Hershey, Pennsylvania

Don Update:  Day before yesterday Don graduated to going to the dining room for meals and then, yesterday, we (cousin Mark, me and Kelly the caregiver) wheeled him next door to the little country cafe for lunch!  He was outside for the first time in weeks and loved it.  
I really laughed at the following conversation he had with Mark:
Don:  "Why do the therapists always use the word 'awesome'?  I stand up and they exclaim, awesome! I take a step and they pat me on the back and say awesome!  I stand for 5 minutes and they go crazy with  awesome! I'm Norwegian and Norwegians don't use the word awesome.
Mark:  I know what you mean.  Norwegians would simply nod slightly and say, 'Not bad'.
Don:  "That's right.  I just don't think standing by myself is all that awesome!"
(I thought I had stepped into Lake Woebegone. Garrison Keillor, you should have been there.)
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Back to the Blog:

While in Pennsylvania I indulged in my addiction and went to Hershey Pa.



The town not only proclaims 'chocolate' on every corner, it exudes the smell of chocolate in the very air.

So many of our candy companies have gone to other countries but Hershey is still here so I am urging you fellow chocoholics--be patriotic and buy American!  I am doing my part.  

The Hershey's Chocolate company was founded by Milton Hershey in 1886 in Lancaster county, Pa.  Hershey was raised in the strict discipline of the Mennonite faith and his belief in hard work paid off.  His company quickly became a success and continues today--125 years later.


The tour of the visitor's center is very Disney-like and fun for the kids but I enjoyed it too.

I had the feeling that absolutely nothing is touched by human hands from the introduction of the cocoa beans to the final packaging.

These pictures are from a tram that wanders around all this demo equipment...

while the intense smell of chocolate left me glassy eyed and drooling.

Then the tram dumped me right into the gift shop where you can buy any Hershey product you want in any quantity that suits your appetite. I went straight to the 'Mega Chocolate Pig-out' bin.

Even their atrium-like gift shop was worth the visit.

All aboard for a tour of the grounds.  

There is the chocolate factory, the town he built, the medical facility he financed and the hundreds of charities he and his company have participated in, but his favorite project was his school for low income families that still operates 100 years later.

(from their website)  The children receive:

• A high quality education
• Access to excellent athletic, recreational, and arts facilities
• Room and board in a nurturing, family-like student home
• Clothing
• Medical and dental care
• Assistance with continuing education after graduation

And all at no cost to the children's families.

 All together I would say this is a pretty good outcome from the creation of a little chocolate kiss.

See more chocolate below......