Road Trip 2013 Day 7: Amusement Only

I know my family was suffering through withdrawal because we hadn't been to Hershey Park in 379 days, but to spend 7+ hours in an amusement park while heat indices approached 110, that's going above and beyond my parental contract.

Except...I had fun too. The heat was oppressive but splashing around in "The Boardwalk" section of the park was a good antidote. And it was great to see the kids unified and focused. They were high-maintenance in wanting to go on as many rides as possible, but they were extremely low-maintenance as far as wanting shit (snacks, souvenirs, etc). And while the kids were busy being buddies chasing common goals, there were several hours of detente.

Hershey PA is only about 3 hours from NYC (I don't want to think how far from Savannah), so this could become an annual family tradition. But if we do this in 2014 I'm going to have to consult the Farmer's Almanac and look for the day most likely to be 82 degrees.

Road Trip 2013 Day 6: Leaving The Past Behind

After two days educating the offspring about the history and civics of our nation, we put the informative portion of the trip in the rearview. The history lesson is now history, but it was a productive couple of days in Washington and Philadelphia.

Unfortunately our timing was atrocious for the weather, as we picked the two hottest days of the year to hit the National Mall and Independence Hall. Fortunately the layout in Philly is way more compressed than DC and you can hit just about everything within a couple of blocks.

Naturally one of the more colorful of the founding fathers, Ben Franklin, was commemorated everywhere. He's renowned for a lot of things both real and mythical, and the quotes are endless. But I found my favorite BF quote and bought the t-shirt.

"Beer is the proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy."

A few cold ones sound good after a couple of days like this, so this has to be one of the wiser proclamations Franklin made.

We took our act to the countryside by the end of the day, trading in the concrete jungle for greener pastures. And my daughter took the prize for the most memorable moment of the trip (to date) when she heroically jumped from the car and shooed away a pack of ducks that were blocking our entryway to the hotel parking lot.

On the more mundane side of things I would be up well past midnight trudging through three loads of laundry. Hershey Park the Redux, is tomorrow.