Here I am, exhausted on Monday from a GREAT and crazy weekend in PA! I have so much to catch up on here.... Let me start back on Friday...

Friday, October 23, 2009

So, The day started with me taking Dan to work. In the interest of getting on the road as soon as possible, I dropped Dan off, and then went to work early.

Work was pretty normal, I got everything done, and couldn't wait for the weekend to be here! For lunch, I had a turkey sandwich. Just turkey and bread, of course... but it was good. I never really think to order that kinda thing here. Now I have a little more variety for my lunches.

I left a little early from work, around 3:00, and I drove to pick up Scott! I got him, and then we went to switch cars and to get my stuff at home. We moved over to Dan's car, I got my bag, and off we went to pick Dan up at work! We got there a little after 4, and Dan took forever to come out lol, but after that, we were on our way!!

Just one small problem... Friday rush hour traffic!! I knew it was gonna be crazy, but I was hoping for a miracle! Unfortunately it was bad getting in and out of the city. Instead of the insanity of the Belt, we looked at the traffic map on the iPhone and decided to take the BQE, which I'm sure was faster, but was still awful! It took like two hours to get over the Verrazzano, then there was still some sporadic traffic until we got onto the Jersey Turnpike.. and then it was clear sailing!

It started raining a lot though, and these trucks in front of us were creating total craziness with the water flying in all directions! lol

We stopped at the Molly Pitcher service area! Always a favorite. That Molly Pitcher, she's a real trooper.

We got to e-town around 9:35! Steve left his card under the mat, and we ran in and just as we were coming down the hall, he came out of his room! (Scott wouldn't let us tell Steve what time we left, or where we were, so he wouldn't know when to expect us! He wanted to surprise him! lol)

We were really hungry when we arrived, so we went to Sonic with two of Steve's friends. It was my FIRST EVER Sonic experience!! So amazing! I got the popcorn chicken with TOTS! How amazing! TOTS! I also tried the Strawberry Slush! A very enjoyable drink!!

I don't understand why we don't have Sonic here!!! It's such a cool place. It's weird because, McDonald's and Burger King are very similar restaurants, and there are TONS of them, but then Sonic isn't just special because of you drive up, and they bring the food out to your car....they really do have different menu items, and really cool drinks! I can't see how they couldn't be the biggest hit EVER on Long Island!

Anyway, after that we went back to Steve's. We got our stuff from the car, Steve set up snacks on his fall foliage plates, and we played Disney Scene It! Scott was crazy with this game! He won!

I was very excited because there was a question about "Wind in the Willows" which Dan and I had just watched the other night! (Although it was not my question. lol)

I also received lessons on how to tie a tie! I'm not sure that I remember them now though... big over little, little over big??? ahhh!

After that Steve's friend Abbey came over and we had a very in depth discussion of Farmville and Cafe World. She was trying to convince us all to start playing it! I am not necessarily opposed to Cafe World, BUT I feel like Farmville already takes up too much time.. how can I commit to more! lol

Anyway, after that it was 2am and we were exhausted, and we headed to bed!

Saturday, October 24, 2009

8:00- Saturday morning! I am woken by chiming bells! E-Town has a speaker which plays the sound of chiming bells, every fifteen minutes starting at 8am! It was crazy, so I woke up every fifteen minutes! lol It wasn't bad though.. it was just crazy!

I got up for real at about 10:00 and played some games on my iPhone until everyone else woke up. Then we headed over to the Marketplace for some breakfast! I had some eggs, some tater tots, some sausage.. lol you know, the usual breakfast. Pink Lemonade.. mmmm. and then finished with some Lucky Charms!

As we were leaving, it was teaming outside! The rain was sooo crazy! We waited until it let up a little, and then headed back, showered up and got ready to go. We decided to do the indoor stuff, and save the roller coasters and Hersheypark for Sunday.

