Chocolate, Beer, Music... What else matters?

This past weekend, Brett and I decided to take a little road trip to Harrisburg!  Appalachian Brewing Company was putting on their annual "Winterfest" event and we decided to make the trip over for it.  We did a similar trip a few years ago for the very same reason.  And once again, we had a blast!

We hit the road Friday after work and made it to Harrisburg just in time to grab a bite to eat (and some beers, of course) before calling it a night.

On Saturday, we had lots of plans!  And these plans started with spending some time at Hershey!!  First, we spent some time at the Hershey Story museum learning all about Milton Hershey and how his famous chocolate came to be.  And THEN, we did a chocolate tasting!!  We got to try various chocolates from different regions all over the world and it was so awesome.  My love for chocolate is strong, so naturally this was one of my favorite parts of the weekend. :)  We also hit up the Chocolate World ride because what's a trip to Hershey without it. ;)

After all this chocolate, we need to take a breather before moving on to the next item on the agenda (beer!).  So we decided to head up to Hotel Hershey and walk around the grounds for a bit, since the weather was really awesome this weekend!

The sun was starting to set and we figured it was about time for some beer, so we headed over to Troegs Brewing Company (one of my faves!).  We reserved a spot on the last brewery tour of the day and it was pretty cool.  We got to go into the back of the brewery, where usually only the brewers are allowed, and learn all about Troegs and how they make their great beer.  And at the end, we got to do a beer tasting that resulted in a few free pint glasses, score!  And after the tour, of course we stuck around for a while drinking some beers and enjoying the cool vibe of the brewery.

After such a fun, jam packed day, it was time for Winterfest at Appalachian Brewing Company!  We got to drink local brews and see some great (and some not so great) bands throughout the night.  And of course, it ended with pizza. :)

On Sunday, we woke up and wandered around downtown Harrisburg for a while before hitting the road.  The sun was shining, but it was still pretty chilly.  We made the most of it though!

On our way home to Pittsburgh, we decided to make a detour visit to Johnstown (just like last time!) to take a stroll down memory lane.  We walked around UPJ's campus (where we both went & where we first met/kissed/lived/etc!), drove by our old apartment, and ate dinner at one of our favorite Johnstown restaurants (The Boulevard).

After all that fun, it was time to head home to Pittsburgh.  We definitely packed in a lot in a short 2 days.  Just goes to show that even a small weekend getaway can be so much fun!

Till next time!*

Weekend Road Trippin' - Part 1

Chocolate, beer, and live music.

That pretty much sums up our road trip this past weekend!  It was such a nice mini weekend getaway.  We headed out bright and early Saturday morning.  We were going to leave Friday night, but decided it would have been much too rushed to try to get packed and out the door after work.  So Saturday morning it was.  The sun was shining, we were hopped up on coffee, and zooming down the turnpike to Harrisburg.

Before heading into Harrisburg, we detoured to Hershey for some chocolate and beer!  But first, lunch.  As soon as we pulled into the town of Hershey, we found a cute little cafe: The Chocolate Avenue Grill.  It hit the spot!

     

After lunch, we went directly across the street to HERSHEY PARK!  I haven't been to Hershey Park since I was wee little.  I looove chocolate, so this was uber exciting.  I was probably more excited than some of the 5 year olds there...  don't care!  And you better believe we road the Chocolate Tour Ride.  We maaaay have been the only couple there without small children... again, don't care!  We got free chocolate at the end, so that was all that mattered.  

After Chocolate World, we put on our "adult" pants and made our way over to Troegs Brewing Company.  This brewery was AWESOME.  In fact, it's getting its own post because of its complete awesomeness.  We spent a couple hours there taste testing beers and wandering around the brewery on a self-guided tour.  It was awesome.

Once we got our fill of beer for the afternoon, we headed over to downtown Harrisburg, where we were spending the night.  We got to the hotel and were happy to discover that they upgraded our room to a King suite!  Heeeyooo!  And then we took a nap...

 

Once we got our second wind, we were ready to take on the night!  We grabbed some beers & dinner at a local pub McGrath's, then made our way over to the Appalachian Brewing Company for WinterFest.  For a $10 entrance fee, we got to see over 15 live bands on 2 stages while drinking awesome beer into the wee hours of the night.  It was seriously so much fun.  Our favorite band of the night was a blue grass band from Scranton, PA and I can't remember their name, but they were awesome!  We had such a blast.  The night ended with pizza.  Obviously. 

 

(I didn't realize how many photos I was going to have from this little weekend trip, so I split it up into 2 posts.  Part 2 coming soon!)