Hershey

Our vacation is really just a trip to New England to visit my family, but we decided to stop a few places on the way to make the drive less painful.  On our first day we stopped near Dayton, Ohio and on our second day we stopped in the lovely town of Hershey, Pennsylvania.  Yes, THAT Hershey!!  We went to Hershey Chocolate World there and had a great time.  

Here is Anna with a giant chocolate kiss.

 A giant chocolate bar

 A small boy next to a big chocolate bar makes it look even bigger

 We didn't purchase a giant chocolate bar or kiss...but it was fun to pretend

 The kids each got to pick two king size candy bars.  They were excited about that.

And we rode the Great American Chocolate Tour ride.  It's free to get into Hershey Chocolate World and free to ride the ride!!  So hooray!  Save your money for chocolate!  Here are the kids on the ride.

Everyone liked the singing cows on the ride.  The ride tells about their chocolate making process and the singing cows remind us of why they chose Hershey in the first places.  Lots of pastures for cows to provide the milk for Herhsey's Milk Chocolate.

 We met an even bigger chocolate bar.  Grant was too afraid to stand by him.

And we also got to make our own chocolate bar.  They have some different attractions that you pay for and this was the only paying one we did, but it was cool and the kids really enjoyed it.  First we had to suit up.

 Even John

We got to use different kiosks throughout the attraction to make selections about our special chocolate bars.  We got to pick what kind of chocolate we wanted (dark, milk or white) and which fillings choices we wanted - they had about 6 or 7 to choose from like rice krispies, chocolate cookies pieces, toffee etc.

 John didn't make a bar, but he was pretty well behaved.

 Here is Anna watching her bar be made on the chocolate bar assembly line

 That's Anna's chocolate bar going past and Matthew's right behind it

 And mine

 John sort of taking a look at the chocolate bars

 Matthew helped Anna to see hers sometimes.  We got to watch all the fillings being put in and chocolate dripped over the top again.

 Then we got to select a wrapper design.  You could pick a predesigned one or make your own

Matthew made his own using LOTS of Hershey branding.

 Here we are waiting for our bars to be boxed

 Or cartoned by the "cartoner" rather

 And in the end we all had our special chocolate bars ready to be eaten!

 John didn't get to do it, but Scott let him help with his

After our chocolate making we enjoyed a brownie (all of us shared one brownie and it was just about right)

And we went on the chocolate tour a bunch more times...'cause...FREE!  And you get a sample of something chocolatey at the end.

 Chocolate bars being made...this was just on the ride, so not actual chocolate bars being made

And kisses!!  I'm glad we got a chance to visit Hershey and enjoy some of that world famous milk chocolate (cue the singing cows).  More vacation adventures to come.