A Change of Scenery

Jeff Yocum

“A Change of Scenery” is a new column, focusing on day trips from Thurmont that are within 150 miles (give or take). These trips will not include “Disney-level” destinations, but rather, lesser-known points of interest. The purpose of the article is to suggest venues for folks seeking a short, easily accessible change of scenery. In the process, hopefully something will be learned. Some will be historic, some cultural, and others just plain quirky. I confess an ulterior motive for writing this article: I have a wanderlust addiction.

The Best Laid Plans

It was a day trip to celebrate my wife’s (Nancy), birthday—nothing over-the-top spectacular, just a tour of the Eisenhower Farm in Gettysburg. We had heard the president’s house was a time capsule sealed way back in the 50s. Being children of the 50s ourselves, we wanted the opportunity to relive memories from our own childhood kitchens and living rooms.

Alas, it was not to be. I had made an assumption that the Eisenhower Farm’s building would be open to the public similarly to the battleground on an average Tuesday morning. The buildings on the Eisenhower Farm are only open to the public on Friday through Sunday. Well, you know what they say about assuming.

Not to be deterred, we headed out to seek our entertainment elsewhere. It was the perfect spring day, the kind that makes you feel great just to be out and about. We wandered east towards Hanover along Route 116.

Since our original (poorly) planned outing turned out to be a bust, we fell back to our default setting: impulse. If we saw something of interest, that was going to be our activity for the day.

As we came into McSherrystown, Pennsylvania we drove by The Half Pint Creamery. Fortunately, there wasn’t a car behind us as we made a hard stop and a sharp right turn into the parking lot. Am I ever so happy we did. We found the mother lode of frozen dairy delights.

The McSherrystown Half Pint Creamery (HPC) is housed in a renovated one-room schoolhouse, originally built in 1894. It is the third HPC, with the other two located in Gettysburg and New Oxford.

The ice cream is made on-site, with non-dairy and sugar-free products on the menu as well. The menu boasts dozens of flavors and forms. You can have your treat in a cup, cone, cake, or cookie. The only difficulty was deciding what to choose. Our only viable option is to find another excuse for going back in that direction to round out our experience with different choices.

As we savored our frozen treats, we employed the internet to answer the question: “What next?” And there it was, the perfect, age-appropriate activity for two septuagenarians celebrating a birthday: GO-KARTS!

Not too far from the Half Pint Creamery is Hickory Falls Entertainment Center, located on the north side of Hanover. We bought two two-activity passes that allowed us to choose between laser-tag, the play area, virtual reality, mini golf, or go-karts. Mini bowling is also offered with other, larger packages. Hickory Farms can be enjoyed with small groups or large. We chose the mini golf and the go-karts and enjoyed both.

Hickory Ridge offers age-appropriate activities and food for parties for birthdays. There is a fairly good selection of combinations of activities to customize any party.

All in all, it was a carefree afternoon, pretending to be kids again. Remember: It’s never too late to have a happy childhood!

For more information, visit halfpintcreamery.com and hickoryfalls.com.