Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Day 3: Hershey, PA Chocolate Day

Firstly, Richard . . .  I am having computer problems.  An ultrabook i5 running win 8.1   Took 3 tries to boot up.   Everytime with a blue screen, sort of like it had no video card.  Now tonight I had to boot up 2 times and lost the screen with all the apps.  The other night Windows Live Mail stopped working and I had some drive errors,  missing the cabinet.dll files but it came back to life with a disk scan and somehow it repaired itself.  This is a new computer which I bought at Christmas but never used until 2 weeks ago

Today was a relaxing day and it started at  8am as usual with a small breakfast then we headed on the road


to Chocolate World in Hershey PA.


We took the quick tour of the factory


where we sat in cars which sped along to different areas of the chocolate production


It was an audio visual presentation with narrative


we are moving along self propelled tracks.  Sure was nice to be able to sit down after the long walk from the parking lot, under the hot, humid sun


The cars snaked along the curved track  .  .  . with singing animated animals along the way


and when the tour was finished it brought you back to their retail store


where they had lots of branded clothes and chocolate for sale


It was hard to buy any chocolate to bring home, unless you wanted a melted glob, since it would be too hot in our trunk


World's largest chocolate bar in the background.   Only $40.


Later we drove up the hill.   That's the Hershey complex at the bottom


We drove around the town.  It seemed old and historic


I have never been to a Bass Pro shop before


They sell lots of firearms and hunting equipment here.  In my youth I used to have an archery set so I wanted to hold this compound bow


Only window shopping today.  I left empty handed.


There was an interesting motorcycle display in the mall.   We had lots of showers today but it cleared for the time we were in Hershey so we decided to stay close to our hotel



20 comments:

  1. I would reinstall Windows as something got corrupted on the disk or maybe a memory stick is loose. You could still boot into safe mode to determine what is failing. Is it an SSD or spinning drive? Maybe this is related to the email issues i.e. maybe your new machine is infected.

    Hershey looked like it always has, kind of crowded, lots of opportunity to spend money. When do you head out?

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    1. Richard:

      I bought nothing at the Chocolate factory. Prices seems too high for my pocket. I'm not the consumer I use to be

      I'm not sure I trust this computer. It worked great the past couple of weeks and now it's failing me. I'm not smart enough to fix this. It is a hassle to boot up

      Delete
  2. The chocolate factory tour kind of reminds me of Willie Wonka and the boats they had to the different parts of the factory.

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    1. Dar:

      I've never seen the Willie Wonka movie . . .so I know nothing about it but the car we were in looked sort of like a boat

      Delete
  3. Bob, thanks for the chocolate factory tour. I've been to Hershey but never bothered to take the tour.

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    1. Karen:

      we wanted to take the trolley for a tour of the city but there was a 2 hour wait, so we left. We went on the free tour and left

      Delete
  4. On one hand, being dumped into a retail store at the end of a tour or to exit some other attraction is annoying. On the other hand, I love the kitschy stuff they sell. And I'm a t-shirt girl. Sorry you had a rainy day, and that the terrible humidity is back. We hope it's the last gasp of summer. I'm glad you and Mrs. Skoot are seeing some sights.

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    1. Kathy:

      it seemed that they are making more money with branded items, than making chocolate. Lots of stuff for sale, other than chocolate. Can't help the rain, we don't have control over that

      Delete
  5. Like Karen, we've driven by but always had another destination to be. Doesn't help that neither us are Hershey fans.

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    1. David:

      we didn't know of any other destinations. You should have helped with route planning. we were at a loss to figure out where else to go. I like dark chocolate, brand doesn't matter but not on a hot day

      Delete
  6. Did you get the shirt? It is even pink - would go with your Crocs.

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    1. Trobairitz:.

      I had no room for the Crocs otherwise I would have brought them. I needed closed shoes for the factory tour, otherwise I wouldn't have brought any shoes. No I didn't buy the shirt, I seldom wear branded clothes but I do like the pink colour

      Delete
  7. I am afraid I just gained weight by looking at those pictures.

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    1. Sonja:

      that bar was large, too large for me. I like quality dark chocolate but in small doses

      Delete
  8. Ha, all I could think of was Willie Wonka too! Did you find the golden wrapper? Three very fine examples of old rides there.

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    1. Coop

      I don't know anything about Willie Wonka so this is new to me

      Delete
  9. All though years I lived in Pittsburgh, I never made it Hershey park. Hershey, PA yes...but not the park. Glad your enjoying the trip. Be sure to stop in Centralia for an surreal time. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centralia,_Pennsylvania

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    1. Robert:

      I really wanted to go to Centralia. Can't imagine a fire burning for so many decades but with other friends in our group I can't disappear for a day trip. I wanted to visit that big crack in the road. perhaps meet you there next year ? on two wheels ?

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    2. I'm in Tampa, Florida now and don't see my self riding home to Pittsburgh anytime soon Bob. Centralia is a spooky, odd and surreal place for sure. If I would have realized that you were traveling through PA I would have had my Mom and Dad take you out to dinner on my dime. Please enjoy the rest of your trip and be safe. Rob

      Delete
  10. Nobody spotted that cool mid 60's Kawasaki W1 650 Commander. Kawasaki was building big bikes before the other Japanese companies. It was a update of an older model pre unit 650 BSA, but an update that ran well and didn't leak. So it makes sense to have it in with the BSA's.

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