A Visit to Chocolate Town

18 September 2016 - Sunday Morning

I was too sleepy last night to watch the end of the football game. We didn't set an alarm so we didn't wake up until 8:15. I got an email from my sister about breakfast at 8:30, but we weren't ready for it. Bob brought me eggs, bacon and a muffin for breakfast, and we finally got packed up and left about 9:15.

Best Western Terrace

In the past we could tour the actual Hershey factory. I had wanted to do a factory tour like we had done in 1969, but they no longer do that - instead they have a free simulation of a factory tour. There is a trolley tour of the town (not free) which I also wanted to do. So on the way back from our grandson's wedding, we headed for Hershey to spend the night.

Leaving Penn Yan

I saw some windmills on Route 14A

Regular windmill

Different kind of windmill

and took a photo of them as we drove by. I thought at first that it was a place that sold windmills. I did not realize what I had a photo of until I saw a VT tip by davecallahan. This was the The Windmill Farm and Craft Market (Open Saturday). Since we passed by on a Sunday, it would not have been open But the website says:

Now in its 28th year, The Windmill plays host to nearly 200 shops, you're sure to find something for everyone.

Many folks start the day at The Windmill with a hearty breakfast, pick up some fresh produce then set out to explore the many shops. Later, take in a free show, and have a relaxing lunch in our mini pine tree forest.

On the way up, the GPS brought us up the west side of the lake on regular roads. On the way back we went what I guess is the most direct route down the east side of the lake on roads that sometimes were county roads and sometimes were just roads. Some were even paved. Bob said we were touring the farms of the area. But it was very peaceful and quite pretty.

Farms

NY fields

unpaved roads

Green fields of NY

Church goers

On the way up I had seen some cemeteries where I thought we could stop on the way back, but we weren't going that way. However about 10:30 I saw that there was a cemetery right by the road which didn't have a photo of the cemetery and was quite small, so I asked Bob to stop. It was called Christ Johns Cemetery. I took a photo of the sign on the gate and Bob edged the car off on the shoulder and went and took photos. He took about 100 photos. Meanwhile, I uploaded the photo of the sign to the website.

Chris John Cemetery sign

At that point I realized that the name was actually Chrisjohn (named for the family whose last name was Chrisjohn) and that there was already a cemetery of that name there. So I thought I would have to have the cemeteries merged. But by the time we got to the hotel and I was processing the photos I realized that it had already been done by the PTB. Bob managed to fill 8 of Ute 9 requests that there were for that cemetery.

Pennsylvania Welcome Center on US 15

About 11:15, we stopped at the Pennsylvania information center and I got a map and took a photo of the Elk head

Elk head in the PA welcome center

and went to the bathroom. I couldn't open the door to the handicapped bathroom from the scooter - someone had to open it for me. Fortunately I managed to get out by myself.

Then when we got to Williamsport we stopped and had lunch at Subway about 12:20. Bob had a meatball and cheese and I had tuna salad.

Sub stop

Tuna salad sub

On the road again we were listening to an NPR broadcast about vocal cord surgery - they had sound bites of various people singing including Steven Tyler and Julie Andrews who had surgery on her vocal cords which ended up silencing her from both singing and speaking. The surgeon that they were talking about managed to fix it so she could at least talk.

Approaching Hershey

We got to the Harrisburg area and Bob muted the radio from the steering wheel so he could hear the directions. I find that he can hear the GPS, but it is better if I speak to him what is written on the screen.

Anyway we got to Hershey about 3

Silver kiss street light (alternates with chocolate ones)

Chocolate kiss street light

and checked into the hotel, dropped our bags and headed out for Chocolate World.. We asked for directions but the first problem was that the GPS took us to where there was a bridge out and we had to do a detour. The clerk did not tell us that there was a detour,

Bridge under construction

Road closed

Since we came in from a different direction, we weren't sure exactly how to get back to Chocolate World (for which there was no admission fee). We ended up approaching a toll booth with no way to get back out. So we told the toll taker person that we wanted to go to Chocolate World and she said to park (for free) and get the tram to take us to Chocolate world. So we did.

Tram stop in the parking lot

Hershey is apparently a little like a Disney park.

Parked in a handicapped spot. Bob wanted me to take my cane, but I persuaded him to get the scooter out. He pointed to a sidewalk cut and said to go that way, so I did, but eventually I came to a place which was chained off. I thought I might go under the chain, to get to the tram, but it was too short, so I unhooked it, and hooked it back up when I got to the other side.

The tram had a wheelchair lift. They made me back onto it. The tram took us to Chocolate World.

