Happy in Hershey

There is nothing I like more than a good old fashioned spur of the moment road trip.  Last Saturday was supposed to be beach day with two girls from my small group, but alas, rain was in the forecast.  As an alternative, we decided on Friday night to head to Hershey, Pennsylvania the next morning.  Hershey is only a three hour drive from the city, and I am keeping my car in Connecticut for the summer, so we had free transportation.  We loaded up around 11 a.m. and started our trek to the motherland for chocolate lovers.

Hershey is an absolutely amazing place to visit.  It is off the beaten path, buried deep among farms and pastures, and yet could be deemed a miniature version of Disney World.  There is an amusement park, a museum, an arena for concerts, a botanical garden, an outlet mall, the actual Hershey factory, a 3d theater, a make your own candy workshop and a ride that would remind you of It's a Small World After All.  I only saw one gas station, which happened to be located smack dab next to their largest roller coaster.  The lamp posts in downtown Hershey are replicas of the Hershey's kiss, and there is a giant sign on the hill outside of their high school that reads "Welcome to Hershey".  It's hard not to be happy in Hershey.

When we arrived, we rode the "small world" ride, which is basically a child friendly tour of how the factory works.  After that came the 3D theater and the making of our very own chocolate creation.  I chose dark chocolate for my bar, with chocolate chips, cranberries and almonds on the inside.  We also got to design the exterior wrapping.  I was so happy by this point, as you can imagine.  Following our play time, we headed over to the Hershey rose gardens, which overlook the city.  There we found a festival of food and drink from local vendors, foot grape smashing, music and some of the nicest people I have ever met.  We spent the next few hours exploring the grounds, until they forced us off due to "tornadic weather", aka "I just want to close up and go home because I've been here all day."  Regardless of our earlier than expected departure, we had such a great time and stuffed ourselves silly with free baked goods and baby back ribs.

That night we got a hotel in Harrisburg, which was only twenty minutes outside the city.  We then promptly found the nearest Chick-fil-a, begged them over the phone to stay open an extra 15 minutes so we could have food, and drove like mad women to get there.  I literally told the woman that I wouldn't be able to have Chick-fil-a for at least four more months, and to have pity on us.  After dinner, we trucked on back to the great Super 8 where we called it a night for $20 a person.  The next day we did some major shopping (all of us got out for under $100 and got some steals-no tax!), and then headed back to the city.  I had such a great time with those girls.  All three of us moved to the city within a month of each other last year, so we have a pretty tight bond.  It's similar to the one you have your freshman year in college, when you are all going through the same major changes at the same time...you tend to stick together.  I look forward to many a road trip in the future with them...to the crayola factory, to PA Dutch country, Nantucket, Marthas Vineyard, Niagra Falls, and wherever else the wind may take us.

Josh and Ashley were able to come up this past week for Josh's job, so I was fortunate to be able to spend some time with them as well.  Some of the highlights for me were seeing Spiderman on Broadway, beach day with Ashley, eating at a great new find in Brooklyn called Bubby's and also eating at the Boat House in Central Park (we did a lot of eating.)

Spiderman was actually quite good, despite the negative ratings it has gotten.  Since they changed the show's director, improvements have definitely been acknowledged, but they still say it is cheesy with bad music.  I will agree to the bad music part, but the costumes and acrobatics make it very worth while.  Another lucky moment...I got tickets that day at the box office for $30 each, for the last night of previews before opening night!  I simply asked for any available rush tickets (they usually only sell to students in increments of two), and she handed me three on the front row in the balcony.  One of our seats had an obstructed view, so we shifted after the first act and I ended up closer to the center between two random people who I did not know.  And boy oh boy am I glad I did that.  Spiderman ended up coming to the platform right in front of me at least three times during the second act, gave the woman next to me a high five at one point and then winked at her husband at the end.  It was absolutely amazing!  I recommend it to anyone who may be visiting NYC this summer.

While it was so good to see family, and will be good to see the group of friends I have coming up in the next few weeks, it will be nice to have a low key weekend.  The only plans I have is to attend a Mermaid Parade in Coney Island on Saturday (I have a friend marching, swimming, or whatever else you would call it in the parade) and a going away party Saturday night for a friend from small group.  Other than that, I plan to finalize all shopping and other arrangement for my 4th of July Vegas trip.  This has been, and will continue to be , an amazing summer.  I am truly blessed to be able to experience life here this time of year, and also to venture out to places I have never been.