Wherefore Art Thou Chocolate? - December 27-28, 2009

What better way to head back home to Jacksonville, Florida, from Columbus, Ohio, than through the beautiful state of Pennsylvania!  Sure it's not the most direct route, but when you're an addicted waymarker (and chocolate eater), does that really matter?  Of course not!  So, we got up bright and early on the morning of December 27, loaded up the waymarking mobile, and hit the road.  Hershey, Pennsylvania, here we come!  Yea, baby!

We pulled into Hershey in the afternoon and lost no time making our way to the Antique Auto Museum of Hershey, a Motor Vehicle Museum!  And you'll never guess what was parked out front under the entrance portico -- it was the Kissmobile!  What a wonderful Sighting!  The Biologist had been keeping her eyes open for one of these luscious vehicles for a couple of years and she finally got to see it.  I'm not sure who was happier, her or the Marine.  Now he doesn't have to hear her say all the time, "I'd better bring along the camera and GPS in case we see the Kissmobile while we're out."

Next we decided to wander around Hershey a bit to get our bearings before heading to the hotel where we had a reservation for the night.  We spotted Hershey's Iconic Factory, a few Pennsylvania Historical Markers, This Old Church that was lovely, the Soda Jerk Diner where we had dinner, and some Unique Chimneys.  That was all we had time for before darkness fell and we dropped off to sleep at the hotel.

The next morning we headed over to the Official Local Tourism Attraction better known as Hershey's Chocolate World where we spotted some 3 Dimensional Art and Giants of Commerce.  We first took the free chocolate tour ride that includes animated singing cows and culminates with the distribution of a free sample of chocolate (yum!).  The ride ends at the entrance to a giant Candy Store where we wandered around salivating and sniffing all the wonderful smelling chocolate.  Of course we couldn't resist picking up a few items..

 After making off with the chocolate, we decided it was time to hit the road and start heading south.  We made yet another detour... a slight one to run by the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, a Research Institute in Laurel, Maryland.  The Biologist started her career here in the endangered species research program back in 1985.  This was the first time she's been back here since 1988.  There have been a lot of changes in the past 20 years!

A Visit to the Historic Green Lawn Cemetery - December 23, 2009

Today the Marine went off with his Dad for a full day of poker with his Dad's buddies.  With some time on my hands, I (the Biologist) decided to head to the nearby historic Green Lawn Cemetery to do a little waymarking.  It was a cold day with some snow on the ground,  The first thing I saw upon entering the cemetery was an Ohio Historical Marker.

The historical marker provides the following information:

SIDE 1: Landscape architect Howard Daniels designed the original portion of Green Lawn Cemetery in 1848. Noted Columbus architect Frank Packard designed Green Lawn's Chapel mausoleum, the Hayden family mausoleum, and the Packard mausoleum. Spanning over 360 acres, the cemetery's wooded setting provides a habitat for a variety of birds and other wildlife. The Chapel contains stunning stained glass windows and mosaic artwork by Tiffany & Company of New York. The monuments, obelisks, and memorials throughout the cemetery represent a wealth of artwork and a history of Columbus. As one of the oldest and largest cemeteries in Ohio, Green Lawn is the resting-place of many noted individuals who have made significant contributions to Columbus, Franklin County and the nation.

SIDE 2: Interments here include: Gordon Battelle - founder of Battelle Memorial Institute, a center for creative research and invention development; Samuel Bush - president of Buckeye Steel Castings and grandfather and great grandfather of United States Presidents George Bush and George W. Bush; Dr. Lincoln Goodale - first physician to practice in Franklinton, now Columbus; P. W. Huntington - founder of Huntington National Bank in Columbus in 1866 and member of Green Lawn's Board of Trustees for over forty years; Simon Lazarus - began Lazarus department stores in 1851; James Poindexter - barber, minister, conductor on the Underground Railroad, and first African American to be elected to Columbus City Council; James Rhodes - the longest serving governor of Ohio; Eddie Rickenbacker - famed racecar driver and World War I flying ace; Lucas Sullivant - surveyor and planner of the city of Franklinton in 1797; James Thurber - twentieth century humorist author and cartoonist; and honored veterans of every war since the Civil War.

Below are a few of the places I visited or waymarked while here:

The Grave of a Famous Person (Eddie Rickenbacker)












Three Zinc Headstones

Two Broken Column Headstones

Four Woodmen of the World Headstones (3 shown below)

Five Mausoleums (3 shown below)

An Odd Fellow Memorial

Bas Relief Art on a Bronze Sarcophagus

An American Civil War Monument