Of chocolate and iron and more

After resting a day at the Elizabethtown KOA, we got an early start and arrived at the nearby Hershey factory and amusement park before they were even open although thankfully the parking area was mostly empty so parking was easy although the picture to the right is a little misleading. After settling into that spot and getting PoGoGo unloaded, we were asked to move as that area was for the shuttles. Luckily, we only had to move around to the other side of that little median so we were in the shade even. You can see in the background that there were very few other visitors yet!

We killed a little time exploring the little park area between the Chocolate World building where the tour of the factory process would be and the amusement park area with various rides including a roller coaster. This latter area is what got flooded a few weeks later along with several other parts of the area around Hershey.

By the time the tour building opened there were mobs of people! We went in and after making our way through the front area we got to where the tour starts. I must say that they have the whole issue of the mobility impaired handled very nicely. They have small sets of cars that go through the tour and to get on them you step first on to a slowly moving circular floor which moves at the same speed as the cars. Attendants are there to help people on and off the cars and some of the cars are specially set up to have space for wheelchairs.

The tour itself is definitely aimed at children and was more cutesy than informative about the actual candy making process but for what it was, it was well done. When you finish the tour there is of course the huge store area with all sorts of Hershey branded choices. I got a ball cap of course and a cute little model 1953 pickup in Hershey chocolate color.

From Hershey we headed for nearby Cornwall and the Cornwall Iron Furnace. The Furnace is tucked away out in the country and we began to think we had some how lost our way and there it was, suddenly. There was a Mennonite or Amish wedding party taking group pictures but it was otherwise pleasantly quiet for our visit. There is an excellent short film telling about iron furnaces and this one in particular. As a souvenir I got a cute little iron mouse doorstop, made in China <sigh>, but cute and appropriate.

One of the things we have found on our travels is that there is a lot of little fascinating stuff out there. Most of it is not enough to go way out of your way for but always check the route you are taking to see if there is any odd little place tucked away on your journey. A good resource for this is RoadsideAmerica.com which should always be checked when you are planning a trip. We have found that many of these places are older, still surviving from back before the interstate highways rushed people along.

Our next stop, a little further east on I-76 in Shartlesville is one of these odd places, the Roadside America miniature village.This is a huge model town with trains, hand built buildings, tiny people and more with walkways around the perimeter with buttons to push to animate the mechanical things like the trains or lights. Absolutely fascinating!

From here we headed for our last stop of the day, the Western Village RV Park in Carlisle, just west of Harrisburg., a nice relatively quiet park near our next destination.