HOTEL TIME

I sometimes find it hard to believe, that the beautiful town of Hershey was right down the road from where I grew up. Even though I grew up near Hershey, I have mentioned I'm more of a Ghirardelli boy. Hershey isn't bad, but I get a waxy taste to it. But that's here nor there...no denying the town of Hershey is a beautiful little town, and one of the jewels is the Hotel Hershey and it's rose gardens.  Who knew all these years later I'd be going weekly to the hotel as the floral shop my friend has does the weekly florals for all of the Hershey properties. Again...is it work? 

Apparently Mr Hershey faced the decision of providing welfare for his town or employing them. Thankfully , he chose the later and his dream of building The Hotel Hershey commenced. At a time when the nation was gripped in the Great Depression, Milton Hershey decided to build a magnificent hotel atop of Pat's Hill over looking the chocolate factory. D.Paul Witmer was the architect who designed the hotel, who designed it after a hotel Hershey used to stay, when he visited the Mediterranean. It has a U-shaped base with a tower at either end. The hotel turned into a 170 room hotel, with Spanish patio, tiled floors, a grand fountain and a dinning room without corners. Since then there are 5 dinning places in the hotel, shops  two bars, and a full service spa. My mother and I often visited the rose garden and the butterfly arboretum in summers past. I took a walk one day after service to take a stroll.

One of out weekly changes.

A beautiful lily pond ....

One of them was being koi!

And with golfers like this what's to complain about?

I was about to ask if I could handle his club.

HIGHPOINT

 

When friends and people I know always find out I grew up by Hershey it always amazes them for some reason. I never did understand why. I will say it was nice being able to be so close to Hershey Park and getting in when it was just around like $20? Heavens know what it is now. The town of Hershey is very pretty, quaint, stately homes, smells of chocolate and what's not to love about streetlights that look like Hershey Kisses?  Many landscaping companies even use cocoa in their tan bark, and the rose gardens at the Hotel Hershey shouldn't be missed. Over the weekend my good friend the Dame Courtney invited me for a private tour of the Highpoint Mansion, which was home to Milton Hershey and his wife Kitty.

While many other big moguls and industrialist of the time in, and some after the Gilded Age, were building huge mansions, Hershey opted for a modest home is size and furnishings. With only 22 rooms and a large front porch, it features elements of both Greek revival and Colonial styles. 

I was able to snap a few pictures secretly, the slick bitch I am.... since no photos in the house were permitted, but the grand staircase features a stunning stained glass window made by the Rudy Glass Company, which is based in York. Hershey liked keeping trades local, and the Rudy Glass Company did all the stained glass not only in Highpoint Mansion, but also in the Hotel Hershey. We know the Mistress adores a good staircase.

The upstairs window in the ceiling.

The billiard room was pretty cool to see with a mural titled "Ivanhoe" by Sir Walter Scott that goes the perimeter of the room. Apparently Hershey used to read his nightly newspapers, have a sniffer, and most times, had a cigar in hand every evening in the billiards.

I know some people don't care for Milton Hershey, and would be correct as Hershey did  some things wrong,  and probably continues to, with slave labor in Cuba with processing sugar...which everyone should be entitled to fair trade pay and salaries. But he did do some commendable things. Not only did Milton Hershey want to built his factory here,  but also wanted to build a town. People thought he was nuts. He went anyhow and planned and built the town of Hershey with house for his workers, post office, churches and schools.  The company and town was a hit. Hershey was not only a candy maker and dreamer, but he was a good businessman and learned from mistakes. He was really one of the first to make a general basic chocolate bar, and sell it for a low price, one everyone could afford. He always gave back half his money to the community for upkeep, and all branches of his company were within walking distance of Highpoint in case he was needed. Hershey and his wife were not able to have children, so they donated millions to invest in a school for orphaned boys called the Hershey Industrial School. To this day,  funds and trust are still intact to keep all orphaned children clothed, fed, cared for, and have an education. When Kitty died, Milton was never the same, and spent most of his time in Cuba. When he returned 7 years later, he only lived on the second floor of Highpoint, and gave the first floor to the country club as a clubhouse. Upon his death, he wanted most of the furnishings to be sold off and money given to the boys orphan school and various other charities. The house is now the offices of the Hershey Trust, hence why most furnishings are not the original. Below is the one room Quaker school Milton Hershey attended. Also on the grounds.

