East Coast Trip -2011 Summer

New York, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Washington D.C. trip –summer 2011 (East Coast)
We planned for a 9 day trip to east coast in summer to cover 4 places. I will break down our visit by each place, so if you are visiting 1 of the places, it will be helpful for you.

New York (3 days) - Summer 2011
If you only have 3 days to visit New York , here are some must see places and itinerary that you can leverage if you want to see New York at your own pace and not going on a guided bus tour /package bus tour

Day1 - We arrived at JFK airport early morning and took the subway to hotel (Days Inn) in upper West Side. This hotel is very accessible to subway -2 blocks walking and lot of restaurants and fast food chains around in case you come back to hotel and still hungry. Great location and great prices too. That was our first time using subway in New York City and it was not hard to find which subway train to take where. The map was easy to understand. I don’t usually use public transportation in California, so if I can do it in New York City you can do. It is fun to be on subway and observe New Yorkers as they go on with their daily lives. From the hotel, we walked few blocks to central park on 92nd street and spend some time in central park walking, eating and strolling through the park and relaxing on the big rocks. It is a beautiful park. Must spend some time at this place. Great place to relax. Then we came out of the park at 86th street and caught a subway train to Times Square. We walked through time square looking in all directions to take in the view. Awesome! Awesome! We then started to relate the places to what we see on TV on New Year’s Eve. We went into different shops in Times Square. We had lunch at one of the Italian Pizza places in Times Square and met up with my school friends and families at Bryant Park. After few hours with my friends, we walked few blocks from Bryant Park to see Empire State building. We took a package deal out Empire state building for the 3D show and to lift ticket to get to the top of the building. The 3D show is not that great. I recommend buying the tickets to the top of the Empire state building online and save few bucks and also wait time to buy tickets there. We went to the very top of the Empire State building, level 98. It was an amazing view of New York City from Empire State Building. It lights up in the night with different themes every night. We did not have enough time to cover Rock Feller Center, but if you do have time visit Rock Feller too. You don’t need to go up at Rock Feller if you have gone up Empire State Building for the view.

Day 2 – We decided to spend some time at New York’s best Museums & Financial District and Brooklyn Bridge. We went to Metropolitan Museum of Art. It was a 15 min walk from hotel through central park. It is a must see museum with arts from different cultures around the world for contemporary to modern art, photography, glass art etc. I bought tickets online. If you don’t have a lot of time to spend at the museum, take 1 hr museum highlights tour, it is worth it. You need minimum of 4-5 hrs to cover the museum on your own. We took the tour and spend another 1-2 hrs on our own going back to the galleries that we liked on the tour. We had lunch on our way to United Nations. The tours are booked way in advance. If you are interested to see what happens inside United Nations building, book the tour online. We could not get a tour as all tours are booked. If you haven’t booked online, if you come in early at 8.00 AM, you may get a time for tour that day. We walked around the open gallery in UN for some time and walked to Grand Central station. Grand Central is Grand! My son started to compare it to Madagascar movie.
We took the subway to Financial District. We walked through Wall Street, the only road in New York made of bricks we took some pictures of trinity church, NYSE and the charging bull outside bowling Lawn. This bull & Bowling Lawn were used in the movie “Sorcerer’s Apprentice.” We sat at Bowling Lawn for some time and walked along the coast seeing Brooklyn Bridge all the way. By the time we reached the starting point of Brooklyn Bridge we were so tired, so we did not walk across the bridge. Recommend taking subway to the starting point of Brooklyn Bridge, if you plan to walk across the bridge.
We took subway to Times Square, as we wanted to see the place during night time with all the lights and have a great dinner. If you are into Broadway shows, catch a show in Times Square.

