Crayola Experience - The "Factory Tour"

Lately, pretty much every factory tour we take is a presentation of some kind, with speaking, video, and possibly some demonstration. Sometimes it is in the same building in the factory, and maybe you even have some windows where you can look over the factory floor, but they aren't letting you on there.

That is fine. Concerns about product cleanliness - especially for foods - and concerns about safety may make it close to illegal to offer the other kind of tour, let alone concerns about proprietary processes.

It is nonetheless amazing how interesting, informative, and engaging these experiences can be.

http://www.crayolaexperience.com/easton/things-to-do/things-to-do-with-kids/crayon-factory.aspx

There was video, including two animated crayons, Scarlet and Turquoise. There was factory equipment, where we got to see the melted wax, and the machine that forms them into the crayon shape. It gave a really good idea of the end-to-end process, and the scale of it.

One of the interesting things to me was as they talked about the creation process, and she was looking for something that could be used cleanly. I had never realized how remarkable crayons were for that. It's not just paint that can make a mess, so do charcoals, and oil pastels, and I never do much drawing with my pen without getting some on me. And Crayola are the best; just try comparing them to other crayons.

The other very interesting thing for me was that for all of the different crayon colors they have, there are only about eight label colors. It's certainly more practical that way, but it's something that I had never thought of.

Crayola Experience - Going Digital

http://www.crayolaexperience.com/

Most of the activities I wrote about last week were fairly low-tech, but that was not everything there was to do.

In one area, you could bring sleeping crayons to life by moving for them - and dancing for them.

This can be pretty fun, especially if you are uninhibited, but it is hard to get a good picture while you are doing it, based on both the light and the restriction in you movement caused by holding the camera.

There was also something similar to electronic white boards, where you could doodle and watch it glow.

Maria decided to make a statement of loyalty to home. I just thought about the pets.

Art Alive! was one of the more interesting concepts.

On the wall is a scene, with some default objects, but some that were put there by visitors.

To put something into the scene,  you go to a drawing station and create your figure.

I colored this friendly crescent moon and added effects.

And then there he was, floating through the scene.

You can also disrupt the flow of melting colors. This one wasn't my favorite, as I thought the result was less aesthetically pleasing.

You can also take a green screen picture with a giant crayon, so have pictures on various backgrounds.

Comparatively, I enjoyed the other activities more, but it is interesting to find how - exploring one basic concept - there end up being so many different things you can do.

Crayola Experience - The Art

There is so much going on at the Crayola Experience that I was not sure how to break it down. It is overall a celebration of creativity, but sometimes you are not making, and sometimes what you are working with is digital. This post is focusing on the things you make that are not digital. When you pay your admission they give you a bag to hold all the little souvenirs (some of which will start flaking off wax later).

Most of this happens on the melting floor.

One thing you can do is use toothpicks to paint with melted wax. It can be difficult to get the results you want, but Meltdown is something to try.

It goes a little better with a machine, for Drip Art. Here you choose a crayon color and insert it. The crayon is melted and dripped onto a revolving paper plate, followed by another crayon of a different color. You can control the speed of the revolutions and adjust the height.

 The final melting attraction is Melt & Mold. Pick a crayon and a mold and get a keepsake.

I never questioned for one minute that I wanted this little guy. I think of him as a dinosaur, but I think he's supposed to be a dragon. I'm not saying the ring isn't cool.

The tangible souvenirs don't stop on the 4th floor. On 2nd, you can make a custom crayon label, and then use the wrapping machine to properly affix it.

One of the most fun things is something that you can  do anywhere.

They had a huge coloring table with all of the crayon colors you could imagine, and coloring sheets in a variety of difficulty levels. I know that some people get into a Zen-like state when coloring mandalas, but the most enjoyable sheet for me was a picture of two crayons riding bikes.

It's just a reminder that no matter how much they add and embellish, there is a huge amount of enjoyment in a simple pack of paper and a box of crayons.

Crayola Experience - Arriving in Easton

The pounding rain that escorted us out of Philadelphia had mostly stopped by the time we got to Easton, leaving us with a gray morning.

However, just before we pulled up in front of the bus station, there was a splash of color.

We had no idea that we would be so close!

Our original plan had been to take our bags to the hotel, which was not supposed to be far away, then come back and do the tour. Well, looking around, our hotel was not far by car, but it was not somewhere you could walk to at all. That made it seem that we might have to take two taxis, or lug around our bags with us. They did have lockers, but they were too small to help us. Still, it doesn't hurt to ask.

The security manager let us keep our bags in his office. This allowed us to explore all four floors unhindered. I want to spend a few weeks going over that, because there was a lot of cool stuff, and I don't want to shortchange.

For us, that fun time started out with great customer service making our visit a lot easier.


http://www.crayolaexperience.com/easton

Pennsylvania by bus

We left Philadelphia on a gloomy morning, making everything look extra dramatic.

When the rain actually came in, at times is was pouring down so hard, with so much running water on the streets, that it seemed a little dangerous. That had a tendency to blur the shots, however, so I do not have any photos that accurately convey it.

 

The scenery was still very pretty. One thing I will mention in Easton is the Canal Museum, and its presence made sense because there had been a canal running along most of our path there.

I have seen some debate online about whether Philadelphia is friendly or not. One resident described it as provincial, meaning that residents are friendly to each other but not so much with outsiders. As our trip mainly involved tourist and service industry employees, everyone was nice to us.

Our first bus driver was especially nice. He was telling us that he had rejected a couple of the buses that they tried to give him, because of cleanliness, lack of seat belts, or heat. That could have been him buttering us up, but also we heard him chatting with another passenger, a young man going off to college, and I think he was really nice.
 

