Nazareth, PA

This was a two stop day - both with surprises. Our first stop was the C. F. Martin & Company guitar manufacturing plant in Nazareth, PA. We took the free, hour-long guided factory tour where we saw all aspects of manufacturing some of the finest guitars in the world (according to some of my musical friends). Some of the more interesting things seen was the largest guitar in the world and watching a giant robotic arm pick up and polish guitar bodies with style and grace. Then we toured the Martin Guitar Museum which contained many interesting instruments including the One Millionth Martin guitar made in 2004.

When we first arrived, Susan had asked someone in the gift shop about buying some strings for her new dulcimer (she broke a string last night). They checked but none were in stock or could be found anywhere. Our surprise came at the end of the tour when a gentleman approached the tour group and asked who the dulcimer player was. He then gave Susan a complete set of Martin dulcimer strings at no charge. That was so nice!

Then we went a few miles down the road to Easton, PA to take a tour of the Crayola Factory. Our surprise here was that the Crayola Factory wasn't a real factory but was a place where kids of all ages could play with Crayolas. Oh well, you can't win em all.