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My parents brought it up—they wanted to meet us for a weekend in Hershey, PA during the holiday season. They had read that the “Hershey’s Sweet Lights” display was not to be missed. They also thought that their granddaughters would enjoy the rides at HersheyPark, which was open with no admission for the holidays. We could visit Santa and his reindeer, and generally relax for a couple of days. This seemed like a good plan, so my parents made hotel reservations for the six of us, and we discussed when and where we would try to meet.
I decided that I would try to make this a BookCrossing trip as well. The night before we left, I pulled out the box of paperbacks I have set aside to release. I dug through the box and found the last four books I received from appaloosatb as part of her effort to save these books from the trash. I also pulled out a couple of other books that I had picked up from the “free books” shelves at the Central Branch of the Arlington County Library. I made sure I had sticky notes for the covers and BookCrossing information brochures to stick inside the books. I also grabbed a notepad and a pen so I could make notes about when and where each book was released, so I could make accurate release notes when I got home.
Saturday morning arrived, and my wife packed overnight bags for each of us, while I cooked some sausage and eggs for breakfast. After eating and loading our bags into the van, we headed out for the two and half hour drive to Hershey. Traffic was light, but there was a steady rain falling, slowing what traffic there was. The rain was troubling, as this was going to be a largely outdoor weekend, but we had packed umbrellas and raincoats, so hopefully we would get completely soaked.
We drove north to Baltimore, and as we made our way around the city on the expressway, the rain stopped, and the sun even tried to peek through the clouds. As we crossed the state line into Pennsylvania, we stopped at the welcome center to use the rest rooms. This was my opportunity for my first release. While my wife took our daughters in to use the facilities, I reached into my back and pulled out a book, The Cross of Iron by Willi Heinrich. I looked around for a promising place to leave the book. Outside the restrooms was a set of payphones, next to the vending machines. I put a brochure inside the book, slapped a sticky note on the cover and left it next to the pay phones. Then it was time to get back on the road.
We arrived at Hershey shortly after noon, paid to park, and headed for Chocolate World. This was where we had agreed to meet my parents, but they didn’t expect to arrive until about 2pm, so we had time to kill. As we approached the entrance to Chocolate World, we walked past a series of tour buses unloading, and a bus designed to look like an old trolley that was loading for a tour of the town. Inside, we paused for a couple of minutes to get our bearings. There was a tall Christmas tree to the left of the entrance, next to the ticket booth for the 3-D movie. Directly in front of us was the entrance to the shopping area and the queuing area for the chocolate making tour. To the right was an information desk, and the new “Factory Works.” While we discussed our options and tried to form a plan, I took a moment to release my next book, an anthology of science-fiction short stories from 1973. I left this book, with its sticky note and brochure, on a ledge next to the ticket counter for the trolley tours. Our daughters wanted to go on the chocolate making tour, so we decided to that first, and then try the Factory Works.
The chocolate making tour isn’t really a tour at all. Instead, its more of a ride, similar to those at the Magic Kingdom at Disney World, with a continuous chain of cars moving on a track through an animatronic simulation of the chocolate making process. I learned a thing or two about how chocolate is made, but overall it wasn’t terribly exciting. My daughters enjoyed it though, so much so that we repeated the ride twice more before heading home the next day! After exiting the ride (and receiving our bite-size sample of chocolate), we joined the line for the Factory Works.
The line wasn’t long and after about a fifteen minute wait, we reached the head of the line, where the girls were photographed for their “factory ID cards” and given paper hats to wear. They moved on to a simulated assembly line, where they got to fill a box with Hershey’s Kisses. The supervisor told them that they were hired and that they should report for work at 5am the next morning! It was a thrill for the girls. The exit took us through a gift shop (of course!), and after browsing for a few minutes, we headed to the food court to get some lunch. It was quite a challenge getting our daughters to eat any real food with all that candy surrounding us!
After lunch, we met my parents near the entrance to Chocolate World, and we headed to HersheyPark. Now, my plan had been to return to the van and get some more books to release in the park, but somehow that didn’t happen, so I didn’t release any books inside the park itself. However, as the afternoon progressed and the temperature continued to drop, I really regretted having left my coat in the van!
The park was fully decorated for the holidays, though it became prettier after the sun set. There was no admission to the park, but you needed tickets for the rides, so I bought a strip of twenty tickets so the girls could enjoy some of the rides. We worked our way through the park, stopping for the occasional ride, visiting Santa’s reindeer (they were smaller than I was expecting), and eventually we arrived at Santa’s Castle. After waiting in line for about twenty minutes, the girls got to sit on Santa’s lap and talk to him. Unfortunately, they were not permitting parents to take pictures unless they purchased a portrait package at an unreasonable price, so we weren’t able to get any pictures of this encounter.
