Brainy Bird told me one day that he wanted to go to Hershey, Pennsylvania. This struck a cord with me as I have always had this image of our little family trekking around the United States on a classic American family vacation. We have taken a few cruises, and I always feel like it is a lazy person’s vacation. It lacks that American dream feeling.
In a few days, we are leaving for our first classic American vacation, driving, hiking, historical sites, amusement parks and all. I can’t wait. I have spent a great deal of time planning our little adventure. The internet makes such adventure planning much easier than it was back in the days when my parents were taking us to the Grand Canyon, southern plantations and Civil War sites.
I am excited about having undivided attention for my children for an entire seven days. I plan to spoil them immensely, but I also plan to teach them to find enjoyment in the activities that are not of their choosing. They are both all about eating chocolate on our trip, Little Chirp is most excited about Hershey Park, Brainy Bird is the most excited about the historical sites in Philadelphia, and I am most excited about the hiking and our night on the horse farm.
One vacation challenge can be the, “gimme, gimme,” and the feeling of a major drain on the wallet. I have strategy for addressing this. First, I have set a budget. We have allocated money each day for meals, hotel, gas, souvenirs, activities and snacks. Secondly, I am putting Brainy Bird in charge of the budget. The boys won’t have to ask Mom for what they want; they will be left to work it out together.
Our vacation itinerary:
Day 1-
- Our flight leaves early in the morning for Newark, NJ
- We grab our rental and head to Pennsylvania
- We are grabbing a late lunch at Jefferson Diner, featured on the food channel’s Dives and Drive In’s
- We will burn off lunch hiking in the mountains
- We will grab something small from a grocery store to heat up for dinner
- We will arrive at the horse farm and enjoy a relaxing evening in our 2 story bed and breakfast suite.
Day 2-
- We wake up early to feed the horses and enjoy our breakfast
- We head to Hershey, PA’s Chocolate World for a tour of the Hershey factory and activities like making chocolate bars
- We will enjoy a light lunch at Chocolate World
- We will be checking into the Hershey Lodge, which is onsite at Hershey Park.
- Our dinner will be at the Hershey Grill, which I chose out of curiosity, their menu has a lobster corndog for appetizer.
- After dinner, we get to go for a free sneak peek at Hershey Park
- We finish the day collapsing in our little room at the Hershey Lodge
Day 3 –
- We will have a quick breakfast and we are off to Hershey Park!
- Rides, Rides and more rides
- We will finish the evening off at Devon Seafood, which the boys will love
- Another night at the Hershey Lodge
Day 4 –
- We will go to the Hershey Story museum
- Lunch will be at Café Zooka, so that we can try their chocolate tasting fountain
- After lunch, we are off to Philadelphia!
- We will check into our hotel, and give the boys some much needed down time, I will plan out our day in Philly that evening
- For dinner we will by trying the Food Channel’s winner for best Philly Cheesesteak sandwich
- We will enjoy a night at the Ritz
Day 5 –
- Philadelphia site seeing – Liberty Bell, Franklin Institute
- Lunch at the very famous DiNic’s
- More site seeing
- A little souvenir shopping
- Dinner at the #1 restaurant in Philadelphia, according to Trip Advisor
Day 6 –
- To the big apple we go!
- We will return the rental car and hit time square, the empire state building and the statue of liberty
Day 7 –
- We will go where ever the boys want to New York
- We fly home
I am super excited about our family vacation adventure. The Birds are excited too. Little Chirp keeps saying, “What is it called again where we go to all of those places?”
I say, “a vacation.”
He says, “Yeah! Let’s go on vacation!”
It is a repetitive conversation that I never tire of.