Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Vacation
The vacation was great. Here are the highlights (I'm sure I have forgotten some details -- I will update if I think of anything major):
Friday, April 14
Fly from John Wayne Airport to Baltimore (BWI), bring food for 6 hours of travel (we landed in Phoenix but stayed on the plane). Take an extra duffel bag to have room to bring home souvenirs. Bring 2 portable DVD players. One battery didn't work, but one working was better than none!
Jay (Andrew's friend going to school out there) met us at the airport to spend the weekend with us. Stopped for dinner on the way to Hershey, PA.
Rented a minivan which worked well -- plenty of room for people and stuff. Found our way to the Hershey Lodge pretty well. Nice room -- plenty of room for everyone. It had 2 beds and a pull out couch. We also brought 2 air mattresses.
Saturday, April 15
Visit Hersheypark amusement park. VERY crowded (I overheard that it was a record breaking crowd) for their "Spring Preview". Overall nice visit, but not as good as I hoped. Downer for the day = Hayley's purse was left on the bumper cars. We returned to get in within minutes, but it had been tossed to the edge of the ride with $20 and her sunglasses stolen. Bad end to the day at the park. However, she did find $5 on the way out of the park which brightened her spirits some.
The Hershey Lodge has an indoor pool. I took Hayley swimming which she was very happy about. We got to swim a couple of other times, but I don't remember exactly which days. I think that was the highlight of the trip for Hayley (or second to the candy).
Sunday, April 16
Easter brunch at hotel.
Visit Hershey Factory tour.
Visit Hershey Museum.
Swim at hotel again.
Andrew and I drove Jay back to Baltimore for school (1.5 hours each way). The girls stayed behind for room service and an in-room movie.
Monday, April 17
Visit Indian Echo Caverns. Very cool place, inexperienced guide was disappointing. Still, better than I expected.
Visit Hershey Gardens. Lots of tulips in bloom. Lots of other interesting stuff to see.
Visit Hershey Factory Outlets for shopping. Everyone found something of interest.
Tuesday, April 18
Amish Country visit. Started with tour with a Mennonite guide in the car with us. Lunch at Amish buffet place followed by driving around on our own. We had a choice of 2 pretzel factory tours. We picked the wrong one. The lady was rushed and seemed to be having a bad day. The kids learned to twist pretzels, but it was very rushed. The Amish bake shop we found had some good treats.
Wednesday, April 19
Pack our bags to leave Hershey. Pick up Jay again in Baltimore and visit the National Aquarium in Baltimore. Nice aquarium, but not as big as I remembered. The aquariums in Monterey and Long Beach are just as nice (or better). Still, it was worth a visit. The waterfront area of Baltimore was nice.
Return Jay to school and drive to our hotel to check in. The hotel is next to the Arundel Mills mall, so we had a lot of food and shopping options. We had a Residence Inn 2 bedroom suite which was really nice for the family.
We really missed Mexican food, so we went to Chevy's for dinner. We did laundry at the hotel to have some clothes for the rest of the trip.
Thursday, April 20
We drove the Baltimore - Washington Parkway to Washington DC. We got a little lost driving around DC, but finally found Union Station to park the rental car. Union Station was a great start. Nice old architecture, restored inside as a train station, shopping mall, and food court.
Old Town Trolley was sold out for the day, but Tourmobile had space. Bought 2 day tickets for that and also for DC Ducks tour later today.
Tourmobile is a series of buses that drive around the National Mall and major monuments giving tour info. You can get on and off at their stops as you wish since buses run about every 20 minutes. We rode the entire circuit only stopping at Jefferson Memorial so that we could plan for our Friday visits. Returned to Union Station for our next tour at 4pm.
DC Ducks (4pm tour) is a WWII amphibious vehicle that gives a driving tour of the city followed by driving into the Potomoc for a water based section of the tour. We then drive out of the river and return to Union Station. "Captain Ron" was the best tour guide of the trip.
I found a grocery store to stock what we needed to prepare food for our return trip.
