Travel With The Thayers: October 2010

Update 35: Hershey, PA October 5, 2010

I decided to have a separate update just for Hershey, PA

Hershey's Chocolate World includes the visitor center with lots of activities. The Marketplace shops sell the usual souvenirs AND all kinds of Hershey products in a variety of packaging.

A 3-D show highlights the Hershey cartoon characters. A food court offers a small variety of foods. You can create your own candy bar or design a dessert creation. The Great American Chocolate Tour shows how the candy is made. Trolley ride tickets are purchased here too.

We took in the Hershey's Great American Chocolate Tour. The lead-in ramp gives visitors a short history of the company. Then the ramp turns and travels through a tropical jungle and describes the cultivation of the cacao bean. An escalator takes you down to a revolving floor that helps you hop into a track car. The car travels through the "Hershey chocolate factory", like a Disneyland ride, showing how chocolate is made from the coming of the cacao beans to shipping out the final product. Cute cows help tell the story.

The Marketplace is loaded with racks and racks of candy. After lunch in the food court and checking out the Marketplace we went out to board the trolley.

The trolley is really a bus made to look like a trolley. The guys that drive and guide the tour tell some of those lame jokes that make you groan or laugh. As they tell the story of Milton Hershey throughout the tour, every so often they pass samples from the different kinds of "kisses".

Milton Hershey failed and went bankrupt 3-4 times trying to make a go of a candy store. He lost lots of money belonging to family members who supported his dreams. Then he went to Colorado to mine with his father for awhile. While there he learned how to add milk to camels. Next he returned to Pennsylvania and opened a caramel store. The candy didn't sell well locally, but did a great business overseas in England. Hershey went to England and discovered the English were wrapping his caramels in chocolate. Then he went to Switzerland and met Lindt who knew how to make milk chocolate.

Back in the states he went to a World Expo and saw the machines needed to make milk chocolate. He bought them all and took them to Hershey PA. He also bought about 56 dairy farms to be able to control the milk product he needed. He built the factory to produce milk chocolate. He also built homes for the workers, who could then purchase those homes at a low price and with no interest. Hershey made nicer homes for the next level of management to purchase. He built whatever the town needed around the factory.

Later he went to Cuba and purchased a sugar plantation. I can't remember if he purchased cacao farms or not. His factory includes 24 huge silos full of cacao beans: an eight month supply.

During the Great Depression his construction company kept the town moving, and Hershey, the town, felt little of the effects.

The first Hershey kiss came off the production line in 1910. I was surprised that milk chocolate wasn't easily accessible until this time.

The town has chocolate and silver kiss street lights where Chocolate Avenue crosses Cocoa Avenue.

Today there are 3 plants. 35 million kisses are made per day, and 1500 chocolate bars are made per minute.

There is also a Hershey stadium and a large amusement park.

Milton and Catherine Hershey could not have children, so in 1909 they created an Industrial School for needy boys. Students attend school free of charge and receive housing; education, clothing, meals, as well as medical, dental, religious, psychological and other services.

Classes were first held in the family homestead. The school grew and developed into the largest, privately funded residential boarding school in the United States. 1900 boys and girls are enrolled in the school today.

Hershey wanted a "family" environment. So all the kids are housed in a house with 10-12 students and a set of "house parents". The large rambling ranch houses are situated around the different levels. Elementary kids live by the elementary school. When they move on the junior high, the kids move to a new family by that school and again for high school. An active agriculture program teaches some kids farming. During their senior years are students are housed in a dorm like setting and are responsible to taking care of their own clothes, food, laundry, finances, etc. to prepare them for the real world. Upon graduation the students are given funds (along with a computer each) to attend college, or enter the work force. There education includes career/technical education as well as programs in agriculture and environment. Health care is provided.

The campus includes: a health center, a learning resource room, visual arts center, performance gym, student center, agricultural and environmental education center, classroom buildings, student homes, and an alumni campus.