It was also at the bus station that I had my friendliest exchange with someone who was not being paid to be nice to me, visiting with a woman in the restroom, but I don't know if she was actually from Philadelphia. Maybe.

Mainly, it was fascinating seeing just how small some of the areas served could be.

I have ridden Greyhound between Portland and Eugene and Portland and Seattle, and every stop we have made has been in a town with a full bus depot. We stopped at one place where it was just a bus shelter like a city bus would have, and it seemed like the middle of nowhere.

Actually, we nearly missed our bus in Easton. There was a small office, but mainly people waited on the sidewalk, and there were a bunch of people out there, but no one else got onto the bus when it came, so we thought maybe it was too early too board. No, they were just taking a different bus, that would apparently also be parking by this stretch of sidewalk soon. They could have all just been early.

At the same time, it seemed like a small and out of the way town, but we were briefly next to a couple whose luggage showed they had passed through Doha, Qatar. That felt fairly exotic.

Our bus trips were comfortable and reasonably priced. There were also some surprises.

Under the Greyhound sign there was also a name and logo for Peter Pan. This is a separate bus line, but it has some joint ventures and connections with Greyhound.

There was also a sign for Greyhound's 100th anniversary. I had not realized they had been around so long. Actually, the anniversary was in 2014, but the sign was still up.

Happy anniversary, Greyhound!

https://www.greyhound.com/

http://peterpanbus.com/

The rest of the trip

No, this isn't the end of my writing about the trip, but there were a few common bonds in what we experienced outside of Philadelphia, and actually a lot of this includes Langhorne, where we were before.

I thought about calling it the rest of Pennsylvania, but there was a lot of Pennsylvania that we didn't see, and some of this was true about where we went in Minnesota as well.

We took auto transportation from the airport to Langhorne and back to Philadelphia, but then we went by bus to Easton and Hershey. Hershey did not have a Greyhound station, so we went to Harrisburg and took a taxi to Hershey, then back to Harrisburg for our flight to Minneapolis. We taxied to our hotel in Bloomington, and took their airport shuttle back for our return trip.

Philadelphia and Bloomington were the only hotels where they did not ask for our license plate number. There was such a strong assumption that we would have cars that they did not even bother asking.

This makes sense, because none of these locations were built for pedestrians, so people who want to get around once they are there are likely to need cars. Actually, even Bloomington was not built for walking at all, but there are more shuttle options, and visitors can get by without a car because of that.

That seems like it would increase the need for taxis, but because so many people own or rent cars, that appears to be the opposite. There are still taxis, but they are often private operations, with less of a sense of professionalism, though they were generally still friendly.

We did not expect to find so many amusement parks everywhere. We knew about Sesame Place, Hershey Park, and the Nickelodeon park in the Mall of America, but on our bus trips we kept seeing other collections of roller coasters and slides. Given how seasonal these attractions can be, especially with East Coast winters, we were amazed. In Oregon we have Oaks Park and the Enchanted Forest, and it just seems different. That was interesting to see.

Being around at the start of football season, it was interesting to trace team loyalty via doughnuts. There would be a football doughnut everywhere, and if there wasn't a pro team for that city it would be a college team.

The worse piece of savagery that we saw in these wild areas happened in Easton. We got McDonalds for breakfast, and the English muffins for our sandwiches were not toasted. Fortunately this was on our way out of town, and that helped to calm the despair. I'd hate to just decide people were barbarians based on that, but come on!

Philadelphia - Residence Inn, Philadelphia Center City

http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/phlri-residence-inn-philadelphia-center-city/

We stayed in two really good hotels, and three that were not so good on the trip, but our Philadelphia hotel was the best, with Bloomington a close second.

This was a Residence Inn, and the doors really did look like entrances into homes.

The rooms were fine, and that's not really something we are picky about, but there were a few things that are really worth mentioning.

Location:  Kitty corner from City Hall and adjacent to the Wanamaker Building, the Residence Inn is conveniently located for tourist purposes, close to many locations and with easy access to transportation for things that are farther away. This helped us use our time productively. In addition, the 7-11 and Dunkin Donuts that were right there were also pretty convenient.

One possibly drawback to the location - and this is minor - is that appears that the address was changed recently, so not all navigation aids recognize the One East Penn Square address. Our cab driver had some difficulty finding it, and the existence of another Marriott very nearby did not help. Nonetheless, we did get there, and we liked it.

The Breakfast Buffet: We love when breakfast is included with the stay, as something that saves time and money. Usually the spreads aren't that great, but because of the convenience you don't care.

Their breakfast buffet was so good! It had hot and cold items, with several choices, including some basics that were there every day and other items that were new and surprising. All of this was wonderful, but what really clinched it for my Diet Coke dependent sisters was that there were fountain drinks available too.

There were also several people there to help you, without being obtrusive, and this leads to the next factor.

The Staff: All of the staff was so friendly, thoughtful, and helpful. Whether it was getting change for the laundry or not being able to figure out the remote control for the television, this was easily the most attentive and pleasant staff that we have ever encountered, and truly a pleasure to work with.

Even as we were leaving they were helpful. We asked about getting to the bus station, and they gave us advice that we needed and could not possibly have known. From this location, cabs don't like taking people to the bus station. It is fairly short, and they will suggest you walk. We are not against a walk, but it was early enough in the morning to still be dark, we had luggage, and we did not want to make that navigation alone and on foot. The hotel staff told us to get loaded in the cab before telling the driver where we were going, and they helped us get loaded in quickly to make it work. And then the driver did say we could walk, but it was too late!

Thank you Residence Inn, Philadelphia Center City staff! You were the best!