Category Archives: Travel

A Big Day in Beantown

Posted on by

Patriotism is big in Boston. This is the city of Paul Revere and the sons of liberty, the city whose citizens dumped a boatload of tea into the harbor in protest, the city that began the fight for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It’s almost enough to make you want to apologize for not being American. (I said almost.)

We got a heavy dose of this patriotic history by walking a bit of the Freedom Trail, a path through downtown that passes a bunch of buildings and other sites dating from pre-revolutionary times. We saw the Old State House, built in 1713 as the seat of the colonial government; the Declaration of Independence was first read to Bostonians from the balcony. Not far from the state house was the cemetery where people like Samuel Adams and Paul Revere were laid to rest. The God-bless-America thing gets kind of annoying, but you have to respect a place that remembers where it came from.

And you have to love the place where everybody knows your name. The highlight of Chris’s day was having lunch at the original Cheers bar, which looks exactly like the TV version from the outside, but in no way resembles it on the inside. There was plenty of memorabilia on the walls, though, and of course a gift shop where you could get every conceivable souvenir (including a T-shirt with a picture of a beer stein and a tagline that read, “I don’t even remember my name.”) It was pretty cool.

Next up was a free walking tour of Harvard’s hallowed grounds. Our guide was a second-year sociology student, and I did wonder why anyone would spend $60,000 a year to get an undergrad degree in the social sciences…but maybe I’m missing something.

We rounded off the day with some clam chow-dah and seafood at a very cool restaurant on the harborfront before dragging our weary bones back to the hotel. Tomorrow morning we catch a train to New York.

Stay tuned…

East Coast Adventure: Day 1

Posted on by

I wouldn’t say I’m a huge fan of baseball, but I do appreciate history and tradition, and Fenway Park has that in spades. So when I discovered the Blue Jays were playing the Red Sox on our first day in Boston, I snapped up a couple tickets. The weather was in doubt right up until an hour before game time, but then the skies miraculously cleared and we had a truly glorious afternoon (never mind that the Jays lost). What an amazing place to watch a game.

Not that Fenway is the only historical site in Boston. We actually started the day by touring the navy yard, home to the U.S.S. Constitution. Launched in 1797, it’s the oldest commissioned naval vessel still afloat. We took the free guided tour and got to see the main deck, the cannons, and the crew hammocks. It didn’t really compare to the U.S.S. Missouri that we saw in Hawaii, or the Midway that we saw in San Diego, but it was an okay way to spend an hour.

More history tomorrow…

A One-Day Getaway

Posted on by

Call us crazy, but we actually drove to Vancouver on the last day of the long weekend just to do Science World and catch the Lions-Blue Bombers game. (No, we didn’t drive back the same night — we’re not THAT crazy.) We spent one night in a hotel near the football stadium and then drove back super early the next day. None of us were thrilled when the alarm went off, but Justin had a 1:30 appointment we had to be back for, so we needed an early start.

Still, despite the two early mornings and the 10 hours of driving, it was a nice little getaway. Science World is always fun, and this time we even saw an Omnimax film about the building of the trans-Canada railway that was pretty interesting. I knew Justin would love the football game, given his current obsession with sports, but I thought it might be harder to keep Brayden entertained — but he surprised us all by really getting into the spirit of things, cheering when everyone else did and screaming his head off when the announcer told the crowd to make some noise. All good.

Lovin’ the Land of Lego

Posted on by

When you combine Star Wars, Lego, picture-perfect weather and virtually no standing in line, you really can’t go wrong. Our boys were so pumped about going to Legoland that Justin was even excited about our parking pass because it had a picture of a Lego minifigure on it.

So expectations were high, and we weren’t disappointed. I thought we should start with some of the rides in case the place got crowded and the lines got long, but the boys headed straight for the Lego Star Wars Miniland so they could check out the Lego models of scenes from the movies. It’s amazing what people can do with a few million tiny bricks!

From there we wandered through the pirate section of the park, where Chris and the boys started doing some rides. Early on I decided to forego the rides and just focus on taking pictures, which wasn’t as boring as it sounds because there was plenty of cool stuff to look at (plus the rides are aimed at the 12-and-under set, so I wasn’t really missing out.) We also checked out the Castle Hill area, which had an actual castle, a dragon roller coaster and a pretty tame jousting ride that the kids enjoyed.

