A day without chocolate is a day without sunshine. ~Anonymous

If that's the case, it must be sunny all year round in Hershey, Pennsylvania! Last weekend Levi, Emily, Andy, and I went on an adventure to Pennsylvania. We took no pictures because the paparazzi would not leave us alone, and we figured we could just get pictures from the tabloids. All the pictures in this post came from the paparazzi via Google Images.


Hershey, PA was established by Mr. Milton Hershey himself to sustain his factory. (Apparently the paparazzi wouldn't leave him alone either.) He even brought in entertainment and built nice homes to keep his employees happy, although you'd think chocolate is all they needed, right?? I thought it was interesting to know that Mr. Hershey and his wife could not have children so they supported a boys' orphanage and left their wealth to the orphanage when they died.


We thought it was really cool that the roads had a brownish tint to them, but apparently the paparazzi didn't. I couldn't find a good picture. I wonder if they put real chocolate in the roads? Afterall, they put real chocolate on their street lights!

You may notice there are no pictures of us. It seems we are better at hiding from the paparazzi than we thought!

American History Quiz

Whip out your number two pencils everyone! This weekend I explored our short American history at the National Museum of American History. See if you can guess whose artifacts I saw.
(All of the pictures came from the Smithsonian website: http://americanhistory.si.edu/exhibitions/index.cfm


I had the privilege of learning all about a particularly influential individual. Above is a picture of the hat he wore the night he died. I feel that he could fit in with the Pontipee brothers; a scroungy backwoodsman as tall as a church steeple. Who was he?


Guess who's kitchen this is! Any takers?? You might be interested to know that the two cook books on the shelf that appeared to be the most worn (everything in the kitchen is original) were Joy of Cooking. I also spotted a quote from the owner stating, "We all have copies of Mrs. Joy." You will also be interested to know that there was a small tile on the counter top that stated "I wasn't there. It didn't happen. It was the little people."


Consider this the equivalent of those questions your teachers always put in the test to guarantee that no one completely fails. Who's slippers are these? I'll give you a hint: there's no place like home! Fun fact: the slippers were actually supposed to be silver but the producers felt that silver did not give the impact they were looking for with technicolor screens.


These dresses were worn by the first ladies. Any takers on who wore which ones? The one in the middle is my favorite, but unless you really know your presidents and the years they were in term, it may be difficult. (These were really fun to see by the way. I think you should all look them up on the Smithsonian's website. Laura Bush's was quite amusing :)


This is the Philadelphia, a gunboat which carried a "wretched motley crew" (in Arnold's words) under the command of Benedict Arnold during the American Revolution. It is the oldest surviving fighting vessel in American history, measuring 54 feet and 29 tons. It fought and sunk in Lake Champlain, where it sat until 1935. I just know you're all dying to know how many men it carried but I'm not going to tell you. Mwahaha! That is your question, how many men did it carry?


Last but not least. This is the flag that inspired our National Anthem, the original star-spangled banner. How big is it??

There is much more to share with you but I don't want this to be an epistle. I would encourage you to go to the Smithsonian website to learn more. (And you should all look up Audie Murphy to learn how he earned the Medal of Honor in WWII.) But don't cheat!! I do not tolerate cheaters!