Sweetest Place on Earth

One of our recent road trips was to visit Hershey, PA. Now we can say we've been to Chocolate World! I must admit, it was fun.

We hit town right at lunchtime and hit up the local Red Robin.

Matt's not crazy about me taking pictures of him, but he plays along :)

Fortunately for me, he does appreciate that I keep up with a blog about our life. He often gives his support by reminding me to bring my camera when we hit the road. It's not natural for me to think of it myself. 

After Red Robin, we were off to explore Chocolate World!

The first part of our visit was a tour around the grounds, so we could hear the history of Hershey's beginnings. 
 

It was very interesting for both Matt and me to learn that Milton Hershey had a heart for giving underprivileged children an opportunity in life. A part of his legacy is that he established a trust to provide ongoing support to a school he founded for underprivileged children. He and his wife were never able to have children of their own, but before his death, he made sure the school would remain to fulfill its purpose indefinitely. 

On the trolley tour

It also was an interesting fact to learn that Milton Hershey made his first million and maybe even his second in caramels. He made a foray into chocolate a little later in his career and never looked back. 

Inside the chocolate-mobile

We enjoyed a lot of free chocolates throughout the trip. The tour alone gave us a sample of five varieties. We went for an IMAX type movie that was somewhat brief (as a part of our package) and the main thing from it was seeing all the Hershey products. When I shop for chocolate, I don't particularly take note of the manufacturer. 

Afterward, we created our own candy bars. 

 You can see Matt was thrilled I took this shot :)

It was an automated candy-making system, but it was still neat to watch. Here are the chocolate bars we made: 

Mine was so good, I think Matt ate more of it than I did :)

Finally, we went on a tour that explained the process of making chocolate from cacao to chocolate bar. This was one of the most interesting parts of our visit. To hear of the volume of what is produced in a day, to see the step-by-step process needed to break down the raw material and process it into the deliciousness that is chocolate, that was fun. 

Photo they took at the end of our tour.