Between COVID and the general craziness that comes with two kids under age under age five, we haven’t taken a trip in 17 months. And by trip, I mean going anywhere that’s more than an hour away. We decided for T’s birthday to take the week off of work. We recently celebrated our sixth anniversary. One of the traditional sixth anniversary gifts is candy so T had the perfect idea: a visit to Hersheypark!
Turkey Hill Experience
Even the shortest of trips become twice as long with kids. The trip to Hershey was not too bad but essentially doubled for us with the kids. Since our accommodations wouldn’t be available until late afternoon and we knew our kids would need a bit of something to get them moving around a bit after being cooped up in the car. When we looked at options in the area, Turkey Hill Experience stood out as a nice option for us. We figured a tour that involved unlimited ice cream wasn’t a bad choice!
I should caveat to say I don’t think our kid’s ages were quite their target demographic. It’s supposed to be good for kids of all ages. However, there was a lot of reading to do throughout the exhibits — from the history of Turkey Hill to the various ingredients of ice cream. There were some fun interactive experiences but those were just slightly beyond our oldest’s attention span. It was a super fun idea, but required a bunch of different stops around the entire floor to build out your flavor, which was a bit too slow of a payoff for him. The unlimited ice cream though was definitely a sweet upside.
Accommodations
I’ve always wanted to stay at an Airbnb. I’ve read so much about the unique experience you can have in them and how perfect they can be. I always joke about never making the cut after unsuccessfully trying to book multiple times previously. Traveling with kids with COVID still very much at play, we liked the idea though of having more space for ourselves and decided to give it a shot.
We found this perfect option in an area by the name of Union Deposit. It was a little neighborhood tucked on the other side of the main road from Hershey Park. It was just a short drive across the main road yet had a nice neighborhood vibe to it we needed at the end of the day.
Dinner
We discovered one of the most amazing things for vacation, even more so during COVD, is Door Dash! At the end of a busy day, we really wanted to enjoy a great meal at all of the local spots everyone raved about but the last thing we wanted to do was to hang out on a hot patio with two overtired toddlers. NO THANKS! Almost everything we wanted to order was on Door Dash anyhow so getting to enjoy it in our pajamas and as they watched cartoons was a huge win.
Our first order was from Smoked Bar and Grill in Hummelstown. Hummelstown is another town just to the west of Hershey. This was one of the best meals we had on our trip! The photos aren’t the most amazing (since it’s all delivery containers!) but this pulled pork was so good. The food was quick and flavorful. They also have the all-important dish of choice for our kids, mac ‘n cheese. Recommend checking them out!
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