Friday, April 21
Washington DC day # 2. We had a really long list of things we wanted to do. We barely did any of them. We had a great time, but wish we had more time! It's hard since many of the "indoor" places (museums, etc.) are only open from 10:00am - 5:30pm.
We saw many of the major sites. Stopped for a closer look / visit at:
Pack to head home. Finish laundry while packing. One extra bag is not enough -- good thing we were next to a mall! Buy Hayley a 2 piece luggage set and use that to load everything we need to take home. The kids each got to pick one store to visit in Arundel Mills mall before leaving.
3pm EST - flight leaves for Phoenix and then home. Arrive home shortly before 7pm PST. Nice to have a meal packed again for the trip! We had an insulated bag with sandwiches, fruit, snacks, etc.
Interesting side note. The snack box they gave us on the plane had a "Soduku" puzzle game printed on it. I had never played it before. Hayley like math so she wanted to do it with me. We both had a lot of fun. Hayley then discovered that the Southwest Airlines magazine had more Soduku puzzles which she did on the flight from Phoenix to Orange County.
Weather Note
We were expecting it to rain about 50% of the time and be chilly. It only rained at the end of our last day and it was warm to hot. We packed the wrong clothes! Oh well, we worked it out.
Friday, April 14
Fly from John Wayne Airport to Baltimore (BWI), bring food for 6 hours of travel (we landed in Phoenix but stayed on the plane). Take an extra duffel bag to have room to bring home souvenirs. Bring 2 portable DVD players. One battery didn't work, but one working was better than none!
Jay (Andrew's friend going to school out there) met us at the airport to spend the weekend with us. Stopped for dinner on the way to Hershey, PA.
Rented a minivan which worked well -- plenty of room for people and stuff. Found our way to the Hershey Lodge pretty well. Nice room -- plenty of room for everyone. It had 2 beds and a pull out couch. We also brought 2 air mattresses.
Saturday, April 15
Visit Hersheypark amusement park. VERY crowded (I overheard that it was a record breaking crowd) for their "Spring Preview". Overall nice visit, but not as good as I hoped. Downer for the day = Hayley's purse was left on the bumper cars. We returned to get in within minutes, but it had been tossed to the edge of the ride with $20 and her sunglasses stolen. Bad end to the day at the park. However, she did find $5 on the way out of the park which brightened her spirits some.
The Hershey Lodge has an indoor pool. I took Hayley swimming which she was very happy about. We got to swim a couple of other times, but I don't remember exactly which days. I think that was the highlight of the trip for Hayley (or second to the candy).
Sunday, April 16
Easter brunch at hotel.
Visit Hershey Factory tour.
Visit Hershey Museum.
Swim at hotel again.
Andrew and I drove Jay back to Baltimore for school (1.5 hours each way). The girls stayed behind for room service and an in-room movie.
Monday, April 17
Visit Indian Echo Caverns. Very cool place, inexperienced guide was disappointing. Still, better than I expected.
Visit Hershey Gardens. Lots of tulips in bloom. Lots of other interesting stuff to see.
Visit Hershey Factory Outlets for shopping. Everyone found something of interest.
Tuesday, April 18
Amish Country visit. Started with tour with a Mennonite guide in the car with us. Lunch at Amish buffet place followed by driving around on our own. We had a choice of 2 pretzel factory tours. We picked the wrong one. The lady was rushed and seemed to be having a bad day. The kids learned to twist pretzels, but it was very rushed. The Amish bake shop we found had some good treats.
Wednesday, April 19
Pack our bags to leave Hershey. Pick up Jay again in Baltimore and visit the National Aquarium in Baltimore. Nice aquarium, but not as big as I remembered. The aquariums in Monterey and Long Beach are just as nice (or better). Still, it was worth a visit. The waterfront area of Baltimore was nice.
Return Jay to school and drive to our hotel to check in. The hotel is next to the Arundel Mills mall, so we had a lot of food and shopping options. We had a Residence Inn 2 bedroom suite which was really nice for the family.
