Valley Forge

I love how we spaced out this trip.  Wednesday was the crazy busy day, but we managed to do a LOT in one day.  In the morning we did Hershey then drove one hour to Amish Country.  Then we only had to drive another hour to get to Valley Forge where our hotel was for the remaining 3 days of our trip.  Everything we wanted to see was SO CLOSE that it made the trip easier.

Valley Forge was an encampment where the Americans camped out for the winter during the Revolutionary War.  There was no bloodshed or fighting, but still over half the men/boys there died due to cold, sickness, & disease.  It was a beautiful area & it was really neat to go places that George Washington actually stood on.  It makes me happy that I married a history buff like myself & that our kids love it as well.

We bought the audio tour here as well which made our trip easier with my bummed out foot.  I wasn't able to get out & about with the family on this one due to all the steps & hills that my crutches wouldn't go to, but Trek took lots of pictures for me while I waited at each stopping point in the van.  The kids had a blast learning about it all too.

These were cabins that they built that 12 enlisted soldiers would bunk in.  TWELVE.  Can we say cramped?

The monuments here were just as beautiful as they were in Gettysburg.

This was George Washington's house during his stay at Valley Forge.  Most of it is still in original condition which is amazing to me.  It's a really NICE house for the 1700's.

The first room was the sitting room where Washington would meet with his officers & plan for future attacks against the British.

This was his bedroom where he slept during his time there.

There were also several other rooms where guests of honor or other officers would stay when they came to visit George Washington.

The kitchen was small, but served it's purpose well.

Surrounding George Washington's house were several cabins where his "secret service" stayed 24 hours a day watching for suspicious activity.

Valley Forge is much smaller than Gettysburg, but it was fun hearing the Revolutionary War side of things since we got a lot of Civil War information the day before.  It was beautiful there.

Amish Country

After exploring Hershey, we hopped in the van for a trip to Amish Country.  We didn't know what we could do there, but didn't care.  We just wanted to go play.

The first thing we noticed were the buggies & horses hitched up everywhere.

We actually got lucky enough to find a place where an Amish man was willing to take us on a ride on his buggy & show us some of the farms in the area.  We waited patiently for his horses to get rested before boarding for our fun tour.

Amish Country is gorgeous.  Everything is green & beautiful & the farms are just picturesque.

Sam was our tour guide & he made our ride a whole lot of fun.  Fun fact: Did you know that the Amish speak German in their homes & only learn English during their school years so they can converse with the outside world?  Trek enjoyed speaking German with him.

Seeing all their laundry hanging outside their homes gave me a headache.  ha ha ha.  I can't even imagine how hard that would be to do day after day after day.  I have a hard enough time keeping up with laundry at the Potter house.

When a teenage boy turns 16 years old, his parents give him his own buggy as a sweet sixteen gift.  This home had 2 teenage boys living there.

We even stopped by one farm, where a girl was selling homemade root beer & lemonade as well as some yummy baked goods.

The scenery here is just plain gorgeous.

Our tour lasted about 40 minutes.  It was a blast.  Even the kids had fun.

We had a blast exploring Amish Country.  The food was great, the shops were super fun, & the buggy tour was the highlight of my day.

Did Someone Say Chocolate?

After my foot debacle, we made our way to Hershey, PA.  And what's in Hershey, PA?

CHOCOLATE!!!

Of course we had to stop at Hershey's Chocolate World.  The kids were SO excited.  I thought they were going to jump out of their skin when they realized everything in this area was CHOCOLATE.

The first thing we did was ride the factory ride where we learned how Hershey makes it's fabulous chocolates.  (They were a little excited.)

After the ride, we explored the store where we were completely surrounded by everything chocolate.

We even met up with a giant Hershey Kiss.  The boys were scared to death of this thing.  Bladen told me that since we eat Hershey Kisses that maybe the big Hershey Kiss wanted to eat us.  They wouldn't get near it with a 10 foot pole.  Trek & I were laughing hysterically at their logic.  Now while we're looking at the picture Bladen is asking me how a human got inside that Kiss.  He's SO funny.  He finally figured it out.

Cadence LOVES Hershey bars.  Look at this 5 pounder she found.

And I've always been a sucker for Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.  These puppies are a half pound each. If they weren't SO expensive I probably would have bought myself several.  Yum.

We let the kids choose one attraction at Chocolate World.  They all unanimously chose the 

"Create your Own Dessert"

bar.  The older girls chose ice cream & the 3 littles chose cookies.  They got to paint frosting onto their cookies, then go to the toppings bar & decorate them with all the Hershey goodness.  Cadence & Lorien got to use the toppings bar to create their own massive ice cream sundae.  Let's just say they were a little hyper from sugar the rest of the day.

As for Trek & I, we took a little side trip to the Hershey Bakery & picked out some goodies of our own.  Trek picked some Reese's Brownies . . .

And I got me a monster Reese's Peanut Butter cookie. . . which was AMAZING by the way.

Canyon knew what he wanted too.  He kept coming back to this display at the bakery & would point to the cookies.  Silly boy.

We had a blast playing & shopping through a world filled with chocolate.  It was a great start to our 3rd day!!!