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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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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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The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

29 Dec 2012 By

Our visit to Universal’s Islands of Adventures in Orlando started at the most exciting and crowded place there – The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, one of seven themed areas within the park. We spotted the lighthouse tower indicating that we are approaching the Islands of Adventures (IOA) from Universal’s City Walk.

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Best Halloween Experience! – Part 2

13 Dec 2012 By

The Street experience added the most to the Halloween experience, in my opinion. The scary creatures could be seen all over the park, trying to scare the visitors. We could hear screamers and laughs mixed with music almost everywhere. Here are some pics of the street crowd.

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Best Halloween Experience! – Part 1

12 Dec 2012 By

IMG_0738Halloween is a very different holiday. It’s not like any others, is it? Every year Dave and I try to do something special on Halloween. We visited a couple of Haunted houses in previous years and, of course, we carved traditional pumpkin Jack-O Lanterns.

This year we combined our visit to Florida with a trip to Universal Studios in Orlando. During the 2 hour flight from DC we watched as hurricane Sandy was moving towards the Northern States of the East Coast, including our home. JetBlue is one of my favorite domestic airlines for its spacious leg room and for the direct TV, which makes it possible to follow real time events.

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Cancun Day 5 – Xcaret Park (Part 3)

26 Oct 2012 By

Butterfly Pavilion at Xcaret is the most impressive butterfly habitat I’ve ever seen. According to Xcaret’s web site, this is the first butterfly breeding facility in Mexico. The structure is 49 feet high and has nearly 38,000 sq. ft. of free flying space, the largest butterfly facility in the world. It features only regional species native of the Yucatan peninsula in their natural habitats and its caretakers work diligently with some 5,000 butterflies in an intensive breeding program for 20 endemic species. I guess this butterfly sign warns us, the visitors, that we are getting closer to the Butterfly Pavilion.

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Cancun Day 5 – Xcaret Park (Part 2)

21 Oct 2012 By

Aviary is my favorite place at Xcaret. Aviary is a natural habitat for some 60 species of tropical birds who populate the jungles of the Yucatan peninsula. Here the visitors can see some of the most spectacularly colored birds of the jungle living within an open-air sanctuary. Parrots and macaws mate for life and at Xcaret they have plenty of company. The birds are not just there to amuse visitors, there is an active breeding program and birds are reintroduced into the wild. This scarlet macaw is one of dozens in the park.

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Cancun Day 5 – Xcaret Park (Part 1)

16 Oct 2012 By

Xcaret is a theme park in Riviera Maya, Mexico which offers a large variety of activities. Dave and I had Xcaret plus admission tickets to the park which included transport to and from Xcaret, park entrance, a buffet meal, access to all except extras, the park’s attractions and activities and Xcaret Night Show. It also included complimentary use of showers, beach loungers, hammocks, life vests, use of snorkeling equipment and a locker. It is an impressive and beautiful park known for its water and land attractions. We decided to skip the water activities and to see the park’s grounds instead. Here is a map of the park from xcaret-tickets.com.

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Cirque du Soleil – Totem

14 Sep 2012 By

Cirque du Soleil arrived at the National Harbor with its newest show ‘Totem’ and we decided not to miss a chance to attend the show. We had tickets for the 4 o’clock performance and an hour earlier we were driving to the National Harbor, where the Cirque’s signature bright blue and yellow top tents had been eracted.The recognizable blue and yellow 2600 seat tent is made from almost six tons of canvas. It was a beautiful sunny and hot (over 90°F) day. The parking lot was fairly empty and everything was well organized. Here is the view of the Cirque’s tents from the parking lot.

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