We really missed Mexican food, so we went to Chevy's for dinner. We did laundry at the hotel to have some clothes for the rest of the trip.
Thursday, April 20
We drove the Baltimore - Washington Parkway to Washington DC. We got a little lost driving around DC, but finally found Union Station to park the rental car. Union Station was a great start. Nice old architecture, restored inside as a train station, shopping mall, and food court.
Old Town Trolley was sold out for the day, but Tourmobile had space. Bought 2 day tickets for that and also for DC Ducks tour later today.
Tourmobile is a series of buses that drive around the National Mall and major monuments giving tour info. You can get on and off at their stops as you wish since buses run about every 20 minutes. We rode the entire circuit only stopping at Jefferson Memorial so that we could plan for our Friday visits. Returned to Union Station for our next tour at 4pm.
DC Ducks (4pm tour) is a WWII amphibious vehicle that gives a driving tour of the city followed by driving into the Potomoc for a water based section of the tour. We then drive out of the river and return to Union Station. "Captain Ron" was the best tour guide of the trip.
I found a grocery store to stock what we needed to prepare food for our return trip.
Friday, April 21
Washington DC day # 2. We had a really long list of things we wanted to do. We barely did any of them. We had a great time, but wish we had more time! It's hard since many of the "indoor" places (museums, etc.) are only open from 10:00am - 5:30pm.
We saw many of the major sites. Stopped for a closer look / visit at:
- Smithsonian Museum of Natural History
- Smithsonian Museum of American History
- National Sculpture Garden
- Various gardens around the National Mall area
- Smithsonian Castle (HQ for the museums)
- Smithsonian Carousel
- Lincoln Memorial
- Boy Scout Statue (near White House, site of first US Jamboree)
- White House Visitors Center (closed -- just saw outside)
- Smithsonian Air & Space Museum (closed -- just saw outside)
- National Botanical Garden (closed -- just saw outside)
Pack to head home. Finish laundry while packing. One extra bag is not enough -- good thing we were next to a mall! Buy Hayley a 2 piece luggage set and use that to load everything we need to take home. The kids each got to pick one store to visit in Arundel Mills mall before leaving.
3pm EST - flight leaves for Phoenix and then home. Arrive home shortly before 7pm PST. Nice to have a meal packed again for the trip! We had an insulated bag with sandwiches, fruit, snacks, etc.
Interesting side note. The snack box they gave us on the plane had a "Soduku" puzzle game printed on it. I had never played it before. Hayley like math so she wanted to do it with me. We both had a lot of fun. Hayley then discovered that the Southwest Airlines magazine had more Soduku puzzles which she did on the flight from Phoenix to Orange County.
Weather Note
We were expecting it to rain about 50% of the time and be chilly. It only rained at the end of our last day and it was warm to hot. We packed the wrong clothes! Oh well, we worked it out.
# posted by - Rob @ 1:59 PM 
Comments:
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*whew!* When you go on vacation, you really go on vacation! Sounds like a ton of fun, though.
We are still just heading up & down to visit family at this point. And Diana & I do the Girl Scout stuff.
Wow, though. Good job! I hope the kids remember it forever!
:)
We are still just heading up & down to visit family at this point. And Diana & I do the Girl Scout stuff.
Wow, though. Good job! I hope the kids remember it forever!
:)
One benefit of all of my work travel last year is that I got free tickets for the whole family and a couple of free nights at the Residence Inn. That really helped keep the travel budget in check -- we would not have been able to do this trip without that.
Yes, I can see where free tickets and lodging would come in handy!!
I remember when I went to Europe after CSUF, I had booked thru the travel agency on campus, and going as a student cost about 1/3 of what it would have been as a regular tourist. Couldn't have done the trip any other way!
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I remember when I went to Europe after CSUF, I had booked thru the travel agency on campus, and going as a student cost about 1/3 of what it would have been as a regular tourist. Couldn't have done the trip any other way!
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