Day 3 – We cannot leave New York without seeing Statute of Liberty & Ellis Island. I did not plan ahead, so I could not get Statue of Liberty Pedestal tickets online. One of my friends told me that at New Jersey port; usually you get the Pedestal tickets, so we went to New Jersey Port to take the Statue Cruises to Statue of Liberty and Ellis Islands. It is worth it. Pedestal ticket gives you access to SOL museum and you can climb up to the Pedestal of the statute. IF you want to go up to the Crown, plan ahead as those tickets get sold out 6 months in advance. On Ellis Island there was a museum about how foreigners immigrated to America for a new & better life. We watched a 30-minute movie about immigration and take a tour where the guide explains what happened during those times. I participated in one of the scenes as an interviewer of the immigrants and it was fun. Then we went to Liberty Island, we saw the museum and climbed 156 steps to the pedestal. It was a great view from the pedestal. We could see the entire New York City skyline. It was a breathtaking view. After we got down, we ate pizza for lunch. We then boarded our cruise back to New Jersey’s port. Allocate a least 4 hrs for this trip. We spend almost 6 hrs on both islands combined.

Philadelphia (1 day)

We took a bus from China town (NY) to Philadelphia. It is only 12$/person round trip. We first went to visitor’s center and took a time slot for guided tour of our first capitol where declaration of independence was signed. We spend some time seeing all the displays in visitor center and there is a movie at Visitor center about Philadelphia when it was declared as first capitol of this country.

Then we went to see Liberty Bell. It was amazing how there was 1 inch crack in the bell and read through the different displays on where the bell was and a movie on how the crack formed on the bell and restoration process. Then we went for our allocated time to visit Capitol. The guide was very knowledgeable and walked us though the Capitol where declaration was signed and decisions were made. After that we went for late lunch. We wanted to visit National Constitution Center, but did not have time. If you do have time, plan for 2 hrs at National Constitution Center which has lot of interactive displays on our constitution for all ages. Plan for 1 whole to see all 3 must places listed above with enough time to eat and rest in between.

Hershey Chocolate Factory & town Pennsylvania (1 day)
We stayed at Super8 hotel. It is 15-20 mins drive to Hershey factory, but good price and few restaurants around the hotel. All kids would love this trip. We reached early to Hershey Chocolate factory and we took a package deal of 5 events - Really Big 3-D Show, Chocolate Tasting Adventure, The Trolley Works, Create Your Own Candy Bar, and The Great American Chocolate Tour. First, we went to the Really Big 3-D Show. It was a funny show telling how chocolate tastes really good. After the show, we went to the chocolate tasting adventure. We tasted 5 different types of Hershey chocolates mostly they were all great but with different ingredients. I learned a lot about chocolate, how to enjoy the taste of chocolate and what chocolates are good for health etc. After the tasting we went on 45 min trolley Works ride. The rise takes you around Hershey town and shows how Mr. Hershey created the town and what he builds. The guide and the driver are really funny with different costumes. After the Trolley Works we went for our 1 PM chocolate candy bar making. It was really fun that you could design your candy bar and have it made for you. You could even make the cover of your candy bar box. It was fun. After that making we went on the Great American Chocolate Tour. The tour was more of like a ride, not a lecture. The ride showed us how the chocolate bars and candy are made. It was a history ride (this is a free ride). If you don’t want to spend a lot of money, you can take the free Great American Chocolate tour and take the trolley works tour (12$/adult).
There is also Hershey theme park with huge rollercoaster’s and other rides. We spend a lot of time at the chocolate factory, did not have enough time to go to the theme park. Depending on the age of the kids, you can decide to spend as much as needed at one of the places. Plan for a whole day here, if you intend to go to both the factory and the theme park.

Washington D.C (3 days)
It is highly recommended that you need to plan way ahead to visit Washington and visit the places you want to visit. For White House visit, plan at least 6 months ahead. Write to your senator to arrange for a white house tour. The rest of the tours can be booked online within 4-6 weeks advance planning. I highly recommend reserving your tours online.

Day-1 We stayed at Best Western in Arlington. They have shuttle service to metro and metro gets you to D.C. downtown in 15-20 mins. If you have car, drive is only 10 or 15 mins. Since I did not reserve some of the tours online, I went early morning to stand in lines to get tickets for Bureau of Engraving and Printing and Washington Monument. Our first stop was Capitol Hill. We went on the guided tour. After the tour, we went to see the US Capitol Museum. At the museum, there was a digital and virtual tour of the US Capitol. It was all very fun and interesting. After lunch, we went to the Supreme Court which is now a separate building close to Capitol Hill. They have lectures (talk about what the chief justices do etc…) in one of the court rooms. It is very grand and as we were talking to few guards and receptionist there, they explained the history of the Supreme Court. It has a spiral stair case where the steps are into the wall and it does not have any railing support. Next stop - Bureau of Engraving and Printing. This is the other side of capitol Mall. We got to see the printing of $ bills and also a little history about printing and ink. Lastly, we saw the Washington Monument. We took the elevator up to the 500 ft point of the Monument. It was a great view of White House, the Jefferson Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, and the US Capitol on each side of the monument. You should not miss this view.

