Sweet stalking

Well..we are officially back from PA!! What an adventure it was! Where do I start..this is going to be a long one! Well..we headed up there Friday after work. Got in around 8 or so..and decided to get dressed up and go out on the town! It was a beautiful nite and a full moon! I will say..that I was not impressed with Harrisburg's night life. They had a TON of places to drink and great deals..like dollar beer and such..but the atmosphere just had this weird sketchiness about it that I can't explain. So anyway..we ended up eating at this little Outdoor patio/bar that was way overpriced but the food was amazing!! I loved Lee's Veal Marsala and my crab pasta and my salad were over the top..however the atomosphere, service, location etc did not meet my standards. We were so exhausted and my feet were killing me from my heels..not to mention our bellies were full so we headed back to the hotel to do our favorite thing these days..the olympics! haha! Lee had to get up early on Saturday morning to go to some meetings..I took the oppurtunity to sleep in..in the most comfortable bed I've ever slept in! Lee's bed is like a ROCK and its too short ..my feet hang over the edge..and when I wake up..my whole body is in horrible pain..everyday!!! SO this bed..was amazing! I got ready to go and packed all our stuff and after his first meeting, Lee came back and we headed out to lunch. I HAD to take him to Bass Pro Shopped before he went ape and he decided..if you've seen one, you've seen them all. Thank God. My nerves could not stand another four hours in THAT place. We had a quick lunch and headed back to the hotel so lee could go to his other meeting. I dropped him off and headed to Strawberry Square and Market Street for some shopping.
I found a lot of cute little stores but didn't really buy anything because I knew we'd want to spend money in Hershey..and we're both a little tight these days! After some wandering I headed back to the Hilton to pick up Lee and off we went to Hershey. Hershey is somewhere that I've always wanted to go...but there were other places on my list that beat it out. This was a great oppurtunity to go because the hotel and gas were paid for by Lee's company..so it was a good way to get up there! We drove into Hershey with our windows down because we were told you could smell the chocolate! We were stunned when a few mins outside of hershey we passed the factory that was soley reese's and we could smell it in the air. Fresh Reese cups! Not a fan of the candy because they made me really sick one easter..but love the smell...yuuuuuummmmmooo!!
A couple more miles and we made it. The streetlights were little hershey kisses! The street names were things like..chocolate ave..cocoa st..it was so cute!! When driving towards Hershey Park and Chocolate world you see lots of chocolate restaurant names and the original chocolate factory and yes yes yes it smelled of pure milk chocolate..mmmmmm!! I couldnt live there..id weigh 800 pounds! Hershey Chocolate world was REALLY crowded! We didn't go to Hershey Park because it was late and the day and we could see the lines from our car...it was really crowded..probably because the weather was perfect up there! Not too hot..just right. Anyway..we rode the ride at Chocolate world that shows you how the chocolate is made and they give you a free sample of chocolate when you get off. Then you walk into this HUGE gift shop of nothing but candy and chocolate memorobilia. YES we got a 5 pound hershey bar! It's for one of the girls Lee works with..she requested it!! ITs about 2 feet long..one foot wide and it made my mouth water! I LOVE hershey kisses and those cows..so I got a milk bottle with the cow..and filled with hershey kisses. Lee went over to the cafe and got lots of homemade hershey cookies...THEY WERE AMAZING..they're still here and I dont want to eat them because they're so good and I dont want them to be gone!! ahhh! It was starting to get late..so we headed towards our last activity of the trip...ok ok..dont freak out..but I'm one of the biggest fans of Jon and Kate plus 8! The tv show! AND anyone whos a fan knows they live in "CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA." Ok being the huge fan that I am..I just had to see their house!!
My goal was to drive by it in the daytime to possible catch a glimpse of them and take a quick paparazzi pic! A few weeks ago (before I even knew about the trip to PA) I was surfing the net and looking at websites about them. I saw on one of the websites where people were trying to figure out what town they lived in. There were a bunch of different answers so no one really knew..until I came across their address on wikipedia!! I typed in their address and their house popped up! I KNEW this was the right address!! I SHOULD'VE written it down!! but I didnt. SO..when I found out we were going on this trip I said..omg I've got to get that address and write it down. WELL.. when i went back to the website it was deleted. I GOOGLED ALL over the place..it was nowhere to be found. I guess someone realized it was posted on the net..and deleted it!! I was so upset..i mean I really wanted to find it! :( The only info I had to go on was the town name. I remembered what town they lived in.( i wont tell you on here for safety and privacy reasons..but if you're REALLY that interested I'll tell you or email it to you!)
