Chocolate and battlefields

We got up Sunday morning to leave Philly and explore more of Pennsylvania.  Our first planned stop was Valley Forge.  More history!  If you are in King of Prussia, First Watch has really good cinnamon chip pancakes!

We drove the encampment car tour of Valley Forge.  It was a chilly day, but definitely not as cold as when George Washington was wintering there!  Today there were a lot of people walking and running around the park.  It was an interesting tour, and we saw the cabins where the men lived and the house where Washington stayed.  Also, the church there is still active.  We got to look at it right before they were starting service. 

George Washington's quarters

Washington Memorial Chapel

The Episcopal Church at Valley Forge

We then drove through Amish country on the way to Hershey Park.  Since it was Sunday, nothing was open, and we only saw a few people.  When we arrived at Hershey, we saw the Hershey kiss streetlights!  Then we went to the huge candy store and the chocolate tour.  When we finished the tour, Camden, who doesn't eat much chocolate, declared that he wanted chocolate!  

I remember these cars from I was a kid, but the exhibits were definitely more modern.

They were using beans from Ecuador to make chocolate today.

We bought lots of candy for Christmas gifts!

After we finished shopping, we headed to lunch at The Chocolatier.  They put chocolate in almost all entrees!  We had loaded fries with chocolate barbecue pulled pork and cocoa dusted almonds on a salad with chocolate and raspberry vinaigrette.  Camden wasn't too pleased with his flatbread, but my meal was yummy.

This was one of our favorite rides.  Kind of like a small Fury.

I rode this many years ago when I first went to Hershey Park.  More than 40 years ago!  It was my first upside down roller coaster.  When we got on it and it only had a lap bar, I thought I had been mistaken.  But it went upside down and actually scared Camden.  He said it was unsafe!

Another fun coaster...a metal and wood combination coaster.  They had more than a lap bar on this ride!

We had lots of fun on the rides, but it is way different to ride roller coasters when it is cold than when it is hot!  Even though it was cold, we still got chocolate milkshakes on the way out.

After a driving through the Sweet Lights tour and dinner at Perkins (Camden said it was super good!), we called it a day.

Our last day in Pennsylvania was at Gettysburg.  We were doing a car tour again, but this one was a lot longer than Valley Forge.  Before that, we toured the museum and saw the Cyclorama painting of the Battle of Gettysburg.  

The tour drove through downtown Gettysburg, and we were able to get lunch at a really cool place, the Dobbin House Tavern.  The restaurant was in a 1776 house, the servers were dressed in period clothing, and you had to walk downstairs to get to the tavern.  The food was really good, and I ended lunch with gingerbread!

These cool candles helped light the tavern

 Camden really liked their root beer

The tour took a few hours.  It started on the Southern side of the battlefield and then went around to the Northern side of the battlefield.  There were lots of memorials along the way from different states.  

The tour ended at the National Cemetary, which is the place where Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address.

  

There were some really pretty colors on the trees.  This one was near markers for unknown soldiers.

We left Gettysburg around 4 and started home.  Our plan was to stop on the way home, somewhere after DC, hoping for NC.  But DC messed up our plans by making a 3-hour trip turn into 5 hours!  So we pulled over at Tyson's Corner to look around and eat dinner.  

We saw a conveyor belt sushi place.  We didn't eat there, but I did get Asian food.

We found Christmas lights and a VA LOVE sign

We almost made it to NC before we stopped.  It had been a fun trip, but it was the week of Thanksgiving, and we had turkey to cook in Charleston.  I will always have fond memories of sharing these running adventures with Camden.  

The battle of the cheesesteaks

 

Saturday was our day to try the two famous cheesesteak restaurants...Pat's vs. Geno's.  We ubered to the restaurants, which were right beside each other, because we didn't want to walk 2 miles to get there after running 13.1 miles.  We still were unsure of the whiz, so we go American cheese at Pat's, but got the whiz cheese at Geno's.  We really liked the whiz!!  I guess we should have gotten the whiz at both places to do the most accurate test, but in our inaccurate test, we both liked Geno's better.  We thought it was not as dry.  Maybe it was the whiz!  Both were really good, but Geno's won in our taste test!

We then ubered to Independence Hall area again.  The line was too long to see the Liberty Bell again, so we took pictures through the window with our medals.

Then we were able to tour the Constitution Center.  I would highly recommend this museum if you are in Philly.  They did a really good job making the constitution alive and interesting.  Camden enjoyed showing off his Supreme Court cases knowledge as he is taking government at school.

Imitating President Trump

(the video of Biden's imitation was quite funny, but would not load well)

Amy with the signers of the Constitution from VA

SC signers

After the museum, we headed to the Philadelphia Christmas Market.  Lots of booths and some really good caramels and the LOVE sign.  On the way there, we saw some more sights, including Macy's.  Camden had never seen a department store of that size!  I did hear, however, that Macy's is closing that store soon.  Very sad.   

The Declaration House where Jefferson penned the Declaration of Independence

Macy's

City Hall

We ended our stay in Philly with dinner at Mac Mart, a fancy macaroni and cheese restaurant.  Not the best meal of the trip, but it was nice to get it to go, eat in the hotel lobby, and then finish Kobra Cai.  The next day we needed to get out of town before roads would be closed for the marathon!

Camden was tired of pictures for the day!