The hit of the day, though, was the AquaZone Wave Racers. This involved Chris and one of the kids in a seadoo-type thing attached to a platform that goes around in a circle. The real fun was that whoever wasn’t riding (i.e. me and the other kid) could push buttons and cause massive water explosions that drenched whichever seadoo happened to be going by. The boys each took a turn on the ride, but I think the one who was doing the button pushing actually had more fun. Chris ended up soaking wet, of course. Good times all around.

Brayden stumbled on to a room full of XBox machines where the kids could sit and play Lego games (Lego Star Wars, Lego Batman, Lego Harry Potter, etc.) so naturally they stayed there for a while. It was a bit tough getting them out of there, but we lured them away with promises of ice cream. Afterward we did some shopping and watched the Chima 4D show before calling it a day. Awesome.

Tomorrrow is our final day at Disneyland, and then we fly home late tomorrow night. It was a jam-packed week, but it never felt like a death march, and we’re all still friends, so all is well. I’m not sure we’re ever going to top this one, though.

Now to pack (sigh)…

The Universal Experience

Posted on by

It’s a good thing that wasn’t my first trip to Universal Studios. If it was, it might have bothered me to miss out on three-quarters of the attractions.

It’s not like we didn’t have fun. When the park opened we hurried off to the much-anticipated Transformers 3D ride, which impressed the kids but which left me a bit queasy. (We’re wondering if Brayden shares Mommy’s motion sickness issues, as he actually threw up in the car en route to Universal after trying to read his book on the bumpy freeway. Fortunately, I’d brought an empty ice bucket from the hotel as a backup in case one of them needed to pee…sometimes it pays to be uber-organized. But I digress.)

So the Transformers ride was a hit, but that was nothing compared to what came next: the Simpsons ride. The kids have never seen the show but they have played the iPad app with Chris plenty of times, so they knew enough about it to really get into it. They loved it so much that they insisted on getting right back in line to do it again. Good times.

We stopped for a quick bite, then went off to do the studio tour. This was probably not the best idea. It was a 35-minute wait to get on the tram, and much of the actual tour either bored or frightened the kids. By the time it was done, so were the boys. I tried to convince them to check out the Shrek 4D show or the Jurassic Park water ride, but no go. We ended up at the Curious George play area, where Brayden ran around like a wild child and Justin mostly sat and looked at the Simpsons book he bought. Still, a good day overall.

Tomorrow: Legoland…

Our California Adventure

Posted on by

My boys have long insisted that they’re “done” with Cars. And while it’s true that they’ve moved on to other obsessions, they did watch that movie approximately 364,000 times (I’d have to ask Justin for the exact number) and I knew they’d enjoy Cars Land at Disney California Adventure.

I’ve never seen Brayden so excited.

The line for Radiator Springs Racers was not to be believed, but thankfully we had a pass that gave us an appointed time to show up, so it was only a 12-minute wait. Some people stand in line for three hours for that ride, so we felt pretty fortunate. And what a ride it was! It featured several sets and pretty well every character from the movie, along with a high-speed race through Ornament Valley. Brayden immediately declared he liked it even better than Star Tours, which is saying something. So.very.awesome.

We also got a family photo with Lightning McQueen, who moves and blinks and talks. Brayden was so thrilled after that one that he literally jumped into my arms. Then it was on to Luigi’s Flying Tires, a ride described by our guidebook as “bumper cars meets human air hockey” that all three of my boys loved.

We stopped for a drink at Flo’s V8 Cafe, but since Flo didn’t offer the chicken nuggets Justin had been promised, we had to find somewhere else for lunch. We ended up at the Test Pilots Grill, which was outfitted like an airplane hangar and which offered food everyone liked. It was right next to Soarin’ Over California, the flight-simulator-Imax experience that Chris and I remembered enjoying on our first trip to Disney 12 years ago. I thought the feet-dangling-in-the-air thing might cause Justin some issues, but he was fine. Brayden especially loved the part where you fly over an aircraft carrier. Another favorite.

