Showing posts with label US Trips. Show all posts
Showing posts with label US Trips. Show all posts
the sweetest place on earth
we went to hershey last winter 2009 to see the hershey's chocolate world. it is not exactly where chocolates are made but they have a ride that brings you to a simulated chocolate factory, it smells like chocolate inside!! and they show you how many are made in a day, etc .... and you get your picture taken at the end ... smile at the COW...click!! my son got to be a factory worker and got his ID. this was good because he actually participated and had fun. he's always been the shy kid (just like mommy, haha) 
also , you get to see ALL, and i mean ALL the chocolates that was ever made, from how it looked before and it how it looks now. they also have a 3D show, just an entertaining cartoon show in 3D, a parade of all the chocolate (mascots), and of course a big store with hershey shirts, cups, mugs, pillows ... the works!! it's a fun and quick visit good for half a day, or more. it is close to hershey park which is again another fun stop and hershey zoo is nearby. you can ride a trolley and see the main historic area.
hershey park is an amusement park with lots of fun and scary rides ... i had my first (and i would say, last) experience with "scary rides". we rode the STORM .... whew! it was so fast, it's done in 45 seconds ... you sit tight, wait for the countdown ... and ZOOOOOM, ZOOOM, ZOOOM, up and around you go!! i couldn't even shout coz i was so scared haha!! i felt myself slipping through the seats ... haha.
my little boy had the scare of his life, we went on this boat ride, i didn't know it had a steep drop (for him, that is). we were in an open boat, he was scared to begin with so i had my one arm wrapped around him, we were moving slowly and ZOOOOOM down it went ... i was shocked and so was he, i wonder how my picture looked then! haha no wonder i couldn't get him to ride that boat in Disney ... ayayay!!
overall we had fun, my fave was doing the surf-like ride, i don't know what it's called ... plus it was nice to spend an easy day with friends and family .... who knows i might get to ride the Fahrenheit next time :) yea right
a step back in time
located an hour away from where we are, we headed to see knights, pirates, kings, queens and everything rennaisance. Restrooms were labeled milady and milord. people were in costumes and spoke with that "english" accent. we watched actual glass being blown into nice, various shapes. i had my fill of celtic rings. we watched a jousting tournament, we failed to play chess in their BIG chessboard (this is where you are the actual game pieces). 
we experienced our very first elephant ride, had our first Turkey leg, watched a very entertaining acrobat show (although i won't say the acrobats in our regular "perya" aren't as good); we saw stuff from the movie Pirates of the Carribean, there was a big, red pirate ship with pirates of course ... ahoy matey!! and watched the Queen make her royal walk round the estate grounds.
...appreciating God's wondrous paradise...
strawberries everywhere
...appreciating God's wondrous paradise...
a long day with long walks in longwood gardens
...longwood gardens, kenneth square, pa. 1,050 acres of gardens, one of the best in the US. Bought from William Penn by George Pierce then by Pierre S. du Pont who made it a private estate. today, it has 20 outdoor gardens and 20 indoor gardens within 4.5 acres of heated greenhouses or conservatories. it has 11,000 (or more) types of trees and plants .... the list goes on and on ...
one of my favorite things in longwood are the flowerbeds .. they seem to be arranged by color and they're all in full bloom. we went in the summer, i could only imagine how this garden was like in full spring bloom!! another favorite part are the topiaries ... it's like being alice in wonderland ... they also have lots of fountains, secret gardens, meadows, gazebos, lakes, lilies, treehouses ... wonderful, wonderful ... tired, tired haha!! but this was one of our first trips to see PA and as you can imagine, every bit of the place just leaves us in awe!! also, don't forget to enjoy the illuminated fountain show at 9:00pm i believe, where lighted fountains dance to classical music .... lovely!! but you know what ... the walk was long enough, so, let's keep the talk short ... let's go see pictures :)
pictures or words are not enough to enjoy the beauty longwood gardens has to offer. and i've heard it's even prettier during winter ... i just didn't have the guts to go on a long walk on a cold winter day! well, maybe when i get myself a VERY good jacket, good boots and probably go on a not-so-freezing winter day ... we'll see .. till then!!
where dreams come true
... the wonderful world of disney. located in orlando, florida, it is the largest and most revisited resort in the world. it has 4 themed parks and 2 water parks. it is owned and started by walt disney, the resort opened 1971 and just keeps getting bigger and better...
we went to florida sometime october 2009, when the weather was good (no snowstorms like today) and the budget was available (haha). the trip didn't start out good, we missed our plane (no questions entertained, my day was bad enough and i learned my lesson) and had to leave at 6:30 pm instead of 6:45 am. well, we spent a day in marriot hotel (lobby) wasting away the time hahaha ... let's move on!!
