This is Alpha, the first-born, when he was 2YO.
This is Beta, the second-born, when he was about 2YO.
This is Gamma, the third-born, when he was about 18MO.
Vacation Recap, Lake Erie, Part 6
Nov
24
2015
We took a week to circle Lake Erie. We never visited Lake Erie itself, just a few interesting points.
Day 7
After breakfast in the hotel room, set out on another adventure. We could see the shuttle bus stop from our room window, and we waited until all the amusement park people had left. We were off to Hershey Gardens – the botanical gardens that are part of the Hershey complex and are thus included in the shuttle bus routes.
The boys really enjoyed it. The gardens had a number of different sections:
Flowers
Trees
(that’s a weeping beech tree, in case you were wondering. We liked it so much we bought one from a nursery after we returned home.)
A kids’ play area
The kids area had a fountain, some sculptures, some musical devices, and other fun things. The kids spent a lot of time in this section.
And the butterfly house
After the butterfly house, the kids all wanted to hatch butterflies at home, much to my wife’s chagrin. I think that fad has passed though, since they haven’t asked about it lately.
We did our planning well, since there was intermittent rain while we were at the gardens. We could see Hershey Park from certain spots of the garden, and we were glad we were not there in the rain.
Then we hopped back on the shuttle bus and it took us to Hershey’s Chocolate World, right next to the entrance to Hershey Park. The kids also liked this, because it is billed as the world’s largest candy store.
We took the free ride, which explains how chocolate is made and they give you a free sample at the end. Then we shopped. The kids each got something candy and something non-candy. Some of them were disappointed they couldn’t spend all their vacation money on candy, but I wanted them to have souvenirs that could last longer.
Then back to the hotel via shuttle bus, and everyone was hungry for food. The candy was good but it does only so much. Rather than try the hotel restaurants, we made our way to the minivan and drove to a normal restaurant. After lunch there, we drove to the Hershey Story museum. They did a good job with it, but the little kids lost interest after a bit so I’d probably say this was lowest on the list of favorite attractions at Hershey.
Then back to the hotel for an afternoon of swimming, at least until they closed the pool due to the lightning.
The evening was spent in the hotel room, reading things, watching a chef competition TV show, and relaxing in general. Around what would normally be the kids bedtime, I drove over to a pizza place and grabbed dinner to bring back to the room. We gave the kids pizza then got them ready for bed for another day of travel.
Day 8
In the morning, we headed down to the breakfast restaurant of Hershey Lodge. It was crowded, even though people should have been leaving for the park. It was at least a 30 minute wait.
I and the kids got the breakfast buffet. It was decent, but it was not worth the wait or the price. I just wanted to do it once because I figured the highlighted chocolate chip pancakes must be good at a Hershey restaurant.
Then we packed up, checked out, and left. The plan was drive for 4 hours to my brother’s house. It might have taken a little longer due to pit stops, but we made it about as expected. The kids got to play with their cousins and the adults got to visit. The kids were excited they got to have a sleepover.
Day 9
We hung around there for the morning, taking in a soccer game. After lunch, we headed home.
The End.
I made gardens and parks for myself and I planted in them all kinds of fruit trees
Ecclesiastes 2:5
This little article thingy was written by Some Guy sometime around 6:56 am and has been carefully placed in the Travel category.
November 30th, 2015 at 8:22 pm
Not a word about how I caught a nasty illness and never want to visit Hershey again?
November 30th, 2015 at 8:23 pm
Oops I should have left it with the right name. Some Guy was fine, Some Guy’s wife was not.