Day-2
Today we planned to visit White house and National Air Space Museum. We did not have tickets to White house guided tour, so we visited White House Visitor Center for a virtual tour of the White House. There is a movie about how the white house looked from inside and what the rooms are used for. Also there are few guided ranger programs (fun ones) that take the little ones and you around the white house outdoor areas. From there we walked a few blocks to see White house from outside. It was very hot and sweaty, so we walked to where we can see the white house and did not go further closer to the white house. We were lucky to see the president come to the White House in his limo. Then we drove to National Air and Space Museum. As we did not have a lot of time to see the museum, we took a tour of the whole museum. It was supposed to be a one-and-a-half tour, but it ended up to be almost three hours! We were surprised that it was almost three hours instead of the original time. Our tour guide told us the history of aircraft from beginning to the present day. After lunch kids saw IMAX 3-D film called “LEGENDS OF FLIGHTS”. It was awesome! The movie described how airplanes were made by Boeing. It is a museum to visit if you are interested in aviation history and you need at least 1/2 day to go through the museum in detail. After a long day, we went back to hotel and swam in the pool for some time and relaxed.

Day-3
Last day at Washington and there is lot more to cover. We know we have to come back again to see the rest of the places. Few we wanted to cover today are National Archives Museum, Spy Museum, Natural Museum of History and Monuments. First we visited National archives museum. We did not have timed entry tickets, so we waited at the entrance at 8.00 AM, doors open at 9.00 AM and we were able to get in and see the original Bill of Rights, Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution without any wait time. The writing had faded over 200 years and very hard to read and I got goose bumps seeing the original documents and in the dome where the documents are there are paintings of our fore fathers and there is a clue hidden in the paintings. It was fun trying to find the answer, not going to give it away here. You have to visit to find out for yourselves. Then we went to the Museum of Natural History. It was ok, did not spend a lot of time at the museum. Walked through the different eras of evolution. Spend some time in gems section where they had the hope diamond worth 54.12 karats and amazed at different crystals and their colors. After lunch Jay (my son) wanted to see International Spy Museum. You need to pay to visit this museum as it is not part of Smithsonian museums. If you are interested in this museum, buy timed entry tickets online. We waited in line for 30 mins to get tickets and 30 mins in line to get into the museum. In the museum you had a spy challenge. You were supposed to be an undercover with a whole another identity. If you could complete the challenge you got a prize. They also have 007 car with all gadgets on display too. The spy stuff from cold war era to modern era and who the spy industry has evolved. IT will take 4-5 hrs in the museum. This museum is not for little ones below 7 or even 10, IT is very crowded and not enough space for all those people. From the museum, we took taxi to see Lincoln memorial. Lincoln statue is huge when you see it that close. He is 60 feet tall sitting in his chair. You could see the Washington Monument and the reflecting pool, it was a great view. There is ranger lecture on Lincoln memorial and what happened there at 6.00 PM. As we did not want to wait for an hr, we left. There is cell phone guided tour and you can hear it at your own pace. Then we walked through the reflection pool to veteran’s memorial and spend some time sitting there until our ride arrived.

Palm Springs trip May 2011

5/27/11


We drove to Los Angeles the previous day from San Jose and stayed at Days inn. On 27th we drove all the way from LA to Palm Springs which took about two hours, so we arrived there around noon. On our way we stopped at the visitor center to get information & maps. We drove to Best Western Resort at Palm Dessert to check in early if possible. We were allowed to check-in early. Great Resort – Swimming pool, tennis courts and great breakfast. We had our lunch at Panda Express and during lunch we decided to go to Joshua Tree national Park for the rest of the day. It was pretty hot.
We drove almost 83 miles to get to Joshua Tree National Park. It was worth the drive. On our way to went through the windmill farm. It was very windy. When my husband opened the car door to take a picture the wind was so strong it felt like the car door opened wide and flew away. Don’t try to do that …

