Hershey, Harrisburg, Gettysburg, and Lancastr County

Thur. We got up and drove to Hershey RV Park, in Lebanon Pa.
Fri. We drove to downtown Harrisburg Pa.  We went to the welcome center then a tour of the State Capitol Building.  It was the best one we have seen so far.  From the statues outside the building to the the marble walls and many murals. The dome is 272 feet tall , 52 million pound, and  modeled after St. Peter's in Rome.  As you enter the building top 2nd picture the beauty is every where.  They have two civil war displayed in the rotunda top 3rd picture.  From the rotunda there is a hall to the Senate  and House of Rep. top right picture. The floor has almost 400 mosaics illustrating the state's history, animals, industries, occupations and modes of transportation picture middle left. there is a grand staircase next picture.  The next two pictures is the governors office where he gives many interviews and TV promotions.  Bottom left is the Senate chambers next to it the Supreme Court of Pa. then the House Of Rep. chambers.  The last picture is the chandeliers where once a year a man climbs inside to clean and change the lights. It weighs about 2 to 4 tons and require over 1,000 light bulbs. Everything is covered in 24carate gold.

We then left there and picked up Betty and Fred at the air port.  We drove to Hershey Pa.  Top left picture shows the street lights which are kisses.  Next to it is the old kisses wrapping machine.  On the right is one of the molds for the Hershey bar.  2nd left picture is the factory when it was built.  the next two is the time line for Hershey's and the USA. 3rd left old candy bar wrappers and chocolate in different forms. Next to it is one of the many old clocks.  On the right we are getting ready for CHOCOLATE LAB. After we made our candy bars we went to taste chocolate in different percents on the bottom left we were given six glasses with chocolate from 32 to 75 %  on the right you can see we finished all of it.

Sat. we drove to Gettysburg where we meet Dan Albertson, Linda and Betty,s cousin. Top left picture is the old train station and info building. Middle picture is a Irish Pub where we had Sheppard's Pie.  We then walked to where they  make home made ice cream top right picture is our fresh peach sundae.  We left there and walked to the center of town (middle left)Abe Lincoln statue when he gave his famous Gettysburg address speech. (bottom left) is the Wills house where he stayed. (middle right) is the hotel that the college owns and within the building there is a theater where they perform several times a month. Below the Hotel is a rug at the entrance of the Hotel with the College logo.
 The pictures are the battlefields where so many lives were lost.  We got an I-pad that gave a detailed account  of where we were by GPS and what was taking place at that spot of the three days of fighting. (top left) We are talking to a volunteer who is telling us about the cannons and the war from that spot. Next to is is the statue with the eternal flame. The picture in the middle is a fence they saw at the time of the civil war they had three different types of fences. The middle right picture is a reenactment of a troop at night.

Sun.  We drove to Hershey Gardens. The left seven pictures are some of the many flowers.  While we were there we went to the butterfly garden the top big picture is the eggs of the butterflies. Top right some of the hundreds of butterflies there that day. Bottom middle is a Hershey kiss display where once in awhile steam would come out the top of them.  Bottom right is the Hershey hotel.  We walked around the lobby.  When we left there we  had lunch at The Brickerville House Restaurant.  We then shopped in there shops, came home, went to the pool, ate, and played cards.

Mon. We took Betty and Fred to he airport then went downtown and walked across the bridge to the Kipona Celebration ( considered one of the oldest waterfront festivals in the U.S.) at the Harrisburg's City Island and Riverfront Park.  When we got home we got some rest, did the blog, laundry and planned our Nov. and Dec. plans.
Tues. we took the truck to get a new windshield as you can see in top left a crack.  It was neat to see how he replaced the windshield.  The bottom pictures are of Lebanon Pa. where we walked while waiting for the truck to get done.  Of course we stopped by a bakery and had some goodies and coffee. The rest of the day we relaxed and caught up on things.