We were driving to Hershey in the rain, and not going fast.. maybe 30?? Steve was driving, and all of a sudden this pickup truck in front of us slowed down to a crawl, and just stopped in the middle of the road. Right next to it, there was this crazy flat black thing sitting in the middle of the road. It was like two feet tall, but thin looking, and in the other lane, there was a car coming head on! So Steve started to brake, but you could tell we weren't gonna stop in time, and there was stuff on the side of the road, so his only choice was to hit the weird thing in the middle! It made a loud thump, and then we pulled over. Steve and Scott got out to check out the car, and luckily there wasn't a scratch on it. The guy with the truck was motioning Steve over, and he wasn't sure if he wanted to go over! But he did, and the guy was really nice, he was like, "I thought I had that tied down!" He just wanted to make sure everything was okay. We still aren't really sure what the thing was. The guy said, "It' just a little bent now!" haha! We decided it was some kind of folding table, but I'm not sure!

So... luckily crisis was avoided! We then got to Hershey, and went to Chocolate World, where we rode the "Hershey's Great American Chocolate Tour"! Woo Hoo! Singing cows! It was fun! Then on our way out, this lady approached us and asked us if we liked candy, and then if we would want to participate in a research study. lol She took us into this little house thing, and we sat at little tables, and she gave us two samples of new tropical fruit flavored jolly rancher things. They were like Starburst. We had to consume a saltine cracker to cleanse the palette! haha We answered questions on a little survey, and got a free chocolate bar for our efforts! :)

Then we went through the store, and perused all the goods. As we were in the Reese's section, an argument broke out between two guys in the store, and they were like...yelling at each other, and one guy got up in the other guys face, and was like 'WHY DON'T YOU JUST LEAVE!' 'GET THE HELL OUTTA HERE!' and they kept going at it! It was crazy. I mean, what the heck do random people have to fight about in CHOCOLATE WORLD?!?! REALLY?? So after a few minutes of this, Dan went over and got between them (leave it to Dan to get involved!) and he broke it up. LOL Of course!

When we got out, it was a MONSOON outside. Totally ridiculous rain. We decided to go to the "Really Big 3D" show! It was good. A little weird...lol

After that, we left... we had been there about 3 hours.. (even though free parking was only for two... they did not charge us. Perhaps because of the monsoon.)

Then we went to "The Hershey Story" museum. It was a little short, but it was fun to do, and we got some free candy. I got a KRACKEL. I love Krackel. I need a REAL big Krackel bar, but sadly they didn't seem to sell them there.

We were getting hungry, so our next stop was Red Robin!!! I totally remember Red Robin from the mall when we were little! It was quite an experience. I love it! I got chicken parm, and it was good!

After dinner, we went to the "Outlet Center" and walked around. There were some memorable times there... First, we are all walking... and this lady comes up behind us and goes "SCUSE ME!!!!!" and hustles past us. And she wasn't rude or anything, it was just really funny, and she was going so fast. So we were laughing about it, and at the same time, Scott and I go "SCUSE ME!!" and it was so loud, she definitely heard it... So we all followed Steve and hid behind a large pole to hide from them! So crazy.

Then we were in Tommy Hilfiger, and this creepy guy who worked there and his friend 'the lion' (b/c she had a crazy mane of blond hair) kept STARING at us... and not like, looking and then looking away... they just STARED.. It was so creepy! So later, after walking all the way around, we went back, and stood at the window and stared in at them. The lady saw first, and said something to the creepy guy, and then they stared back... Scott waved... but they just kept staring! Soooo weird!! It was hysterical though.

And we had one last encounter at the outlets. We were in Nautica, and I'm not sure exactly what was said, but Scott said something about the salesperson realllly loudly! lol What a trip to the outlets!

We went back to E-Town and hung out for a while, then took around the lake... "Lake Placida," which I called Lake 'Placid-uh.' Then we went to this gazebo that was a gift from the class of 2000 lol and Steve was telling us about what had happened recently with his job. Then he showed us some of the buildings on campus, one with a bunch of crazy rocks on display, and then we had a "photo shoot" in this room with crazy bright lights!

