Trippin' to PA: A Day 2 Full of Sugary Dare-Devilry

Ah, Breakfast.  What sort of breakfast should one have when one goes away to PA and is in the vicinity of Downtown Lancaster?

Me thinks "The Fractured Prune" is a fine option.

The name alone is a win

At least, the sort of breakfast we had was one of doughnuts.  That may not work for some and it does not always work for us.


The Fractured Prune had specialty doughnuts and even though H1 did not mention this place to me on account of their doughnuts being of the 'cake' variety, I learned a valuable lesson from my time spent at the Doughnut Plant.

The lesson was that cake doughnuts should not be dismissed even though I prefer yeast doughnuts.  I have Doughnut Plant's tres leches doughnut to thank for slapping that into my senses.

The problem I faced at the Fractured Prune was that there were too many choices.  Having not researched beforehand, I later discovered (as I was eating them) that the doughnuts were hand-dipped in glazes and toppings.  That was a slightly disappointing revelation but before I get to the taste, observe the nightmarish six decisions I had to make.

And as if this list was not daunting enough

There was a second list

Looking at the first list again, I see there was a kool aid doughnut I needed to try.  I missed that the first time and now I feel stupid for not having it.  Ugh! In fact, I think I made crappy choices to begin with! Lame!

We went with: a regular sprinkle, Orange Creamsicle, Lemonade, Oreo, Apple Pie, and the Chocolate Covered Banana (because I was clearly in some sort of banana chocolate loving mode).

Sprinkles for BH.  He likes them.

Yargh, the orange creamsicle is infecting my banana chocolate wonder!

I must say though, even at 10 a.m. when we got there, those doughnuts were freshly made and just a pile of hot wonderfulness.  The doughnut itself was grand and it just ever so slightly, I appreciated cake doughnuts even more.

The apple pie was good but not very apple pie-ish making it a fail ruse.  The Lemonade was tart and left me feeling odd and I truthfully cannot decide if I liked it or not.  I'm leaning towards "no" but it certainly was interesting.  I think it was sort of weird eating hot lemonade if that makes sense.  It didn't work too well with me but Luuuiiiissss loved it.  He also loved his Orange Creamsicle and good for him.

I did not taste BH's sprinkle and the Oreo was good, but I guess I lost my mind for a second getting a chocolate inspired doughnut because I hate chocolate doughnuts.

The star for me though, was that chocolate covered banana.

Mini chocolate chips all over that biatch.

Not only did the mini chocolate chips look beauuootiful but it tasted beauuuuooottiful as well.

Trust me.  It was beauuooottiful.

Decidedly ill from all that sugar, we then headed to Dutch Wonderland to burn off the regret on some roller coast rides.

Castle Gifts? A Beheading? Crown Jewels? BIRD'S CUSTARD?!

I get the feeling there is no crown jewel inside... and that black thing my lens is doing is really bothering me.

Dutch Wonderland is all sorts of kid friendly.  By kid friendly, I mean if you're as tall as BH (tall for 4 year old?) then it's awesome for you.

There were bumper cars which I will say now that I am a terrible driver feeding into the stereotypes about female Asian drivers and, proving that I should never get behind the wheel of a real car.  The pile ups when I took the wheel were horrendous.  H1 was sufficiently embarrassed.

There was a shooting gallery.  However, it should be known (and as I've said before) thanks to my many years of archery in the Legend of Zelda, I can shoot a target like nobody's business.

I see a Stalfos, it's over for said Stalfos.

There was a train that took a ride around the park, as well as an air shuttle that did same.

Aww, Lady Liberty.  It would almost remind me of home if she were not in NJ.  Yeah.

What we did not go on was the Gondola Ride. 

The Gondola ride that sailed you along the river that runs around the park was something that did not interest BH.  It was too "boring" as he put it.  What he was interested in was being a Dare Devil and not the lame Ben Affleck kind either, no.

Bypassing the kiddie roller coaster, BH went straight for the big kid stuff.

Dutch Wonderland's Kingdom Coaster

Granted, this is not a crazy coaster of a grand scale like some of those nutty things at Six Flags but it was still fast, gave you the anticipation of a big drop and was fun as all hell.

BH loved it so much, he went on it twice.  I think he probably could have spent his entire day on it if given the chance and more time.

That or the crazy Shuttle swing ride.  It's not as bad as some of the ones at Rye Playland or other locations but it was bad enough.  BH loved it.

