Hershey PA Upper Black Eddy, PA

It's been a few days since we posted, so I'll catch you up on Hershey. Delicious! Is that enough? Pennsylvania was absolutely gorgeous, with the rock walls, Victorian homes, and lush countryside. Every home appears to have a personal gardener with beautiful, cascading flower pots and gardens bursting with color.

After eating our fill of chocolate at Hershey's Chocolate World, we headed over to Lancaster in search of a restaurant run by Mennonite women. It was awesome! This past spring we went to Paula Deen's restaurant in Savannah...and it wasn't nearly as good for the price. Of course the Mennonite ladies have know idea who she is, so the compliment was lost on them.

Our next stop was the Upper Black Eddy, and the campground was one of the nicest we've ever seen, and we weren't afraid to put our clothes in the washer. It had a water fountain, a really nice putt putt course, and a fancy splash pool for the kids. We purchased some chinese lantern string lights for the trailer in the camp shop. This place rocks!

The next days' activity was probably the most comical of our trip--so far. We went tubing on the Delaware river! Imagine four adults and five kids in tubes for three freakin' hours!!! Oh, yeah.

This could have been great fun with a beer and one of those floating lawn chairs, but working our way in and out of the tube to rescue a kid or drag everyone over for the free hot dog was not easy, especially after having recent knee surgery.

A stint trying to get off a stone-covered shoal with Carsyn almost put us both over the edge. While Cheryl lost the over/under on a pair of sunglasses I bought for Carsyn, it was actually me who lost them in the melee. When we finally got ourselves free, Carsyn spent the next 10 minutes crying for her daddy, and when I couldn't get her back in the tube to cross some rapids, her little fanny dragged across the rocks and that was it for her.

To reiterate: this is the kind of outing that needs to be enjoyed with beer and NO CHILDREN. Until my kids can fend for themselves, we'll stick to the lazy river at the water park.

The next day we went to the Crayola Factory in Easton, then on to Bethlehem to shop at the Moravian Book Store. Heavens, the shopping up here is really great. Now I know what Raleigh is trying to achieve with the shopping, etc. Every little town up here, it seems, has a robust shopping district. Even the small communities have specialty shopping, ie. antiques, coffee, etc.

On to Saratoga Springs!!!