By the time we finished with Santa, it was beginning to get dark, so we made our way back to the van, and headed out to find some dinner. After eating, it was time to visit the Hershey’s Sweet Lights. We had to drive back past HersheyPark, and the traffic was backed up with people going to the Hershey Bears minor-league hockey game, so it took us quite a while to make it to the right road. When we finally arrived, we paid our $15.00 and drove in.
The light displays were really quite impressive, and there were LOTS of them. It took us over 45 minutes to drive through the entire set of displays. Its hard to describe what they looked like, but there were hundreds of sculptures covered with colored lights, many of them animated to look like they included moving elements. There were toys, snowmen, reindeer, Santas, winter scenes, and so much more. The girls bounced from one side of the van to the other, trying not to miss any of the sights. Eventually, we made our way past the last display and back onto the road. It was time to call it a night, so we headed to our hotel to check in.
The next morning, we all went to the (heated, indoor) pool for a quick swim before breakfast. I stashed a copy of The Titans by John Jakes in the nightstand drawer (with the phone book and obligatory Bible) and left Morris West’s The Salamander on a table in the lobby, both with the usual complement of BookCrossing propaganda. After filling up on bagels, Danish and cereal from the hotels complimentary breakfast counter, we packed and headed out to mass at the nearest church. The church was packed, but we managed to squeeze ourselves into a pew. After mass, we said good-bye to my parent, who where going to try to make it home before dark.
After my parents left, we climbed back into the van and headed back to Chocolate world for one more visit. Our daughters wanted to go on the chocolate making tour and do the Factory Works again before we left. My wife and I decided that we would also see the 3-D movie as well, thinking that the girls would probably enjoy it. After parking, I grabbed two more books to take in with us. On my way to buy the tickets for the movie, I left The Mediterranean Caper by Clive Cussler on the bench next to the Christmas tree. Then, tickets in hand, we rode the tour, played at the Factory Works, and proceeded to our showing of the movie. The movie was entertaining, though the 3-D effects weren’t nearly as good as those we saw in Disney World last fall. When it was over, I released my final book, Sniper by Theodore Taylor on a table in the food court.
Finally, it was time to head home. We stopped for a quick lunch, and then headed out for the expressway south. Both of our daughters quickly fell asleep, and slept most of the way home. Hopefully, that was a sign that they’d enjoyed themselves--clearly they had worn themselves out. I’d had fun releasing six books in two days. Now if someone would just make a journal entry in one of them…
I decided that I would try to make this a BookCrossing trip as well. The night before we left, I pulled out the box of paperbacks I have set aside to release. I dug through the box and found the last four books I received from appaloosatb as part of her effort to save these books from the trash. I also pulled out a couple of other books that I had picked up from the “free books” shelves at the Central Branch of the Arlington County Library. I made sure I had sticky notes for the covers and BookCrossing information brochures to stick inside the books. I also grabbed a notepad and a pen so I could make notes about when and where each book was released, so I could make accurate release notes when I got home.
Saturday morning arrived, and my wife packed overnight bags for each of us, while I cooked some sausage and eggs for breakfast. After eating and loading our bags into the van, we headed out for the two and half hour drive to Hershey. Traffic was light, but there was a steady rain falling, slowing what traffic there was. The rain was troubling, as this was going to be a largely outdoor weekend, but we had packed umbrellas and raincoats, so hopefully we would get completely soaked.
We drove north to Baltimore, and as we made our way around the city on the expressway, the rain stopped, and the sun even tried to peek through the clouds. As we crossed the state line into Pennsylvania, we stopped at the welcome center to use the rest rooms. This was my opportunity for my first release. While my wife took our daughters in to use the facilities, I reached into my back and pulled out a book, The Cross of Iron by Willi Heinrich. I looked around for a promising place to leave the book. Outside the restrooms was a set of payphones, next to the vending machines. I put a brochure inside the book, slapped a sticky note on the cover and left it next to the pay phones. Then it was time to get back on the road.
We arrived at Hershey shortly after noon, paid to park, and headed for Chocolate World. This was where we had agreed to meet my parents, but they didn’t expect to arrive until about 2pm, so we had time to kill. As we approached the entrance to Chocolate World, we walked past a series of tour buses unloading, and a bus designed to look like an old trolley that was loading for a tour of the town. Inside, we paused for a couple of minutes to get our bearings. There was a tall Christmas tree to the left of the entrance, next to the ticket booth for the 3-D movie. Directly in front of us was the entrance to the shopping area and the queuing area for the chocolate making tour. To the right was an information desk, and the new “Factory Works.” While we discussed our options and tried to form a plan, I took a moment to release my next book, an anthology of science-fiction short stories from 1973. I left this book, with its sticky note and brochure, on a ledge next to the ticket counter for the trolley tours. Our daughters wanted to go on the chocolate making tour, so we decided to that first, and then try the Factory Works.