After the debacles at Dutch Wonderland, we drove to Hershey to visit Chocolate World.

The sweetest place on earth? Hmm.  I'm not sure

The People of Hershey, PA got jokes.

We decided that Hershey Park was probably not BH friendly and just stuck to a tour of the Hershey Chocolate Factory.

At Chocolate World, animals showed me their asses, they sang to me, we saw the totals for the day's production of Hershey products and H1 and I drank the best milkshake ever.

Asses abound

Singing ensues

Excuse me, but does this involve currying? If so, please sign us up.  Though, I seem to recall that was not said on the tour...

A Hershey Special Dark Milkshake.  Best.  Milkshake.  Ever.  And we don't even care for chocolate. Other than it's dark chocolately, well-blended greatness - you know what else was fab about this thing? It was free with a coupon H1 had found.

Not as good? The York Peppermint Patty Milkshake.  No.

If all this seems a bit rushed it's that we do not really like Hershey chocolates.  In fact, H1 likens it to vomit.  I think it's rather poor tasting chocolate.  Truly.  Sorry Hershey, it's just gross.  But I do love me some twizzlers! Mmm, those were some fresh twizzlers you gave me.  Also, the Special Dark Milkshake was damned fine.  DAMNED FINE.

The day was not all sugar though.  We ended it by going to "Rice & Noodles".  We found this place to be a much talked about restaurant and highly rated place in the otherwise seemingly Food Wasteland that is PA.  In two and a half days, there really was not enough time to explore to dis-prove that statement.  Perhaps those places exist around the area where we were but we did what we could given the short span.

It looks sufficiently unassuming from the outside.  A sure sign something good is going on inside.

I need one of those giant noodle sculpture thingies for my room.

I do have a confession to make though - I'm not well versed in Vietnamese food.  I know, I know.  It's tragic that I do not know good pho and I have nothing to compare this place too.  What I can say though, is that the food was a good tasty experience for the most part.

I mean, any place that has coconut water on their menu and it comes with jelly is doing something right.  Though, they may have done wrong by sweetening it some.  Bah, whatever.  It was still a good find.

I went with the Jasmine Iced Tea and Luuuiiiiissss went with a limeade seltzer mix.  Those things were also refreshing.

For our meals, Luiiisss had some sort of chicken which I did not taste.

It looked good though.  Sometimes all you need is white rice and some meat.

I was full from the milkshake even though that was had a good three hours before.  And with that, I had to struggle to eat my meal but that bowl of beef combination pho was awesome.

It had tripe, cow heel and thing tasty strips of beef.

And good time cilantro piled on to some good time noodles.

I love you noodles.

H1 had a really, really good tasting pork banh mi.  She accidentally ordered the wrong thing but that pork was so tasty, it was almost okay that she did not get the pate.  'Twas very sad for H1.  A sad sort of yummy.

I could use some of that pork tomorrow.  Mm.

However, overall it was not a good banh mi on account of the bread.  No.  That could have been better, and we've had better.

Still...the pork...::drool::

Ah, we also had some appetizers which were yummy - pork and crab spring rolls

A terrible picture, yes.

These were steaming hot, crispy and flavoured great.

BooHead had a noodle dish with shrimp.  It was light and was just okay.  And for dessert to go, I had a Vietnamese flan which was nothing to talk about.  So I won't.  Other than to say it was of the really eggy variety.

So, that was Day Two.  If you wanted to read about Day One, you could click right here.

And if you wanted the addresses of all those awesome places we visited, well I'll do you a kindness and put their addresses right...under...this...:

The Fractured Prune
Lancaster, Pennsylvania
255 N. Queen Street
Lancaster, PA 17602
717-517-7113
http://www.fracturedprune.com/index.php


Dutch Wonderland
Family Amusement Park
2249 Lincoln Highway East
Lancaster, PA 17602
http://www.dutchwonderland.com/index.php

HERSHEY'S CHOCOLATE WORLD Attraction
251 Park Boulevard
Hershey, PA 17033
http://www.hersheys.com/chocolateworld/

Rice & Noodles
1238 Lititz Pike
Lancaster, PA 17601
(717) 481-PHO1(7461)
http://www.riceandnoodlesrestaurant.com/


Fellow 3DS Cool Kids Met Via Streetpass at on Day 2 on 7/06/2011: 2 kids.  One from Florida and one from New York.  I 'met' them at Hershey's Chocolate World because cool kids apparently do not hang out at Dutch Wonderland.  But that's a lie because I was there.  Psh.