We covered a lot of ground on this one-week family vacation to Hershey, PA. Ice cream creations, a little spelunking, lots of chocolate, lots of history, an amusement park, and some flowers and butterflies made this a parents’/grandparents’ dream come true.

Click on the first photo in each group and scroll to see the square photos at full size.

I know that people’s opinions may vary on this subject, so take that into consideration when planning a family vacation where lots of different ages and temperaments may be trapped for hours at an attraction where they may not all see eye to eye. Having more than one vehicle may be a way for part of the group to go a different way for a day or two. This will help if tastes vary and if a break may be needed from too much family time. As an example, on this trip to Pennsylvania, there were several days of history and not all of us needed that much history. I broke off with one group and visited Hershey Gardens and the Hotel Hershey, while the others visited Gettysburg. Since I had already been, it sounded like a nice break and a new experience. It was a win, win because everyone was happy.

This post will be the first about our family trip to Hershey, PA in August 2016. It seems my vacation-planning gene has passed on to my oldest daughter, who took the bull by the horns with her hubby (who seems to have a similar gene). Together they planned us out a great vacation, taking advantage of packages to save money, going certain days to avoid crowds and save money and, working with our iPhone’s weather app, we avoided the rain and had a great trip.

Our m.o. is to drive about 10 hours the first day, spend the night and then leisurely stroll into our destination city, with time to enjoy one of our selected attractions the first day. The Turkey Hill Experience was a great way of thanking the kids (and who are we kidding, us too!) for being so patient on the long drive – with an exciting ice cream experience!

We were greeted at the door by the star of this show – a HUGE black and white cow which was great for family photos. We had left time in the schedule to catch lunch, but there didn’t seem to be much close by. A recommendation when we checked in sent us to the gas station convenience store right next door. They had great food and a seating area outside to enjoy our choices. It was quick and had a wide range of options, making it the perfect stop to get some real food in our stomachs before heading to the sweets!

Greeted by the star of the show at the Turkey Hill Experience

“Come learn how our ice cream is made, sit in a milk truck, milk our mechanical cows, and learn about the people and culture of Turkey Hill Dairy.

Create your own virtual ice cream flavor, ice cream package and a commercial.

Our newest attraction, the Turkey Hill Taste Lab, allows you to bring your virtual ice cream creation to life as you make your own pint of ice cream!

Of course, there are plenty of free samples of our ice cream and iced tea products, too!” – READ MORE about the Turkey Hill Experience

We started out with a self-guided tour of the place where we took lots of pictures of the kiddos by the colorful and beautiful cows, taking advantage of all the interactive things for them to do. Ahhh – a free tasting! We visited that another time and decided to go for it and add the Taste Lab (for an added cost), where we created our own ice cream – using their vanilla base. They warn to only add a few of the “inclusions” or you’ll have a big mess. Our youngest did not adhere to their “suggestion” and ended up with quite a concoction. She loved it – at first…

“Turkey Hill Dairy began in 1931 during the Great Depression, when farmer Armor Frey began selling bottled milk to neighbors from his sedan. Frey’s family obtained the farm directly from Thomas and Richard Penn, sons of William Penn, and the sheepskin deed to the farm refers to “turkeyhill”. Turkey Hill Ridge had been given its name by the Conestoga Indians for the wild turkeys found there, so the family decided to name their dairy after the name on the deed and the nearby geographical feature.” – READ MORE about the history of the Turkey Hill Dairy 

After a couple of tastings and the other pint from the Taste Lab, we were all a little woozy, but it was a great time! Then it was time to head to our home away from home for the next week and get this vacation started. Can you say “sugar buzz”?

Next up: Indian Echo Caverns

Happy trails,
Barb