Day Eight - Heavenly Hummus, Amish Country, and Hersheypark with the Gollottis

Much of the point of this trip was to get out of the Texas heat. Problem is, it has been hot everywhere we go. Not fair!

Anyhow, after a lovely dinner with the Gollottis, and a lovely night in a sweet hotel near Temple University, we headed out into the heat. First stop - Dizengoff, to pick up delicious, delicious food for later. 

Making the magic happen...those are fresh pita in the over behind the noble counterman

Here is a shot of the best hummus I have ever had in my life, ever. I mean, on a hummus-scale, it is off the charts, but even on just a pure scale of any kind of delicious food - this place is tops.

Packed that into the genius electric cooler, and headed for Intercourse, Pennsylvania. Hart was curious about Amish culture, and I was curious to see if my memory of the amazing pretzel I had in 1998 was accurate. Oh, and of course, Hart had to giggle about the many interesting town names in Lancaster County - Intercourse, Bird-In-Hand, Paradise, etc.

Just into Lancaster County, we pulled into a gas station - and just as we did, an Amish man in a buggy trotted in, with two portable gas cans in the wagon. He "parked" the buggy in a parking spot in the shade, and pumped gas into the tanks. What a wild juxtaposition of slow, plain life, and the fast-fueled modern world. It made us both wonder about the current parameters of Amish life, but we decided to learn about it here, rather than at one of the tourist stops.

Had to grab a pretzel in Intercourse ;-) where we saw white a few more buggies, and where young Amish women tended the pretzel store.

 

Better than I remembered, and Hart loved it too...Auntie Anne's is a pale, pale imitation...

And on to meet our friends at Hersheypark. Yes, it is exactly what it sounds like...an amusement park/theme park/stadium/hotel in Hershey, PA....dedicated to...you guessed it...

 

We got a free sample in Chocolate World, and Rita was 1000% right - it was the best Hershey chocolate ever. Fresh, creamy, smooth...it reminded me of when I went on a tour of the Coors factory in Golden, CO. I'm no Coors fan, but the free sample we got at the end of the tour was delicious.

We spent a lovely afternoon in the park...Hart and Sabrina had a blast on every ride...Ben was quite the champion, riding most with them - did I mention he is my hero? Rita and I rode a couple each (one I would have happily skipped, too rough!)....but we managed to spend more time sitting in the shade catching up... it still feels like we barely scratched the surface.

Plotting the route

Ready to go!

Riding the rides

And of course I got no pictures of me and Rita, who Hart referred to as my "lady-friend." Next time. This was much too brief of a visit ... but it was memorable, and will stay with us for years to come.

We made our sad farewells, Hart bought a one-pound chocolate bar, we scooped up Nibbles from the "Barking Lot," and took a short drive to our motel in Harrisburg...where we unloaded the Dizengoff. Ohhhhhh yeeeessssss.....

We got one with ground beef, and one with this miraculous broccoli/peanut rough pesto-like paste. Salads of cucumber and pickled onion. Garlic roasted eggplant and red bell pepper. And that pita. Spicy red hot sauce, and a spicy herb and chile paste.

Just so good.

Plenty for leftovers, too. What a perfect day. Lovely.

Here's Hart: In Amish country, I had the best hand-rolled pretzel I have ever had. OMG :) We saw lots of horse poop, coming from buggies, which are horse-drawn carriages driven by Amish people. In Hersheypark, we went on some good roller coasters, and I tricked my mom into going on a pretty scary one. Mwah ha ha ha ha.... It was great to see Ben and Sabrina again...and Rita, my mom's "ladyfriend." Inhaled the rest of the Dizengoff for dinner...my mom came to tell me to save some, but it was gone in thirty seconds. Later!