We spent our last full day in Hershey seeing two excellent attractions–and the admission to both of them was included in our hotel package. We did The Hershey Story Museum first. It’s located in downtown Hershey, near the convention center, and just a block or two away from the site of the original factory. The museum’s main exhibit details the life of Milton S. Hershey and the history of the Hershey company and town. The details are fascinating! My favorite exhibit was dedicated to the various innovations that Mr. Hershey introduced in the manufacture of chocolate candy, depicted in a film, various artifacts, and a working demonstration of the machine that mixes the milk chocolate to make it smooth (in real life this mixing process lasts several days).
The museum also includes the Chocolate Lab, which offers classes in candy making (this seemed similar to what we’d done at Chocolate World, so we skipped it); and there’s also a Tasting Cafe, which seemed like a lot of fun but would have entailed, yes, tasting six different kinds of chocolate–something neither of us really thought our diets really needed.
The gift shop was a blast, and we wound up with a variety of fun souvenirs including a Hershey Kisses recipe box and a Hershey chocolate-colored baseball cap.
After lunch at the Hershey Social restaurant (which is across the street from the museum; like the other Hershey establishments, it featured good food and excellent service), we headed over to Hershey Gardens.
What a gloriously beautiful place this is. We began our tour with the Butterfly Atrium, which is a room filled with hundreds of butterflies swarming around. You see them eat and rest and fly; some of them land on patrons and even (we’re told) try to sneak out when visitors leave. The size and colors of the butterflies are astonishing.
Even more dazzling are the colors in the Rose Garden, which is pictured above; there are dozens of varieties of roses in vivid reds, pinks, purples, yellows, and whites–colors I never imagined existed in nature, yet there they are. We also visited the herb and vegetable garden, where local elementary school students plant peppers, tomatoes, rosemary, and other crops which, when harvested, are distributed to local schools. It was too hot to tour the full extent of Hershey Gardens, unfortunately; another trip in the future is absolutely needed!
The gift shop here was a treat as well. I bought my sister a beautiful floral-patterned fan which she seems quite happy with.
That night we went to Giant Center, the stadium/arena adjacent to Hershey Park, for a memorable concert featuring Josh Groban and Jennifer Hudson.
And the following morning, we had our final Hershey experience at Stacks, a breakfast/lunch restaurant at the Hershey Lodge, where I ate the best pancakes I’ve ever eaten. We resisted ordering the donut appetizer.
We decided that our Hershey vacation was the best one we’ve had thus far. Looking forward to visiting again, hopefully at a time when we can visit the Hershey Theater for one of their Broadway/touring shows (unfortunately this venue was dark during our trip).
