We went to Soda Jerk Diner & Dairy Bar in Hummelstown/Hershey, Pennsylvania for dinner. A classic 50’s themed diner.
Ice cream soda and egg cream beverages:
Breakfast for dinner:
Pretty tasty stuff.
food
A sampling of interesting restaurants.
Independence National Historical Park
We visited the Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
An interactive map of our walking route:
View of Independence Hall:
But first, Campo’s cheesesteaks for lunch:
Old post office:
Passage to Franklin Court:
Ghost structures representing Benjamin Franklin’s house in Franklin Court:
Benjamin Franklin sign:
Bicentennial Bell in Benjamin Rush garden:
Second Bank of the United States:
Jenn getting her passport stamps; this roll of paper is an excellent idea we haven’t seen elsewhere:
Cranking for smashed pennies:
Snack at the cafe in the visitor center:
Flag reflected in a circular window:
Court room:
Our tour guide:
Assembly Room, where the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution were both signed:
We did the expanded guided tour (40 minutes vs 20) that got to go upstairs:
Historical.
Baseball: Harrisburg Senators vs Erie SeaWolves
We attended a double-A baseball game between the Harrisburg Senators (Washington Nationals affiliate) vs Erie SeaWolves (Detroit Tigers affiliate) at FMB Field in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
An interactive map of the ballpark on an island in the capital city of Pennsylvania:
Capitol building:
FNB Field:
Dinner options:
Weird burger and cheesesteak:
Snack:
View from our seats, section 110, row 1, seats 1 & 2:
Play ball:
Selfie:
Run scores:
Exploring the ballpark:
Hershey ice cream:
Ball hit the ump’s mask:
Wackiness:
Broken bat:
Final scores:
Hershey’s Chocolate World
We visited Hershey’s Chocolate World in Hershey, Pennsylvania.
We did the Create Your Own Candy Bar experience, where you choose components for a bar; here are Jenn’s selections:
My selections:
Selfie:
Production line:
While the chocolate is drying, you design your packaging:
Production line:
Our packages:
Then we did the free Hershey’s Chocolate Tour, a ride showing what goes in to producing chocolate bars:
Dinner in the food hall:
Dessert:
Hershey’s Largest Candy Store:
Extra-big Kit-Kat (which we didn’t buy):
We did buy a lot of stuff, though:
Kissmobile:
My custom candy bar:
Jenn’s custom candy bar:
A fun experience.
Baseball: Philadelphia Phillies vs San Francisco Giants
We attended a game of the Philadelphia Phillies vs San Francisco Giants, playing at the Phillies ballpark, Citizens Bank Park.
Jenn’s game summary:
Lovely, if cool, day for a ballgame. The Phillies Phanatic is the greatest mascot (sorry, Moose). The hometown crowd is very vocal and even boos their own players when they make an error, but otherwise, the folks we met were friendly and helpful to us out-of-towners. The park itself is rather mid-tier—no really “wow” factor, and we sadly didn’t get to see the homerun bell in action. Took over an hour to get out of the parking lot afterwards—craziness!
An interactive map of the ballpark and extensive surface parking around it:
Philadelphia:
Citizens Bank Park:
Home of the Philadelphia Phillies:
Selfie:
Crabfries:
Chicken donuts and crabfries:
Baseball stadium passport stamp:
Jenn with a model Phillie Phanatic:
Peach parfait:
View from our seats, Section 132, Row 26, Seats 1-2:
The Phillie Phanatic:
Play ball:
Camera guy and a dancing fan:
Exploring the ballpark:
Beverages:
Attendance 41,321:
Run scores:
Scores:
Phillies win!
Travel from College Park, Maryland to Ocean View, New Jersey
We drove our coach 164 miles, about three hours of driving, from College Park, Maryland to Ocean View, New Jersey.
Here’s a map showing our route, heading east:
An interactive map:
Fort McHenry Tunnel, under the Baltimore harbor:
Roadworks with a very close barrier on I-95 North:
Rest stop:
Crab for lunch… a mistake, as it took about 25 minutes to get the food:
Susquehanna River:
Fun with zoom:
Welcome to Delaware, blink and you’ll miss it:
Toll plaza:
Delaware Memorial Bridge:
Welcome to New Jersey:
Truck rest area:
Muffler man statue:
Our destination:
Travel from Gloucester, Virginia to College Park, Maryland
We drove our coach 178 miles, about three hours of driving, from Gloucester, Virginia to College Park, Maryland.
We had planned to drive double that distance to our next destination, which would have been over six hours driving, but we wisely decided to split that up into two legs. We prefer to limit travel days to around three hours.
