Wednesday Review: Antique Automobile Club of America Museum

First let me say that if you are still with me after such a riveting title of a blog post, congratulations. You are just as nerdy as we are. Embrace your nerdiness. It will serve you well in life.

The Antique Automobile Club of America Museum (AACA) has been on our (read: specifically my) Pennsylvania bucket list since we moved here (although it's possible that I spent some time thinking it detailed the membership and activities of the AAA). It's in Hershey and although we have enjoyed the many sweet offerings of Hershey, including...

riding the roller coasters at Hersheypark

taking the free Chocolate Factory "tour" (complete with a complimentary piece of chocolate at the end...free + free = sugar rush)

 

creating custom chocolate bars in the Chocolate Lab

 participating in a chocolate tasting where we try to identify different "notes" in the chocolate. As it turns out, I do not have a very discerning palate. 

exploring the children's garden, the butterfly garden, the rose gardens and the Pumpkin Glow at Hershey's Gardens

attending the Hershey Halloween Parade (at which point I had to explain to Blue why the kid leading the marching band was wearing a polka-dotted dress. #parentingfail)

and just, in general, stalking the KissMobile and taking selfies with it whenever possible.

BUT, we had not yet made it to the AACA Museum. We were waiting for a day when Blue was in school but Neal was off work because nothing says relaxing tour of an antique automobile museum like saying "Don't touch that" for 2 solid hours. Also, our time here is dwindling.

Such an opportunity presented itself on a chilly Friday earlier this month. The school bus pulled away and we hopped on 322, headed for Hershey.

Did I mention it was also raining? Anyway, this is the entrance to the museum, which is kind of like a mansion on a hill. When Neal saw this car from the parking lot, he said, "Oh wow. They even have one for the kids to play in." When we peered through the busted glass of the windshield, we saw rusted pipes, torn interior and an overall feeling that we were being watched by something hiding under the seat. So no,  I can't recommend you let your kids play in here. But bonus points for the unexpected sighting of the KissMobile!

Let me just say that the staff is very friendly, even by southern standards (which is sometimes hard to come by north of the Mason Dixon line). Although it was a slow day and they seemed glad to see pretty much anyone, I think they still would have been just as helpful during the height of tourist season. Most of the cars are housed chronologically so, oldest to "newest" (which is still, obviously, old to me).

Mama Virgo saw this picture and immediately launched into stories of her youth and her neighbor who owned an Edsel but never drove it. Something about it being notoriously unreliable.

This milk truck was missing a seat. I don't know if it was removed or milk men in those days drove standing up. Standing while driving seems just as dangerous as driving while texting.

At this point, although we still had half of the first floor left to explore, we took the steps downstairs to see the lower level because they happened to be where we were standing. I'm not sure if this was an intentional design decision, but it worked out for us. The lower level of this museum is probably the most charming. Rows upon rows of buses, including the one from (or maybe identical to, it was hard to determine) Speed. (Fun fact, When Speed came out in 1994, I was a junior in high school. I wanted to be Annie. Not Sandra Bullock. Annie.)

I'm gonna speed it up. #foreverKeanu

Also, the bus from Forest Gump. At this point, I feel like our lives have sort of come full circle. Our first duty station was in Macon, Georgia and our first stop was a walking tour of Savannah with a cameo by a Forest Gump impersonator.

AND right beside the Forest Gump bus is Whitney Houston's limousine, complete with TV/VCR combo, crystal decanter and armrest phone.

This corner of the museum made the price of admission worth every penny (I mean, for me, anyway. If you need to stop and Spotify some I'm Every Woman or perhaps I Wanna Dance With Somebody right now, I completely understand.)

In the other corner of the museum is a delightful diner that, I assume, was the prototype for today's food truck. It could be completely folded up and carted to the next destination. Then it unfolded to a mini-restaurant with a full kitchen and a juke box at each seat.

This is a 40-second video that I took after Neal discovered that the 10-cent juke boxes actually work. Pick your song, drop your dime in the slot and dance the afternoon away in an antique automobile museum. It ends with Neal dashing to the door of the diner to tell the only other visitor at the museum that he "had to see this!"

I took this picture not because it's the banana truck (although honestly, Chiquita, I would eat more of your bananas if they came in a truck like this), but because look at the phone number. As a child of the 80's, I am not familiar with a time when calling someone required less than 7 numbers. How do I teach my child when I still have so much to learn?

I will leave you with this one because A) I still have a magazine deadline to meet and B) I want you all to flood the AACA this summer and discover the beauty of this museum on your own. Again, I have never known a time when Trailways existed or when Greyhound was anything other than the cheapest (and possibly slowest, stinkiest) way to travel. The idea of crossing a red carpet to board a bus and giving attendants my drink order feels like pure fiction. And it makes me a little sad that I wasn't born 40 years earlier, even with the Cold War drills and lead paint.

Active duty are free to enter this museum and although it sticks a little in my craw that dependents must pay, it's still worth it. (I believe they participate in the Blue Star Moms Museums every summer so that's another option for military families to visit for free.) And it is more kid-friendly than we expected. Although there are rules about touching, the museum has an entire children's area where kids are encouraged to touch. There's a miniature town with a train and about 10 buttons to push, which do things like raise the bridge, open the firehouse doors and turn on the lights in a house. And within the current Tucker exhibit, there are areas for kids to explore, as well. We have every intention of bringing Blue before we move.

There is quite a bit of joy to be found within these 4 walls and I hope that this helps to show people that just because "antique" is in the name, it doesn't mean it's devoid of new finds.