Attractions

Imagine that you’re in a place where cars roll uphill and water flows the wrong way.  You just may have found yourself at Gravity Hill, near New Paris, Pennsylvania.

Photo taken out the windshield as the car is backing up Gravity Hill in neutral.

By following the detailed directions to Gravity Hill and putting your vehicle in park, you too can experience the excitement as your car starts to roll uphill.  You’ll look at each other, dumbfounded, and then try the second spot just down the road, only to have it happen all over again.

“How is this possible?”  “It can’t be!”  “We were rolling uphill!”

Yes, it’s strange, it’s incredible, it’s unbelievable. Read More »

When we visited Philadelphia’s historic section with four young kids, it was hard to guess which things the kids would like and which would be, well, boring for them.  Even kids who like history like to have it be interesting.  It turns out that Franklin Court was one of our favorite stops of the day.

The photos I’d seen of Franklin Court were strange, showing a huge metal frame of a house, and descriptions of an underground museum were hard for me to picture.  Once we arrived, however, it all made sense.

The big metal frame is indeed there, indicating the place where Benjamin Franklin’s house stood.  Around the courtyard that contains the house frame are the museum entrance, print shop, and post office.

The museum is indeed underground, with a long ramp in the hallway from the outside entrance.  It is run by the National Park Service, and rangers are on hand to answer your questions.  We got there just in time for a movie about Benjamin Franklin’s life, which was interesting and informative for all of us.  I hadn’t realized just how much time Ben Franklin had spent away from his wife and family in order to serve the United States.

From the museum, we moved to the printing office, where a park ranger gave a demonstration of a printing press like Franklin would have used.  Many of Ben Franklin’s sayings were posted on the walls.  We enjoyed watching the printer in action.

Next door, Benjamin Franklin’s early post office still stands.  Upstairs is a postal museum, which is a series of displays on the walls, but downstairs is a working post office.  We had purchased postcards earlier in the day, and addressed one to each of the kids to be postmarked and sent from the post office.  It’s a special remembrance of our trip.

If you visit Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia, don’t miss Franklin Court.  It was one of the highlights of our day.

Photo credits:  minnemom on flickr

Linda (minnemom) and her family braved a 17-day, 3700-mile winter roadtrip to Philadelphia.
She writes of her family vacations at Travels with Children.

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At Two Rivers Landing in downtown Easton, PA, sits a unique museum combination:  The Crayola Factory and National Canal Museum.  The admission price of $9.50 for ages 3 and up includes two organizations; the Crayola Factory takes up the majority of the building while the National Canal Museum resides on the top floor.

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by Linda (minnemom) of Travels with Children

Valley Forge Cannons. Photo by minnemom.

When learning about the Revolutionary War, the long winter at Valley Forge is often a focal point of the discussion.

Today, Valley Forge is a National Historic Park, run by the National Park Service.  The grounds are open year-round from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., and the Visitor Center is open all but Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day.

My biggest surprise in visiting Valley Forge was how big it was, and how the terrain is varied.  Some areas are where the soldiers’ huts were located, and other ridges and low spots were used for military training exercises.

Valley Forge Huts. Photo by minnemom.

A loop drive takes visitors through the park on a marked route; an audio tour is also available from the Visitor Center.  Walking and biking trails weave through the area as well.  This summer, there is a free “Revolutionary Shuttle” that will take visitors around the park, with several on-and-off points along the way.

Visitors can stop to see the huts and memorials along the way, and General Washington’s Headquarters has just reopened after extensive renovation.

Valley Forge Visitor Center. Photo by minnemom.

The Visitor Center houses museum displays, a video presentation, and a gift shop as well as having park rangers on duty to answer questions.  A Junior Ranger program is available for children.

There is no charge to visit Valley Forge.

If you’re in the Philadelphia area to experience history, Valley Forge is an important stop to make.

by Linda (minnemom) of Travels with Children

Utz Factory in Hanover, PA. Photo by minnemom.

As far as factory tours go, it’s getting harder to find a place that actually lets you see the factory in action.  Places like Jelly Belly and Hershey take you on a ride with videos of their factory process, but you don’t get to see the factory itself.

Utz Potato Chips in Hanover, Pennsylvania, allows you to see the potato-chip-making process from start to finish, and best of all, it’s free!

The Utz tour area is on the second floor of the factory.  (Note that there are no elevators.)  After watching a video about the history of the company, visitors can walk down a long hallway with glass windows on either side and watch the entire chip-making process, from unloading potatoes from the truck to peeling, slicing, cooking, seasoning, packaging, and preparing for shipment.

Since it’s a self-guided tour, you can stay as long as you want.  Signs along the way explain what’s happening, and there are steps available so little ones can see what’s going on.  At the end of the line, workers honk and wave as their forklifts move pallets of potato chips under the viewing area.

After the tour, everyone gets a sample of Utz chips to eat in their snack area.

Photography is not allowed in the building, so if you want to see how the tasty Utz snacks are made, you’ll have to visit the factory yourself.

