Spring Break - A Whirlwind of 48 hours


On Tuesday we headed out about 9am towards Pennsylvania.    Having thoroughly researched Hershey and Gettysburg it was decided that we would go to Hershey first and then Gettysburg.  The website said that Gettysburg was open until 10pm and Hersey closed at 5:30pm, so we would go the furthest distance and then head to Gettysburg. 
We arrived at Hershey at 12:20pm and decided to go on the factory tour first.  March is a good time to go to Hershey and we were the only people on the tour.  We boarded our tour pod and headed off past the barn of signing cows, the train of cocoa beans and into the chocolate world of Hershey.  Watching Ryan was like watching Charlie’s eyes light up in Willy Wonka’s Factory. 
After the tour we had lunch in the Hersey Cafeteria.  Then Josh, Ryan, and Dave went into the build your own candy bar factory and I headed to the Cocoa University and Tasting.  Rosi decided to tour the gift shop.
At the University, I learned that the Cocoa Tree picks up the flavors of the trees and plants that grow at its routes.  These flavors give the Cocoa bean different flavors.  Hershey uses a blend of 10 different cocoa beans for its milk chocolate.  I also learned to melt the chocolate in your mouth without chewing to truly experience the layers of flavor in chocolate.
Meanwhile at the chocolate factory Dave and the boys choose what flavors to mix into their chocolate bars.  After creating the bars they designed their own special wrappers.  After completing their bars, Josh was off to the Hersey bakery for a chocolate mint cupcake.  He was in chocolate heaven.
We wrapped up our time at Hershey and headed to Gettysburg.  It took us about 40 minutes to arrive at the visitor center.  Much to our surprise the center closed at 5pm and we arrived at 4:55pm.  We were able to find the one remaining ranger and get a map and Junior Ranger Programs for the boys.  They ranger even gave us the patches as we promised to finish the program with the boys.  Thankfully the battle field was open until 7:30pm and since Amber had given us the driving tour CD for Gettysburg we were in luck.
After a few twists and turns we discovered the starting point for the tour.  For the next 3 hours we emerged ourselves into the 1800’s and one of the bloodiest battles that our country fought against itself.  It was amazing to be in the midst of history from so long ago.  Finally, we realized that it was 8pm and we had not eaten dinner.  We found a place to stop and decided to check and see if we could find a place for a few souvenirs.   This is when we stumbled across a museum that had a gift shop and was open because of two tour buses.  We quickly shopped and then headed out towards Washington DC.



Now I have never been to the DC area and it was Josh’s idea that we stay in a Hotel in the area, instead of having a two hour drive.  So we headed down to the DC area and I started calling around for hotels.  The first calls resulted in either full hotels or $400 room a night locations.  Finally, I was able to find a Springhill Suites in our price range.  We arrived at 10:45pm.  We all had one of our best nights of sleep.  I think it was because we were very tired.
 In the morning we had breakfast and headed off to the Air and Space Museum.  Our hotel turned out to only be 5 minutes from the one at the Airport and it could not have worked out more perfect.  We spent the morning learning about aviation from the Wright Brothers to Space.  We all enjoyed the historical story that each plane told. 



We then headed to Fairfax and the Metro station.  After a quick ride into the city we found ourselves at the National Mall and Smithsonian.  We enjoyed the Museum of American History and then headed down the Mall to explore the National Park and complete two Junior Ranger Programs.  As we exited the museum we realized that our sunny day had turned to rain.  We dashed past the Washington Monument and glanced at the White House in the distance and ducked under a ledge for shelter at the WWII Memorial. 

I was almost ready to cry. Here it is March 28th and not a single tree had a blossom left on them. Every tree was frosted in green, not the pink and white I had my heart set on. Then to top it off the reflection pool is surrounded by chain link fence and is a construction zone. Every picture that I had of Washington DC in my mind was shattered. Ryan was hungry, it was raining, and I was tired.
The boys worked on their Junior Ranger books sitting on the ledge and then it looked like there was a break in the rain, so we headed to the Lincoln Memorial. We were all getting a little tired, hungry and overwhelmed by this point. The mood started to improve when we discovered an elevator at the memorial. This helped Rosi to be able to get to the top without having to climb the steps. We enjoyed the history around us and when we exited we were greeted with a rainbow over the Washington Monument. Our entire mood shifted and we all got our second wind. 











On the taxi ride back to the Air and Space Museum, we saw the Jefferson Memorial.  The boys loved the taxi ride and thought that was one of the highlights of the day.  We made a quick tour of the Air and Space Museum as it was closing in 45 minutes and discovered that it is hard to find food in that area of DC.   So at 7:45pm our tired ban of travelers headed back out of the city to our car. 
By 8:45pm we were back on the highway and had located a Cheesecake Factory for dinner! 

After a nice dinner we headed back to Massanutten, VA and our Condo.

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