On this exciting leg of our trip, we so much enjoyed the vast green vistas as we chugged along into Pennsylvania. We were amazed as we appreciated the cornfields, the gorgeous farms with huge grain silos, the rolling hills and all of the blooming wildflowers. Just beautiful!
Then we came across these signs along the road. They were spaced at fairly close intervals along PA147N highway:
And how about this one:
Finally, on I-80W another reminder:
We met Steve’s friends from his old days at Lawrence Livermore National Lab (Mike and Sue) for dinner in Wilkes-Barre and had a great time with them. Since they are long-time Pennsylvanians, we asked about all of those strange signs. What’s up with that?
They told us that Pennsylvania drivers are really bad! That bad? Maybe, so I asked our blogger friends from Oh the Places they go, who are also from PA, to comment about that. We’ll see if we hear back from them.
If you’re a chocoholic traveling through Pennsylvania, then a stop at Hershey is in order. Growing up in the Philippines, a bar of Hershey’s chocolate was like a manna from heaven. This was another one of those “I’ve got to see it” places. Well, we were not disappointed. Hershey is not just a chocolate factory, it is a town, a school, a botanical garden, an arena, a theme park, a hotel, a spa, a theater and much more. These and other accomplishments were all things Milton Hershey brought to the dairy region of Pennsylvania when he created Hershey, the chocolate center of America.
At the heart of the town was the chocolate factory, a huge brick building nestled in the shadows of two smokestacks, where cocoa goodness wafted out into streets and homes for many years. However, we learned during our tour that the factory has been moved to a modern facility down the road which has doubled their output.
When Milton Hershey died in 1945 at the age of 88, a chocolate bar had carried his name around the world and made him a legend. What struck us most is that he failed financially several times before he managed to build his empire.
Steve and I were jumpy and hyper from all the chocolate we had consumed during the various tours, and we were starving. Searching for food, we stumbled upon a brewery along Hersheypark Drive and decided to check it out. We were very glad we did, because the independent craft brewery called Troeg’s turned out to be a neat place with good food and a nice self-guided brewery tour.
On this stop we stayed at Western Village RV Campground at Carlisle, PA, and at Yogi Bear’s at Shangri-la in Milton, PA. Check Steve’s camp reviews here if you are interested.
Lowes Travels 
We can tell you all about Niagra Falls when your here. 🙂
We always enjoy the times we stumble onto great places like the brewery you found. PA is so pretty. We have been there several times!
Niagara Falls from the Canadian side…we stayed at the KOA on Lundy Lane. Great park! While there we visited Niagara-on -the -Lake…a beautiful small town with lots of neat shops and restaurants. Also the Niagara parks Butterfly Conservatory and Botanical Gardens are beautiful and there are miles and miles of biking and walking trail along the river. The ferris wheel is a must…awesome views. Also, we did the Maiden of the Mist which we enjoyed and the jet boat ride up the river which was waaaaaaaay fun and wet! We have never visited Niagara Falls from the states side. Unfortunately for me, I wasn’t blogging at the time so I don’t have a link on ou adventures there. We visited there in Sept 2011.
Happy trails…
I’d love to visit the Hershey chocolate factory someday. The micro-brewery looks fun – I love to visit them, and they usually have great food.
The road signs are a hoot! However, I thought the worst drivers are where I live in Las Cruces, New Mexico!
WoW Pennsylvania is really green! Crazy drunk drivers. WTF is wrong with them? I wonder if they can read the signs. Enjoy the chocolate! Dark chocolate is my favorite food.
We just got back from the High Sierra Music Festival in Quincy and Sierra Hot Springs in Sierraville. We saw Robert Plant, moe., Thievery Corporation, North Mississippi Allstar band, Leftover Salmon, Steal Pulse, Primus and many more great bands.
Keep enjoying your adventures!
That’s an awful lot of warning signs. We could use all of them here too. Our drivers are just as bad. I really like the “two dots apart” one. 🙂
You mean to say there are worse drivers than Marylanders? Who would have thunk it 😉 It’s been ages since we’ve been to Hershey … I remember the chocolate high. The rumor was that the factory would send a puff of smoke into the air that smelled like cocoa so you smelled chocolate everywhere you went.
Hey! Someone in my Myspace group shared this website with us so I came to take a look.
I’m definitely loving the information. I’m bookmarking and
will be tweeting this to my followers! Fantastic blog and amazing design.
Chocolate and beer! Yay!
Oh boy! Hersheys chocolate and microbrews! What fun! PA looks beautiful. Looks like you are enjoying your summer! YAY!
Glad you enjoyed Hershey. Milton Hershey was an amazing man. I use to read his biography to my students. We lived about 40 mins. south. I see you participated in the chocolate sampling. Great activity!!
Sorry, I don’t have any idea why there are so many signs in that area. I couldn’t find anything online either.
Niigara Falls is one of my favorite place to visit. Amazing. You have to see and tour from both sides.( US and Canada) Make sure you do not miss the ride Maiden of the Mist an exciting and thrilling ride.
I have never been to PA so really enjoyed this post. That first photo is amazing. 🙂