Today was a slower day than I liked. The weather has not been super great and we decided to keep everything local. We had a tremendously late start and we decided to kill the day at Bass Pro. We are within walking distance of the place, and visiting here is always interesting. If you know, you know.
This trip has been kind of fun and interesting, but the pace is so painfully slow. A part of this is my leg just will not cooperate and I cannot walk as fast as everyone else. It hurts to go faster than my normal pace, but my normal pace is so slow for everyone else. If I have to rush on my feet, well, that’s a problem. Another issue is that Brandi and Abby will not wake up on their own. Wesley will wake up early, and go back to sleep because he realizes nothing is going to happen, I wake up from 5 to 7 in the morning. I use that down time to write and play some games on my phone, but ultimately I wish we would just go.
When my bunch finally does wake up they drag ass getting ready, the kids give each other a hard time and it almost always takes Abby time to turn off goblin mode. Regardless, on this day we got up and went into Hershey and we visited the Hershey Story Museum.
Continue reading Harrisburg, PA: Day 2, Trip Day 9
We rested in the room and I was writing and drinking coffee. We waited for the MagiQuest ceremony for Master Magi to begin and we walked over to that. It was fun. It was cute. It marked the end of our Great Wolf stay. Overall, I would say the stay here was fantastic. We all had fun and plenty of excitement.
Before the ceremony I was drinking coffee, writing, and doing a lot of packing. I walked out and grabbed carts to carry our things to the van and I did some sorting and organizing. Brandi finished a bit of it while Abby and I were at the ceremony and we headed out. While waiting on Brandi to go fill our souvenir cups, I spoked with a guy named Mike from Hoboken, NJ. I told him that I think I have met more people from NJ in Pennsylvania than actual Pennsylvanians.
There was a dude in the lodge who was caulking and painting our hallway, and every day I spoke with him. He had to run over 2 miles of caulk and had to paint the walls as well. He seemed to be the only guy doing it. He seemed happy with his job, though and he was doing a pretty good job.
The drive out of Pocono Mountains was pretty as we drove to Harrisburg, PA for our Hershey visit. Lots of vistas to see and pretty trees. We at lunch at Cracker Barrel and I got the campfire shrimp meal. It was delicious, but not very much food.
We made it Harrisburg and to our room at stayAPT Suites. We are here for a week. A WEEK. My poor momma thought I was joking, but she was so disappointed at how long we will be gone for. I am fighting off a cold. The dishwasher here is broken and we managed to get a night off of our overall stay. The laundromat here is EXPENSIVE. Anyhow, Wesley and I watched One Piece and that was that. Not a bad room, but now we have to figure out what to do.
We started a little later today than usual, but we were tired. I drank coffee, wrote on this blog, and eventually the kids and I went swimming. Brandi met us downstairs. We had a good time and we were out of the water by 2 and eating a late pizza lunch by 3. We rested and Abby and I went downstairs and did some Magiquest stuff and we eventually met up with Brandi and Abby and finished out the night.
It was a fun day for sure. Being in the hot tub with Brandi was fun and I goofed off and told Willow (The chat service for Great Wolf Lodge) that “I am not trying to be a Karen, but there are kids in the adults only hot tub!” Nothing came of it, however. It’s probably more of a suggestion than an enforceable rule.
The kids and I managed to finally get Brandi on a water slide. The Hydro Plunge was perfect because it’s not a small tube, it has open air sections, it isn’t too crazy and it’s easy to get in and out of. A real “old lady friendly” slide. I think she really enjoyed it. Wesley managed to get me on the drop slide. I do believe it is the highest platform in the park, which meant way more stairs than I wanted to climb. The drop slide is an exhilarating experience that requires you to essentially fall through a trap door. What a blast.
When we met up with Wes and Brandi, we went bowling and played golf. I broke my wand topped by sitting on it at the bowling alley and Abby left her pink cloak and that disappeared forever. We were bummed out, but through a little bit of friendly effort, I managed to get a replacement cloak and I had time to actually look at toppers for my wand and found one that didn’t break when I SAT ON THE WANDS AGAIN. We did the mirror maze and Wesley and Brandi went up to the room.
Abby and I finished Magiquest. Is the game hokey as hell? Yes, but I loved the game and I loved spending time with Abby. We just have a ceremony to do to finish it all up. That is tomorrow.
Yesterday (I am writing this on 5/22/2025) was a fucking blast for sure. I got about 5 cups of coffee in me and at around 9am I escorted Abby through some more of our Magiquest journey. Once 10am hit, we hauled tail to the waterpark and the kids and I rode the Hydro Plunge, which is the best slide here. We spent the entire day in the water park and I managed to get one of those $125 cabanas for $50. I love saving money, especially when it’s for top tier, bougee shit.