**BTW, if you want good pictures of your family, get the Disney Photopass, you get your pictures taken at very good spots around the park, you will have to purchase your pics if you want copies of them... for a good souvenir, it'll be worth it :)
...appreciating God's wondrous paradise...
on the boardwalk at atlantic city
... atlantic city. is a city in new jersey famous for it's boardwalk (which is a good few miles), giving access to hotels, casinos, shops and more making a total seaside city resort. also famous for its casino gambling, view of Atlantic ocean, sandy beaches, shops, shows and also the site of Absecon Lighthouse ...
i only knew of the "boardwalk" from monopoly, it's that last lot before passing GO with a really high price tag (rent or purchase), good when you own it, bad when you "rent" it...o well, good it's only a game. we got to walk on a real boardwalk on atlantic city, columbus day of last year (oct 12, 08) was the first time and we've been back several times. the boardwalk basically is a long walkway made of boards with the beach and atlantic ocean on one side and hotels, casinos, malls, museums on the other side.
our first stop was to visit the Ripley's Believe it or Not museum, it's about a 30-45minute visit for a minimal fee (less than $20 i think). they have everything unusual (a hand-painted butterfly, a big picture made of jelly beans, carved miniature rooms and buildings with amazing detail are some examples). the city also has more than a dozen casino hotels (looks like it), the korean veteran memorial, a mall, an amusement park (steel pier). you can rent a bike and enjoy the boardwalk that way or you can ride their version of a sikad-sikad for a $5 fee i think. if you like lighthouses, don't forget to visit absecon lighthouse by rhode island ave, it's non active but then again still a good photo op.
they also host a lot of filipino shows, they've had eat bulaga, the divine divas (zsa-zsa, regine, kuh and pops) but we never got to watch those. we did watch the most recent one with gary and martin. i've never seen too many filipinos all at once (of course i've seen more when you go to church at home on a christmas day, but i meant here in the US). the show was so worth it...oh i love you gary .... oh, and you too martin (martin's my husband's fave, mine's gary) ... all i can say, as much as i love gary all by himself, the show AS ONE wouldn't have been as great as it was without martin, he has an amazing, amazing voice...
atlantic city...good to have it close by for shows and concerts but i'm not sure if i'd be a frequent visitor otherwise. i've seen their lighthouse, ate boardwalk fries, enjoyed the sunset by the ocean and i'm good ... no gambling for me, i couldn't afford it. ask me again in 5-10 years and we'll see, i'll have enough pennies saved for slot machines by then, hehe....2009 New Jersey Lighthouse Challenge
and needless to say, we did the challenge and we completed it! all 4 meadowlakers woke up at 5:30am, left the house at 6:30am, had our breakfast in the car (mcdonalds pancakes), it was raining and it was dark.
we reached lighthouse #1: the sandy hook lighthouse at 8:30am; #2: twin lights (navesink highlands), one of the best, you get a good top view of the New York Bay, we reached this at about 10:00am; #3: sea girt lighthouse at about 11:00am, it was raining hard, we were hungry. so, we ate lunch in the car by the harbor (we have our rice (with the rice cooker haha), a bucket of KFC and gravy of course, YUM!); then off to #4: 1st Order Fresnel Lens at Barnegat Museum, this was at 12:00 noon, time running fast, challenge is only up to 6PM today...DALI!
continue to #5: Barnegat lighthouse, best harbor ever, very nice, very cold, brrrrrr!, we were here at ~12:30pm #6: tucker's island lighthouse at around 1:30pm (it's actually just a museum now coz the original lighthouse toppled into the water in 1927; #7: absecon lighthouse in atlantic city at 2:30pm?; #8: 1st Fresnel Lens at Cape May Historical Museum, it's getting dark, i'm not sure of the time anymore, maybe 3:30pm?
we're moving slow now, we were hoping to finish everything in a day but the lighthouses were not easy to find, so we got lost more than a few times. #9: herefore inlet lighthouse at 4:30pm? #10: cape may lighthouse at 5:30pm, we were here before so we took pictures just for documentation and then we zoomed out to go to #11: tinicum lighthouse at about 7:00pm, we did out night climb and we were done for the day...oct 18, we heard mass at 7:30am then off we went to #12: finn's point lighthouse at about 9:30am;
we reserved #13: east point lighthouse for last, not because it was special but because the GPS couldn't find it ... at finn's point there were a lot of challengers and so we followed their lead....and we reached the last lighthouse at about 10:30AM and it turned out to be pretty special anyway. it looked beautiful, the sky was clearing up and it was so close to Maurice River, the view was awesome!
and so, with the challenge done and our lighthouse passports complete, we head home, me with my cough and cold, my hubby all tired, the little boy exhausted but altogether excited and happy ... shall do we the maryland and the long island lighthouse challenge people??? READY, SET, GOOOOOO!
...appreciating God's wondrous paradise...
A is for apple
...apples. fruit of the apple tree, species in the rose family. the tree is small, they may reach a height from 10-39 ft, fruits fall to the ground when they mature. blossoms during springtime and fruits mature mostly in autumn. known to some as the "forbidden fruit" from the "garden of eden" or you've probably seen this fruit occupying that famous spot on fiesta food tables...the lechon's mouth!...
