Saturday we were up early and ready to make up for lost time, as well as do some things that we were really interested in. Namely, chocolate for me and beer for Adam! We stayed very close to Hershey, so we got there when Hershey's Chocolate World opened and zipped right in. It's mostly a giant candy mall/ Hershey's product placement store. I knew this going in, but I still wanted to stop. Unfortunately so did about a zillion high school students and Asian tourists, whose busses dropped them off right at opening time as well. But we navigated the crowds to the Chocolate Tour, which is an amusement park-like ride that guides you through the making of a Hershey's product. It was cute, and fun, and involved free chocolate...so all in all, a good time. But that was pretty much all we did there, and then we were off to Pottsville, PA.
Why Pottsville? Yes, it's just as dinky and remote as it sounds, but it happens to be the home of America's oldest continuously operating brewery, Yeungling Brewery. (Ying-ling, as far as I can tell.) Apparently it's famous to the brewmeisters I know, so it was worth a jaunt up north. And it was really pretty neat. The town is a hilly little mountain village with narrow streets and brick buildings, very picturesque. We toured the brewery from top to bottom, inside and out, learning the history of this company that's been bought by generations of Yeunglings, son from father, since 1829. That's a German work ethic for ya. They even produced near-beer during Prohibition, as well as opening up an ice cream factory across the street. We walked through the dripping, hand-dug cellars and saw the bricked up shafts where the Feds sealed them off to prevent production during the '20's (so they say). The beer itself seemed pretty generic to me, but it was historical so I was happy! I think Adam enjoyed it.
The shot below is of the 19th century stained-glass ceiling in the boiler room that helped diffuse the light that glinted off the gleaming copper kettles and strained the workers' eyes. It was the prettiest part of a brewery that I've seen!
After a light lunch in Pottsville at the Garfield Diner (which was an authentic aluminum diner from the '50's that JFK ate at when he campaigned there) we were headed south to Philly.
On the way we stopped by Valley Forge. Again, it was really more of a battlefield than anything...and we know where I stand on those now. But I actually did want to stop here because I hit Valley Forge pretty hard when I taught fifth grade American History. So, I actually kind of knew what was going on there! The recreated cabins were neat, and we got to see the house where Washington had his headquarters as well. It was a much larger area than I expected. I'm sure it would have been more authentic to visit during the winter, but it was very pretty in the summer.
Finally we navigated our way into Philadelphia. Let me just say, I am verrrry glad that I was not the one driving. It was hard enough to be the navigator. That traffic was pretty much like you see in movies of the worst, scariest city traffic you would ever encounter. We actually saw a girl get out of her car, scream at the taxi driver in front of her, and generally scare everyone around. Luckily we were on foot at that time, and never got yelled at or even honked at. Adam did a great job! Our hotel was a fabulous location, just a block away from Independence Hall and all the main tourist attractions. (Thank you, Hotwire!) It was a very nice Holiday Inn, too. We walked to a restaurant that I was very excited about, the City Tavern. This authentic 1773 tavern was an actual hangout for Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, Hancock, Adams...the whole gang. The servers were dressed in period costume and many of the recipes were authentic to the 18th century as well. It was yummy and so interesting, too. We tried beers brewed from the recipes of Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, and Hamilton, and a drink called shrub that was basically a fruit punch, spiked with rum. Adam had Martha Washington's turkey pot pie, and I had beef medallions (not necessarily historic...but tasty). Jefferson's favorite sweet potato rolls were mighty tasty, too. We ordered Martha Washington's chocolate mousse cake to go, because we were so stuffed. And boy did we crash hard that night, after a very full day!
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