rooooad trip!

the finale of my time with louisa and the kids was a road trip up to new hampshire over the 4th of July weekend. they were meeting some friends up there for a week vacation so i jumped on the front end for some fun times and adventure.

first stop: Hershey, PA! most well known for being the (nearby) site of one of the greatest weddings of all time, it also holds chocolate world! we took the chocolate world tour ride (twice) and then took a trolley tour around Hershey. it was very kid friendly and actually quite entertaining (group sing alongs, costume changes, candy) and also very informative. i didn't realize what a philanthropist and visionary Milton Hershey was and it was really cool to learn about!

next stop: Scranton, PA! although it is true that we went there because it is the "home" of The Office, Scranton is a very interesting place. it was originally an iron making/coal mining town and seems pretty much stuck in time. we found the "Welcome to Scranton" sign at the Steamtown mall (really called that) and then headed over to check out the old iron furnaces before it got dark. these pictures make scranton seem much more picturesque than it was, but these stone structures were giant!

we spent the night in Scranton and the next morning went to tour a coal mine right outside the town. it was amazing! we descended 300 feet into the earth in this metal structure on a pulley system and then took a tour around the old mine. although it is adapted for tourists now with electric lights and room to stand up everywhere you walk, it is still very much preserved like it was while it was in use. about a year ago they even had to take all the tourists out up one of those emergency chutes (like you saw during the Chilean miners rescue) because the yellow tram thing broke. (aaaaah) it was especially interesting to hear about the lifestyle of the miners and how the boys would start working it at age 7 above ground and age 10 in the mines. that is how old my nephews are! it was an incredibly hard life and made me very grateful to have not lived in that time and place. if you ever get the chance to go into a coal mine i would highly recommend it.

we finished up that day in Boston, MA where we met our fellow travelers and I got to connect with a dear friend I met at the Forge. The next day we headed to New Hampshire to a beautiful house in the mountains! we spent the evening canoeing and hanging out with the kids and then I flew back to Charlottesville the next day. It was a great road trip with lots of good adventures! Plus it was wonderful to get more quality time with the family!