It started to get realllllly cold out all of a sudden. Then we went to the "Jay's Nest" and had pizza. I just had a few bites of Dan's. He had pepperoni, so I nibbled around the pepperonis! lol

We went back and played APPLES TO APPLES! We played a few rounds, and then Abbey came, and we played some more! It's so true that the Helen Keller card is a total winner card. It could win anything!! "Scott Markey is the new Helen Keller." Then at one point, Steve was singing an Eminem song, (becuase the card was Visionary), and Abbey, clearly very thrown off by this performance.. perhaps a little scared...just says.. ."ummmmm... I don't know.."

After that, I got ready for bed, and Dan and Abbey discussed baseball teams and players.

We got to bed around 3:00 or 3:30... and that was that for Sat!!

Sunday, October 25, 2009

The bells started chiming at 8am, although I swear that they chimed nine times! (The same thing happened yesterday!) We got up around 10:30 and got ready to go! We had breakfast at the Marketplace! I love the tray return!

It was a beautiful day out! It turned out really great that it rained on Saturday, things worked out perfectly! We headed to Hershey and this time we did not hit any folding tables!

We got there at 1:30 and the park didn't open until 2, so we were going to go to Chocolate World again, but when we got there, the line for the "tour" ride was wayyyyy too long. Apparently everyone had the same idea! Instead, we just went over to the park and got in line.

First thing we did was go on the "Reese's Xtreme Cup Challenge." It's kinda like Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin in Disney. Dan won! I came in Second, followed by Steve, then Scott. After that we went on "The Claw"! Before we got on it, I didn't think it was gonna be all that exciting, but it turned out to be great! Scott didn't want to go on it the first time, so Dan and I went alone, and then after that he changed his mind, and builtup the courage, so we all went on. He loved it, so we went again!

The last time, the cord from my hoodie got stuck in the restraint thing of the ride, and I couldn't get it out!! Scott pulled it out, but the little metal clippy thing was stuck... So I used a brochure I had in my pocket to get it out... I didn't realize, though, that there was all grease in there... and it got all over my hands! It was groooooossss. So next, we went to the bathroom, where I had to soap up several times to get off all the grossness!

Next up was Farenheit!!! This was definitely the most intimidating roller coaster they had! I was a little afraid of it, but I definitely planned to go on it! Scott wasn't so sure! He had never done upside-down roller coasters before, (or backwards roller coasters), but since the line was short, we went for it!! It was great! It was crazy going straight up, but it was a really fun ride.

Then we had to go back to the Claw because Scott forgot his sunglasses there... luckily, they were not stolen. lol

Next up we went on Wild Cat (a wooden one) then Lightening Racer. While we were on line, it was this girl's birthday, and so the whole line sang Happy Birthday to her! lol It was funny!

We got ICEEs and then Dan, Scott, and Steve wanted to get a Corn Dog, so we went over there... however after waiting on line, they were informed that it would be a 20 minute wait. So instead, we went on Sidewinder, which was a backwards one! It was fun, but it gave me a headache!

Then we took a ride on the little train thing...the Dry Gulch Railroad! lol

After that, they got their Corn Dogs, and we got our picture with a York Peppermint Pattie and we went on the monorail! We tried to wave to people down below as we were on it, but people weren't looking up, or didn't want to wave back!

When we got off of the monorail, we wanted to check out the show "Bunsen and the Burners" which was at 5:30, and it was exactly 5:30.. so we ran over there, and we got inside and looked around and were like... "Wow, this is weird." So we sit down, and as soon as the show starts, this girl comes running out, and she has these crazy red streaks in her hair.. and you could just tell she was wild and fun! lol We were all into the show, and clapped along with everything, and were like dancing in our seats! She kept looking over at us, and acknowledging out amazingness! haha

At one point, she called people up to come Dance, and so Dan went up and did some wild and crazy dancing! It was hysterical! At the end of the show, we reallllly wanted to get a picture with her, so we went up, and they had the whole cast of the show there...so we got a picture with them all! Our favorite line was when she asked us, "So, are you guys into this sort of thing?" What does that mean???? Into what sort of thing?? Fun? Dancing? Singing? Craziness? Shows? I had no idea. But we said Yes!

