GETTYSBURG, BALTIMORE AND DC

Nice ride from Hershey to Gettysburg on Friday, Aug 17. We enjoyed the museum, diorama and film but didn't do much outside. Too hot.

Our space was waiting for us at Patapsco Valley State Park, Hollofield Area. It's a rugged, natural, truly beautiful wilderness barely 3 miles from I-695.

Rt 40 and I-70 actually pass through the park. But the park is big enough that you can enjoy it without even knowing the highways are there. This is the first time we've stayed there that we did not see deer. AND it's less than 4 miles to Bill and Bobbie's (Carol's sister) house.

Here is a map of the area

 

And a Google Earth view 

 

You can click on the images and see them enlarged in a new window.

We enjoyed a gathering of Bill's family and just hanging with them over the weekend. Bill had to go back to work Monday but Bobbie did not so we went to the the National Zoo in D.C.

We drove to Silver Spring and took the Metro from there. Didn't drive because we were meeting my Goddaughter Erin and beau for dinner in Rosslyn and the Metro really is convenient.

Another visitor to the Zoo took a picture of all of us.

Lots of animals, of course

 

I did say it was HOT, didn't I?

 

National Zoo is in Rock Creek Park and is built on a large hill. Start at the top, see things on the way down and then have to climb back to the top again. We were all feeling the heat on the way back when Emily insisted that we go into the Invertebrate House. 

Whoopee - lobsters, spiders and cockroaches. Oh My!  

But it was air-conditioned. So we went in.

One of the first things we saw was a giant octopus being fed by a keeper. While we all thought it was interesting, Bobbie went absolutely crazy over it. Like she was back at Disney or something. "I NEVER thought I'd EVER see a live giant octopus IN MY LIFE." We left her to enjoy and continued our tour.

She caught up to us after awhile, still bubbling. On our way out, we walked past the work area behind the tank where we had seen the octopus. Donna, the keeper was there and Bobbie told her how she had made Bobbie's month - maybe year. I chimed in with, "She can cross that off her lifetime bucket list now." Bobbie gushed, "Oh No. That was so unbelievable that it wasn't even ON my list." They talked for a little while about the octopus - her name is Pandora. She does change colors like all octopi but pink/orange is her "happy" color. Then Donna looked around and said, "There aren't too many people around right now. Would you like to feed her." Bobbie was just speechless. She just stood there gasping for air. I said, "Well YEAH." Bobbie finally said, "Ah, ah, ah, yes I would."

So behind the scenes we go. 

Here is Bobbie getting ready to put the stick with the shrimp head into the water

 

Here is Pandora grasping it in one of her tentacles

 

Looks like she's going to eat it.

 

Whoops. No. She's wrapping her tentacle around the stick 6 inches or so above the shrimp. She's not interested in the shrimp at all.  Bobbie said, "Oh Donna. Am I doing something wrong? She's not taking the shrimp." Donna said, "No. You're fine. She can see that you are not me. She thinks if she takes the shrimp you'll leave. And she wants to play. She loves attention." 

So Bobbie and Pandora played a gentle game of tug-of-war. Bobbie said, "She feels really strong." Donna said, "Yes. If she wanted to and you hung on to the stick, she could pull right over the side of the tank." But she really did just want to play.

If Bobbie stopped tugging, Pandora would sit (lay? float?) motionless for a few seconds and then tentatively tug a little to see if Bobbie would tug back. And they'd start all over again.

 So our newest bestest BFF from this trip was a giant octopus. All because Bobbie took a minute to thank Donna and tell her how wonderful the experience they had provided was. Of course, Donna LOVES her job and was just happy to share her love with someone else who was so interested. We got talking about her tiny work space and lack of equipment. She told us that the Invertebrates are a tiny part of the Zoo and the Zoo is a relatively small part of the Smithsonian so their equipment budget wasn't large. I said, "They skimp on equipment so they can pay you the big bucks, right?" She just laughed. So I asked, "OK. You come in every morning and work all day doing many different things. Which of those things would you refuse to do if they didn't pay you?" She thought just a second and said, "None. I'd do all of them anyway." I told her, "So you are either a very poorly paid employee - or an incredibly well reimbursed volunteer." 

“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”
― Confucius

To the top of the hill, a short walk to a Metro station and off to see Erin and Kent. We got talking and didn't even take any pictures. But here's a recent one of them.

