A Made in America Roadtrip: Day 2

Day 2: Thursday June 25, 2015

My alarm was set for 5:45 for the first time since school let out. Turns out I didn't need it though. The windows were open and the birds outside started chirping at 4:30. Needless to say, we could have left earlier than 6:30 to pick up Kathy and Hannah, as far as I'm concerned.

Kim and I left her parents’ house promptly at 6:30. We got to Kathy’s house shortly before 7, where we were pleasantly surprised to find their luggage waiting for us on the front porch. We packed up the car, Kathy and Hannah found their way into the car, and we headed out. We drove a whole ¼ mile. Then we stopped at Dunkins for breakfast.

Once done with the Dunkins stop, we truly got on the road. By now, I was more than a little concerned about traffic. Kathy was confident there would be no rush hour issue. I’ve never NOT hit traffic on the Merritt Parkway, which was the first part of our trip, so I was not so confident. It should come as a surprise to no one but Kathy, that at 7:15 on a weekday, there IS traffic in southern CT.

Getting out of CT took awhile, but after that, we did ok traffic-wise, and eventually, we were cruising into Pennsylvania. Of course, Pennsylvania’s such a big state that the welcome center was roughly halfway into our trip, but at least we felt like we were making progress. We stopped there to collect some brochures and get out of the car for a few minutes.

Once we were done at the welcome center, we hopped back in the car and made the rest of the trip to our first destination in Pennsylvania: the town of Lititz. I had never heard of Lititz prior to this trip, despite far too many drives to Pennsylvania to visit my sister, who has yet to return to NH following attending Penn State. Kim and Kathy had both been to Lititz in the past, though.

We arrived in Lititz just before noon, and found a parking spot almost in front of Julius Sturgis Pretzels, our first stop in this town. We took a minute to stretch our legs and take some pictures before heading inside.

Once inside we bought tickets to the tour. Even though it was a minute after 12, we lucked out, and they brought us in to join the tour. I say this because a group of LOUD tweens came in to buy tickets to the next tour. We were glad to be on a different one.

Once our tickets were purchased, we were led in to the pretzel making area. First stop for us was the table where they used to make pretzels, and where they still let those taking the tour try out twisting a pretzel. I’m horrible at following verbal directions, so mine ended up looking like an inadvertent Pi symbol.

Once we’d finished practicing twisting pretzels, they led us over to see the ovens, and talked more about the history of the company. Julius Sturgis was the first company in the US to bake hard pretzels. They have fairly recently (in the last 10? years) combined with a family company (Tom Sturgis Pretzels), and now make all their pretzels under the Tom Sturgis name, at their location. It was still cool, though, to hear about how they made pretzels hundreds of years ago, and to see where the pretzels had been made.

After the tour we (what else?) bought some pretzels, and then walked deeper into town, stopping to take some pictures along the way. Lititz really is a cute little town.

Our next stop was lunch. All the trail mix we’d consumed in the car just wasn’t holding us anymore. Yes, Nick and his sister were both involved in Scouts growing up. We stopped at a place that Kim had eaten at years ago, Freeze and Frizz. Think ice cream and burger joint. Kim and I had burgers. I have no idea what Kathy and Hannah ate. The food was fairly good, and very inexpensive.

Once we were done eating, it was time to get in a chocolate frame of mind. We walked across the street to Wilbur Chocolates.

Unlike Julius Sturgis, Wilbur does not offer a tour. They have a little mini-museum of candy making (which is free) and a video set up talking about making chocolate. They also have a window where you can watch some workers making chocolate. And, obviously, there’s a chocolate store. As you can probably imagine, it smells fantastic in Wilbur.

Once we’d had our fill of chocolate buying and display viewing, we headed outside to the little park next door. We watched the ducks, including some very odd colored ones, and just wandered a bit. It felt nice to be out of the car.

Once we were done wandering the park, we walked back to the car, stopping for many pictures along the way.

Picture taking done, we hopped back in the car and set the GPS for Hershey. The drive was easy, and we were pulling into the parking lot of the hotel about 40 minutes later. Kim and Kathy went in to check in, while Hannah and I stayed in the car. The hotel was the Simmons Motel and Suites.

