Sponsored: The tickets for this trip were provided complimentary by Hersheypark
I mentioned in May that I was looking at doing a bunch of little day trips for more of a ‘staycation’ summer this year. We hadn’t been to Hersheypark in a few years – in fact, the last time I blogged about a Hershey visit was 2016!
In the past we would visit for a full weekend, but since it’s less than 2 hours away it could be a day visit for us (saving us from paying for a hotel… and a pet sitter). As it turns out, my friends at Hersheypark were so kind as to send us park tickets, so we visited over the weekend!
A little about Hersheypark: Milton S. Hershey opened Hersheypark in 1906. Hersheypark offers three parks in one, including a zoo, the largest rollercoaster collection in the Northeast and a waterpark. There are more than 70 rides, including 15 coasters and an 11-acre water park with 16 attractions. It is also the only amusement park in world focused on chocolate and one of my favorite parts of a visit is to their chocolate store for treats!
I really wanted to go for a visit while it was still May for a couple reasons. First of all, the weather was INCREDIBLE! The high was in the mid 70’s when we visited and we could not have asked for a more beautiful day. I also wanted to go before all the schools let out, hoping for lighter crowds.
As I mentioned, Hersheypark provided the admission tickets which was wonderful. In addition to the tickets, you need to pay for parking. We purchased parking online before we left for $25, rather than pay the at-the-door cost of $40. I also downloaded the Hershypark app the day before, so that we had access to ride availability and wait times. With that being said, some of the wait times seemed quite off when comparing real life with the app.
Okay, are you ready for some cuteness?
Here’s Jack measuring up with his Hershey’s characters about 10 years apart:
Yup, as of a couple weeks ago my Jolly Rancher sized kid is officially taller than me (I’m 5’7”).
And here’s a little swings comparison – 2014 vs 2026:
We had SO MUCH FUN at the park this year. Our favorite rides were the Hershey Triple Tower, the Pirate Ship, the swings and the Sooper Dooper Looper rollercoaster.
Before we left, we made sure to go through Chocolate World for their Chocolate Tour ride and did a little shopping so we had snacks for the ride home. I’m a huge lover of Chocolate Twizzlers, so I was happy to buy some for my stash.
It was such a wonderful day trip and we definitely want to visit again soon!
With summer just around the corner, I’m already daydreaming about taking days off work to enjoy the warm weather and long evenings where the sun doesn’t set until late. Last year, we enjoyed a week down in Naples, Florida, as well as some time down in Ocean City, Maryland. However, this year we are working to save up a bit so we will be sticking with Ocean City for *free* visits to the shared family house.
I love having little adventures to look forward to though, so I was brainstorming some staycation ideas. I’d like to have a few little day trips that we can enjoy scattered around – all the fun, but none of the dog sitting payments needed!
Here’s what I came up with so far. Be prepared, it’s literally a brain dump of all the ideas floating around in my mind:
Black Barn Alpacas – We did family yoga with alpacas in June 2025 and had so much fun! I was thinking we could make a return visit and include family — my sisters and brother have 6 kids under 6 between them, which makes for some fun chaos. Maybe do an alpaca visit and bring a picnic for a longer experience?
Hershey Park – We haven’t visited Hershey Park for a few years and typically when we would go, we’d stay overnight. However, it’s less than 2 hours away so it could totally be done as a day trip. I’m thinking I’d want to go more in the spring/early summer part of the year though to keep the crowds down. Hmm… will need to look into this soon.
Cunningham Falls State Park – Cunningham Falls is in the Catoctin Mountains near Thurmont, Maryland and has forested hiking trails and scenic waterfalls. According to the website, they also have canoeing, kayaking, tubing and swimming. I honestly don’t know if we’ve ever been there before, but it’s only about an hour away so it might be worth doing a day trip.
National Harbor – We’ve visited the National Harbor around Christmas, but we’ve never gone during the summer before. It might be fun to plan a day where we can rent a kayak for a bit, eat something delicious, and ride the Capital Wheel for some beautiful views. There is also a free summer concert series that could be fun.
Museum Day in DC – While I absolutely hate the drive into DC, it would be cool to take off on a weekday to head to the National Mall and hit up a few museums. Maybe the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History and the National Museum of American History. We can wander around to our hearts content and then go have an amazing meal somewhere. And yes, delicious food comes up a lot in my brain…
Berkeley Springs State Park – While I was clicking around for day trip/staycation/activity ideas, I was reminded that there are mineral springs at Berkeley Springs. We visited Berkeley Springs years ago for their Apple Butter Festival (so good!), but we’ve never experienced the natural warm mineral springs that are famed for their healing properties.
