Hershey World...land of chocolate!!! How much better can life get? Do you
know they actually pay people to hand out chocolate there? How hard of job
is that??? Can you think of anyone declining their offer? Hershey is a
tourist trap, no doubt about it. But it was delicious to be trapped that
way. There is a "tour of the factory" which is educational...sort of. All
is forgiven as at the end they give you candy. Then there are several
interactive stations that are designed to take the adult's money and delight
children. One that we did was to let Chris and Rose try their hand as
factory workers. They, of course, loved it. We did take the Hershey
trolley to see what was left of the original factory town. The tour guides
kept us entertained with antics while they gave us the history of Milton
Hershey. In actuality the best thing he did had nothing to do with
chocolate. He and his wife were told they would be childless, so they
started an orphanage for boys. This orphanage was unique in that the boys
were raised in a houses (built by Hershey) with house-parents, giving them a
"family life". Besides the regular schools he also built a college. A boy
could decide if he wanted to learn a trade or go on to school. Each
graduate was given $100--a huge amount when it was begun. When Milton
Hershey died, he willed the Hershey empire to the orphanage...not a trifle,
I'd say. There is an amusement park, water slide, restaurant, and gardens
there. We didn't make it to all of them...just didn't want to get trapped
that much I guess. Warning: They charge for EVERYTHING, and not just a
little, for example parking: $15 for four hours. No way did we eat that
much free chocolate.
Gettysburg was our first civil war battlefield tour. Our campground has a
guided horse tour that sounded fascinating. Unfortunately (hooray for me),
Rose and Chris were too young...so Jerry had to go without us. He wasn't
thrilled with the experience since they don't go in a loop to give you
continually new vistas. We later did the motor tour and it was much better.
The campground also has a diorama that is worth seeing to give insight into
just what that battle was all about, besides it is incredible how many tiny
soldiers and horses it took to lay out the battle field.
Here I go with the history stuff--again. The battle of Gettysburg was a
three-day event, happening on July 2 - 4. The confederates amazingly came
up from Virginia without being detected with their host of soldiers. The
plan was to win a major victory and get the north to concede. The north
realized they would need to win to finish the war. This battle was pivotal
for both sides. When hearing about the battle while in school it never
dawned on me just how massive it was. When we drove we noticed it was about
20 miles long and easily 10 miles wide. There weren't "pockets" of soldiers
there were armies over the whole landscape. Over 23,000 were killed in
those three days. I appreciated that the monuments were for both the
northern AND southern states. Each company has a monument, most of them
were erected within 10 years of the battle. Picket's charge was the most
notable part of the battle. This one company fought bravely...and broke Lee
s heart with their valor. Of course, we all know the outcome. The site of
Lincoln's address is in the National Cemetery...a most hallowed field. The
silence both in the cemetery and on the battlefield is noticeable.
After a couple of days hanging-out in the pool and making new friends, it
was time to visit Antietam. It is fun to travel through these states as you
can actually go through two or three of them in less than an hour. Makes
you feel like you are getting somewhere. We happened to visit Antietam on a
day when they were having a reinactment. They also had a children's program
where they were teaching them what a confederate soldier's life was like.
Rose and Chris both enlisted. They were drilled and given sticks to
practice firing. At the end of the program they were given a three-day pass
and paid an apple and $3 confederate.
Two days later, Rose decided to leave our family. When they paid Rose and
Chris they warned them if they weren't back in three days that they would
send the provost to get them. Rose has a keen memory and takes everything
literal. She brought up that she had to be going back to the army, I told
her that is was just for fun and we wouldn't be going back that way. She
started tearing up, that is when she said she was leaving the family. She
was going to go back to the army...she had to! I asked her how she was
going to do it, she said she would be going on her bike. RATS!!! Trying to
convince her that those soldiers were only pretend soldiers was hard. They
had shown they were real by shooting their guns during the reinactment.
Chris was very impressed with the firing of guns. He was very into it, his
very words were: "this is sooo cool". They had musket loaders. Now, he
must prime his sticks and pack the ball before he can lift and fire. They
both bought Yankee caps so they could look the part. I am surprised how
much they are getting of this history stuff.
Tah-dah!!! You are now up with us in our latest campsite in Pennsylvania. Thought I would send a picture from our window--just so you could see how we suffer.
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