Dawn Felagund (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
dawn_felagund) wrote2005-12-11 04:56 pm
dawn_felagund) wrote2005-12-11 04:56 pm
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Hershey Park Happy!
Bobby and I have an annual tradition of visiting Hershey Park for the holidays. It started nine years ago, during the first Christmas that we spent together, when we went with his family. We were sporadic in visiting after, but now that we have jobs where we can take time off and receive a semblance of income, we make it a point to go every year.
The northeastern US got a snow storm on Thursday into Friday. Bobby and I, though, were undaunted. Of course, Ellicott City got about three inches, not enough to keep us from doing what we would. We left in the early afternoon, around 1 p.m.
I don't know if Friday nights are always a dead time for them or if people were put off by the snow (Hershey had about 6-7 inches or so) and so didn't go, but there was no one there. Not that we minded. Large crowds of people make me cranky. People get stoopid in groups. So we arrived, checked into our hotel, and took a nap. Yes. Took a nap. Do you know the last time that I actually got a chance to lay down for an hour and take a nap?
By then, it was time for supper at the Hershey Grill, where we always make a point to eat, as the food is goooood. Felak had a mushroom brie bisque and pasta primavera then shared a chocolate creme brulee with Bobby. Gooooood.
We always, always have to ride the chocolate tour ride, dubbed the Dumb Ride because we have ridden it so many times that we have memorized portions. And apparently, they are redoing it, so we will have to memorize it all over again.
There was no one in the park, so we could just walk right up to rides and get on them. Some of the rides weren't open because of the snow, including The Claw, which is my favorite that stays open in the winter. So I didn't get to get tossed around in the cold until my tears froze on my cheeks, but most of the other things that we like in the winter were still open, so we rode those.
Oh, and it was cold. I came prepared this year, though, starting with a pair of Christmas socks and a pair of thick soccer socks over them to my knees, boots, my red leatherlike pants, one of Bobby's Underarmor shirts, a regular shirt, a heavy sweater, my floor-length faux-fur-lined wizard/pimp coat, a scarf, a wooly hat, and gloves. So only my face was showing to be cold, and I got a bit of windburn across my cheeks as a souvenir.
We saw the Dumb Christmas Show, which we see every year because it's a good chance to warm up. I teased Bobby about dressing up like a snowflake and dancing in next year's show. I even made up some choreography for him, but he wouldn't try it out. Damn. I know he can do it.
We bought each other trinkets, which for me was a pendant shaped like an ice cream cone and for Bobby was a tree ornament shaped like a beer mug. Then we went back to Chocolate World and he had hot cocoa and I walked on the wild side and tried drinking chocolate, which tasted like unfrozen bittersweet chocolate ice cream and came in the cutest six-ounce cup. It was good, though.
Not much goes on in Hershey late at night, and we were tired, so we went back to the hotel and lo! The Two Towers was on TNT. So we watched the last half of that, enough that Bobby got to hear me ramble about the Elves at Helms Deep and their cute ears and how much I despise that they killed Haldir and he got to hear me whine whenever an Elf got killed....
Why hasn't he divorced me, you ask? I. Don't. Know. :^P
Saturday, we had lunch at Duke's Restaurant and went to the Indian Echo Caverns. When I was a kid, the most common family vacation was to Pennsylvania (we were really adventurous) and I always wanted to visit the caverns so badly. Every year, I would beg my parents, and every year, it would get pushed back to next year, with the result that--fourteen years later--my husband and I finally went. (I have since realized that--with many things in my life--if my parents didn't want to do it for themselves, they didn't want to do it for my sister and me. Our Uncle Wodie was the one who took us to the movies and the playground and McDonald's, but I think the Indian Echo Caverns were a bit outside of his realm.)
But it was awesome. Of course, nerd that I am, I took mental notes the whole time about how Nargothrond and Menegroth would have looked in their early stages and how the Elves might have used the beautiful natural features along with their own architecture. A lot of the natural features do lend themselves to spectacular, soaring rooms, and the layered effects beg for lighting and gardens. Actually, the different layers were artificially lit, so it gave me a good idea of how lovely a few cleverly placed Feanorian lamps would be.
It was also an even 52 degrees in the caves, so it was a pleasant change from the below-freezing temperatures outside. It stays that way year-round, summer and winter. So I don't think that much temperature modification would have been necessary in the Elven caves. It was very comfortable underground and smelled so nice, so clean, like minerals. The outside world, when we stepped above ground, smelled filthy by comparison.
Of course, Bobby and I walked at the back of the group and made snickering jokes about "Lords of Caves" the whole time. (For those who don't know, I got the "Felagund" on my alias when, frustrated by my disastrous first reading of The Sil, I came upon the part where Finrod is introduced as "Felagund, Lord of Caves" and laughingly--more than a bit slap-happy--told my sister and Bobby, "I will henceforth be known as Felagund, Lord of Caves." Well, the name stuck....)
After that, Bobby and I went back to Hershey to finish what we didn't see the day before, including the zoo, grabbed a quick supper of pizza, and went to the Hershey Bears hockey game. They won, 4 to 1, which was a nice change from the Capitals games because--despite being my favorite hockey team--they seem determined to lose whenever I go to a game.)
