Chocolate, Coasters, and Lions

What could be more fun than chocolate? What about chocolate at an amusement park?

100 years ago today, Hershey Park opened in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Opening day was celebrated with a baseball game, vaudeville acts, canoeing and more in a beautifully landscaped park for use by the Hershey employees. New attractions were added and the park was opened to the public as Hersheypark. Even though the park opened April 24 for the first time, today the park is scheduled to open for the season on May 26.

The grounds are not limited to the park. Hershey's Chocolate World is where you can learn how Hershey's does its thing, and you can do your own thing, too, creating a personalized chocolate bar wrapper.

And then there's ZooAmerica which began as private animal collections, grew into an accredited zoo, and became today's zoological park. National Geographic Kids sponsors Ranger Scratch Kid's Club.

What more could anyone want? -- chocolate, rides, shows, animals, clubs, more chocolate

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Chocolate, Dark Chocolate, and Good Health

Today is Chocolate Day. Well, it's about time.

America's favorite flavor is chocolate. Variety is the spice of life and chocolate is my favorite spice with all the different flavors.

But here's the great news: Chocolate is a health food!

Because it is made from the cacao tree, it can be considered a vegetable. I'm still not sure I'll consider it as a vegetable serving.

In addition, German researchers report that dark chocolate can reduce high blood pressure. Both Systolic and Diastolic numbers are moderately reduced, attributed to flavanols found in cocoa.

Here's the rub. Apparently, only dark chocolate benefits your blood pressure. So much for variety. And if you eat too much, not only do you gain weight, but you risk raising your blood pressure again. The trick is to eat only small amounts, similar to a Hershey's Kiss a day.

And, of course more research is needed. Okay, okay. I volunteer.

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Walt's Dream

One of my childhood memories centers on the Magic Kingdom, my first amusement park visit.

Not, however, the first amusement park. In medieval Europe pleasure gardens hosted dancing, fireworks, and even some rides. I cannot imagine what kind of ride, but yes, rides. Copenhagen is still the home of Bakkan, the world's oldest park opened in 1583.

Even in the late 1800s US, parks were popular with added attractions of picnics and vaudeville acts, usually located at the end of trolley lines, or the one built at Hershey Park.

But Walt Disney had a dream. On this date in 1955 Disneyland opened and started a new species of amusement park. I was there -- not the first day, but that summer. I remember the entrance decorated with a pansy portrait of Mickey Mouse. I was enchanted by the flowers and the beautiful castle that greeted us just inside the gates. It was a princess land, and that day I was a princess.

That feeling was dashed when I wasn't tall enough to drive the old-fashioned cars around the track. I tried so hard to add an inch to my height, but I was not tall enough at six years old. It's funny that memory stays with me. When my son David and I were at Disneyland years later, I had grown. But it didn't really matter.

It was a good dream, Walt, and children of all ages around the world thank you. Disneyland was a Magical Kingdom, and we were all princes and princesses.

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