Hershey, Pennsylvania

After a fun few days touring Washington DC, we drove through Amish country to Hershey Pennsylvania. On our way, we took a detour to see some covered bridges. We saw a couple Amish buggies as well.

That night, Jared, Jacob, and Claire were able to go to the park to ride some of the big roller coasters. The first ride, Skyrush, was awesome! The next ride, SooperDooperLooper, was Claire's first upside down coaster. By the end of the night, Jared had convinced Claire to try a bigger ride, Farenheit. He convinced her it didn't go upside down. Fortunately, it was dark enough that she didn't notice that it did many times, and she ended up loving it, riding it multiple times! We ended up having 10 rides on 9 different coasters in 2 hours. It was a great way to start our Hershey adventure!

 

The next day, we got an early start, making it right about at the opening. We got to ride on lots of rides that all of the kids could ride on. First, we brought Kate and Liam on the SooperDooperLooper - which is especially fun to hear Liam say: "Soop-oh-Doop-oh-Loop-oh." They both liked it! Jacob and Claire took us for a drive in the old fashion cars

 

and we rode the Hershey Kiss tower.

 

One of the nice things about HersheyPark is how the park is laid out with the rides for young kids spread throughout the park, so Torin could be with us wherever we went. There were a couple big rides that had virtually no lines on them, so one of the parents (normally Jared) and the big kids (or just Jacob) could ride one of those while the other kids rode a nearby ride.

 

Torin had a good time riding the rides - even as he kept his unimpressed look most of the time. There were a few rides, like the swings, that got him laughing and smiling pretty big! Even with the unimpressed look, he would always run back to the line's entrance to get one more ride.

  

The last coaster of the day was the Laff Trakk, a coaster that the car spins around in circles as it goes along the track. The kids and Jared enjoyed the hall of mirrors and making faces as much as the roller coaster itself!

 

Near the end of the day, it was apparent that it was going to storm, so we made our way out of the park, but not before buying some souvenirs - stuffed Hershey Kiss and stuffed Twizzler and a Reese's bank - and some candy (Jolly Ranchers for Jacob, of course). We weren't in the car for more than a minute before rain, wind, and lightning were all around us for a great end of the day!