Hershey, PA!!

Apparently the sweetest place on earth.  =)

Though, if you ask me, that little chocolate-man-bar-thing looks a little creepy.  (And did you notice the lamp post at the bottom right of the picure with a hershey kiss as the casing for the street lights??)  Ha!

In any case, I spent a few hours on Friday 5/25 in Hershey - yes the town where the Hershey chocolate factory is.  It's actually a very cute town with a lot of history and a whole slew of random Hershey things, like Hershey Park, which is a huge amusement park, Hershey Zoo, Hershey Theatre, the Hershey Hotel, and (drum roll please) Hershey Gardens!  The latter is where I ended up spending the bulk of my day when my hopes were dashed to join the spotlight tour for the theatre (which my sister had raved about).

It was actually kind of amusing.  I get there Friday morning around 10 am, get  a couple of brochures to figure out how I want to spend my day, and am disappointed when I realize the theatre tours are only Fridays at 11 am (I have completely lost track of days at this point).  So my first thought is: "Dang, I can't believe they only do tours on Fridays, I guess I can't do that."  And I continue looking through brochures, when suddenly, the light bulb where my brain should be, suddenly blazes with light and I realize IT IS FRIDAY!!  And it's early enough that I can make it.  So I head over, only to see . . .

Sad day!  They were doing something with the lights and I couldn't even go in to see what the theatre looks like inside.  From the brochures, it looks phenomenal.  So that is for another day.  Instead, I spent about 3 hours walking around the roughly 28 acres of Hershey Gardens that are celebrating their 75 years!  It was incredibly gorgeous and I totally lost track of time as I strolled and took over 120 pictures!! (yes, I'm serious, I really did take 126 pictures of flowers . . . . they were stupendous and this is an instance where I do love technology - no need to be stingy or careful with digital cameras!)

Just some of my favorites for you  . . . .

The start of the tour, in the Rose Gardens.

Amaaaaaaazing!!  You might be wondering if I stopped to smell the roses. ....

INDEEDLY-DO!!!  But THEN, you might be wondering how I took that picture?  (no I didn't ask a random stranger, though that is what I would have done before my sister gave me one of the coolest gadgets of ALL time.)  =)

It's called a "gorilla" and is one of the most fun, useful, and creative gadgets I've seen in a long time.  It's basically an "all terrain tripod" for your camera!

Can you tell how impressed I am?  I'm holding the gorilla in that picture, though it kind of blends in with the rose bushes.  Anyways, I had a lot of fun running back and forth and using my self timer.  I also took THIS picture (below) with the gorilla on the lamp post.

That umbrella is really cool because it's no rain umbrella.  Oh no.  Nay nay.  =) (Who's seen the "I don't do ups" comedy bit??)  Haha, but back on track - focusing on that umbrella, it's actually designed to protect our skin from the sun, and they were available for free at the entrance of the park!  Heck yes!  I totally toted that around all day.  Thank you Penn State! =)

Back to some of my favorite plants / leaves / flower / pictures:  Not everything was labeled, so I don't know what everything is.  Sorry.  Just thought it was really cool-looking.

One of the unlabeled ones.  But I adored the color combination and texture, so click goes the camera!

This was at the very edge of the garden's property, growing on the fence.  I have no idea what it is but it had ENORMOUS thorns on the stems and seems to share some characteristics with climbing vines . . . it was a spectacular combination of red and white.  I loved that they encouraged people to explore the gardens off the paths.  Allows for much more fun and discovery!

Found a new favorite tree to add to the list.  This one was labeled.  =)  It is a Weeping Blue Atlas Cedar.  Score!!  Love it!  And notice the blue sky?  It was a gorgeous day, but insanely hot and muggy (by my meagre Seattle standards).  I had sweat rolling down my body as I strolled at a 1 mph (or slower) pace.  That was the downside.

Here are other examples of the upside though.  Holy cow, they had thousands upon thousands of spectacular plants.

This one I knew!  It' s a Foxglove! Soooooo pretty!!  Another favorite.

HAHAHA!  OK, funny story.  I once saw "lovage" as an ingredient and my first thought was "Are they joking?  Is that their way of saying they put TLC into the making of their product?  Is that legal?  Can you put a joke on an ingredient list??  That's got to be against some kind of FDA standard, right?"  (I am easily provoked, what can I say?  It takes very little to get those cogs going)  =)  Anyways, I had to look into it, and I learned that it's a real actual plant called lovage.  Seriously?!   But it is true.  And here it is.  My first experience with being face to face with a lovage plant.  It was exhilirating.  Just kidding, but I did have to take a picture.  That plant is taller than I am.

They didn't have this tree labeled, which I found incredibly disappointing as it's one of the coolest trees I've ever seen!  This one was nearly shorter than me.

A place I would normally stay away from (and that was my plan as it was overrun by a school field trip. . . . or two??  Too many kids, in either case. . . )

However.  THIS beautiful flower caught my eye through the fence, and I decided I had to go get a closer look.  It was gorgeous.  And there ended up being a couple other worthwhile flowers in the children's garden as well.  =)  I was happy that I had braved it!! 

One of the other worthwhile children's garden flowers.

Back to the Rose Gardens . . . .

And the grand finale!  FOOD, of course!  This was my lunch at the Hershey Pantry and it was quite splendid!  A "Caprese-like salad" that also had lettuce, chicken, roasted red peppers and chick peas.  I was very satisfied. 

AND my closing comment . . .   I was about to say that I am still, currently, very satisfied, but that is no longer the case.  Why??  Because I had another spat with technology. . . .

I'm giving an official "heads-up" that I may not actually keep this up through all of my travels.  I sort of had a bit of melt-down midway through this post when some pictures I'd uploaded disappeared . . . I can't handle those kinds of things!!  I was actually having a grand ole time up to that point (despite the fact that I was on a computer) but once some of my work got erased, the shit seriously hit the fan.  That is one of my biggest pet peaves.  I can't handle stuff going hay wire with technology that I don't know how to fix. 

Anybody else use blogger and know why some of the pictures you upload turn to pictures of a camera?  How do I stop that from happening? 

Anyways, I've calmed down again now.  =)  Off to get ready for a "white" party.  I'd never heard of such a thing, but it's apparently an all white theme, from clothing to food.  Good thing brie is white.  =)  Happy Day!