New York II and Hershey World

4 people in a rented Taurus wasn't good enough....

So we got 7 in a Trailblazer and headed East again! This time it ther was 4 Canadians and 3 Americans... and hotter than hell. By the time we got into the city, it was 104 degrees and the air conditioners that people have in their windows were workin' overtime apparently, they were raining on us as we walked down the street.

We went to Times Square, did a bit of shoppin' and did the whole tourist thing because it was some of the girls first time into the city. We did alot of walking and shopping in between our air conditioned pit-stops (which included Subway, Starbucks, and various other places). It was simply too hot to meander like we did the previous week.

The drive back was also interesting, ended up passing Lebanon and finally stopping in the tiny town of Cranberry Lake, PA where we realized (thanks to Dani's dad in Chicago and mapquest) that we had been travelling South instead of North for almost an hour. Needless to say we were late for curfew again.

The next day, back to the reality of life that is camp, we were off to Hershey, PA to go to the Hershey Amusement Park... yes, they have a amusment park. It was similar in size to Disneyland, and since it has been around since forever, had lots of full grown trees creating much needed shade to hide us from the intense heat, it was also an over 100 day.

Being the non-rollercoaster fan that I am, I only went on the water rides with the girls and a few kiddie rides. The girls I had liked to eat and drink and shop, which was all good with me, anything to stay outta the sun! At about 5, when we were having dinner at the Wok n' Roll I was informed by my girls that it rains every year at the end of the day. I just assumed that it rained a bit and you know, got over it and they day continued. No. I could have not been more wrong.

At exactly 5:30 we were in the archade and it hit. First the power flickered and then the people started to flood in. As the 4 counselors hearded all the girls into one area the lightning started. It was like nothing I have ever seen before, it was right over us. There was a siren that I later found out was a tornado warning signal. The first two weeks of camp was rainy with thunder and lightning everyday, but those few weeks and storms had nothing on this one.

Eventually it stopped and we made it to Hershey World, a chocolate verison of Disney's 'It's a small world' ride, bought some chocolate and started the 3 hour bus ride home.

The highlight of my day however, was when we stopped infront of the the infamous 'Wayne' bar in Honesdale (a local dive, very popular with the camp staff), and the entire male staff were sitting on the patio with their hands over their eyes, clearly drunk and trying to avoid any eye contact with us and the girls. We got the driver to give them a little honk and they all flinched. It was hilarious, we laughed the whole way home.

Well that's all the excitement for this week...

Love, Mel