We weren’t sure what to make of the place from the parking lot. The buildings themselves looked ok from the outside, and, as advertised, it was close to the park. We could see (and hear!) the roller coasters from the parking lot. But, it kind of looked like a cross between a residential and commercial district, and just beyond the parking lot was what looked like a run down factory. Train tracks were just beyond that.

Kim and Kathy came out of the office laughing. Apparently the lobby was something else. More about that later. We went in to check out the room and check for bed bugs. The room was a “suite”, in what appeared to be a converted basement of a house. The tile floor was clean, and the room was large, with two queen beds, a twin bed tucked in a corner, and a cot tucked away as well. The room had a very musty smell, but we were hopeful that once the air conditioner had run for awhile, that that would go away.

Once we were convinced there were no bed bugs, we unloaded the car. Then the dinner debate began. Eventually we decided on Subway, so we drove in that direction, past a lot of cows and corn fields. Because of the traffic at that hour, the GPS directed us the long, back way around Hershey. As we got close to Subway, we saw a Red Robin, and it was decided that we should eat there instead.

I think Hannah was the only one in the group who had eaten at a Red Robin before. We just got one in NH a year or so ago, at the mall, and I really don’t go to the mall now that I don’t work at Macy’s anymore. Needless to say, we had to turn the waiter away about 10 times because it took us awhile to look at the menu. Hannah and I got burgers, Kathy got a salad, and Kim got boneless chicken wings.

The food arrived quickly, and tasted very good. I think everyone was happy with their meal, which turned out to be a rare thing with this group. When we finished dinner, we realized that we had had great timing. We had had no problem getting a table. However, as we finished dinner, we discovered that there was a line out the door. It had started raining, so I’m guessing everyone decided to leave the park and eat at once.

After we paid, we hopped back in the car and drove over to Chocolate World. It was time to explore a bit until we could get into the park itself for the “preview plan”. We easily found parking at Chocolate World, and soon after we were headed inside.

I went to Chocolate World last summer, so I was familiar with the layout of the place. Our first stop? The “chocolate tour”, which is like something straight out of Disney. It’s a continuous load ride, much like Spaceship Earth or Journey into the Imagination. Basically you ride through different segments that are examples of what happens in the chocolate factory. It’s narrated and also has a catchy little tune, sung by 3 cows.

At the end of the ride, you get a free candy. Last year when I was here, Hershey was trying to make us healthier and gave out those little bags of chocolate covered pomegranite. This trip, it was the snack sized Kit Kat bars. Yum.

Once we’d obtained our free candy, it was time to shop! Chocolate World has every candy tied to the Hershey company, plus LOTS of souvenirs. As we were shopping, Kathy decided that we should wear matching shirts into the park the next day. I’ve never been one for matching shirts, so I wasn’t sure how I felt about this, but after wandering all over Chocolate World, we all found a shirt that we all loved (red, with 3 patriotic Hershey Kisses on it), and so matching shirts were agreed to.

About 7:45, we headed for the cash registers. It was time to cash out, and head over to the park for the preview plan. Hershey allows you to enter the park 2 ½ hours before it closes, the night before you plan to go, with a one day ticket.

Once we cashed out, we hopped in the car and drove to Hershey Park. Except you “can’t get there from he-ah” as we say in NH, and we had to drive back through town, just to get to the park that was on the other side of the fence (and that you could walk to) from Chocolate World. Lesson learned, if you’re going to the park after Chocolate World, just park there to begin with. Chocolate World is free parking for 3 hours. After that, the cost to park adds up quickly. Hershey Park is a flat rate for parking.

Once we made it to the parking lot, we hopped on the tram and we were at the entrance a couple minutes later. It had stopped raining by this point. I had to pay a visit to the ticket office before I went in. I had purchased all 4 tickets ahead of time at our local AAA office, saving a considerable amount of money. Somehow, 3 of the tickets made it to Pennsylvania, but mine did not. Mine was back home under a table. I figured I would have to buy a ticket.