View from Little Round Top

by Linda (minnemom) of Travels with Children

The Civil War played an important part in United States history, and many of the battlefields are now monuments to that period of history.  Gettysburg National Military Park is one of those locations.

Run by the National Park Service, the park itself is a large area surrounding the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.  An audio driving tour is available to explain the battle sites such as Little Round Top and the Peach Orchard, and it also explains the various monuments that are found throughout the battlefield area.

The Visitor Center was relocated into a new building last fall.  It contains a museum of exhibits and information about the Civil War in general and Gettysburg in particular; a short film about the Civil War shown in a theater, and the “Cyclorama,” a 360-degree painting with lights and sound that provides a perspective of the battle’s chronology.

Gettysburg Visitor Center Museum

Also in the Visitor Center is a cafe, a gift shop, and visitor information about the National Park Service site and other Gettysburg points of interest.

If you’re traveling to Gettysburg with kids, be sure to pick up a Junior Ranger guidebook at the National Park Service desk in the Visitor Center.  Having this in hand will make the museum activities and driving tour more interesting for school-aged kids.  Also, know that there are some loud sounds with the Cyclorama which scared my preschoolers.  If you know this ahead of time, you may be able to prepare them for it.

Photos by minnemom.

by Linda (minnemom) of Travels with Children

Hershey, Pennsylvania, is a town built around chocolate.  Site of the Hershey chocolate company, its downtown street lights are in the shape of Hershey kisses, and I’ve heard that chocolate shavings are sometimes put outside so that the whole town smells like chocolate.

Tourism is another big part of Hershey, however.  It boasts an amusement park (Hersheypark), a zoo (ZooAmerica), sports stadiums, chocolate spas, and chocolate-themed hotels.

On our short visit to Hershey, we stopped at Hershey’s Chocolate World.

Hershey’s Chocolate World is a kind of visitor center with several different areas in it.  It’s free to get in and take the “tour,” but other parts cost money.  There’s a gift shop with every type of Hershey’s product emblazoned on shirts, hats, and mugs; an outlet store with various chocolate products; a make-your-own-Hershey-Kisses area; and a bakery/food court area.

The tour itself is free, although it’s not really a tour.  Visitors board amusement-park-like cars that move them along a path to see different vignettes of the chocolate-making process.  The actual factory is a few miles away but isn’t open for tours to the general public.

Also in the building is the Really Big 3D Show, a production that takes place in a nice theater with the requisite 3D glasses.  After hearing a short history of the company, the show begins, where Hershey characters jump and dance and sing on the screen.   There is an admission fee for the show.

Samples of Hershey confections are handed out at the end of the tour and 3D show.

A new Hershey museum has recently opened; I was disappointed that we missed it by just a few weeks.

Hershey, Pennsylvania, is a town that loves its chocolate.

Photos by minnemom.

On our recent vacation, we visited several National Park Service sites.  I bought a “Passport to Your National Parks” book and began collecting cancellations.  In just a few days, I had filled several pages.  Here are some of the highlights.

Liberty Bell

Statue of Liberty

1. Statue of Liberty, New York, NY: This was probably the most fun, because it was a surprise stop for our kids. They’ve always wanted to go to the Statue of Liberty, but we didn’t think we’d be able to fit it into our trip.
2. Ellis Island, NJ/NY:  The Junior Ranger program here was excellent, even though our kids may not have understood the full importance of Ellis Island.  My husband, whose ancestors came through Ellis Island, was very interested in this one.
3. Gettysburg National Military Park, Gettysburg, PA:  Another of my husband’s interests.  We did the audio driving tour before stopping at the new Visitor Center and Cyclorama.
   

   Gettysburg Battlefield from Little Round Top

4. Valley Forge National Historical Park, Valley Forge, PA:  What a beautiful area, and so much bigger than I’d expected.  Seeing these places of history is very interesting.
   

   Huts at Valley Forge

5. Schuylkill River NHA, Valley Forge, PA:  The Valley Forge visitor center hosts this cancellation, but I did drive part of the beautiful river area so it’s a legitimate stamp.
   

   Covered Bridge at Valley Forge

6. Independence National Historic Park, Philadelphia, PA: With Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, and many more, this is one of historical importance.  And somehow I stamped it upside-down in my book.
   

   Independence Hall

7. Edgar Allan Poe National Historic Site, Philadelphia, PA:  Is it terrible that I stamped my book even though the site is closed for renovations?
8. Benjamin Franklin National Memorial, Philadelphia, PA:  Ben Franklin really was an important man in Philadelphia.
9. Independence NHP Underground RR Freedom Network:  Not only was Philadelphia important in the Revolutionary War; it also hosts underground railroad history.
10. Pipestone National Monument, Pipestone, MN:  I actually have to go back to get this stamp, because when we visited there last summer I didn’t buy the passport book, thinking I would never get to more sites to have it stamped!

Do you have a National Park Service Passport?  What are your favorite stamps?

Photo credits:  minnemom