An idea for a summer day trip is that we leave the teen and dogs at home and go out for a romantic day date! We can book the private Roman Bath at the park in advance, but play the rest of the day by ear. Maybe enjoy the scenic drive, wander the downtown shops with coffee in hand, go for a dip in the private Roman Bath (or perhaps book massages…) and then enjoy a delicious lunch or dinner before heading back home.
Other Stuff –I’d also like to throw in a couple little fairs/festivals where they do fireworks on a Friday night. While that’s not really a full day staycation idea, it is certainly something I want to add to my summer fun list. Oooh and I also need to add in some fruit picking days – we always like to go pick our own strawberries and peaches once they are ready!
Ok, that’s it for now. But I’d love to know if you have any fun staycation ideas I should add to my list for the summer! It can be Maryland/Virginia/West Virginia/Pennsylvania specific, or something you love to do where you live that I should research for my area.
For our last few trips out west, we’ve used Vegas as a convenient landing point to then drive off into the sunset for a Utah adventure. However, there’s lots of stuff to do within driving distance of Vegas other than the casinos on the strip. So, for this trip we decided to make Vegas our home-base and explore the surrounding areas each day!
Let’s get into it:
Day 1: Fly to Las Vegas and another TURO Disaster
We flew out of BWI in the evening and arrived in Las Vegas around 10pm their time (which was 1am our time). We picked up our TURO rental from the airport, then drove right to our VRBO house, unpacked our pajamas and went to bed.
That part went according to plan. What didn’t go according to plan is that for the SECOND TIME IN A ROW we found out the original TURO vehicle we rented was suddenly unavailable and they cancelled our reservation on the day of our trip (this also happened to us on our December/January trip to Tucson). Sigh.
We found this out literally when we were leaving for the airport, so I drove while Travis stressed out and tried to find a replacement vehicle in the same price range that would be ready by time we landed in Vegas. We did up end up finding a car (and getting a $100ish refund because it was a bit cheaper than our original choice), but it was kind of crappy. And it started the theme of the trip of ‘everything being a bit broken’ (more on that later). This second bad experience in a row with TURO really has us considering whether we want to continue using them in the future.
Day 2: Valley of Fire State Park
After waking up, we went on the hunt for breakfast and ended up at a waffle place. After stuffing ourselves with all the carbs, we loaded up at Trader Joe’s and stocked the VRBO kitchen with all the snacks.
Our plan was to visit Valley of Fire State Park ($15 per car) for our third time. It is one of my absolute favorite places in the world, so it was a ‘must do’ on my list for the week. We stopped for sandwiches on our way out of town, drove to Valley of Fire, and enjoyed a picnic while overlooking the The Beehives, a grouping of large sandstone formations resembling large beehives.
From there, we stopped at a variety of overlooks and also hiked the Rainbow Vista trail.
Also, yes, I like to hike in skirts. Frankly, we aren’t doing very difficult hiking, I wear bike shorts under my skirts, AND most of my wardrobe is secondhand so I’m not too fussy about it.
Oh and I LOST MY MIND that we were so lucky to see various kinds of cactus blooming with flowers all week!
After returning to Vegas, we went to Viva Las Arepas for dinner, a spot I heard about with authentic Venezuelan food. We loved both their Arepas and their Empanadas!
Day 3: Death Valley
One of the places that we REALLY wanted to visit was Death Valley, since we had never been there. It was about 2 hours away from Vegas, so we ate breakfast at the house before we left, loaded up the car with snacks and water, and hit the road. On the way, we made sure to stop at the Area 51 Alien Center to use the restrooms, get a few more snacks, and top off the car’s gas and oil. They have a ton of alien themed items, so it’s a great spot to stretch your legs and look around a bit!
Once we got into Death Valley (we used our America the Beautiful pass), we started at the Visitor Center and then made stops at the Devil’s Golf Course, Badwater Basin, Dantes View, Artist’s Drive and Zabriskie Point.
You guys, it was absolutely INSANE!
Devil’s Golf Course:
It has salt formations that were left behind by the evaporation of an ancient lake and they are absolutely incredible to see in person. And yes, I tasted a little taste of it… it’s salty.
Badwater Basin:
Artist’s Palette:
There is a 9-mile, one-way road called Artist’s Drive which takes you through a beautiful loop where you can see the multicolored mountains.
Zabriskie Point:
Zabriskie Point has what people call one of the best views in Death Valley and I have to agree. It felt like we were looking at a whole other world!
Day 4: Lake Mead
After having our furthest drive the day before, we decided to have a lazy morning around the house on Day 4. Around lunchtime we hit up Marsigliano’s for pizza and then drove out to Lake Mead, which was only about half an hour away (America the Beautiful pass again).
We went to the Visitor Center first, then visited the Historic Railroad Trail, Boulder Beach and Lakeshore Road to check out the west side of the lake. When we went onto the beach, there were people swimming, but with the rocky beach and water… I absolutely would have needed some water shoes in order to get in!
Day 5: Mojave National Preserve
We started the day with a visit to Pinkbox donuts and HOLY WOW are their donuts insane!
Later in the day, we packed food and water and made the long, long drive to the Mojave National Preserve (no fee or pass needed) to check out the Teutonia Peak Trail. This takes you through the largest and densest Joshua tree forest in the world, which was pretty darn cool.
However, Jack absolutely HATED this hike because there were a ton of flies/bees/buzzy things around. I wasn’t too crazy about it either, to be honest. If I were to re-do the trip, I would skip this stop.
It was quite beautiful though with lots of flowering cactus…
Also, this may be my new favorite photo of Jack and me:
Oh, and we did have our first taste of White Castle burgers on our way back home. And they were FANTASTIC!
Day 6: Vegas
We had planned for Day 6 to be a relatively lazy day, so we hit up some local outlet stores. We didn’t buy anything, but I did see a pair of sparkly, glittery Birkenstock sandals that are absolutely on my wish list.
That evening, we headed out to The Strip and had dinner at the Ri Ra Irish Pub, which had some fantastic fish and chips. After dinner, we walked over to the Blue Man Group show at Luxor and absolutely loved it! It was the perfect show for a family with a teenager and it kept everyone’s attention for the whole 1-2 hours of the performance.
Day 7: Red Rocks Canyon
Red Rocks Canyon is only about 20 minutes away from Vegas, so it’s a great quick trip to see some mountains even if you’re in town to gamble. For Red Rocks Canyon they have a timed entry system from October 1 – May 31, so I had purchased the entry pass before we left for our trip ($2 for timed entry pass and America the Beautiful pass for park entrance). For us, this was more of a hop-out, hop-in visit where we were able to view many of the beautiful overlooks.
That evening, Travis convinced me that we should stop by at least one thrift store on our trip… and I found the most gorgeous pair of cowboy boots. (I shared them on Instagram and will be talking about them more on this month’s Thrift Haul post).
Day 8: Back to Maryland
We had an early flight out, so we were up before the sun rose to return our car rental and hop on our plane.
Pros + Cons
Pros: We loved the trip and I highly recommend Valley of Fire, Death Valley and Red Rocks Canyon for families. If you’re short on time, you can absolutely skip Lake Mead and the Mojave National Preserve. The Blue Man Group was fantastic and well worth the price to see them!
Favorite food from our trip: Via Las Arepas, Ri Ra Irish Pub, Pinkbox donuts, and Marsigliano’s.
Cons: Before I get into the negatives of our trip, please note that none of these issues ruined our week at all. We had an amazing time and loved our trip. HOWEVER, in true transparency, I like to give you a well-rounded and honest post… including both the good and the bad!
TURO issues: As mentioned before, our TURO rental was a bit of a turd. It had very high mileage (not disclosed), which was concerning when driving to places in the middle of nowhere like Death Valley and the Mojave National Preserve. It also had issues like the front bumper missing parts, cruise control not working, and most hilariously… the windows could only be operated from the driver (no, the child lock was not on). So, throughout the trip, I’d request that Travis give me “a cannoli of window opening” to get a nice breeze going.
However, it got us around for our whole trip and it was relatively cheap, so it didn’t ruin our week or anything.
VRBO issues: Before committing to a house, I spend hours looking for the perfect property for us. I closely review every single photo, description and customer review of the property. I even look at nearby property reviews to get feedback on the neighborhood/area when we aren’t familiar with it. The house we rented in Vegas looked great online and in reviews, but in reality, it had wear-and-tear that just didn’t match our expectations based on their listing.
Things were broken, dented and just all-around janky. The worst part was there was a persistent bee issue around the pool – a dozen or so bees congregated at the water near the entry steps. While the property manager was responsive and contacted both pest control and their pool service, the bee issue persisted and we were unable to use the pool during our stay… which was a real bummer! (I did work with VRBO when we returned and they refunded us a portion of our rental cost, so I do appreciate that).
Thankfully, the location was good, the beds were comfortable and the hot tub was great. Most importantly, the house was clean and safe. So, I do feel like I’m having a bit of a ‘champagne problems’ issue, but like I said before, it added to the whole ‘everything’s a bit broken’ joke we had going through the week.
So, overall our vacation was great and we absolutely loved our adventures. Even with the rental car issues and house issues, we had a fantastic time. Let me know if you’re planning a trip out to Nevada and if you have any questions!
