the sweetest place on earth

As mentioned in the previous post, last weekend included an impromptu trip to Hershey Park or, as they call it, "The Sweetest Place on Earth." To give you an idea of the choco-centrism of the place, come join me for a highlights tour.

You know you have arrived in Hershey when the street lights are shaped like kisses. The street names are also things like "Cocoa Avenue" and "Chocolate Street."

We stayed at the Hershey Lodge, which favored a brown color palette. 

The linens were printed with kisses.

The wallpaper was printed with kisses.

And when you wash your hair you get a sugar high because you are using these. 

Oh yeah, and there's cocoa in your room (but surprisingly no chocolates on your pillow!).

The Park itself was fun. We rode two incredibly hectic roller coasters. The first one rockets you off with g-force and proceeds to send you vertically up and then down.

You then continue through a series of loops and twists, and see your life flash before your eyes. Good times. But because the 47 seconds you are on this ride weren't traumatizing enough, we immediately went on another roller coaster. It looked relatively tame- some loops, some turns, but nothing major. Uhhh, not so. After you ride this one facing forward, they then run you through it in reverse. So those loops? Yes, you go upside through them back first. It's very spooky to be going that fast and not be able to see where you are going. Someone captured the insanity on You-Tube if you care to watch (on an empty stomach):

Sidewinder Roller Coaster

As Brendan had to struggle to keep his lunch down after these, we played it safe for the rest of the day. We enjoyed the people dressed up as candy bars and the decorations that looked like people dressed up as candy bars.

And for a guy who doesn't like chocolate he certainly enjoyed himself and made some classic American memories.