I thought..there is no way I can navigate in and around an entire town looking for this place!! NO WAY!! i decided..i had to give it a shot..if I left PA being this close..I would regret not looking for it. It was a one in a million shot but I couldnt resist..and Lee loves the show too..so he was all for it..even thought he thought it would be impossible and basically told me I was crazy..he still supported my dream! haha! First of all we werent exactly sure how to get to the town. We didnt have a map with us..we jsut knew basically what direction it was in..and headed that way. We tried to stay on the interstate that we knew would have exit..but randomly ended up on this turnpike that wouldnt let us off for about 30 miles! We were so far out of the way... We ended up finding the town..through back rds..and a brochure map of the county! DUMB LUCK!!
The town and surrounding areas were a lot bigger than we planned..it seemed hopeless. We knew the neighborhood they lived in didnt seem too populated or the houses arent exactly RIGHT on top of each other..so while driving down different rds we looked off into the distance for potential roads that looked like they may or may not have subdivisons that may or may not hold their house. I know i know..its crazy but when you're chasing a dream you must hold on people! It was starting to look like it was going to get dark..so we headed to main street in the town and called lee's mom as a last resort to see if she could search the internet and have any better luck. She didnt. Lee and his mom wanted me to stop and ask people in the town..but i just couldnt do it..i didnt want them to think crazy people were stalking them and have the police called on me. I got up the nerve to go up to this one girl at a gas station at a grocery store. My words were.." Is Jon and Kate plus 8 filmed in this town?? we overheard people talking and were just curious." She said..I think they film here some..they did film at the grocery store right behind you! I turned around and there it was. The GIANT foodstoore that I'd seen in the show!! I KNEW WE WERE SO CLOSE WE COULD TASTE IT..but again the town was so big and there were so may roads..id basically given up hope.
It was dark by this point and we were supposed to head back to roanoke hours ago. I didn't give up I kept driving through the town. It was 849 and lee said .."alright, Megan..this is crazy..I'm giving you till 900. I had 10 mins. I was like..no lets just forget it..lets go home. We stopped at a little gas station to fill up. I got out of the car to stretch and just happend to look beyond the gas station where I saw this neighborhood far off in the distance. It was really dark..but I thought..WELL..we have 10 mins..why not give it a shot. What did I have to lose?? I got this feeling in the pit of my stomach (THAT IS NOT A LIE) and i said lee..i feel like this is it. HE LAUGHED AND LAUGHED...i mean honestly it was crazy to even think it. We drove into the winding neigborhood and turned onto the first road. We drove up and down street after street and didnt see it anywhere..i was so sad..and in my head i knew there were tons of rds we hadnt tried and probably tons we didnt even know about. Lee freaked out when on his right hand side he saw a house with the garage open and he said..OMG thats their garage. I looked at the house and it looked nothing like their house. I was like dang it lee..have you even watched the show?? He watches it with me all the time and the house he picked out was CLEARLY NOTHING LIKE THEIR HOUSE!! WHich lead me to believe after all this time that I could've missed the house somewhere because he couldnt remember what it looked like!! I took a deep breath and sighed and barely turned my head to the left..AND THERE IT WAS!!! IT was on the other side of the street across from the house that lee thought looked like theirs!!! OMG i kid you not! I would've missed it if i hadnt yelled at lee and sighed!!! THE BIGGEST COINCIDENCE IN THE WHOLE WORLD! IT WAS THE 2ND TO LAST HOUSE ON THE STREET..RIGHT BEFORE THE FIRST STREET IN THE SUB WHERE WE TOOK THE FIRST RIGHT!!

I could not believe my dumb luck! i started screaming at the top of my lungs and shot past it. Lee was like..no.. no no no.. it wasnt are you kidding? i was LIKE NO LEE WOULD I HAVE THIS REACTION?? we turned around and drove back past it and sure enough..there it was..vans in the driveway..we could see the pictures on the wall in the living room..there was a lamp on. We'd found it!! it was amazingly weird how it happend. We really wanted to take pictures but we knew if we made the flash go off it would freak them out and they might call the cops. We decided to wait until it was a little later and they were possible asleep. We drove back into town and had a late dinner and then drove back and took four or five pics. NONE OF THEM TURNED OUT! I WAS SO UPSET. SO today when I uploaded them..i lightended them up all the way..its hard to see..but you can definetly make them out. FOR all of you out there reading this that think im crazy... IM NOT! I'm just a diehard fan..its not like id go up and knock on the door and freak them out..it just made me happy to know where they came from. Needless to say after all the choclate and "stalking" it was time to come back to roanoke. We got back here at three in the morning..ahhhhh.. but it was all worth it. Have a great week!!!! :)