The cabana experience is quite nice. You get some privacy, a TV, a slightly stocked (with water) mini fridge, comfortable seats and access to a server who is at your beck and call. Oh, you also get a safe to lock your valuables in, which came in handy last night when I decided to stop packing my phone around. The cabana is useful because you have a pronounced “headquarters” that the kids can report to throughout the day. There is also more room to bring more stuff, such as snacks and drinks and the like.
Dude, sliding at a waterpark can be dangerous. I cut my finger, it was superficial, but still annoying. I got a little friction burn on my elbow in the racing slide and I thought I broke my elbow for a second on another water slide. Abby and I rode on the Coyote Cannon slide and when we got into the bowl, my ass was on fire from the friction and WE STOPPED IN THE MIDDLE OF THE BOWL. We were shuffling through trying to get to the exit and then to my left I see a dad and his son fly by. I go “OH SHIT ABBY GET THAT GYATT MOVING!” and we did and she was screaming. That was the most fun and funniest moment I have had with her. I hope I never forget that. Yes, I do use slang with my kids, even if it’s wrong/inappropriate/out of context.
Wesley an I did some racing and I won, and he won, When Abby and I raced, I won because I finally understood how to approach the slide. You have to kind of dive into it. If I were in better shape and about 100 lbs less, I would do a running dive into it. Staying on the mat is difficult when you’re hauling as much ass as me.
Lunch in the cabana was free because we have 5 free lunches in our package. It was brought to us by our server. It was tasty but damn I was starving to death afterwards. I snacked on peanuts and drank a gallon of water and just did slides, and we did some swimming in the wave pool. We played an aggressive game of pool basketball and we had a fantastic time at that. I was TIRED after that. I think today I may do the fort with the kids just to see what that’s all about.
While chilling in the cabana Brandi told me that we had a random charge to our room. She interrogated me about it and then she inquired with the Willow Chat feature in the Great Wolf Lodge app. We had a charge for two small cups of Dip N’ Dots. Nope, I didn’t get that. I love those things, but that’s a lot of money for a handful of ice cream. Willow took that info to the food sales manager and they said our son charged it to our room. Our son whose initials are apparently “LG.” Brandi got it fixed, but this place has tried to try some funny shit with us several times. We even had a couple of issues with the one in Grapevine as far as the money stuff goes.
If you visit Great Wolf Lodge watch your expenses, hang on to your money, and stay the hell out of the arcade. Anyhow, here is a bullet list of thoughts from yesterday.
So I woke up before everyone and started draining coffee. Great Wolf Lodge has some nice single serve coffee packs and I actually will put in some effort to make sure I have plenty. This will help me get a proper start to my days here since I have made the irresponsible decision to not watch my food intake. The kids eventually woke up and we all waited on Brandi. We started our day with a bang – in the Water Park.
I walked around the water park and it was noticeably bigger and better than the lodge in Grapevine, Texas. There were a lot more people, but the place never really felt crowded. Anyhow, onto the photos!
Ten Paw Bowling is really fun. All the balls weigh about 3 or 4 lbs and are the size of cannonballs or shotput balls. The lanes are very short—even shorter than the ones in Grapevine, TX. The game only lasts five frames, which sucks because if you’re paying per game, you’re paying a lot. Getting an unlimited bowling package is the only way to go.
My bowling time was interrupted by a Walmart delivery, so I had to step out for a bit. I was happy to win with a strike at the end, plus some extra pins (I don’t know what that’s called). In Grapevine, when we wanted to play, we just asked, and they gave us tokens. Here? The attendant had to set up the game manually, which really messed up the flow.
Speaking of Walmart, their delivery service came in handy on this trip. We have Walmart+, which allows free deliveries. The best part is you can change stores and addresses, so it works wherever you go. We ordered food, supplies we forgot at home, and drinks. It kept us from driving off-site, which was incredibly convenient.
I’m happy we got a free $50 game card for the arcade, but we burned through it in less than ten minutes. I ordered a pizza, and we drained the card to zero before the order was even ready. That’s alarming—if you were there for a few hours, you’d be dropping serious cash.
You’d think with how expensive the games are, the prizes in the gift shop would be reasonably priced. Nope. Even the tickets were overpriced. I won about 170 tickets playing my favorite game (an extra-large version where balls drop into holes for different prizes).
I tried to get Wesley to play Magiquest this time, but he still refused. Abby and I decided to use our two free wands (included in our package) to get two free wand toppers instead. We started strong, but she tired out quickly. I learned that a few slices of pizza and a big salad gave me enough energy to outlast her. The only downside was my slow walking pace due to foot pain—though it wasn’t as bad as last trip. I kept a comfortable speed for myself.
The mirror maze was cool but definitely a “one-and-done” experience. Maybe it’d be better alone if you wanted to take it all in, but overall, it was just meh. Wesley hit his head pretty hard and cried a bit, but after checking that he was okay, I held out my hand and told him to get up—he was fine. He toughened up, and we finished the maze together.
