Hershey: How Sweet It Is!

Some of you might remember my travel blogs featuring trips to Bristol, Virginia in the past, as I like to highlight our adventures spent there among our travels.  Our grandson, Joshua, tries to plan every second of our visit with some kind of exciting opportunity for fun.  After all, he only gets to see us a few times a year, and this past one, was even less.  

So, you can only imagine his enthusiasm when he discovered that he and his momma would be spending at least an entire week visiting us!  One of his wishes was to visit Hershey so that he could see the "kisses" on the lamp posts that are featured on the main street.  So, yesterday, our gallivanting adventures took us to the Hershey Zoo and Chocolate World.   It was a glorious sunny day, and the temperature was just perfect. 

When we arrived, I'll have to admit, I was pretty surprised to see that the parking lot at the zoo was already full at 11:00 in the morning, but someone was leaving as we pulled in, so we managed to get a space right at the entrance.  And, although the lot was full, the zoo was big enough that we didn't really notice many people around.  

If you've been to this zoo, then you know that it is relatively small, with no large animals like giraffes, elephants, hippos, rhinos or such.  There just isn't enough land for those type of creatures to be comfortable.  But there were certainly enough species to entertain. 

The Southern Swamps featured a spoonbill

alligator

and various snakes, which I was not keen on photographing.

Moving on, the interior desert held fast moving roadrunners

along with some slow-moving turtles.

The bear exhibit was lacking a bear, but offered entertainment nonetheless.

A sea otter delighted us with his quick moving antics.

A pair of bald eagles made Grandpa's day.  (He loves bald eagles!)

There were white tailed deer

and mountain lions sunning on top of a rock. They were kind of difficult to spot, but we knew they had to be there from the sign.

There was a huge mound, with many holes that were home to prairie dogs, but we never saw even one, despite waiting for a bit of time for at least one head to pop up.  I suppose it's much cooler below ground.  But, that was about enough for this nine year old boy, so we headed over to chocolate world to take the free tour.

But, first, we needed a picture next to the kiss mobile.

We walked the long trail up the ramps to the area where we embarked on the car for the ride.

Personally, I found the talking cows to be quite amusing. 

and there was the surprise of the piggy popping up from the hale bay to add to the fun.

Candy bar holograms explained the process of making Hershey chocolate,

going through the step by step procedure.

which even featured how the bars go through the packaging.

We were wished a fond farewell by a hershey kiss,

and, after debarking from the car, we were each handed a mini Hershey bar as a treat!  I must say....that really hit the spot!

Down in the shops, Joshua opted to fill a bag of candy with as much as he could stuff in that thing.

There were many varieties to pick from.   (Not sure if he picked them all.)

Marty decided to stick with the standard Hershey bar

but the store was filled with a multitude of delights.

And, obviously, beer...from Troeg's brewery which is located just down the road.

On the way out, we got a photo with some candy bars 

and we took a brief walk through Hershey's chocolatetown.  I was amused by the bell tower which held a kiss shaped bell.

As you can see, this guy had quite a bit of fun

and, how lucky are we that the weather was so accommodating?

A perfect day for a sweet adventure!

Time is Flying By!

Do you ever get side-tracked?  I, for one, am almost an expert at that subject.  I often compare my days to the book, "If you Give a Mouse a Cookie."  I have the best intentions, then get dragged off in a totally different direction.  And, that is why I am nearly two weeks late in getting out this post.  And I decided that I couldn't let another day go by without sharing our trip to visit our grandson, Joshua.  After all, he deserves to be celebrated!

He was super excited to hear that we were coming, and was curious as to when we would arrive....trying to get me to pinpoint a time.  Well, I always hesitate in honing on on a time, because it's such a long drive, and there are so many variables that could change the ETA.  So, I decided to set him up on Find Friends, so that he could follow our progress on the way down.  After getting over the confusion on my part that he had named his ipad  "James Monroe", we were all set up for his stalking, and he was very excited!