To my knowledge they still give out a chocolate bar after leaving the Chocolate World attraction. But I dare say, I was never a Hershey fan. I'm more a Ghirardelli boy myself.

SEEN AROUND TOWN

Well after a one day work week....yes dear ones.....looks like my work life is back to normal again, the Mistress is grossly behind in blog reading. But today I'm relaxing after a nice long snooze and a breakfast with homemade Stollen and coffee. Here are a few snaps taken during the holiday this week seen around . Its been a more relaxing week than a normal season for me....and I am not complaining.

City Hall Philadelphia

Buster and Lilith. "We didn't do it we swear"

Farms Market. Picked up my pork roast and sauerkraut for New Years Day.

For a Christmas gift, the Mother got a me a gift....a day at the Spa at Hotel Hershey. The day was spent on the 23rd being pampered... getting a facial, massage, deep body exfoliate and cocoa wrap and a mani/pedi! I didn't know whether to relax or lick myself. The place is so relaxing and elegant. 

In between treatments they serve you hot drinking chocolate....Hershey style!

Followed by martinis at the end of the day. Mine was a expresso chocolate martini.

One night while coming home from New Hope, I saw a dog wondering all over the back roads. I pulled over in fear someone may hit him. He ran right to me and he jump in the car. Once I got to a location to pull into, I saw his name was Boone on his collar, so I called his very happy owners. They came to pick him up. A happy ending.

Independence Hall on a cold day.

Beautiful snap of City Hall through the lit trees.

Philadelphia Art Museum rotunda.

Meanwhile at work Friday.....no pictures...PLEASE!

One of the stores better clients.

Dinner a few weeks ago in beautiful Lahaska

It was a good season. To me it's not what's under the tree for Christmas, but who's around the tree.

THE WEEKENDER

Well, what can I say? It was a very nice five day weekend, and much relaxing going on. The Mistress was on good behavior since I was around my family for most of it. It was also a rare weekend when the Mistress got to hang out with my mother for some quality time. Since it was a gorgeous weekend, we headed to Hershey. I don't know if I ever mentioned, but where I grew up in Harrisburg it is a very short 15 minute jaunt to Hershey PA...yes!!!!! The chocolate Hershey. It is small, but a very chic , quaint little town. You probably guessed, most of the town revolves around chocolate, which is not a bad thing. Even the tan bark there for gardening contains cocoa, the whole town smell of cocoa, and the street lights look like Hershey Kisses.

They have their own world class theater...

Then there are the magnificent mansions along Cocoa Avenue, like Milton Hershey's home...

The beautiful back entrance to the Hershey Spa...

You may recall a while back I went to the Hotel Hershey's Spa, where I got a cocoa body wrap, massage, facial and mani/ped. What can I say...I'm a huge spa whore. Just because the case line is almost middle aged, doesn't mean I shouldn't keep it polished!!! During the body wrap all I wanted to do was lick and eat myself!!!  The opening picture is the Hotel Hershey on Saturday when we were there. The tulips were awesome to see. The reason for being there? My mother surprised me by taking me to the Butterfly Atrium

It was a pretty cool place, and one can walk among 500 - 600 butterflies from around the world in a tropical setting that features colorful plants and a soothing water feature. Only one of 25 indoor, tropical butterfly atriums in the country, Hershey Gardens’ Butterfly Atrium is home to dozens of rare butterflies from South and Central America, Africa and Asia. Another cool thing was a whole area  devoted to the chrysalis that offers guests a rare glimpse into the pupal stage of the butterfly. Hundreds of jewel-like chrysalids hang in the special area until they emerge and are released into the Atrium with the others. It is pretty darn cool to walk amongst some many butterflies.

Butterflies are probably the only bug I would let climb on me, and allow myself to get near. The day put me into the spring mood for sure.  Not to mention my aunt's mouth watering Easter dinner on Sunday. Upon getting back, I even got to see the Lad who was in NJ to see his family for Easter, so we were able to get together to rendezvous for a day. And all we did was relax and  "hang out" . Among other activities.

We did our own cocooning.