Archive for » January, 2013 «

Christmas Time in NYC

29 Jan 2013 By

For the majority of people, Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year. Dave and I decided that there is no better place to be at Christmas than NYC and took off for a road trip with a couple friends. New York didn’t disappoint us. The city is a pretty spectacular sight at that time, with Christmas trees, department-store window displays and other holiday attractions popping up around the city.

The Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center is the main attraction at Christmas time, drawing a huge crowd of holiday visitors every day. An interesting fact is that the tree is donated every year, and interested Giant-Norway spruce owners can submit their trees for consideration. According to Bloomberg Businessweek, this season, resident Joseph Balku from Flanders (N.J.) offered his tree, which survived Hurricane Sandy.

Christmas tree 2012 is an 80-year-old Norway spruce which weighs about 10 tons and stands 80 feet tall. It is wrapped in about five miles of LED lights with 45,000 bulbs, topped with a 550-pound LED-powered Swarovski star studded with 25,000 crystals, and had no other ornaments.

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Delightful Florida Beaches

21 Jan 2013 By

After visiting Universal in Orlando, Dave and I spent the rest of our short vacation with family in Florida. We had a very nice relaxing time there.  Of course, we couldn’t miss spending some time on our favorite Florida beaches. One day we dedicated to go to delightful Daytona Beach, which is considered one of the best beaches in the country. Daytona Beach has 23 miles of sandy, white beaches, which are open to pedestrians 24/7 with free access! This time we entered the beach from the side of the open amphitheatre, which is located on the North end of the Boardwalk amusement area and overlooks the ocean.

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The rest of Islands of Adventure

19 Jan 2013 By

IMG_8999Universal Islands of Adventure is one of two theme parks in the Universal area of Orlando in Florida and it is the better of the two in my opinion. My husband and I visited Halloween Horror Nights at Universal one day and the next day we spent enjoying Islands of Adventure. There are 7 different islands in the theme park and they are all completely different, which makes exploring them a whole lot of fun. Islands of Adventure and it’s sister theme park Universal Studios are both part of Universal Orlando, along with the CityWalk shopping/entertainment area and their resorts. The 7 islands are: Port of Entry, Jurassic Park, Toon Lagoon, Seuss Landing, Marvel Super Hero Island, The Lost Continent and The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

1. Point of Entry Island is the actual park’s main entrance and is home to many shops and services. The featured attraction of the island is the lighthouse, which is seen by the visitors as they are approaching the island. The lighthouse icon towering 130 feet over the main entrance is inspired by the Pharos Lighthouse of Alexandria, Egypt, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, that was constructed in 350 B.C. and fell during an earthquake in the 14th century. Each night, this real, functioning lighthouse sends out a bright beam to lead visitors to and from the park’s gates (source: wikipedia).

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Marvel Super Hero and The Lost Continent

13 Jan 2013 By

Marvel Super Hero Island is my second favorite island after Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando’s Islands of Adventures theme park. It seemed like we were stepping through the pages of popular comic books with their Super Heroes and Villains. Here we found amazing theme sets of Spider-Man, X-Men and Captain America among others, as well as some great rides.

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