The weather was perfect for travel, and I had packed a picnic lunch so that we could limit our exposure to people.  We are both immunized, but why throw caution to the wind? 

And, it really is a good idea to take breaks and stop and smell the roses....or as in this case....the tulips. Aren't they lovely? 

Joshua kept tabs on our travel, and I updated him with photos.

Which pretty much involved Marty behind the wheel.  Or should I say, clutching the wheel?  As truck traffic was jaw clenching! But, finally, we reached our destination. 

We were greeted with enthusiasm, and immediately thrown into game playing.

at least for a short time since it takes nearly the entire day to make the trip. 

Soon we were on our way to settle into our hotel room.  I had stumbled upon this gem when we made an emergency trip back in December.  It's called "The Sessions Hotel".  It's a renovated warehouse that was converted to a hotel, opening less than a year ago. Beside being visually appealing and comfortable, it has the added plus of NO ROAD NOISE!  Something that I can't say about any of the other places where we've stayed.  In fact, Marty used to have dreams that he was clutching the steering wheel when he was sleeping!  

The hotel has a country music theme, but, obviously, has some sort of tie to the Bristol Speedway, since this mural takes up a good portion of the outside wall.

I haven't a clue who that man is, by the way.

Here you can see that the hotel has done an excellent job with decorating.  This photo is actually from our December trip, but the room is quite similar to the one where we stayed two weeks ago. 

The lobby has a clever crossword on the wall.

And, a copy of this original sheet music was hanging in the room.

A vintage radio added to the aura

And I loved the photo above the bed!

Here you see framed guitar frets.  I can't come up with an explanation as to why that was a good idea. Makes me wonder what happened to the rest of those guitars?

Hanging microphones were actually lights.  Quite clever, if you ask me.

After a good night's sleep, we headed to Bluebird Bakery to pick up some donuts for Joshua along with a loaf of their famous bread.

He was not disappointed, and he even let me borrow his Koala cup for my coffee!

After breakfast, we headed to Bass Pro Shops to look at the fish

and to try his hand at some fishing in the pond that is within walking distance of the store.

I walked around a bit while Grandpa popped on the worms and offered his fishing tips.

It was a bit drizzly, but as you can see, the trees were budding and the flowers were blooming. Beautiful!

Finally, Joshua caught a fish....all on his own.  How's that for excitement?

And the fun continued at home with a jam session on the front porch.  

Joshua is conquering chords with a gusto!

Sunday began with the sporting of matching shirts....purchased the previous day at Bass Pro.

Then we delved into game after game of Sly Fox.

Poor fox only managed to win twice, much to Joshua's dismay. 

I decided to take a break from the sly guy, and assist Joshua in putting together this very cute lego kit that his Aunt Stacey gave to him.  He was very excited about putting it together....for about 15 minutes. Then, he decided that it was way too hard.  But he was eager to play with Snoopy, so I decided to "help" him out.  It was a real challenge, but he was thrilled to have it when it was finished. 

The Red Baron was very busy for the rest of the day.  Only I must have skipped a step because Snoopy falls out when the plane turns upside down.  Kind of adds to the excitement when you're a nine year old boy.  

We managed to get outside for a bit while the rest of the gang was busy doing household upgrades (like stripping wallpaper and replacing sink fixtures....not exactly my idea of a fun time)

And Violet was very eager to share her soccer ball moves

which are extremely entertaining!

We then moved inside to continue working on Joshua's Lego city.  He was busy building an ice cream shop

with outdoor tables and an outside window for orders

and, apparently, BatMan was there to be sure that all was safe.  What an imagination!

The trip was short, but sweet, and we were blessed with gorgeous weather on the way home.  We stopped at the New Market Battlefield for lunch.   We pretty much had the place to ourselves.

And music man wanted a photo with the mountain in the background.  What you can't see at this angle, is the word "LOVE" adorned with flags behind Marty. 

Looks like we might be back to our Gallivanting Adventures!  I'll just have to be motivated enough to remember to share them!

Thanks for following along.