Athletic and intramural facilities include: an ice-skating rink, lighted tennis courts, a 7,000 seat football stadium, soccer and field hockey fields, baseball diamonds, indoor and outdoor swimming pools, and an Olympic size track.

Milton built Catherine a beautiful mansion where he could look at the factory. They moved from the homestead and into the big house. She put in outstanding gardens at the time. She only lived there a short time before she died at age 42. The mansion now houses the offices of the trustees.

Each Sunday students are expected to dress up and attend a church service in the Founder's Hall. We got off the trolley and peeked in the hall.

A large marble floor rotunda is capped with a beautiful dome ceiling 74 feet high on the interior and 137 feet exterior height. . The dome is second in size and its unsupported design to St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican.

The auditorium where the service is held holds 2600 people. Its fully equipped sound/lighted stage ranks as the largest in Pennsylvania.

When Milton Hershey died he left $60 million dollars in a trust fund to run the school. The trustees contracted with Penn State and brought a large hospital complex to Hershey that includes a top cardio center.

The town admires what Milton Hershey accomplished during his lifetime. You can hear it in their voices. They are very proud of their town and work hard to keep the Hershey the kind of town that Milton wanted. Milton Hershey was an amazing man who definitely made Hershey, PA "the Sweetest Place on Earth"!

Update 34: Lancaster County PA Oct. 5-12

Lancaster County: Land of the Amish and Mennonite! Land of Serenity.

The owners of the Country Haven RV Park in New Holland, PA keep a strict eye on their park. The park has terraced sites on a slope of land that overlook the Amish and Mennonite farms below. From inside our rigs we watched the buggies travel up and down the road.

At night you hear the clip clop of the Tennessee Trotters that pull the buggies. Most buggies now have lights and sometimes signal lights to indicate turns. We enjoyed the time we spent here.

Trees line many of the county roads. Near the park the trees form a canopy over the road that is awesome to behold.

Just past the canopy a lovely house sits down below the roadway. A two car garage attaches to the side of the two story house. A circular drive leads to the garages. One day both garage doors were up and I saw a buggy in each garage. This is most likely a Mennonite home.

The other thing that was plentiful was stink bugs. Beetles with shield shaped backs were everywhere. They like to hang on the screens and the side of the coach. They are not harmful to humans, but deadly to crops. They came in with transports from China. The wings make a whirring sound. We cleaned off the coach before we went to DC, who also had some. We continue to look for them daily and rid the coach of them. Then find their way inside and create a YUK! feeling.

Still skirting rain showers we chose to visit Hershey, PA first. On the way we passed through Ephrata. The brick buildings of Main Street present a neat clean and inviting town. Well kept Victorian homes sit close to the road. During our travels I've noticed how close the house sit to the roads and wondered why. One of the books I'm reading mentioned that taxes were based on the size of the front yard, so Maine residents made sure the front yard was as minimal as possible. Perhaps this is true?

In the town of Hershey we followed the signs to Hershey's Chocolate World and found miles of white canopies, RVs and cars. Something big was happening! That something was the biggest Antique Auto Club of America Flea Market there is! The AACA makes its headquarters in Hershey and stages this event each year.

Milton Hershey's story captivated me, so I have a separate update for what we learned in Hershey # 35.

From Hershey we drove up to Harrisburg. The Capitol building, like so many, is currently under renovation, but still stunning.

We drove down by the water and through town, before returning to the RVs.

On the corner we found this cow. A lot of cities seem to be doing this sort of thing. We 've seen several on this trip.

We woke to sunshine the next day and decided to head for Gettysburg. In hindsight, if I'd known then what I know now, we would have moved the RVs to Gettysburg for a couple of days. It took us at least two hours to drive down there and of course two more hours to come back.

The visitor center offers a ticket which includes entrance to the movie, the cyclorama and the museum.
The movie depicts the battle of July 1, 2, 3, in 1863. The battle left over 51,000 men dead, wounded, or missing. The movie exits into the cyclorama. The Battle of Gettysburg Cyclorama allows visitors to stand or move around a circular platform to view various parts of the 360 degree painting around the outside walls. Paul Philippoteaux of Pickett's Charge painted the spectacular work in 1884. The story of Gettysburg is told through a series of lights and sound in about a 30 minute presentation.

