9 long miles

We have embarked on a long needed family vacation. We cannot even remember the last time we had a full family vacation. That's astounding to us because we are a well traveled family. Not in the sense of traveling to far and exotic locations, but to nearby trips often. Cameron had his first road trip at 3 weeks when we took him to Disney World. We were not about to give up fun on our annual passes you see.

I was so impatient to leave that we picked up Kel at 10 last night and headed towards Hershey. We stayed in Carlisle in an awful hotel. I got the 1/2 of the bed that made me literally fear for falling out/off. This morning we got up and headed to The Hershey Story Museum. Glenn and I experienced the full factory tour years ago. Unfortunately, the factory is no longer open for public tours but the new site was interesting. We signed the kids up for the Chocolate Lab where they could learn about making chocolate, make their own candy bar and help their group make a chocolate drink. While there, the kids did a Junior Apprentice tour book and received a commemorative coin for their trouble. A fun activity for the kids was the opportunity to have a front page of a paper made with their name and picture. See the following links for their personalized front pages http://www.hersheystory.org/exhibits/your-hershey-story/Default.aspx?milton=2009741339218397545&kitty=Cameron and http://www.hersheystory.org/exhibits/your-hershey-story/Default.aspx?milton=20097413942660664707&kitty=Kelly%20mari

The kids in Chocolate Lab *look like cafeteria workers in training to me*

Then onto the Chocolate World store for souvenirs. Only my children would go to a store containing more chocolate than I've ever seen buy Jolly Ranchers and no chocolate. I don't mind because it means no melted candy for me. Glenn, on the other hand, bought and ate, while still in the store, a 1/4 pound piece of Hershey's Almond fudge. I had absolutely no sympathy when he started to complain about his stomach hurting.

Glenn and I in Chocolate World

On to New Jersey the real destination of our trip. The ride was smooth and despite the contrary comments about New Jersey, they have great roads. We made it to 9 miles from the hotel and the fuel pump (to our best guess) went out on the van. Of course we were on an interstate with no shoulder. We pulled into a median between the on-ramp and the flowing traffic and called AAA. AAA came for the van and recommended we call a taxi for me and the kids. $30 I did not plan to give away thank you very much! AAA towed our van to an abandoned restaurant's parking lot about 1/4 mile away so we were able to grab a luggage cart and make a few trips to get our things up to our room.

The room is absolutely awesome. We opted to spend the extra $7 per night and get a one bedroom suite instead of studio. We are glad we did as it will allow us some privacy at night while we try to sleep and the kids play on the computer and game system.

We anticipate problems getting to the rehearsal and dinner tomorrow. Hopefully, the wedding will be a bit easier. I was quite nervous about getting to NYC on Sunday with only one car. The hotel gave us an option that will cost about $3.50 or less per person each way and does not require us to get in our car at all. Hopefully, the garage recommended by AAA can fix the fuel pump quickly and we will not be required to spend an extra night or two here in NJ.

I'll upload photos from today on Friday and then blog and upload photos throughout the weekend.