Last week we went on our long planned trip to the Cape Cod area. Over the next week I will posting articles discussing the pros and cons of everything we experienced.

Our first day was a long travel day driving all the way to Milford, CT with a stop in between at the Crayola Factory in Easton, PA. Unfortunately for this trip, our Discover Shell gasoline gift cards never arrived in time, as I wrote about in my article Discover Card Cashback – Shell Gasoline $20 for $40 Giftcard post. So we were on our own with paying for gasoline on this vacation. It is ironic though because we have found ourselves stopping at several Shell locations where the cards would have come in handy.

On our first day we drove directly to the Crayola Factory Discovery Center. This is also where we were meeting up from the long drive with my wife’s parents. Right outside of the Crayola Factory is a really awkward roundabout. The vehicles all drive the same direction, yet they have flashing lights at each intersection that change solid and then no one moves around the circle. I have not quite figured out the traffic engineering logic of such a design, and it took getting to Crayola a little bit difficult. We finally made our way to the parking garage located behind the building where we met up with my in-laws.

First thing to remember, that we found a little bit amusing. Make sure to take your parking ticket with you as you will need to pay for parking at a vending machine on the first level. This in itself is not all that amusing, but when you see the signs plastered around the garage, they make this statement followed by 3-4 exclamation points. This just is not typically seen on public signs. Ok maybe that will not be that interesting to most people, but since I am a Civil Engineer, it amused me.

OK so now onto the Crayola Factory. Want to start off my vacation on the wrong kick? Do not accept Discover Card. It used to be years ago that I would occasionally run into an establishment that did not accept Discover. However, I have noticed a significant improvement over the years. Here we were at our first itinerary and no Discover, so I had to use my no frills debit card. No points earned. While it was disappointing, I was in no way going to let this little inconvenience get me down.

The museum was filled with all kinds of hands-on activities that were perfect for children. While there was an abundance of coloring activities, they also had neat stations to try out some of their new products. You also received three coins for each paid admission that you could use at various vending machines throughout the exhibits to get either a four-pack of crayons, markers, or model magic clay. They also had various additional things that you could pay an additional fee to “color.” We paid an extra $4, for example, to color a frisbee.

They took your frisbee and placed it in a high speed turn table. Then the kids got to squeeze paint onto the frisbee, which created a tie-dye effect. It was pretty cool and our oldest son enjoyed it.

There was also a nice little play area in the building where our son was mesmerized with a large ball fall contraption. The kids would gather the balls and drop them into a hole. They would then travel by corkscrew to the top where they dropped onto a metal incline and eventually onto a wooden tilt wall. Our son enjoyed this process immensely where he learned some more cause and effect techniques.

The museum also featured a live demonstration on how they make, label and package crayons on a much smaller scale than their normal factory operation. Overall, we thought the Crayola experience was well worth the stop and very age appropriate. Plus the kids got to take home lots of free (well included in the admission) crayons, coloring papers, markers, and clay. However, there is also one area of the museum, which we feel might be overlooked and under appreciated.

Upstairs from the Crayola Factory is The National Canal Museum. Ok, at first thought, this sounds like something only an engineer would appreciate. However, I think it was my son and my favorite part. First they take you into a room where they hand each person a boat after washing your hands. You then proceed to take the boat and place them in a huge water table with working canals and locks. They teach the kids with a hands-on exhibit how the water naturally can raise and lower boats up and down the canals. They also had various other exhibits that taught young minds about buoyancy and how we use water in our everyday life to person huge tasks.

Outside of the lock exhibit, they had a train exhibit with a working display, and various other areas demonstrating how we use various techniques, like ropes and pulleys, to make our lives easier.

Overall the Crayola Factory and Canal Museum were well worth our stop. My wife even commented that had we lived closer, we would definitely be looking into a membership as kids really loved the exhibits and there was so much to see and do. Crayola did a great job of taking something so simple as crayons and turning it into excellent exhibits that not only explained the history of the company, but also created interaction with their key clientele, children.

Stay tuned for a continuation of our trip report.