Cafe Asia is a wonderful Asian restaurant that had something for everyone in our group. I didn't get to spend enough time with Erin. But I never get to spend enough time with Erin. We reluctantly said, "Good by" and Metro-ed back to Silver Spring.

A short drive got us to the campground and we headed home the next morning.

HERSHEY PARK

After a short trip from Cumberland, MD to Hershey, we arrived at Hershey Highmeadow Campground. Beautiful campground, two pools, etc etc. But we were there simply as a place to stay convenient to the amusement park. And it is PERFECT for that.

Many if not all of the reviews of the park mention trains every hour, all night long keeping them awake. If the trains are keeping you awake, you did not open and close Hershey Park with two teens, a tween and a 6 yr old. I know the trains ran because when I woke up in the middle of the night, I would hear one before I went back to a very sound sleep.

Since they are part of the "Hershey Family", there is a free shuttle bus every half hour. So we saved $12. parking every day. $24. a day when Tom and the kids were with us!

ALSO they have "Sweet Passes" which allow you into a portion of the park a full hour before it opens to the public. The section that opened early had three roller coasters and two of them were the only coasters in the park that my grandson, Ben was big enough to ride! By the time the common people were allowed in, he had 3 or 4 rides on each. We were so busy trying to keep up with Emily and the three grandkids that we only took one picture of the kids - a "glamour" shot of Casey and Emily about to get launched on the Storm Runner.

Tom did buy a picture from the Coal Cracker ride - Hershey's answer to a log plume. Here I am with Tom and all three grandkids, Casey, Sarah and Ben.

 

The 7 of us had a wonderful time. The very first coaster that Emily and I went on was the newest one, Sky Rush. We agreed that it beat anything that Busch Gardens Williamsburg had. We said that over and over as we sampled the other 10 roller coasters that we rode.

The third day the three of us were alone again. But we were pretty well done with rides. So we watched almost all of the shows and strolled around the park. Our favorite show, by far was "The Milkmen." And not just because that's the business my dad owned when I was a kid. They were talented and it was obvious that they were having as much fun doing the show as we were having watching it.

We got to meet many of the Hershey characters.

This picture of the three of us was taken by one of the characters who was out of costume and done for the day. It was funny that he was quite shy - out of costume.

The BEST picture, taken by Carol of course, is of this coaster at sunset.

Our cheapie digital camera has a VERY SLOW shutter response so this picture with the coaster upside down on the loop is an especially good shot.

I'm going to try to put at least one in-between in each and every blog. 

Here are two from Hershey - When Tom and Ben and I went to ride on the Giant Swing, the gate attendant said Ben was too small. Never mind that he'd ridden earlier. Neither Tom nor I said anything. We just let Ben look at her with those big blue eyes. She had a measuring stick that looked like a shepherd's crook except with a right angle at the top. She asked Ben to put his heels together and stand real tall. Still too short. Then she asked him to step onto a platform so that the bottom of the stick and his feet were exactly even, By now the supervisor from the control booth was watching. The attendant turned Ben so that the supervisor was looking at the edge of the stick. Then she TILTED it over ever so slightly and it brushed Ben's hair. I said, "Thank you." She winked and said, "You're welcome. Have a great day at Hershey Park." I HATE IT when someone does something especially nice but you can't write a letter to their employer to commend them because they broke a rule to do it.

#2. Emily and I were in line for a coaster and got talking to the lady and her 6 yr old daughter. After a comment about the "Height Nazis" she said, "Yeah. Sarah is an identical twin. But her sister is a half inch shorter and can't ride most of the coasters. Dad has her in the Kiddie section." Nice lady. We talked about where you from, etc. Three or four hours later Emily and I were in another coaster line. We'd been in it about 15 minutes when it stopped moving. People from in front of us started pushing their way back to leave. They said the ride was closed and no one could tell them for how long. We waited another 10 minutes or so and decided to leave too. Halfway out of the cue we saw our lady with the twin daughter. I said, "Might was well give up on this one. It's stopped." She said, "No. NO. Get back to your spot in line. We asked before we got in line. Some kid got a bloody nose. They'll be running again in a few minutes." We pushed our way back to where we'd been standing and since so many people ahead of us had given up, we were on the ride in 5 minutes.

Up and out early Friday, the 17th to go to Patapsco State Park near Baltimore via Gettysburg. 

Yes, I'll drive 34 miles out of my way to avoid I-695 around Baltimore.

Life is so good.