Chocolate World

by Rosemary

On our way fron Philadelphia to Gettysburg (October 2017), we stopped at Hershey, Pennsylvania.

Milton Hershey founded the town in 1903 for the employees of his chocolate empire, planning it as "a perfect American town in a bucolic natural setting, where healthy, right-living, and well-paid workers lived in safe, happy homes." The homes were very modern, with electricity and indoor plumbing, and the town provided public transportation and free education.

We headed straight to Hershey's Chocolate World, the factory store, where we were overwhelmed by all the varieties of chocolate products. They sell syrup by the gallon!

We enjoyed the ride through a virtual tour of the company's history and factory.

All in all, this was a delicious afternoon. In my diary, I wrote, "It smells terrific here."

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Our First Trip

Our first vacation together was our honeymoon in December 1985. We stayed at the very first Sandals resort, at Montego Bay, Jamaica.

There was no shortage of food and drink, with several restaurants, a snack shack, and a swim-up bar. These little one-person sailboats were a lot of fun. When Steve's capsized, an attentive lifeguard swam out and helped him start over. One day we took a bus tour of the town and nearby countryside. Our tour guide made sure we bought breakfast from local businesses. She directed us to give our banana peels to a farmer who would feed them to his goats. We visited an elementary school, where the children performed a song for us. We gave them our empty soda bottles so they could get the deposit money.

The tour included lunch at an old plantation, where we enjoyed an aerial view in a tethered hot-air balloon.

All too soon, it was time to leave sunny Jamaica and return to sunny California.

Before

After

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Puerto Vallarta 1991

Puerto Vallarta was (and probably still is) a lovely resort town on Mexico's Pacific coast.

Our hotel was on the beach, and also had a gigantic swimming pool. We arrived late in the afternoon and immediately put on our swimsuits and went down to the pool. It was a lucky choice. The only other guests there at the time were a family of four. Mom was on the pool deck, attending to the infant. Dad was in the pool, playing with the two-year-old boy, who was sitting on the pool's edge. Dad told the boy to stay there, while he dove into the water and began swimming around the pool's circumference. With both parents' backs turned, the little boy decided to follow Dad, plunged into the water, and immediately sank to the bottom. Steve instantly dove after him and pulled him to the surface. The boy was spluttering a bit, but unharmed. At that point, Mom finished changing the baby, turned around, and saw us comforting the boy. Steve handed the child to her and did his best to explain what had happened (He speaks only a little Spanish). All's well that ends well, but I shudder to think what the outcome would have been if we'd decided to just take a nap instead of a swim.

We walked around in town a bit. The streets were paved with the biggest cobblestones I've ever seen, highly rounded with steep grooves between the stones. On our second evening there, I slipped and sprained my ankle. After that, we spent most of our time lounging by the pool.

The beach was nice, too.

One afternoon, we took a bus tour that showcased the lovely tropical scenery.

We enjoyed watching the pelicans dive for fish.
The resident parrot wanted Steve's necklace; he thought it was after his beard.

There's always a cat.

 

Changes to The Blog

Barcelona 2012

In case you were wondering...

We plan to start scanning more photos and sharing our past adventures again soon. In the meantime, Google has informed us that changes are being made to the infrastructure that supports this blog. As of July, it will no longer be possible to receive updates by email. This is not our choice! (Google has already implemented other changes that make writing blog posts harder.)

Google suggests that our friends and followers can subscribe via a "RSS Reader". Another way to follow us is via Twitter, @SomewhereElse13, where links to both our travel blogs will be posted.

We regret the inconvenience this is likely to cause. If it were up to us, we'd keep everything just as it is.

Thank you for following our adventures, and for your understanding at this time.

 

Verona 2008

Verona was a day trip from Venice

The 2000-year-old Roman arena is still used for performances.

According to legend, when a "just" person passes under this archway, the whalebone will fall.
For hundreds of years, popes, politicians, pilgrims and tourists have strolled through without incident.

The winding staircase inside the Lamberti tower.

Around Verona's piazzas are many historic buildings that still
include architectural details and decorations from an earlier time.

Outside the grafitti-encrusted gate to Juliet's house,
romantics leave padlocks to symbolize their enduring love.

Rosemary poses on Juliet's balcony.