On the tram to Chocolate World

I had (with a great deal of trouble) found out that Chocolate world was open until 9 pm today and that the trolley tours only went until about 5, so we went in to get the trolley tickets. We had to wait a long time in line - there was one person ahead of us buying tickets-he took what seemed like forever.

Getting tickets for the trolly

The next trolley was at 4:15 and they said we would have to leave the scooter with the ticket booth. So we went out and I got on and Bob took the scooter back.

The trolley tour was very interesting. Very PUNful.

Old part of the factory painted blue

Farmhouse on the tour

Houses built for workers

Temporary PO

Hershey museum

We heard all about the Milton Hershey school for orphans (the Hershey's could not have children)

Founders Hall

Hershey School mascot (Spartan)

Milton Hershey School, Old Senior Hall

Mansion on Chocolate Ave

Community Center

and we saw Hersheypark which has 14 roller coasters, the most of any amusement park in Pennsylvania. One of these is a water coaster.

One of the roller coasters

Roller coaster

They took us to some places that are off limits to people just driving their cars,

Hershey Country Club

Factory reflected

Factory smokestacks

and they gave out candy. Carmel's, kisses and Reeses peanut butter cups. But the seats on the trolley were very hard. If I do it again I would bring a seat cushion. The trolley was air conditioned

Trolley tour vehicle

Bob went and got the scooter and we went back into Chocolate World to do the factory tour which takes about a half an hour.

Stuffed cow in the store

First Bob bought some chocolate bars - they were 4 for $5.00.

Details about the wheelchair use

The sign said that if someone had an acceptable type wheelchair that they could use their own. But what they meant was that if you had a non-powered wheelchair you could use it but a powered wheelchair or scooter you would have to use theirs. So I transferred into one of their wheelchairs.

Picture of Milton Hershey in Chocolate World

The little train cars run continuously, so there is a turntable turning at the same speed a the cars go - otherwise you would have to jump on a moving vehicle which is difficult with a wheelchair. The boy who was pushing me (who was a Sr in HS) got me up a ramp into a car and Bob got on after me. Here I had a problem with my camera and it was too dark for me to figure out what it was. It turned out that I had accidentally picked to have a delayed photo. So I took photos with my cell phone.

Pipes

Swirling chocolate

Mixing vats

Hershey Bar explaining the process to us

Bars being wrapped

Once I figured out what was wrong I would have liked to do it again (because I was so busy trying to figure out the camera problem that I had not really listened to the narrative), but Bob said we should go back to get the last tram to the parking lot. The tram that was waiting did not have a lift, so I got on and Bob folded up the scooter and put it on and then he got on too. We found our car even though we had failed to note what pole number we were at.

We stopped at Wendy's and Bob got a Jr hamburger and a milkshake and I got lemonade and a Baonator.

Baconater

Then we came back to the hotel. We parked in back and went in the back door and it was a long way around to our room. Bob left his camera in the car so when he went back to get it, he used the shortcut. We had two queen beds, a sofa,

Separate couch in our room at the Hampton Inn

a microwave, refrigerator, a HDTV, an easy to operate alarm clock/radio and free high speed internet access. I especially appreciated the USB port and plug on the night stand between the beds. There was also a good hot breakfast the next morning. This time I was able to stay awake until the end of the game

19 September 2016 Monday

The weather forecast for this past weekend for upstate NY was rain. Bob didn't have a raincoat or umbrella and I was worried about that because some of the forecasts said 100% chance of rain on the 17th. But up to now we've had pretty good luck with the weather. It rained on the 17th, but only at night and it rained again the night of the 18th after we got back to the hotel

Electric company towers

Today (after we were finished our sightseeing and were basically just heading home) it rained all day - came down in buckets and we observed several accidents which were possibly caused by the rain. The bottom of the car (which has plates over it so that there is no access to the batteries from underneath) got thoroughly washed off because there was a lot of standing water.

Entering the Baltimore Beltway

In any case, we got into the car while it wasn't raining, and we drove until about 11:40 and Bob suggested we stop for lunch. He even suggested Rips. The rain let up a little tiny bit and we parked in a handicapped place so it was close to the covered walkway.

I had a meatloaf sandwich which had fried onions on it. Bob had

Maryland crab soup and half a sandwich

and neither of us could eat it all so we brought it home with us.

Rain leaving Rips

We had the leftovers for dinner.

The rain let up enough for Bob to bring in the luggage.

My next trip was in October with my friend Lynde -A Carribbean cruise from Norfolk