APOL or EPOL hehe? we've always seen apples in fruit stands back home (Pinas) and when we draw trees, we always draw red "apples" on them. but i've never seen an actual apple tree, and when I knew that we could actually do "apple picking" in the orchards here, i had to do it, i just had to....and to make the long story short, we did.
autumn of last year 2008, we went apple-picking in highland orchards, just a few miles from where we live. their place greets you with a play area for kids and a petting zoo. they have llamas, cows, ponies, goats (and mind you, goats are pets and not for kalderetas, so be nice to them, got it!) you have to go on a hayride (it's a truck ride with hay) to go to the orchards.
i was surprised to see shrubs. i was prepared to see something as big as a mango tree. but no, they were kinda small that my little boy can just literally reach for the fruits. it's amazing how many different kinds there are: green apples, golden apples, small red apples, big red apples. most have fallen to the ground coz you see the tree is not very sturdy, and when you pick fresh fruits, the tree shakes a lot and that makes the more mature apples fall, such a waste! you get to pay for a bag worth $8 or so, then you fill it up with any apple you want. we got three bags, ate 3 pieces and gave the rest to friends who baked apple pies, etc. i'm not a big eater of apples...we just wanted the experience, yah? and of course, now i know better when i draw "apple" trees :)
**My little boy had his own trip to the orchard this year (2009) as a school activity. They got to do the hayride, made a scarecrow, tasted apple cider, squeezed? the apples (or something like that) ... see i found a good school, they're training my son early to be the explorer that his mother wants him to be .... GO, GO, KULIT!!
...appreciating God's wondrous paradise...
st.louis, MO: name it, they have it
the gateway arch, i've blogged about in a previous post...i forgot to mention that the arch had a museum at its base that showcases america's history, it allows you to relive the old west ... indians, their tools, houses and all.next, you have Anheuser-Busch Brewery (Budweiser Beer). you get to see how beer is made, how it's canned and here you'll see the biggest asses ever! hehe! the budweiser clydesdales, they're horses that average 68-72 inches in height and may weigh 2,000 lbs. They are known to be Budweiser's most recognizable mascots.
next stop is st. louis union station, it used to be one of the busiest train stations in the US, and in 1980 it was converted to a luxury hotel and a shopping center. here you'll find the "whispering arch", it's an architectural accident(?) that lets you whisper on one end of the arch and the person on the other end will hear it...the arch has been witness to many marriage proposals or other secret declarations ... (whisper: daddy, daddy, huwata ko! haha)
last for now is the st. louis zoo where we watched a sea lion show. this zoo is good because it's free but the show is for a fee. This was one of those times when i felt i was really in the US...coz now, i'm watching these shows and not just seeing them on "barney"! it was a fun experience, i'm not sure if my little travel buddy liked it as much. this is the first US zoo experience for me and the first ever zoo experience for my son and my hubby! i say, st. louis has it all ... these may seem a lot but they're not, i tell ya! they have a casino, they have big foot, a nice garden of some sort where you can take an evening walk and relax, butterfly garden, botanical garden and a whole lot more. we didn't get to see everything but that's ok ... it gives us a reason to come back you see .... til next time!! :)
...appreciating God's wondrous paradise...
a cheery cherry blossom day in DC
i patiently waited for april 4, 2009 and blocked my weekend because we will be going to Washington, DC, rain or shine! it was my dream to see the cherry blossoms in all it's splendor and that we did, oh, what a beauty! we had my hubby's sister with us, so i'm happy that her trip to visit us was worth it. i felt bad though coz she had to walk, walk, walk (and did i say walk, already?) the whole day through. museum after museum, from the capitol to the white house we walked, from 10:00am to 8:00pm!
but i'd do it again if you ask me to ... the whole city was a sight to see. there are flowers everywhere! the museums were free, you can go in wherever you want, depending on what your interests are. there's the smithsonian air and space museum, american indian museum, botanical garden, war memorials, art museums, libraries ... ooolala for the knowledge seeker, this is the place to be!
but ME? i am never much of that, i am someone who likes eye candy, that's why i'm bestfriends with my camera! and today in DC i got to SEE my favorite flower of all time--ORANGE TULIPS! and if i have to stop in front of the "who-knows-what-museum" just to bend down (really low) and take a good picture of it, i will...again and again and again!!! ...appreciating God's wondrous paradise...
atop the empire state
i climbed the empire state building once before, when i was single and younger (haha) with my brother and her wife but i also want my travel buddies to experience being up there and so we went february 2009. of course we also heard that jollibee new york is now open, that makes the trip all the more worth it!!
other than the 2-hour wait, your stay on the top will be short. but if you want to keep cool and identify all the buildings that you can see on every street of manhattan, you may take a while. they have stores to buy souvenirs from and of course the city has a hundred more stores...you can spend the rest of the day shopping on 5th avenue or go take the long walk to central park. but if you're pinoy, you may want to try dropping by Queens for a Chickenjoy!!
...appreciating God's wondrous paradise...
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About Me
- pearl
- i am filipino, proud of my origin ... i have been blessed to be working in the US; i have my hubby and my little boy with me and every weekend (almost!) we try to do something interesting...whether it be in our town, a few miles away, more than a few miles, nearby states or (once or twice) even a plane ride away ....
my travel magnet collection
when the travel bug hits me...i go
my favorite travel buddies
home is where the heart is, miss u all
four parks, one world