What better way to celebrate my husband’s 7th anniversary of his kidney and pancreas transplant than to overload his new pancreas with milk chocolate in Hershey! (The pancreas helps to maintain blood sugar levels.) Mike was Type I diabetic since he was a young child, but with his new pancreas he’s no longer diabetic…and enjoying it. We had more sweets than normal to celebrate with a humungous candy bar that ended up being our lunch. None of us could eat another bite of chocolate, which personally, I didn’t think was possible!
Here are some other highlights from our week in Pennsylvania:
Best Tourist Spot: Lackawanna County Coal Mine Tour in Scranton. A coal mine tour seemed like a must do in Pennsylvania, and we were not left in the dark while descending 250 feet under the earth’s surface into the mine. We learned a “ton” about coal mining from our tour guide. Personally, I could have listened to his thick East coast accent longer!
Worst Tourist Spot: Independence Hall. You have to go. History was made here, but the tour guide we had was boring and somewhat uninformed. This could be so exciting with a lively tour guide telling stories, instead of just spouting facts, or even a complete revamp by the National Park Service. Imagine the scene with holograms of Ben Franklin and the others in the room! The tour was free, so that was a plus, which probably wouldn’t be the case after adding holograms. We wished we had spent more time walking around Philly finding the different storytelling spots.
Best Photo Spot: Hershey Main Street. The lampposts are so cute! Not all the streets in Hershey are named after sweet nothings, but Chocolate Avenue is worth a photo.
Worst Photo Spot: Liberty Bell. It’s very cool to see but try taking a picture with just the bell in the picture…it’s impossible! Everyone rushes to stand next to the bell, trying to get a picture with them next to the bell, and all you get in your picture is the bell and some tourist wearing a Philly t-shirt!
Best Meal: Arcaro & Genell’s in Old Forge. This should seriously be on that “The Best Thing I Ever Ate” show on the Food network. Here “white” pizza doesn’t mean alfredo sauce but rather NO sauce. We ordered both red “cuts” and white double crust “cuts,” more commonly called pieces. To say the white double crust pizza was delicious is an understatement. It was absolutely the best thing I’ve ever eaten - that isn’t chocolate. The crust was flaky and done to perfection with a wonderful blend of garlic and spices. The white cheese was just oozing out the cuts…mmh! This is a must eat in Pennsylvania!
Worst Meal: Philly cheesesteak at Campo’s. They get you in and out fast, too fast, and be sure to have cash on hand as they don't take credit or debit cards. I had cash, but the cashier was still rude. It's a tourist spot, so of course it’s expensive, but to top it off they won't give you a cup of tap water. In addition, we could barely find the cheese on our cheesesteaks, but they seem to have plenty of demand regardless. Personally, I'd go somewhere else next time to give Philly cheesesteak another try.
Biggest Revelation: PA is a big state! I don’t know how you could see it all in a week.
Biggest Twinge of Homesickness: Our son celebrated his birthday in PA. It was difficult for both of us not doing his usual birthday sleepover with friends, but he was a good sport about it, making the most of his special day.
Biggest Surprise: A Birthday Gift. We arrived at Putt U mini golf and found the owner manning the booth. He gave Levi a “Happy Birthday” golf ball for his birthday. That was so nice! Levi still uses it each time we mini golf. Putt U is a challenging course and nicely maintained. At each hole, they post who made the first hole-in-one on that hole.
Biggest Disappointment: Having to throw out the rest of our giant custom made chocolate bar at Chocolate World in Hershey because it was 100 degrees outside, and we had no way to keep it from melting. What a waste of good chocolate!
Best Drive: Most of our driving in PA was rainy. We did have one day where we drove thru the Poconos, NJ, NY, and into CT. What an accomplishment for 4 hours!
Worst Drive: In a not so good area of Philly. We left Philly during rush hour and in need of gas - a volatile combination. Why is it so hard to find a gas station in a big city, and why don’t they put gas stations on the blue interstate signs in big cities? That’s where you need help the most!
After idling in traffic forever, we exited the highway to find a gas station. Needless to say, Mike pumped gas at one of those stations with bars over the windows and graffiti on the walls. He didn’t even fill the tank completely, so we could bolt quicker. Mental note, ALWAYS fill up before driving into a big city, even if you have to go out of your way to do so.
Funniest Memory: Crying at Toy Story 3
. Our son’s birthday was a wet, rainy day, so he chose a movie for something fun to do. Surprisingly, Toy Story 3 was an emotional movie for me, seeing Andy go off to college on the same day my son became a teenager made me realize how little time is left until I’m in the very same shoes as the cartoon mom! Looking back at it now, it’s funny, but at the time, I had tears in my eyes. Life goes so fast; live it to the fullest!Worst Memory: My sacrificial stupidity! To make a long story short, we were at my favorite restaurant and I, in my “mother must always sacrifice mode,” offered to eat Chloe's poppy seed salad if she didn’t like it because they didn't have tomato soup in the summertime.
Of course you know what’s coming next: she didn’t like the salad. Here we are at my favorite restaurant, which we hadn’t been to in months, and I’m “sacrificing” by eating a salad that I don’t really care for, using my gift card to boot! The thing was, though, I wasn’t really sacrificing because I was bitter about it. That’s not sacrifice; that’s mommy guilt. I mentioned the irony, and in the process made Chloe feel bad. It was awful, so very stupid of me. Why do I always feel guilty and do these “sacrificial” things that I don’t really want to do? It’s one thing to be truly sacrificial and happy about it, but it’s a whole other thing to be “sacrificial” and unhappy. I always feel worse afterwards and so does my family.
Mike, in his wisdom, made me get what I wanted. We walked through all the tears, and it came out okay, but it didn’t have to be that way. All this sacrificial stupidity needs to stop. I’ve decided I’m only sacrificing now if I’m doing it with a true desire to give something up out of love, not out of guilt. In an odd way, it’s like we’re all winning by me being more selfish!
Best Memory: God showed our daughter how much He loved her through a salad. Chloe had been craving a salad all day, ever since eating a giant chocolate bar for lunch. (Believe me, she reminded us all afternoon of her desire for a salad.) Much to our delight and surprise, we discovered that the kid’s meals at The Grill on Chocolate Avenue came with an option of a side salad! If you’re not in the kids meal stage of life, that’s highly unusual, a miracle in our eyes!
The food at was delicious, and the kid’s meal toy was actually entertaining for once: wax sticks. The kids had fun with them designing their own roller coasters and even wished dinner had lasted longer. How often do you hear that from kids?
My PA Hike: Regrettably, it didn’t happen. We stopped at Bushkill Falls, but come to find out, it’s privately owned and had an admission fee. Since it was a rainy day and everything was wet and sloppy, it hardly seemed worth $36. It brought up an interesting thought about taxes, though. I would much rather fund a park thru my taxes than pay $36 to take a short hike, yet I want smaller government - I realized I need to be willing to sacrifice. Oy, here we go again…
What We Did Miss: Gettysburg, Falling Water, Pittsburg, an Amish village, Crayola Factory, Steel Stacks, Martin Guitar, Shanksville, and so much more all recommended to us .
In Summary: Pennsylvania, we had one sweet week in your state! Would living there be as sweet?
The Mom
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