We parked up and entered the ticket office where we paid for a combination ticket for a return trip to Paradise and entrance to the Railroad Museum located just over the road.
We had originally planned to do the rail road trip the day before but thanks to Lee's quick thinking, we swapped the days around at the last minute to avoid the rain. It still wasn't warm enough for the open air train (which they didn't have running on the day we visited) but the sun was out and we could enjoy the scenery without getting drenched.
After a quick look around the gift shop where we bought a flashing signal pin to prepare ourselves for the journey, the train pulled into the station and we boarded ready for the journey to Paradise. We were at the front of the train, in a completely empty carriage which gave us a great view of the engine and the track in front. Halfway through the journey, we were asked by the conductor if we'd rather stand in the luggage area. A little confused, we followed him in where he opened the huge side doors which gave us an awesome view of the countryside and allowed us to feel the wind in our hair as we puffed along.
The Rail Road was founded in 1832 and since then has carried both freight and passengers along a single track and is thought to be America's oldest short-line. Our journey was 45 minutes minutes long and took us through the Pennsylvania Dutch Countryside. Throughout our journey, we were give a history of the railroad, information on the farms and the Amish people we were seeing go by and little stories to keep us entertained, such as the ghost train that echoed back in one of the valleys when our train sounded its horn. We went past the Red Caboose Motel, where each of the 38 rooms were a converted Rail Road Caboose cars (these are the cars that would have been on the end of a freight train that the crew would live in). Next time we visit, this is definitely a place we would like to spend a night just for the experience.
We reached Paradise and were rather unimpressed. We pulled into a side track for an Amtrak station where modern trains were dropping off people on their boring daily commute, not very paradise like at all! Our steam train unhooked itself from the carriages, went past us and then hooked itself back onto what was the back of the train. Just before the turnaround, the conductor asked Lee if he had coin he could borrow. Confused, Lee dug out a copper cent coin from his wallet and we both assumed it was a new method of trying to collect tips. After the engine had gone past, the conductor returned our coin to us, it was flattened and out of shape. He had put it on the tracks and let the engine go over it. He happily told us that he'd just saved us a dollar by doing a stretched penny for us himself rather than us having to use one of those machines.
The conductor stayed off the microphone on the way back to Tonks so we were able to sit back and just enjoy the countryside going past.
Back at the station, we headed off the train and over the road to The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania. I was expect a small museum with a couple of old trains on display. I was not expecting to walk into a huge warehouse and an even larger outside area with over 100 different locomotives and carriages. Many of the trains were open so you could have a look inside. There were many interactive displays, our favorite ones being the remote controlled toy trains that picked up and delivered freight items, the coal shoveling and the simulator that allowed us to experience driving a train. As well as being a museum, there is also a restoration workshop where you can see locomotives and carriages being restored to their former glory, some to be displayed in the museum and others to be used in the Rail Road across the road.
We both really enjoyed the museum, it was an unexpected find. After a couple of hours our feet started to hurt so we headed back to the car and went in search of some lunch.
We were in Lancaster County, heart of Pennsylvania Amish country and it didn't take us long before we started to see the buggies driving along the road and the clotheslines hung with typical Amish clothing in various colours. It must have been laundry day when we visited as nearly every single house hold had their washing out, a really unusual sight in the US where the majority of people would use a tumble dryer.
We headed to Stoltzfus Meats in Intercourse for lunch, a lovely family run shop, deli and restaurant that sells local produce and was very popular with locals. We both had really tasty sandwich and enjoyed a stroll around the store afterwards look at all the local pies, meats and salads, many of them homemade by local Amish families.
After lunch, we had planned to learn more about the Amish through one of the tourist attractions (Amish Experience, a buggy ride or the Amish Village) but when we arrived at these attractions, we just found them too touristy and tacky that we both decided we didn't want to do them. So instead, we drove around the Amish villages, stopping off at the Dutch Haven, an Amish crafts store also selling locally produced including "America's best ShooFly Pie". The pie (a molasses crumb cake baked in a pie crust) was very yummy and despite all the cream, not too sweet which was a good thing as our slice was huge!
We eventually ended up in downtown area of Lancaster, a small city located in Lancaster County. This was the most built up area we had seen all day but compared to the countryside we had just visited, we were a little underwhelmed so after a drive through the middle, we headed back to our hotel in Hershey.
After a quick nanna nap and a freshen up, we headed out of the hotel to find some dinner. As we reached the main street, we saw the police had cordoned off the road and then noticed a huge party going on. We had to check it out! It turned out to be the annual Hershey Halloween Parade. We had missed a good hour of the parade already but we stayed to watch the rest of the procession. An hour went past and it didn't look like it was ever going to end. Our tummies were rumbling so we decided to search for some food.
We had seen a play called the Hershey Biergarden on the way to the parade, so went in to see what was on offer. It turned out we had stumbled into Hersheys largest craft beer selection with 12 craft beers on tap and over 250 different beers in bottles and can. Lee was just disappointed that we had only come across this place in our last night at Hershey. They had just stopped doing food as we arrived so after trying only a couple of beers, we decided to head back to the hotel to order a take away.
It was going to be one of those nights! When we arrived at the hotel and asked for the menus for local takeaways, we were told that it was unlikely they would still be delivering food as it was nearly 9pm. We noticed that Americans like to eat earlier than people in Europe but we were still surprised to find out that all the takeaways in Hershey stop selling food at 9pm! What do people do in Hershey after a night out?! Of course, I didn't believe the receptionist so I called around just to check and she was right.
Now very hungry and grumpy, my hangriness was starting to get out of control. I did a search for anything in Hershey that was open after 9pm and selling food. I found Fenicci's, an Italian bar and restaurant that served food until the early hours of the morning. We sat at the bar and ordered a seafood pasta and lasagna. We're used to the large portions now but the size of these portions could have fed a family of 4! A huge salad came out first which was big enough to be a main meal in itself, then the pasta dishes arrived. It was really tasty and when I asked the barman why it was so big, he told me that anyone who manages to finish eating it receives a certificate. I managed to get through about half of the lasagna before deciding that feeling this full was not worth the challenge when the prize was only a piece of paper (had it been a t-shirt or hat, I might have tried a little harder!) so I boxed the left overs to eat on another day.
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