We’ve been home from our epic six week road trip around half of America for quite a while now (three weeks to be exact). I have finally caught up enough on my usual commitments and obligations to update the blog. Six weeks out of your usual schedule can really wreak some havoc on your return!
Where to begin? So many experiences and highlights and such a rich experience – (like fruitcake as my late grandfather would say). I’ll have to break it down into some manageable portions to have with a nice cup of tea! So here goes . . .
After collecting our hire car from Newark Airport in New Jersey we set off for our first destination – Pennsylvania. Visiting the Amish people has been at the top of my wish list for travel to the USA, ever since my fascination for their culture was sparked by studying the movie Witness in English at school. En route to Ronks (where we had accomodation booked) we stopped by the Hershey chocolate factory located in the Pennsylvanian town of the same name. This was a really fun filled start to our holiday. We got to do a trolley tour of the town, complete with actors in period costume. We learnt about the history of the town and Mr Milton Hershey’s story. A take home message for me was to never ever give up! Mr Hershey failed many times before he started to become moderately successful. The whole town of Hershey smells delightfully of chocolate and the lampposts are topped with whimsical Hershey’s kisses “hats”.
Another highlight of the whole experience was the chance to customise your own chocolate bar and packaging using a computer and then to watch it travel through the factory on a conveyor belt. We also watched an entertaining 4D movie containing lots of Hershey confectionery characters.
After leaving the chocolate factory we drove on to our first night’s accommodation at the Red Caboose, where we stayed in a converted railway carriage. This was a great place to stay if you are interested in Amish culture as the motel is surrounded by Amish farmland. You can sit in their onsite diner (a converted railway carriage) and watch the Amish people travelling back and forth in their buggies to their farms.
The next day we went on a horse and buggy tour to a nearby Amish farm. Our guide had once been Amish, but is now a part of the Mennonite faith. He was able to answer some of my burning questions about the Amish culture and lifestyle! It was fun to try some homemade Amish specialities (whoopie pies and root beer), but disheartening to see the results of agriculture in decline (they had to shut down their dairy due to falling milk prices).
Ronks was a beautiful place to stay – very peaceful and restful away from the hustle and bustle of city life. The Red Caboose is very reasonably priced and great for kids. Movies are shown each night in the barn (we didn’t make any of these as we bombed out around 7pm for the first few nights due to jet lag). There is also a silo to climb as well as a petting zoo. Everywhere we travelled in the US was so green (it rained every day bar seven, out of the six weeks we were away). Our Australian eyes were delighted to feast on all that verdant vegetation.
While we were staying in Pennsylvania we also enjoyed the chance to visit the markets in Lancaster and the beautiful town of Lititz with its well preserved buildings. A little Amish girl stowed away with us for our onward journey!
