Days 66, 67, 68 The Sweetest Place on Earth

The sign welcoming you to Hershey, Pennsylvania claims it is the "sweetest place on earth".  We had to stop -- for educational reasons, of course.  We took a factory tour of how Hershey chocolates are made and then learned about taste-testing chocolate!  It was a challenging course but we all passed!  Actually, we did learn about cacao beans, how the plants and fruits growing around a cacao tree infuse the beans with flavour, and how to tell the amount of cacao in a chocolate bar by looking, listening, smelling, and tasting the chocolate.

The other reason that Pennsylvania is the sweetest place on earth is because our friend, Dalina, lives there!  She was Simon's Grade 3 teacher in Kenya and we were so happy to see her again.  Simon has grown since he saw his teacher last -- Dalina has not.....

Tim, Max, and Simon had the most fun visiting the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania.  The Rolling Stock Hall has 115 real locomotives that we could walk through and inspect (even from underneath).  There was a large hands-on center for the "kids" to play with a variety of train sets (including Lego, Rokenbok, Thomas, and Steam Engines).  We also saw a display of movies featuring trains and watched "The Great Train Robbery" (1903 American Western, no talking, black and white).

We stayed in Lancaster County and we saw many Amish people.  The boys were fascinated by these simple people and their horse and buggies.  We visited several shops selling Amish furniture and crafts.  One store has a working kitchen making jams, jellies, salsa, and butters.  They also have tasting....