longest ride yet… Hershey to Holly Springs, to visit Drew and Fran in their amazing new house. It will be Patrick’s first time seeing it, and we are excited for Hunter to be reunited with their dachshund, Max, a super cool dog. Two nights there, then off to Hilton Head to finish up our trip in a place we have never been but is sure to feel a little like home… Disney’s Hilton Head Resort. We are excited for both of our next two stops and will report from the road!!