Next we went through the museum. The museum tells the Gettysburg story and shows artifacts from both sides. Several large screens talk about specific parts of this three day, three front battle. Being surrounded by that much inhumanity to others overwhelmed me and I quickly finished up and went outside to wait for the others. I also had time to visit the museum bookstore and gift shop.

Next we boarded the park tour bus. Our tour guide, Ann, made the battle come alive with her expressive storytelling. She explained what happened where. We disembarked at some sites to better visualize troop movement. Ann gave us a good understanding of how the battle occurred and why some things happened as they did. We found it fascinating that miscommunication and private agendas could have easily changed the outcome of the war and ultimately what our country is today.

Downtown Gettysburg invited exploration. I regretted not having more time in this area. As dark descended several "ghost walking tours" opened along the street trying to entice people to join the tours through the graveyards. We opted for dinner at the Avenue Cafe. Just as we sat down Lynn received the call that her mom had fallen again. Later in the evening when the seriousness of the accident were confirmed Lynn and Jay packed up and left for Sacramento early the next day. We will hopefully see them again in February when we too are in Arizona.

The next day Derrille and I set off alone to the Green Dragon Flea Market. With a name like that we find it interesting that the Amish/Mennonites run this. Compared the Flea Market we attended in Shipshewana, IN
this was about 1/10 the size and not a neat, clean or well organized. However we enjoyed wondering through and looking at the wares. One vendor sold frozen bananas dipped in chocolate and nuts. I love frozen bananas dipped in chocolate and nuts!

We drove on to Lancaster, the city, to check out another suggested flea market. We never did find that one. We didn't see a lot of Lancaster, some of the attractions offered we have seen elsewhere. Evidence of the Amish and Mennonite culture wasn't seen in the areas we traveled. To us Lancaster is just another larger city. To be accurate, the Amish and Mennonite followers live in Lancaster County. Bird-In-Hand a little burg smaller than Gorst, WA claims a great bakery. Had Jay still been with us, we would have stopped, but Derrille and I opted to skip the calories and drive on to the town of Intercourse.

Originally called Cross Keys and then Enter Course for a race track. The named morphed over the years to Intercourse and the town developed into a tourist Mecca.

Derrille and I walked through the Kitchen Kettle Village. A small band played music under the trees while people listened and ate their ice cream. A lane of interesting stores invited shoppers in. The Jam and Jelly store sold all kinds of foods and had close to 100 samples out for tasting. The tee shirt shop had a black tee with two beaded cats on it. One cat in silver, one in black. Didn't I hear it call my name? Other areas of shops line the main street. We could have spent a couple of days exploring more of them.

Right across from the village we spotted a buggy with the horse tied to the hitching rail provided for them

Also this scooter is very popular in this area.

Fall is in the air! Signs advertise Pumpkins, Mums and Gourds. Some signs advertise pies. The Amish children were coming home from school as we passed by.

Fall harvesting is also happening in the Amish/Mennonite way.

The next day we drove to Valley Forge. The exhibits in the visitor center told us this wasn't their worst winter encampment. Ouch! It was just their first. We watched the movie on the winter encampment and then headed to the parking lot to begin our driving tour. On the way to the car we saw protesters holding signs to stop a planned deer hunt in the park. hmmm

The tour took us around Valley Forge where we stopped at points of interest. At Washington's headquarters we walked around the rail office then out to where replicas of the log huts made by the soldiers were standing.

We could walk through Washington's house which served as the headquarters during the encampment.

Up on the ridge by the Arch, we spotted some deer. Some of them were so skinny their ribs were straining against their hind.

As we headed around a meadow, we spotted a stag with about 15 very healthy does in his harem. During our drive through the park we counted at least 100 deer. It appears that a hunt may be needed to maintain a healthy herd.