Here’s a map showing our route, heading north:
An interactive map:
Leaving our site:
Exiting the campground:
Fun with zoom:
Drawbridge:
I-64 West:
I-95 North:
Exit:
Fuel stop:
Parking with trucks; since we can’t reverse with our toad attached, we need to find back-to-back sites we can pull through:
Heading in for lunch:
Popeyes for lunch:
Back to our coach:
Paladin on the dash:
Oversize load:
Lots of traffic on the other side:
Fun with zoom:
Paladin on the dash:
National Museum of the Marine Corps:
Truck rest area:
Heavy traffic:
Breakdown?
“Caution Horses”:
Lanes divide:
Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge:
Maryland Welcomes You:
I-95 and I-495 North:
Swoopers; two cars going into the lane in front of us:
Exit to College Park:
Arriving at Cherry Hill Park:
Security gate:
Our site:
In order to get to our site we needed to head between cabins to loop around:
Approaching our site:
Colonial Williamsburg
We visited Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia again this year.
An interactive map:
Another interactive map on their website.
Visitor center:
We went to the Sweet Tea & Barley restaurant for lunch:
Then wandered around:
An interesting place.
Thousand Trails Chesapeake Bay
We stayed at Thousand Trails Chesapeake Bay in Gloucester, Virginia. (Campground Reviews listing.)
A fairly nice Thousand Trails campground.
Dates:
- Check in: 2025-04-01
- Check out: 2025-04-13
- 12 nights
Weather:
- Mix of sunny, cloudy, rainy
- High temps 52-83°F, lows 34-67°F
- Some wind, gusts to 32 MPH
Noise:
- No road noise
- No train horn noise
- Lots of neighbor noise
Site:
- #B65, back-in, gravel
- Needed to disconnect toad, parked in front of coach
- Fairly unlevel site; high on passenger side and front; used hydraulic leveling
- Gravel driveway about 60 feet long by 25 feet wide
- 30 feet to neighbors on both sides
- Trees between sites
- Picnic table
- Fire pit
- Tall trees
- Clean site
- Elevation 30 feet, front facing NW
Utilities:
- 50 amp power, conveniently located
- 50 PSI water, conveniently located
- Good sewer connection, conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed)
Internet (in usage priority order):
- Starlink: 56-177 Mbps down, 10-30 Mbps up, 25 ms ping
- Verizon: 5 Mbps down, 5 Mbps up, 70 ms ping (our SIM has 5 Mbps max)
- AT&T: 82-111 Mbps down, 0.75-1 Mbps up, 127 ms ping
- T-Mobile: 1.5 Mbps down, 0.2 Mbps up, 50 ms ping
- Campground Wi-Fi: none
Amenities:
- Garbage dumpsters
- Pool
- Ice cream shop
- On-site cafe
Our review on Campground Reviews:
Nice place for a longer stay
This is a fairly typical Thousand Trails park with 50A full hookups. Our site was mostly level, but look out after it rains, because they have some drainage issues. It was nice to have a restaurant on site that serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Like most Thousand Trails, they have now switched to assigned sites, which I like. Also, like most Thousand Trails, they no longer accept packages. The local Post Office does General Delivery, and the nearest Amazon Locker is in West Point. We camped at Thousand Trails Chesapeake Bay in a Motorhome.
Campground map:
What’s new and burning law:
An interactive map:
Our site:
Utilities:
Some rainy days, and a little surface flooding:
Pavilion:
Cafe:
Dinner:
Breakfast:
Another menu:
Pizza, mac & cheese, brownie:
Camp store (featuring ice cream):
Seasonally closed swimming pool:
Dog park:
Dumpsters:
Other sites:
Piankatank River:
We’d be happy to stay here again.
Travel from Charleston, South Carolina to Wake Forest, North Carolina
We drove our coach 301 miles, about five hours of driving, from Charleston, South Carolina to Wake Forest, North Carolina.
Here’s a map showing our route, heading north:
An interactive map:
Preparing to leave our site:
Nice looking but mildly concerning trees overhanging the road:
Approaching Charleston:
Roadworks:
Exit to I-95 North:
Rest area, unusual in that truck parking is through the car parking:
Paladin looking at Lake Marion bridge:
Petro fuel stop:
$206.27 for 57 gallons of diesel before discount:
Iron Skillet lunch:
Back to our coach:
Hello fellow Tiffin Allegro Bus:
Welcome to North Carolina:
Sleepy Paladin:
Rest area:
An interesting building:
Arriving at Holly Point Campground in Falls Lake State Recreation Area:
Entrance station:
Arriving at our site:
