This post was written by me through an activation with HireInfluence on behalf of VisitPA. Although I received compensation for participating in the campaign, all thoughts and opinions are my own.
Right before we left on our great Pennsylvania adventure I made a blog post about our 5 stops. Once we got on the road we headed to Gettysburg. It took only 3.5 hours from New York City to pull into the hotel in Gettysburg. The hotel lobby even had a giant civil war cannon in the lobby, so clearly this place all about the history. After settling into the hotel, we headed to town to check out the local eats. There are two recommend restaurants/pubs right in the middle of town… the meal was totally enjoyable walking around the rotary circle you could see how pretty much all the buildings were from the 1800’s and some had plates describing their historical importance.
The next morning we headed to the Land of Little Horses, I HIGHLY recommend visiting this place if you have little kids. They run a schedule of events, by the time we arrived we had missed the Tricks (which I hear is the highlight of the day)… but we ended up getting there in time for brush time, which I gotta say was even better for my daughter Harper who loved brushing the horses. In speaking with the nice ladies that ran the admission/gift shop area – you should check groupon as they from time to time offer discounted admission. They also offer food to feed the animals, which was $5 and worth it. Seeing the kids faces light up as the horses, goats and sheep loved to eat it.
Here are some more photos from our visit of the Land of Little Horses…
For our next stop we headed over to the Harley Davidson Factory tour in York PA… It was just over an hour drive to get there (with a fair bit of traffic), There are two types of tours a paid for tour that includes going on the factory floor (but you need to be older then 12 years old) and a free area which shows the step by step process of how a Harley Davidson Motorcycle is made…. Needless to say the kids totally had fun hamming it up on the bikes that were on displayed.
After that we drove another 15 minutes to the Haines Shoe House. Tours of the shoe only cost $5 and tell the story of how the house came to be and while its not an official landmark its become a landmark to all the locals. The best part is there is now an ice cream shop at the base of the shoe. While there make sure you say Hi to Melanie the new owners of the shoe house.
After that we spent night in Intercourse, PA which is like the heart of Amish country, the people who made farm to table a thing in some way shape or form. For the kids it was really interesting to see how a group of people live unlike anyone they’ve known. To see cars driving next to horse and buggies as actual modes of transportation, unlike the little rides around central park was fascinating to my son.
Then it was time to head to the Strasburg Rail Road, one of the oldest running steam rail roads in the country. We opted to purchase tickets for the dinning car… which is one of the only cars you are allowed food in (also on most days you need to make a reservation in advance for that car but since it was a bit of rainy day we lucked out). Although the ride was only 9 miles long, it still was an adventure for the kids and they loved it.
After that we headed to Philadelphia to see the Spruce Street Harbor Park, which was awesome…. there was giant games for the kids to play, hammocks to swing in and a floating dock bar for the adults to play around and party in at night. Theres a major schedule of events and concerts… so I know next time we’ll need to plan some lounging time there. Then we walked just two blocks over to see different parts of “old town” which has buildings dating back to the 1700’s… as we walked thru old town we ended up having Pizza at Pizzera Stella (which was amazing)… I wanted Philly Cheese Steaks but got out voted.
We awake mother’s day with the ability to do 1 last thing… I left it up to my wife and she wanted to do the Rocky steps at the Philadelphia museum of the arts. So we climbed the steps (and trust me we werent alone in that mission)… got to the top and started to ask where they moved the statue of rocky (PS. its now the right of the steps, when you’re looking up at the steps.) We then walked down Benjamin Franklin Highway to capture an amazing shot of my wife and kids and see the Rodin Museum for a bit before it was time to call it a trip and head back to New York.
I’m sooo glad we had a list of Things to do in Pennsylvania cause some of these things we would never had done if we planned the trip ourselves. Sure we’ve done Great Wolf Lodge and Sesame Place but never would have had some of these activities on my list. Also when you look at the Pennsylvania map, its massive almost like really thats a big state but there are soooo many different stories throughout the state – it makes for a great trip. Who knows maybe next time we’ll try camping in PA, but more than likely we’ll do Hershey’s Chocolate World and Crayola factory on our next visits.
This post was written by me through an activation with HireInfluence on behalf of VisitPA. Although I received compensation for participating in the campaign, all thoughts and opinions are my own.
This trip is like the Amazing Race for bloggers. They will give us things to do in PA and we compete against other bloggers to win while we Visit Pennsylvania using the Pennsylvania map!
The other bloggers are:
Zipporah, ChampagneLiving.net
Danasia, TheUrbanRealist.com
Becky, yourmodernfamily.com
We have to go to five places… then each time that we get somewhere, we can win a prizes but so can you! During the upcoming contests you can win a swag pack by chatting with us on social media! You can do it by commenting with the hashtags #AdventurePA, #VisitPA and by following @Visit_PA and @dadarocks.
Now where are we going? All overPennsylvania!
Here are our 5 Things to do in Pennsylvania…
Land of little horses – The girls are going to love this one… It’s based out of Gettysburg and has been around for over 45 years. The girls will get up close and personal with our famous namesake miniature horses and their farm animal friends. Races, Displays, and Special Events are sure to delight the kids.
Harley-Davidson Factory Tour – Based out of York, PA since 1973 the factory tour begins with an introductory video and continues on the factory floor where you’ll get a behind-the-scenes look at the people, processes and products of Vehicle Operations.
Haines Shoe House – Yes in 1948 a house was built to look like a shoe. Looks to have some tasty ice cream sandwiches which I’m sure we’ll need to bribe the kids for a photo in front of the house.
Strasburg Rail Road – Is America’s oldest operating railroad with a charter dating back to June 9, 1832. You might have heard of them for their famous Thomas Train rides that they offer on special dates thought out the year.
Spruce Street Harbor Park – Named one of the best places to visit in Philadelphia by national press, Spruce Street Harbor Park sustained by Univest features colorful hammocks, floating gardens, beautiful lights, refreshing craft beer, and food from popular Philly restaurants.
Now if you’re thinking about places to visit in PA, I highly recommend checking out the Visit Pa website, they’ve got Deals & Events listed out. Trip ideas for Family Getaways or maybe taking in all the history of PA is more your style. Plus its got a great list of places to eat – which is super important when traveling with a family.
Marc has been studying the map and is ready to be my copilot on this trip (We’ll see how long that lasts before he falls asleep but we’re off….
In honor of Star Wars Day on May the 4th, Ubiquiti Labs is announced a new limited edition black AmpliFi HD Mesh Router fit for the “dark side.”
Now I’ve been using an AmpliFi router for the better part of 4 months… its actually life changing. Living in NYC there is a TON of wifi signals and AmpliFi’s mesh network has allowed me to have full wifi with incredible through put anywhere in my apartment.
One of the most incredible things is seeing the speed I’m getting over my wifi from my Verizon FiOS gigabit connection. I’m seeing well over 200+ megs on an iphone 7. Thats why I love the front display showing the speed test for the line your connected too. Plus the Dual-Band 802.11ac Wi-Fi System Delivers Up to 5.25 Gbps Aggregate Speed.
One of the best features of AmpliFi HD family is the ability to scale the number of access points to cover an incredible amount of square footage and multiple levels of a home.
Lets boil it down… AmpliFi HD is designed to offer simple, elegant solutions to support smart home capabilities. It delivers fast internet bandwidth throughout the entire home even when supporting multiple devices at the same time. The AmpliFi HD family includes the AmpliFi HD Mesh System [amazon] (MSRP $349.99), standalone AmpliFi HD Router [amazon] (MSRP $149.99) and standalone AmpliFi HD MeshPoint [amazon] (MSRP $129.99). The AmpliFi HD family features unlimited scalability and is fully customizable for any home no matter the square footage.
How to win it… Contest ends 11:59pm EST. May 10th, 2017.
You must comment telling us one feature of AmpliFi that you love? please include some method for us to contact you in the comment (twitter or email)
You get 1 extra entry for tweeting about this contest (you can do this daily). Must contain the following information: @AmpliFiHome @dadarocks http://dad.am/2pdXiIJ — and you must also leave comment on this blog with the link to your tweet.
Example: I want to win the @AmpliFiHome Dark Side HD Mesh Router from @dadarocks http://dad.am/2pdXiIJ
You get 1 extra entry for following @DadaRocks on twitter –twitter.com/dadarocks you must comment back here that you’re now following
You get 1 extra entry for becoming a Fan on facebook –facebook.com/dadarocks you must comment back here that you’re a fan (and leave a little note on the wall saying hi)
You get 1 extra entry for following @AmpliFiHome on twitter –twitter.com/AmpliFiHome you must comment back here that you’re now following
You will have 12 hours to reply before we pick another winner!
Disclosure: Contest limited to USA. Must be 18+ years old to enter to win.
Just like characters from the Marvel Universe, Super Heroes come in all sizes. Whether you are big like Hulk, small like Ant-Man, a young boy, a teenage girl, in a wheelchair, a casual fan, or a diehard collector, diversity is what makes Super Heroes so powerful. An inspiring child doing great things for the community or an adult fundraising for a good cause…reading the pages of a Marvel comic we’ve seen it all, including teenagers putting on masks to fight crime – if you know someone that can stick to walls and fights crimes give me a holla – but more realistically that person that goes to the soup kitchen every month. That kid that is always collecting items for the homeless. That amazing mom who raised two kids on their own while working two jobs to support them. In life, a lucky few are able to say I know someone doing something amazing, even fewer get that recognition. That’s what we’re doing today – looking to recognize that unsung hero. #WhoIsYourHero
In my life, I’ve met a ton of amazing people…few have stood out in my mind like Jim Higley. Jim is a single dad to three fantastic kids. When Jim was diagnosed with prostate cancer at the age of 44, he traded in his 20-plus-year career in corporate America to become a full-time, stay-at-home dad. Jim talked openly about his treatments and struggles on his blog and no matter how gray the skies – he always had a positive outlook. Jim is just that type of guy. Now, years later, Jim is still out there talking to other stay-at-home dads about his struggles but found his real passion in helping out in a number of different cancer related missions. I remember it like it was yesterday, Jim was using his blog to share an advocacy project on the need to self-screen for testicle cancer. Since that time, he’s taken on a new role in an amazing nonprofit camp that gives children whose lives have been affected by cancer an ability to find community. This past year Jim took a group of dad bloggers on an 84-mile-long hike across the UK to raise funds for Camp Kesem – and if that isn’t super heroic, I really don’t know what is – but that’s just part of it. The $40,000+ funds raised were to open a new Camp Kesem chapter at the University of Maryland in honor of our late dad blogger friend, Oren Miller, who lost his lung cancer battle nearly two years ago. It’s an honor to call Jim a friend. I have always looked up to Jim is an inspiration simply because he has one of the biggest hearts, and the best way to measure a Super Hero is by the size of their heart.
So let’s support our heroes…in the comments below please comment with who is your hero and what they’ve done and lets hopefully recognize them in this amazing campaign.
Who are the real heroes in your life? Tell me in the comments, and be sure to nominate them on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Use the hashtag #WhoIsYourHero, so I can check it out and give it a share or retweet!
Want to brag about your hero AND win them some cool merch? Visit Life of Dad’s Facebook page and add your nomination there, too!
Disclosure: I have partnered with Life of Dad and Marvel for this campaign, but my all opinions are my own.
One of man’s greatest pet peeves about cleaning is most of the soaps leave you smelling flowery-fresh. Which sometimes is ok, but other times I’d rather just be clean. Enter Hero Clean this new product—that’s made in the USA—is pretty awesome, but the best part … Every bottle sold supports our nation’s veterans.
My wife and I have a “soft” rule about whoever cooks dinner, the other person cleans. I say soft because there is a number of times we order in food and I’m still doing the dishes but I guess its all worth it for the happy wife, happy life aspect. So I do two or three pumps into a sink full of dishes and Hero Clean goes to work. it makes great soapy water and has world class Grease Cutter, No-Scrub Technology for dried on food, has been dermatology tested, and is Bleach and Phosphate Free.
The Hero Clean All-Purpose Cleaner is fragrances with Juniper…. Why Juniper? Well, it’s the flavoring ingredient in Gin. Ahhhh, now you got it. And the All-Purpose cleaner is really just that it could be used on tile, wood, laminate, pretty much anything.
Ready to Hero Clean your home?
Hero Clean products are available now in select stores: Ace Hardware, Wegman’s, Runnings, and Target.
Disclosure: I received compensation in exchange for writing this review. Although this post is sponsored, all opinions are my own.
The next morning we headed to the Land of Little Horses, I HIGHLY recommend visiting this place if you have little kids. They run a schedule of events, by the time we arrived we had missed the Tricks (which I hear is the highlight of the day)… but we ended up getting there in time for brush time, which I gotta say was even better for my daughter Harper who loved brushing the horses. In speaking with the nice ladies that ran the admission/gift shop area – you should check groupon as they from time to time offer discounted admission. They also offer food to feed the animals, which was $5 and worth it. Seeing the kids faces light up as the horses, goats and sheep loved to eat it.
For our next stop we headed over to the Harley Davidson Factory tour in York PA… It was just over an hour drive to get there (with a fair bit of traffic), There are two types of tours a paid for tour that includes going on the factory floor (but you need to be older then 12 years old) and a free area which shows the step by step process of how a Harley Davidson Motorcycle is made…. Needless to say the kids totally had fun hamming it up on the bikes that were on displayed.
After that we drove another 15 minutes to the Haines Shoe House. Tours of the shoe only cost $5 and tell the story of how the house came to be and while its not an official landmark its become a landmark to all the locals. The best part is there is now an ice cream shop at the base of the shoe. While there make sure you say Hi to Melanie the new owners of the shoe house.
After that we spent night in Intercourse, PA which is like the heart of Amish country, the people who made farm to table a thing in some way shape or form. For the kids it was really interesting to see how a group of people live unlike anyone they’ve known. To see cars driving next to horse and buggies as actual modes of transportation, unlike the little rides around central park was fascinating to my son.
Then it was time to head to the Strasburg Rail Road, one of the oldest running steam rail roads in the country. We opted to purchase tickets for the dinning car… which is one of the only cars you are allowed food in (also on most days you need to make a reservation in advance for that car but since it was a bit of rainy day we lucked out). Although the ride was only 9 miles long, it still was an adventure for the kids and they loved it.
After that we headed to Philadelphia to see the Spruce Street Harbor Park, which was awesome…. there was giant games for the kids to play, hammocks to swing in and a floating dock bar for the adults to play around and party in at night. Theres a major schedule of events and concerts… so I know next time we’ll need to plan some lounging time there. Then we walked just two blocks over to see different parts of “old town” which has buildings dating back to the 1700’s… as we walked thru old town we ended up having Pizza at Pizzera Stella (which was amazing)… I wanted Philly Cheese Steaks but got out voted.
We awake mother’s day with the ability to do 1 last thing… I left it up to my wife and she wanted to do the Rocky steps at the Philadelphia museum of the arts. So we climbed the steps (and trust me we werent alone in that mission)… got to the top and started to ask where they moved the statue of rocky (PS. its now the right of the steps, when you’re looking up at the steps.) We then walked down Benjamin Franklin Highway to capture an amazing shot of my wife and kids and see the Rodin Museum for a bit before it was time to call it a trip and head back to New York.