We saved the Grizzly River Run for last. We’d never get Justin on a water ride if it meant his clothes got wet, so I’d picked up cheap ponchos at the dollar store in Kelowna and brought them along. The kids and I wore them and stayed bone-dry (we looked like dorks, but who cared?); Chris opted to go without, so naturally he got drenched. Everyone had fun, though.

We picked up our rental car this afternoon. Universal Studios awaits tomorrow…

Destination Disney

Posted on by

Our day at Disneyland was amazing — relaxed, not rushed, not exhausting. We never had to wait more than 15 minutes for a ride, even the super popular ones: Star Tours, Splash Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean, Indiana Jones, etc. Justin got a little scared on the Finding Nemo submarine ride and again on Indiana Jones, but generally he was OK. It turned out Brayden WAS tall enough for Indy (whew) and he totally loved it.

Both boys even got picked for Jedi training, so it was pretty much a perfect day. Justin battled Darth Maul and Brayden took on Darth Vader — very cool. The boys were so into the Star Wars thing that did the Star Tours ride three times, yet neither of them had any interest in meeting Mickey. (I’m never going to get the Star Wars theme music out of my head…but I guess that’s better than It’s a Small World.)

They spent another couple hours at the waterpark this afternoon before we went for dinner. Since neither of them cares about Mickey, we opted to skip the parade toninght and focus on getting a good rest. The wifi at the hotel is so slow and unreliable that posting pictures will have to wait until we get home (sigh).

Cars land tomorrow…

California Here We Come

Posted on by

This is already the greatest family vacation we’ve ever done, and we haven’t even gotten to the best part.

We arrived in Anaheim yesterday but had no plans to hit the parks yet, so we had most of the day to (gasp) relax. We shopped a bit (Brayden insisted on buying a very cool R2D2-Mickey-ears hat) and spent a couple hours at the pirate-themed waterpark at the hotel (Brayden ran out of superlatives for this one: “extremely fun”, “super fun”, “super mega fun”…)

Chris wanted to go back to Downtown Disney for supper, so we wandered back there but found that our restaurant of choice was packed. We were all hot and tired, and things were starting to get ugly…but then Brayden pointed to a Louisiana-style building and asked if it was a restaurant, and if it was, could we go there? It turned out to be a great choice, one that we never would have considered otherwise. Good call, B.

By the time we made it back to the hotel, everybody was bagged. I gave the kids a quick bath and let them play some iPad for a while before tucking them in. Everyone — and I mean everyone — was asleep by 8:30 p.m. Nice.

The Camping Experience

Posted on by

I’ve never been a big fan of camping (I’ve actively avoided it since my month-long tenting tour of Europe in 1998), but Chris has fond memories from his childhood and wanted to give our kids the same experience. So when Dave and Tanya invited us to crash in their trailer for a night in the Shuswaps, we decided to give it a go. The weather could’ve been better (it was cloudy and kind of cool) but everyone still had a good time.

Some highlights:

At the beach, Justin insisted that Dad do the 15-minute walk back to the campsite to retrieve his goggles. When Dad finally returned, Justin spent 3.2 seconds in the water before announcing he was done. Nice.

The kids were so excited to be allowed to walk to the washrooms by themselves that they made half a dozen trips in the span of about 20 minutes.

Brayden loved building the fire and roasting hot dogs. Justin was more interested in playing with Dad’s iPad.

Both boys slept past 7 a.m. That alone makes me think we might want to try this again.

A Howlin’ Good Weekend

Posted on by

It ain’t Disney, or even West Edmonton Mall, but the Great Wolf Lodge still gave the kids a pretty good weekend. Most people come for the waterpark, which was a lot of fun — it was only a fraction the size of the one in Edmonton, but unlike West Ed it’s only open to hotel guests, so it never seemed overly crowded.

The real attraction for our kids was MagiQuest, a live-action adventure game that sends you all over the hotel pointing your magic wand at treasure chests, trees and crystals that light up and talk to you. You have to buy the wands and the game (naturally) but it kept the boys busy for hours. They were also thrilled with the arcade, mainly because they each earned enough tickets to get a new Angry Birds plush toy.

Was it worth the money? Not really. But it was a nice little getaway.