The chocolate making tour isn’t really a tour at all. Instead, its more of a ride, similar to those at the Magic Kingdom at Disney World, with a continuous chain of cars moving on a track through an animatronic simulation of the chocolate making process. I learned a thing or two about how chocolate is made, but overall it wasn’t terribly exciting. My daughters enjoyed it though, so much so that we repeated the ride twice more before heading home the next day! After exiting the ride (and receiving our bite-size sample of chocolate), we joined the line for the Factory Works.
The line wasn’t long and after about a fifteen minute wait, we reached the head of the line, where the girls were photographed for their “factory ID cards” and given paper hats to wear. They moved on to a simulated assembly line, where they got to fill a box with Hershey’s Kisses. The supervisor told them that they were hired and that they should report for work at 5am the next morning! It was a thrill for the girls. The exit took us through a gift shop (of course!), and after browsing for a few minutes, we headed to the food court to get some lunch. It was quite a challenge getting our daughters to eat any real food with all that candy surrounding us!
After lunch, we met my parents near the entrance to Chocolate World, and we headed to HersheyPark. Now, my plan had been to return to the van and get some more books to release in the park, but somehow that didn’t happen, so I didn’t release any books inside the park itself. However, as the afternoon progressed and the temperature continued to drop, I really regretted having left my coat in the van!
The park was fully decorated for the holidays, though it became prettier after the sun set. There was no admission to the park, but you needed tickets for the rides, so I bought a strip of twenty tickets so the girls could enjoy some of the rides. We worked our way through the park, stopping for the occasional ride, visiting Santa’s reindeer (they were smaller than I was expecting), and eventually we arrived at Santa’s Castle. After waiting in line for about twenty minutes, the girls got to sit on Santa’s lap and talk to him. Unfortunately, they were not permitting parents to take pictures unless they purchased a portrait package at an unreasonable price, so we weren’t able to get any pictures of this encounter.
By the time we finished with Santa, it was beginning to get dark, so we made our way back to the van, and headed out to find some dinner. After eating, it was time to visit the Hershey’s Sweet Lights. We had to drive back past HersheyPark, and the traffic was backed up with people going to the Hershey Bears minor-league hockey game, so it took us quite a while to make it to the right road. When we finally arrived, we paid our $15.00 and drove in.
The light displays were really quite impressive, and there were LOTS of them. It took us over 45 minutes to drive through the entire set of displays. Its hard to describe what they looked like, but there were hundreds of sculptures covered with colored lights, many of them animated to look like they included moving elements. There were toys, snowmen, reindeer, Santas, winter scenes, and so much more. The girls bounced from one side of the van to the other, trying not to miss any of the sights. Eventually, we made our way past the last display and back onto the road. It was time to call it a night, so we headed to our hotel to check in.
The next morning, we all went to the (heated, indoor) pool for a quick swim before breakfast. I stashed a copy of The Titans by John Jakes in the nightstand drawer (with the phone book and obligatory Bible) and left Morris West’s The Salamander on a table in the lobby, both with the usual complement of BookCrossing propaganda. After filling up on bagels, Danish and cereal from the hotels complimentary breakfast counter, we packed and headed out to mass at the nearest church. The church was packed, but we managed to squeeze ourselves into a pew. After mass, we said good-bye to my parent, who where going to try to make it home before dark.
After my parents left, we climbed back into the van and headed back to Chocolate world for one more visit. Our daughters wanted to go on the chocolate making tour and do the Factory Works again before we left. My wife and I decided that we would also see the 3-D movie as well, thinking that the girls would probably enjoy it. After parking, I grabbed two more books to take in with us. On my way to buy the tickets for the movie, I left The Mediterranean Caper by Clive Cussler on the bench next to the Christmas tree. Then, tickets in hand, we rode the tour, played at the Factory Works, and proceeded to our showing of the movie. The movie was entertaining, though the 3-D effects weren’t nearly as good as those we saw in Disney World last fall. When it was over, I released my final book, Sniper by Theodore Taylor on a table in the food court.
Finally, it was time to head home. We stopped for a quick lunch, and then headed out for the expressway south. Both of our daughters quickly fell asleep, and slept most of the way home. Hopefully, that was a sign that they’d enjoyed themselves--clearly they had worn themselves out. I’d had fun releasing six books in two days. Now if someone would just make a journal entry in one of them…
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Mmmmmm! Sweet!
Date: 2004-12-17 07:50 pm (UTC)Sounds like a lot more commercial than the Cadbury factory I toured in Dunedin. But we had a roly-poly guide who had no worries at all about overloading the visitors with samples and he was acres of fun. I didn't have any books on me to slide into a box of truffles or a bin of soft centres, but.
Thanks for the comments on Manly Books BTW. I'm thinking about the major rewrite I know it needs.
Re: Mmmmmm! Sweet!
Date: 2004-12-17 08:00 pm (UTC)