I woke up to the scent of warm chocolate wafting up my nostrils. I rolled over and looked out… I woke up to the scent of warm chocolate wafting up my nostrils. I rolled over and looked out the window to see the dreary, drizzly day beginning. In my hometown of Hummelstown, Pa., rainy weather is always accompanied by the sweet odor of chocolate floating through town. I never understood why, but the rain always let the smell from the Hershey Chocolate Factory, only five minutes away, blow into our streets.

I started craving chocolate.

One of the joys of getting out of Pittsburgh for a weekend visit home is being able to relive a little of the past. One of the best things to do back home is to visit Chocolate World.

On this particular day, I headed out to satisfy my craving.

At the entrance to the building, the Peanut Butter Cup stands, shaking hands and posing for pictures with children. Other costumed characters, including the Hershey Kiss and the Hershey Bar, roam the premises.

I start up the ramp toward the Chocolate World ride. Even though I have read it a million times before, I still stop along the ramp to read the history of Milton S. Hershey and his fabulous park built specifically for his factory employees and their families ages and ages ago.

Around the corner, I enter a long hallway decorated as a lush, South American jungle. Video monitors show how the cocoa beans and almonds used in making that famous Hershey taste are picked and shipped to the factory. It is a little comforting to realize that these videos have not changed since I was 9 years old.

Walking through the turnstile and hopping into a car, I begin the journey into the mock-up of the real Hershey factory.

The car runs on a track through the 11-minute tour of how the chocolate is made. A friendly voice speaks from the car’s speakers and guides the way through miniature dairy farms, oversized sacks of sugar and a plastic almond grove.

Halfway through, the car passes under a life-size “oven,” simulating the almond roasting process, and heat lamps radiate from the ceiling. I can hear the people in the car behind me