Four years ago, the Birds and I went on a summer vacation that did not involve the concept of “all-inclusive”. We saw New York, Philadelphia, Hershey, PA, and Coney Island, and we loved every minute of it. There were lots of amazing memories; may favorite being a hike in the Pennsylvania mountains. The next summer, we hit California. That trip included Universal Studios in Los Angeles, an adventurous hike up to the Hollywood sign, which is one of my all time favorite vacation memories and blog posts, and time in San Diego. The next summer, which was last summer, we went to an all-inclusive resort in Cancun. I did not enjoy that at all.
This year, we are back to our family adventures around the United States. It is Friday, we flew into Philadelphia on Monday, and we visited Drexel University. The next day we toured the University of Pennyslvania. This will get its own blog post. After our visit, Penn is at the top of Brainy Bird’s list of colleges. When we were finished at Penn, we hit the road.
“No sleep ‘til Hershey!” We all chanted. Little Chirp was out in the back seat before Philadelphia faded from our rear view mirror. The drive from Philly to Hershey, PA is a beatiful drive. We chose to stay at a Residence Inn a few miles from Hershey. In our previous visit, we spent the money to stay at the Hershey resort, and I remembered thinking that it was not worth it. On our way to the Residence Inn, we saw a sign for The Melting Pot Restaurant. We are not big on chain restaurants, but we have a family tradition of eating at a The Melting Pot when we are on vacation.
We checked into the hotel, and before long, we were enjoying a wonderful dinner. I love conversation with my Birds. We talked about Drexel and Penn. We talked about their plans to go to Hershey Park the next day, and we talked about Baby Jack. My sisters is expecting a baby at the end of the year this year. We have nicknamed him Baby Jack. Baby Jack is indeed a boy, but the boys do not know this yet. We are having a gender reveal party when we get back to Texas!
The next day was Wednesday. The boys went to Hershey Park to ride roller coasters, and I went for a fabulous six mile run around the Penn State Medical school. The running trails around there are a runner’s dream, cool breezes, very few streets to cross, and most of the trails are engulfed in canaopy of trees. I honestly could have run much further if I had brought water with me. After my run, I caught up on work, and I enjoyed a nice lunch.
On Thursday, we went to Chocolate World. Is 41 too old to want to make ones own candy bar? I won’t like, it probably is, but it is so much fun! We did the chocolate tasting, the 4D movie, the Trolley tour and we made our own candy bars. If you go to Hershey, I recommend the Hershey Museum above all things because Milton Hershey’s story is inspiring, and the museum takes you on a nostalgic trip down memory lane. Having limited time there this year, we missed the museum this time, but we got to hear Milton Hershey’s life story on the Trolly tour.
After chocolate world, we were on the road to Pittsburgh.
”No sleep ‘til Pittsburgh!” We chanted. Little Chirp was out before we found the freeway that would take us to Pitt. We were all pretty tired by the time we arrived in Pittsburgh. We enjoyed dinner at a place super close to the hotel, and then we were in our PJ’s watching Hoosiers. As much as I love sports movies, I am not sure how I had never seen Hoosiers.
We skipped breakfast this morning, and we headed straight for our tour of Carnegie Mellon, another impressive school. We also toured the University of Pittsburgh. Right now, the boys are playing video games at Dave and Busters, and I am sitting here at a table writing this blog. Pittsburgh has so much to offer. I definitely see Pittsburgh as a possible city for Brainy Bird to go off to college in. It may seem pathetic to be at Dave and Busters when there is so much to see in such a great city, but we toured the city all day today. Dave and Busters is very close to our hotel. Little Chirp begged to come here, and he deserved a reward for being such a good sport while we spent hours in college information sessions and hour walking on college campus tours.
Little Chirp does not like the idea of Brainy Bird leaving him in three years to go to college. Discussions about colleges, and Brainy Bird moving away make Little Chirp visibly sad. Little Chirp also does not like the idea of going away to school himself. He can’t stand the thought of leaving Potatoe.
Tomorrow, I am going for a long run along the river here in Pittsburgh before we start on a drive to Buffalo, NY. We are going to Anchor Bar for Buffalo wings, and then we are headed to Niagara Falls. Niagara Falls is one of my favorite places on Earth. I cannot wait to see the falls with my Birds.
After Niagara Falls, we will be visiting Cornell, and Rochester Institute of Technology and the University of Rochester. We get back to Houston just in time for the Fourth of July fireworks.
Everyday in our lives is an adventure. We do not need a trip to another state to have fun together as a family or to make new memories, but I do love seeing new places with Little Chirp and Brainy Bird, and I am excited about Brainy Bird’s future. I know that he wants to go away to school; he wants to experience life in another state near a beach, major city or place that it snows. He wants to meet new people, and he wants to forge a path of his own in life. I am super supportive of this dream, and I am excited to find out in 3 years where he will be headed to college.
Stay tuned for more vacation adventures.