Later on we went back to the place where the show was, and they had a Cast List, so we found out who it was! We all want to add her on Facebook! It may be a little creepy... but who cares!

So after that, we got our picture with a Milk Duds person. Then we went on Skyview, which was like a ski lift type thing. It was fun... but it's scary that all that's holding you up is that little wire!

Then we went on the Kissing Tower. After that we went to get dinner. I got spaghetti and meatballs, but the lady give me the kids size. :( I definitely did not ask for the kids, so I don't know why she did that... oh well!

Then we went on Great Bear! It reminded me a lot of Medusa at Six Flags, but it was BETTER! The turns and upside-downness were amazing! Woo Hooo!! Next up was Sooper Dooper Looper, and Comet!

It was really fun in the dark because all of the roller coasters have cool lights on them, and its just a really cool look! I loved it!!

So, we had gone on everything, and then Dan, Scott, and Steve wanted to do Sidewinder again. I sat that one out, and got a cup of water from a little pizza place thingy nearby.

After that, we went on Great Bear again... Then Scott and Steve went to the bathroom while we went on Great Bear for a third time! There was no line at all! Then we all hurried over to Fahrenheit for one last ride.... it was so fast we were able to get in TWO rides!! It was great!! Especially at night!

I was torn between Great Bear and Fahrenheit for my favorite rides! I don't know which one I liked more. Maybe Great Bear, but Fahrenheit would be a close second!

Anyway it was a little after 9, and we headed out of the park! On the way out we wanted to get a picture in front of the fountain, so Scott asked a woman to take out picture, and she apparently didn't hear him correctly because she started directing us to a nearby Dunkin Donuts to get coffee. We gave up on her.

Then at the entrance, we asked a woman to take our picture. She did, but she didn't get the whole background in. It was quite the fiasco!

Then as we were leaving we saw a kid standing next to the height check things, and his mom told him "maybe next year." So Steve said his mom used to tell him that all the time, and so he repeated it really loud!

This was a weekend of saying things inappropriately loudly. It was also a weekend of firsts (Hersheypark & Sonic for me, Upside-down and Backwards roller coasters for Scott, visitors for Steve, and I forget Dan's....), and as we called it, a weekend of dreams coming true! haha

So, we had an AMAZING day it Hersheypark! It was sooooo fun! Of course, we were all exhausted... but we still had the biggest ride of all in front of us... the ride home! :(

We went back to Steve's, and packed up our stuff, and had to hit the road! We left at about 10:20, and then stopped at Sonic on the way to get some food! I got French Toast sticks! They were much better than I had expected!

We had no traffic at all, which was great... We were low on gas, but wanted to try to wait until we got to New Jersey to fill up. The land of cheap gas... but we realized that we weren't gonna be able to make it, and we were almost empty, so Dan got off at a town called Horsham, and I looked up nearby gas stations. There were 5 to the left, and like 5 to the right. So we went to one, Closed. The next, closed. ALL OF THEM.. CLOSED!!! We went to a 7-11 and Dan asked the girl there where an OPEN gas station was! We were watching from the car, and her face said it all! She looked like, "What? Why would anyone need gas at 12:15am!" She did, however, suggest a WaWa, although she didn't give us any indication where one might be!!

Luckily, I looked it up, and there was one about 5 minutes away. We got our gas, and all was well. So the gas ordeal cost us about 30 minutes!

The rest of the trip was smooth sailing. We dropped Scott off at about 2:40, and got home around 3. We each took a shower, and then off to bed!! Phew!!

I only got 4 hours of sleep... but it was such a fun weekend!! We crammed so much into the two days we were there! Wooo Hoo!!!