(However, they need to win on 23 December, when they play Bobby's favorite team, the Montreal Canadiens. We have a bet going: If his team wins, I have to watch a hockey game of his choice on TV. If I win, he has to read the Silmfic of my choice.)
After the football game, it was unfortunately time to go home. But it was an awesome trip, and we'll be going back next year.
The northeastern US got a snow storm on Thursday into Friday. Bobby and I, though, were undaunted. Of course, Ellicott City got about three inches, not enough to keep us from doing what we would. We left in the early afternoon, around 1 p.m.
I don't know if Friday nights are always a dead time for them or if people were put off by the snow (Hershey had about 6-7 inches or so) and so didn't go, but there was no one there. Not that we minded. Large crowds of people make me cranky. People get stoopid in groups. So we arrived, checked into our hotel, and took a nap. Yes. Took a nap. Do you know the last time that I actually got a chance to lay down for an hour and take a nap?
By then, it was time for supper at the Hershey Grill, where we always make a point to eat, as the food is goooood. Felak had a mushroom brie bisque and pasta primavera then shared a chocolate creme brulee with Bobby. Gooooood.
We always, always have to ride the chocolate tour ride, dubbed the Dumb Ride because we have ridden it so many times that we have memorized portions. And apparently, they are redoing it, so we will have to memorize it all over again.
There was no one in the park, so we could just walk right up to rides and get on them. Some of the rides weren't open because of the snow, including The Claw, which is my favorite that stays open in the winter. So I didn't get to get tossed around in the cold until my tears froze on my cheeks, but most of the other things that we like in the winter were still open, so we rode those.
Oh, and it was cold. I came prepared this year, though, starting with a pair of Christmas socks and a pair of thick soccer socks over them to my knees, boots, my red leatherlike pants, one of Bobby's Underarmor shirts, a regular shirt, a heavy sweater, my floor-length faux-fur-lined wizard/pimp coat, a scarf, a wooly hat, and gloves. So only my face was showing to be cold, and I got a bit of windburn across my cheeks as a souvenir.
We saw the Dumb Christmas Show, which we see every year because it's a good chance to warm up. I teased Bobby about dressing up like a snowflake and dancing in next year's show. I even made up some choreography for him, but he wouldn't try it out. Damn. I know he can do it.
We bought each other trinkets, which for me was a pendant shaped like an ice cream cone and for Bobby was a tree ornament shaped like a beer mug. Then we went back to Chocolate World and he had hot cocoa and I walked on the wild side and tried drinking chocolate, which tasted like unfrozen bittersweet chocolate ice cream and came in the cutest six-ounce cup. It was good, though.
Not much goes on in Hershey late at night, and we were tired, so we went back to the hotel and lo! The Two Towers was on TNT. So we watched the last half of that, enough that Bobby got to hear me ramble about the Elves at Helms Deep and their cute ears and how much I despise that they killed Haldir and he got to hear me whine whenever an Elf got killed....
Why hasn't he divorced me, you ask? I. Don't. Know. :^P
Saturday, we had lunch at Duke's Restaurant and went to the Indian Echo Caverns. When I was a kid, the most common family vacation was to Pennsylvania (we were really adventurous) and I always wanted to visit the caverns so badly. Every year, I would beg my parents, and every year, it would get pushed back to next year, with the result that--fourteen years later--my husband and I finally went. (I have since realized that--with many things in my life--if my parents didn't want to do it for themselves, they didn't want to do it for my sister and me. Our Uncle Wodie was the one who took us to the movies and the playground and McDonald's, but I think the Indian Echo Caverns were a bit outside of his realm.)
But it was awesome. Of course, nerd that I am, I took mental notes the whole time about how Nargothrond and Menegroth would have looked in their early stages and how the Elves might have used the beautiful natural features along with their own architecture. A lot of the natural features do lend themselves to spectacular, soaring rooms, and the layered effects beg for lighting and gardens. Actually, the different layers were artificially lit, so it gave me a good idea of how lovely a few cleverly placed Feanorian lamps would be.
It was also an even 52 degrees in the caves, so it was a pleasant change from the below-freezing temperatures outside. It stays that way year-round, summer and winter. So I don't think that much temperature modification would have been necessary in the Elven caves. It was very comfortable underground and smelled so nice, so clean, like minerals. The outside world, when we stepped above ground, smelled filthy by comparison.
Of course, Bobby and I walked at the back of the group and made snickering jokes about "Lords of Caves" the whole time. (For those who don't know, I got the "Felagund" on my alias when, frustrated by my disastrous first reading of The Sil, I came upon the part where Finrod is introduced as "Felagund, Lord of Caves" and laughingly--more than a bit slap-happy--told my sister and Bobby, "I will henceforth be known as Felagund, Lord of Caves." Well, the name stuck....)
After that, Bobby and I went back to Hershey to finish what we didn't see the day before, including the zoo, grabbed a quick supper of pizza, and went to the Hershey Bears hockey game. They won, 4 to 1, which was a nice change from the Capitals games because--despite being my favorite hockey team--they seem determined to lose whenever I go to a game.)
(However, they need to win on 23 December, when they play Bobby's favorite team, the Montreal Canadiens. We have a bet going: If his team wins, I have to watch a hockey game of his choice on TV. If I win, he has to read the Silmfic of my choice.)
After the football game, it was unfortunately time to go home. But it was an awesome trip, and we'll be going back next year.