In 1933, during the height of the Great Depression, Milton S. Hershey opened the opulent Hershey Theatre in Hershey, Pennsylania. Hershey wanted the theater to rival any Broadway theater. He designed the grand lobby to resemble a Greek temple and the auditorium to simulate an outdoor Venetian scene. The beautifully preserved theater continues to be a popular entertainment venue today.
The first thing that caught my eye as I looked through the observation window from the Hershey Gardens gift shop into the new tropical butterfly atrium were the giant blue morpho butterflies flitting about. I had never seen a blue butterfly before, or one so large. The blue morpho is just one species of butterfly introduced in the atrium housed in the Milton & Catherine Hershey Conservatory, newly opened in 2016. In total, 200 to 300 species of tropical and North American Butterflies will be represented in the atrium when it is fully populated.
Floating down Swatara Creek, the sun warming your face, the only sounds are that of water lapping with each stroke of your kayak paddle and the occasional trill of a great blue heron before it alights from its perch on the wooded banks and glides ahead of you. It’s hard to believe that you’re just minutes from a major tourist area. A river trip with Cocoa Kayak Rentals of Hershey was the perfect way to relax following several days of being on the go at numerous tourist attractions in Hershey, Pennsylvania.
