July 26, 2023 It’s so nice to wake up at our leisure with no place pressing to go. We had breakfast and finished washing the front of the bus before it got warm. The expected high today was supposed to be 95, but it never got there. We left the campground around 10:30 to take the short 20-minute drive to Hershey, PA for a visit to Hershey’s Chocolate World. Our drive took us down the back roads through the town of Hummelstown.
Hummelstown is where the official gun factory was established, secretly operating from 1777-1779 during the Revolutionary War and the British occupation of Philadelphia. It mass-produced muskets and rifles for the Continental Army. This historic town was laid out as many towns in this area are with townhouses built right along the roadside. All the historic old homes were well-preserved.
This particular log home looked to be original. Passing through town was like going back in time.
We arrived at Hershey Park which included a sports and entertainment complex as well as Chocolate World.
The park opened at 10:00 and by the time we got there at 11:00, the parking lot was pretty full. Luckily, most of the visitors were actually headed for Hershey Park – Chocolate Town, which includes amusement rides, family attractions, restaurants, shops, and an 11-acre water park.
It was quite a walk from the parking lot to the entrance of Chocolate World.
Inside the building, there was a lot going on, but it wasn’t too crowded.
We wanted to take the Chocolate Tour ride first before it got too busy.
As we traveled through the queue to get to the ride, we read the posters on the wall and learned about the history of Milton Hershey–candymaker, philanthropist, and innovator who perfected the formula for milk chocolate.
We waited our turn to climb into one of the cars to take the 20-minute Chocolate Tour ride.
As we moved along on the ride, we saw inside the Hershey factory and followed the processing steps of confection from roasted cocoa bean to wrapped candy bar. It was all very interesting.
The ride was free and we got a complimentary candy bar at the end of the journey. There are all sorts of additional activities you can pay to do, like create your own candy bar and chocolate tasting, to name a few. We walked through the candy store area looking for some dark chocolate treats. Bob found a HUGE candy bar.
We found some dark chocolate treats to take home-Hershey Nuggets (dark chocolate and almonds) and dark chocolate syrup.
We stopped at the Food Court and the Hershey Milkshake stand. We ordered a cookies and cream milkshake to share. It was yummy!
After enjoying our milkshake, we left Chocolate World and started our walk back to the parking lot.
From the parking lot, we could see this large building high on top of the hill. We found out it is the Milton Hershey School (K-12) founded in 1909. Milton Hershey School is a top-tier private school where qualifying students live and learn on campus and receive an exceptional educational experience with all costs covered. It sounds like an amazing place.
It was a long walk back to the Jeep but we walked off our milkshake. We got back to the campground around 1:00 and made some camping plans for the fall. We made some phone calls to take care of business and sat outside to watch some TV with Auggie before dinner. Bob grilled pork chops and we took our walk around the campground. We put away some things in preparation for our departure tomorrow to Harrisonburg, VA.