Day 87 Sprinter Elverson, PA-Martinsberg, WV

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Day 87 Sprinter Elverson, PA-Martinsberg, WV

Toured the Pennsylvania Dutch area.  Our first stop was Kitchen Kettle Village in the town of Intercourse. What a tourist trap just a bunch of stores selling stuff and not necessarily Amish items.  Not really the Amish experience we were looking for.  We finally found a bakery off the beaten path that was less touristy and loaded up on bake goods and other items.  The remainder of the day was spent visiting chocolate factories. In Lititz, PA visited Wilbur chocolate factory. The company developed a technique for depositing specially blended chocolates into a mould that resembled a flower bud, and thus, Wilbur Buds® were born in 1894!  We sampled a few of the buds and of course made a purchase.  Then onto Hershey, PA. Driving through the town is quite an experience in itself. Everything is Hershey this or that even the street lights look like Hershey kisses. The Hershey store was huge and packed with lots of candy in all shapes and sizes along with other Hershey memorabilia.  We took what we thought was going to be factory tour (watching the candy being made) but to our surprise it was actually more like Disneyland's Adventure thru Innerspace ride.  We jumped on the people mover car and begin our tour of the animated chocolate factory with lots of singing in the background.  We passed thru the processing of the cocoa beans which including sending us thru a simulated roasting machine where it became a little warmer in our car.  The ride continued on with the making and final packaging of the candy.  As we exited the ride, they handed us a photo album which included our photo on the ride and other Hershey info-all for the bargain price of $35.  We opted not to purchase it.  The funny thing about our photo is that it was taken in front of a green screen.  Kevin was wearing his green Seahawks sweatshirt so his middle section became invisible in the photo except for Seahawks' logo.  Back on the road, we needed to get some miles behind us so we crossed the Mason-Dixon line into Maryland and then in under 15 miles we were in West Virginia.  So as Hershey would say "Have a sweet day!"