A Spring Weekend in Hershey & Gettysburg: Family, History, and Jai’s Birthday - May 2025

I always travel south for Jai’s birthday. This year we went to Hershey and Gettysburg.

We left around noon and drove south through farmland. By mid-afternoon we were in Hershey.

The inn sat back from the road, old and well kept. Tall windows. Deep shade from the trees. We stayed in the carriage house, which was close enough to everything and far enough away.

That night we met Trace and Shayna for dinner. Nothing elaborate. A loud room. Easy food. We stayed longer than planned and talked the way you do when you don’t see each other often enough.

The next morning we walked through town for a while. Shops open. Spring air. Later we drove to Gettysburg.

The land there stays wide and quiet. Fields run on longer than you expect. Monuments appear and disappear again. We drove slowly, stopped when we felt like it, and didn’t say much.

That evening we stayed in.

It was Jai’s birthday, and everyone came. Takeout Indian food. Containers opened and passed. Plates set wherever there was space. The table filled up. Conversations crossed. Someone laughed too hard. Someone else told a story we’d all heard before.

No one rushed.

On Sunday morning we ate breakfast at the inn. Courses came one at a time. Coffee stayed hot. Outside, the countryside was still.

We checked out and drove home before noon.