Too much of a good thing.

Yesterday we spent the day in Hershey, PA.
Sounds fun, right?
Not so much.
I am still recovering from Chocolate Shock.

10am: Arrive in Chocolate World.
10:15: Purchase tickets for 3-D movie and Tasting Adventure
10:30: Coffee and muffin in food court
11:00: Eat first fun-size Hershey bar given free upon exiting the movie
11:15: Take free "tour"
11:25: Eat York Peppermint Patty given free upon exiting the tour
11:35: Take free "tour" again
11:45: Politely refuse 2nd fun-size Hershey bar given free upon exiting the tour
12:00: Tasting Adventure- 1 chocolate drink with cinnamon and coffee, 1 fun-size Hershey bar, 1 Extra Dark Hershey square, 1 Dark Bliss square, 1 specialty milk square, 1 Caramel Hershey kiss
12:45: Salad, sandwiches, water in the food court
1:00: Shopping in retail centers
1:15: Eat Reese's Dark Cups because they advertise "You Could Win $20,000" on the package

2:30: Arrive at The Hershey Story Museum
2:45: Enter The Chocolate Lab class
2:50: Make our own chocolate bar. Some licking of the spoon may have occurred.
3:30: Leave The Chocolate Lab
3:45: Enter Cafe Zooka at The Hershey Story Museum
4:00: Share a "Chocolates of the World" 6-cup tasting spread of drinkable chocolate
4:30-6:00: Enter Chocolate Coma while children swim in hot hotel pool

24 Hours Later: Experience Stomach Discomfort

My thoughts on Road Tripping

Disclaimer: This post is not meant to offend any North-dwellers. Remember, it's from a Southerner's point of view.

Driving through the Northeast: a sortable list.

In the course of our 21-day road trip, we had the privilege of driving through Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia, Washington, DC, Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts.

Here are some issues we noted during this sojourn.

Signage: We in the South are so proud of our chain restaurants that we display a blue sign at each exit, telling you what foods are available there- you know, Hardees, Chick-Fil-A, or McDonald’s. Occasionally a Wendy’s, or in upscale areas, a Chili’s or Applebees. However, in the North we found an appalling lack of signage, which limited our coffee stops significantly. (because you can’t exit I-83 on a blind search for a Starbucks. You might never find one.)
However, in the North they kind of make up for it by conveniently placing a Dunkin Donuts at ½ mile intervals.

Speed Limit: In Georgia we are able to drive up to 70 mph on Interstates (and really, that possibly means 79 if luck is on your side). However, we found that the North holds strictly to 65, and even (gasp!) 55 in some areas. Furthermore, in the grand state of Connecticut, the residents don’t even deign to speed. They hold at a firm 65 mph the whole way through their tiny state. And while I’m on the subject of Connecticut, for such a tiny state, there are many, many of you plodding along on I-95 (at the aforementioned 65 mph MAX) that it took me almost two hours to travel your measly 93 miles. Where are you all going? And if it’s so important, why won’t you drive faster?

Signage, Pt 2: Really, the Northeast needs to get on board with the whole “mile markers match the exit signs” thing. It can really throw one for a loop in a place like Rhode Island. It’s only about 20 miles across to begin with, is it so tough to match the exits? There are only about 10 exits to change – shouldn’t be too hard, really.
We would like to give PA a holla for adapting, though.

Pros:
Connecticut: Steamed Cheeseburgers at Ted’s in Meriden. Totally worth the slow driving to get there. Also, all along the (slow) I-95 corridor, there are pull-off stops that resemble a “Rest Area” in the South, but they have a gas station and a McDonald’s each. Those are completely fabulous.

New York: We saw not one police officer on either of our trips through the Empire State. Thanks, guys. Would also like to add that the Hudson River Valley is beautiful.

Pennsylvania: Aside from the aforementioned ‘mile markers matching exit signs’, PA is beautiful from every vantage point that I laid eyes on. No wonder the Quakers snatched that place up.

All across the North: Friendly’s- an excellent way to blow 800 calories on a dessert.

Grown-Up Cheater Pants

To the man in the white polo shirt on the Flying Horses Carousel:

Please understand that the carousel is a ride for children, and that grabbing the brass ring is no longer a challenge when you are 2 feet taller than all of your competitors. Please also realize that you embarrassed yourself greatly today when the ten-years-your-junior Manager had to call you out on the microphone- TWICE- and then climb onto the still-moving carousel to bless you out for reaching across to grab rings that were not allotted for your side of the ride.

Dude. It's a $2 ride, and you looked like a fool.

When you try to steal joy from deserving children, there will always be a passel of moms ready to take your cheating hiney down. We will be watching for you next time.

The Most Faithful Man in the New Testament

The Gospel of Matthew, chapter 8:

The faith of the centurion has always puzzled me. Was his faith so great because he knew Jesus could heal his servant from afar, recognizing Jesus's authority to make that happen? Or was it because he was so humble he proclaimed he didn't deserve to have Jesus come to his home?

As I write this (and these things can always change), I believe it was the first. All of us, when faced with Jesus, will recognize our depravity and unworthiness. However, when the centurion made the comparison about authority he says, "I tell soldiers to 'do this' and they obey" (paraphrasing. can't you tell?)- he was assuming that Jesus could make similar proclamations- to say "heal" from afar, and his commands are obeyed.

Even more so I think most of us know that God indeed has that authority, but when it comes to Him using that authority on our behalf, we waver in our certainty. That is where the humility and unworthiness bleeds over into the faith, where it doesn't belong: faith isn't based on who WE are, but on who HE is. Therefore our faith shouldn't be tied to our unworthiness, but only to a recognition of His greatness.

Worry and Stress

According to Francis Chan:

"Worry: implies that we don't quite trust that God is big enough, powerful enough, or loving enough to take care of what's happening in our lives.

Stress: says that the things we're involved in are important enough to merit our impatience, our lack of grace towards others, and our tight grip of control.

Basically, these two behaviors communicate that it's okay to sin and not trust God because the stuff in my life is somehow exceptional.

Both worry and stress reek of arrogance."

I really can't follow that up with anything. Enjoy your thinking.