Turns out Hershey Park has a system in place for this problem. I was directed to Guest Services, where they explained to me that they could take an imprint of my credit card, for a ten day hold, and then when I got back to NH, I could mail them the ticket (they gave me a specific place to mail it to), and the hold would be removed (as you can imagine, I paid the extra for priority mail). They decided to take care of the paperwork piece the next morning, since they would have to let me through the back door for both park entrances. So, after they explained all of this to me, I was let through a back door, and I met the rest of the group inside the park.

Once inside the park, it was time to explore. The first thing we noticed? The hills! I decided that I would probably rack up a lot of Fitbit staircases over the next couple of days! We also noticed that, despite nearly every square inch of space being utilized, it was a very pretty park.

After a few minutes of wandering, we decided to make Skyview our first ride of the park. Skyview is a chairlift ride. We were a bit surprised by how far it did NOT go, but we got a good view of a small portion of the park.

Once we’d gotten an overview of that end of the park, we decided to go scope out the Boardwalk, which is a water park in the middle of the park, that’s included in admission. We were trying to decide whether we should bring swimsuits with us the next day, and if there were conveniently located locker rooms and changing rooms.

On our way over to the Boardwalk, we saw the Reese’s Challenge, which is the chocolate version of Buzz Lightyear. With this group, we couldn’t think of a better ride, so we detoured. It was a short, but fun ride, although, I think my laser wasn’t working right. Kim won by a landslide, and I lost by a landslide. Kathy and Hannah were somewhere in between.

After the Reese’s Challenge, we walked deeper into the park. While walking, we passed the roller coaster, Fahrenheit, which had a very short wait. From what we could see, you go almost straight up on a track, and then drop almost straight down. I don’t do steep drops like that, but Hannah will ride almost anything. It took a couple of minutes, but eventually we convinced her that riding solo would be ok, and she ran off to ride.

We wandered a bit and watched the ride. Hannah was back within 10 minutes. The preview plan following a rain storm is a great thing! The Boardwalk was nearby, so we wandered through, quickly deciding that yes, we would be bringing swimsuits. We also scoped out the best place to get a locker the next day. There were ample locker areas and changing rooms.

Once the decisions had been made, we walked deeper into the park. Nearby was the Lightning Racer, a dueling, wooden roller coaster. Those I will do, so Hannah and I headed for it. We only had to wait for a train to come back in, and we were in the front row, of a nearly empty train. By that I mean that there was only one other row filled. I like the preview plan! Lightning Racer was pretty intense, and a lot of fun!

As we got off Lightning Racer, we realized that we were right next to Laff Trakk, this year’s brand new coaster, which, from the looks of the Hershey Park app (get it if you’re going to the park!), was the only coaster posting consistent waits longer than half an hour (more like over an hour) during the day. The current wait was only 15 minutes. Now was the time to try it.

Laff Trakk is advertised as a spinning roller coaster through a fun house. That is all true, and it was fun, but it was ridiculously short. I’m so glad we only waited 15 minutes to ride. I would have been VERY annoyed if we had waited longer for such a short roller coaster.

By the time we got off Laff Trakk, it was 10 and the park was closing, so we started making our way out of the park. We noticed that, unlike Disney, when the park closes at Hershey, it closes. The ride lines get cut off, and the doors to the stores get closed. It was interesting. It was a nice, quiet walk out of the park. We barely had to wait for a tram back to the parking lot, and soon we were back at the hotel, where we were pleased to find that the air conditioner had worked and killed the musty smell. The rest of them collapsed into bed, while I took a shower. I was reminded of the theory that this was a renovated basement, as I had to remove at least 10 spiders from the shower, including one that could jump. Trust me, I didn't know jumping spiders existed either...But once that was done, I did find that the shower was very clean. I also found that anytime someone flushed a toilet in a nearby room I had to jump out of the path of the water, because it turned SCALDING.

Once I had survived my shower, I also collapsed into bed. It was midnight, so I was TIRED! But it had been a very fun day!