Anna's Awesome Adventures!!!: Eastern Trip -- Day 7

We are not known for doing "touristy" or kitschy things when we travel, but today was somewhat of an exception...a sweet exception. 😃 We woke up around 7:30, had breakfast (a cinnamon-raisin bagel with cream cheese, potato cubes, orange juice), loaded the car, and drove to Hersheypark in Hershey, Pennsylvania. It was just over an hour, and we arrived just a few minutes after they opened at 10:00. Hersheypark is a Hershey-themed amusement park (there's also a water park, but we didn't visit it) with a diverse array of rides. We rode several roller coasters, running the gamut from semi-slow cruisers to 75-m.p.h. blasters that rattle you to the core. We also rode the monorail, which encircles the park perimeter; the Kissing Tower, a rotating observation tower that gave a lovely bird's-eye view of the park; a mini Corvette track ride (like the Moon Cars at Six Flags-St. Louis); and a log flume-type ride that thoroughly soaked my shoes! Within the park is ZooAmerica, home to many North American animals (baby pronghorn are CUTE!), and we even caught a short sea lion/harbor seal show. Lunch was purchased in the park (corn dog, fries, fried cheese curds, water) -- terribly unhealthy, I know, but at that point we were hungry, dehydrated, and ready for anything! We concluded the day with a quick stop in Hershey Chocolate World, just outside the official entrance to the park and on the way back to our car. We did the (free) tour that showed how the beloved chocolate is made, start to finish, through a variety of songs, virtual demonstrations, and candy bar characters. At the end, everyone gets a free mini Hershey bar! The building also houses the self-proclaimed "world's largest candy store," and it is certainly enough to overwhelm you. The budding inner dietitian in me was calculating all the calories, fat, and sugar in the thousands of items spread throughout the mammoth-sized store, but the reasonable part of me also helped select a few goodies to enjoy during the drive and once we get home...Reese's Pieces, mini white Reese's peanut butter cups, Hershey's Cookies 'n' Cream drops, and a couple kinds of Twizzlers (my horses love those last ones too!).

We had a short drive to a very nice Best Western in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where we are spending the night. Dinner was salad, leftover pizza, and a little vanilla Frostee from Wendy's...and of course, a few samples from our goodies!