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Edited on Sun Aug-22-10 08:58 PM by PCIntern
I just spent a three-day weekend in Hershey, PA for a variety of reasons. The antique auto museum was worthwhile, as was the Hershey Museum - a bit biased in favor of corporate America, but...hey...what do you expect when the guy wills 60 million dollars for a school for fatherless boys in 1923...do the math...what's that today - like a billion?
But OMFG...the Hersheypark experience was unlike any I've seen in a very long time: tens of thousands of people - no exaggeration - maybe 100,000 - I don't know, it was MONSTROUS crowd, each paying 40 dollars plus to get in...and then spending all day drinking 4 dollar Pepsi's (1/2 ice, BTW) and 8 dollar popcorn (kettle corn, with tons of sugar and salt...delicious but a KILLER)...and 12 dollar sandwiches and fries...just unbelievable. And yes...a bottle of water was about 3 dollars...most folks were pretty dehydrated on Saturday and drank and drank. Horrifyingly obese people wearing bathing suits which were ill-fitting in the water park, vicious conversations among family members, grumpy parents, tired kids, weirdly frighteningly nightmarish rides that were altogether rather safe (thank God) - but some waiting times were almost an hour for a 3 minute adventure...some queues' signs stated that there could be a 3 hour wait...well, I guess those awaiting the ride could read The Nation or The New Republic AND the NYT whilst in line...yeah...that's the ticket...
Stayed at the Hotel Hershey...if I never see another chocolate bar, it'll be too soon...everything wrapped in chocolate, smelling like chocolate (bath soap, all desserts, hand creams, etc.) the meals were a fortune, the rooms were a fortune, the vending machines were 2 bucks for a Pepsi or a water, and there was nothing for free...nickled and dimed to death. They tell all the staff to say 'good morning', 'good Afternoon', 'good Evening' and if you walk past 30 staff, you have to say back...well you don't HAVE to, but I'm polite as Hell, believe it or not...so a walk to get some ice from the vending room (Sorry THAT was still 'free') entails conversing with at least 8 people, none of whom were guests - can't really criticize people for being corporately polite I guess...most of the guests were distinctly unfriendly even when I would say a word to someone in an elevator. some really boorish and lots of McCain/Palin stickers and Bush/Cheney AND...get this one Reagan/Bush sticker ON A NEW CAR!!
Wow to that...
As I said at the outset, the antique auto Museum was remarkable...but the 'virtual tour' of the factory was horrendous...they put you in a moving vehicle and have fake assembly lines and lecture you on the nutritiousness of candy bars...it works though...the gift shop was overrun with people buying all sorts of confections including but not limited to, a 5 lb. Hershey Bar...for 39.95! Plus tax of course...
And they'll sell you a pic of you in the little car touring the 'plant' for 13 dollars! A bargain!
Don't forget the Reese's Peanut Butter cup t-shirts...on 11 dollars for you to advertise their product! Did you know, for example, that that particular orange of Reese's was copy written in the 1970's? I sure didn't...I thought the color spectrum was public domain...but what do I know?
I'm tired and have to go to bed...but I'll say one thing about Hershey, PA...it is the damnedest cleanest town I have ever been in...you can almost literally eat off the floors...the public places sure as heck are cleaner than any hospital we have down here in Philly, let me tell you.
And that...was what I did on my Summer 'vacation'.
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