Mini golf was fun, and I hope we play again next time—without keeping score. Being the scorekeeper while juggling candy was annoying. The holes don’t have pedestals for scorecards, and the area was cramped, especially with what felt like a family of ten behind us. Nothing ruins mini golf more than feeling rushed. Still, we all had fun—even though Brandi beat me at my favorite game. Wesley struggled (he needs practice), but Abby picked it up quickly.
I love this place!
This Quality Inn motel was restful and the fact that it had breakfast was a big plus. I devoured sausage, eggs, and a few bagels and Wesley had a waffle and a bagel. Abby had some sausage and I am not sure Brandi even ate anything.
After we ate, we headed out. Our next stop is in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania, but we do have one more state to visit, even if it is for just a second…
I honestly did not think we were going to hit WV, but there we were. We visited the welcome center in Bunker Hill, stretched our legs and saw a lot of different dogs. I guess this is the place to take dogs because it was so large.
We finally arrived at Pennsylvania’s welcome center in Greencastle. We are extremely close to Maryland, and Wesley actually thought we were going through it. We may have, and we just missed the welcome sign for all I know. We were headed to the Great Wolf Lodge in the Pocono Mountains, and I was tired. My eyes were heavy, and we made a good drive out of it. A few vast, beautiful vistas were driven through (those spots really needed pullovers), and the trees here were pretty. Seeing the sign welcoming us to the Poconos was a relief, and we finally made it. We finally made it.
We rolled through Pennsylvania and into those Poconos, all the way to the Great Wolf Lodge. We arrived early, unloaded, and went to our rooms. We did some exploring and we did some resting. The kids were excited, but I think everyone was exhausted. Abby and I did some exploring and I got one final pic for the day…
I never thought Econolodge would be such a restful spot, but I slept like a log. The room was nice, the air conditioner was armed with the coldest of polar blasters, and the room did not have an off-putting smell. I can’t really speak on the amenities of the place, except that coffee? Fuhgeddaboudit. The coffee available was decaf and tasted like someone screamed the word coffee into a pot of boiling, brown water.
I went right over to McDonald’s, picked up breakfast and coffee, and we were on our way. We wasted no time.
The drive through Tennessee took a minute, but every second was worth it. The scenery that this little pancake-shaped state offers to drivers is constantly changing from busy cities to the Smoky Mountains. We made one more stop, and it was one of the busiest Buc-ee’s truck stops I have ever seen.
We killed about half an hour at the Buc-ee’s in Sevierville, TN, and loaded up on snacks. I got a little bit of gas from there, and I wish I had gotten a complete fill-up because they had a deal that if you purchased the premium car wash, you could pay $1.44 per gallon. Missed opportunity!
We rolled into Bristol, Virginia and visited the welcome center. It was a small place with some things to see, but not a ton to do. A good leg stretching and some quick photos and we were back on the road. Oh, and on the way through we actually drove on a road with funny name…
We checked into a Quality Inn motel in Verona, VA, and we crashed. Brandi thought it was a hotel and was worried once she found out it was a motel. We have pretty crummy luck with motels, but I was tired and could have slept in the van. It was actually a nice place, and the funny smell was gone quickly.
In the reestablishment of my personal website, Just Chill Here, I am going to utilize this service to journal my family’s travels for the summer of 2025. This is the first major vacation I have taken since my wreck, and the anxiety I felt Friday night while packing and preparing was palpable.
I decided to pack the next morning, and I was in bed early so I could be rested. The plan to drive to the Poconos was broken into three days: two 10-hour days and the third day would be about half of that. What a big trip to take as the first big trip in so long! Interstate travel in such a busy corridor meant I was going to be working this bum foot out more than anything. I was also worried about the diabetes dilemma because food comes at convenience and flavor as opposed to functionality.
Mississippi was our first state to visit, and we crossed at Vicksburg and stretched our legs for a bit. The sights were interesting, and walking through history is always an enjoyable experience for me. Brandi likes to walk around and look, and the kids love when the terrain offers the opportunity to run, jump, potentially break bones, and act like kids.
Driving through Mississippi can be a bit dry, but occasionally you see some reminders of days gone by. We have done a long stay in the state a couple of times in the past, and while I will not elaborate on those times, I do believe one of the most interesting things to see is the slow takeover of kudzu. While beautiful, the kudzu vines are a plague that is slowly overtaking the South.
So we rolled into Alabama’s Sumter Welcome Center in Cuba, Alabama and took another break to stretch our feet some. There was a bit more space to walk around here, and some interesting things to see as well.
After the welcome center, we hit up Cracker Barrel for lunch and it was tasty. The girls both at chicken, Wes a grilled cheese kids meal and I had the Campfire Cookout Chicken. I also ate my weight in corn muffins and biscuits, thus ruining an otherwise decent effort to stay on track for keeping my blood sugar down. This meal made me sleepy for the rest of the drive and we had a pretty long stretch until our next stop.
We arrived at the Econolodge in Chattanooga and headed straight to bed. No shower, nothing. I was toast.