We got to the Joshua Tree National park visitor center and found out what were the best places to visit inside the park. There camp grounds are pretty full for Memorial Day weekend. There are lots of places to see inside the park. We climbed up few rocks at arch stone and had fun . The shape of the rock is really an arch and it is huge. The park is full of Joshua trees. It is amazing as you are driving, the view of so many Joshua trees in a arid climate make you wonder if you are in desert. It is amazing how these trees grow with such little or no rainfall. The biggest attraction was Keys View. It was a place where you could see the entire desert and where the San Andreas Fault line goes through the desert and Salton sea all the way to Mexican border if there is no haze. It was an amazing view. From there we went on a trial called Lost Horse Mine trail . The map showed it is a 2 mile hike to the mine. We thought it would take 1 hr to the mine and 1 hr back. As we hiked for 45 mins,, we could not see the mine in sight. There are no trail signs , so we did not know if we were lost on lost horse mine trail and I was running out of water, so we turned back. Make sure you have enough water when you hiking on these trials on the park . We then drove to Barker Dam visitor point and took the interpretive trail which told the history of how the people there got water long time back, plants that grew there and how they were used by native Indians. By the time we finished it was like 7:00 pm and we were very tired. It is a great place to see a different landscape. We ate at Mc Donald at Palm Springs and drove back to the hotel for the night.

5/28/11

Today we went to the most popular attraction of Palm Springs, Aerial Tramway. We left the hotel around 8:30am and took a 30 minute drive to the San Jacinto Mountain. By the time we got to the parking lot we were at 1,700ft above sea level. There is shuttle bus from parking area to the entrance and there we were 2,500ft above sea level. There were two trams – each in opposite direction going up the mountain. When you get the tickets, they give you the time of the boarding. We waited for 30 mins before we were able to board. Go early in the morning at 8.00 AM, there is no wait time. It is a 10 minute ride to the top. It was an awesome ride The tram floor moves 360 degrees. By the time we got to the top of the mountain, we were like 6,000 feet above sea level. The view was spectacular. You could see the entire valley and the desert. At the top of the mountain there were trails to go on. We decided to go on two trails there, which are the nature trail and the desert view trail. I recommend these trails for visitors. We ate lunch up there during the hike. The views on the dessert view trail are awesome. Take lots of water. Watched for some birds along the river there.
If you want to go on high intensity trails, you need to check-in at the ranger station and take a permit. There great camping grounds up there and they also need permits.
We hiked back to the tram station and went up to the observatory deck and there is a history about the valley along with the views. The reason why Coachella Valley doesn’t get rain is because the clouds that come from the Pacific Ocean aren’t able to pass these mountains ( these mountains raised due to San Andreas fault ) and dump all the rain on the mountain By the time we got back down it was 4:00 pm. We then decided to go shopping in Palm Springs downtown on Palm Canyons Drive. We ate dates ice cream and guava ice cream - very unique flavors. We went to Rancho Mirage “The River” - P.F. Changs for dinner. It was a really good Chinese restaurant.

5/29/11

We decided to visit the Sea below the sea level - Salton Sea. A sea like no other. We left early morning and it is an hour drive to the sea from Palm Dessert. You can drive up to the beach. The beach smells dead fish. There where so many dead fish lying ashore because of sudden drop in temperature of the sea this winter. At the museum you can view and learn the history on how Salton Sea was formed. The Sea dried up as Hoover dam was build and Colorado river dried up before it reached Salton Sea. Then there was overflow from near by lands and floods from other rivers that again flooded the water to Salton Sea as it is the lowest level – lower than sea level. The water in Salton Sea evaporated and left the salt behind making the water more saltier. The sea is about 47 feet deep today. From there we went to some Mud Volcanoes. The geo thermal activity under the earth’s crust is pushing the mud out and creating mud Volcanoes at Niland. There a electric company there where electricity is made from geo thermal activity .. We also saw the Salvation Mountain. It was a mountain with paint all over it and told how one man in 1870’s dedicated his art as a monument to his god. By the time we finished we were 83 miles away from Palm Springs. We drove all the way back to Palm Springs and ate lunch.
After lunch we went to a Thousand Palms, which is a city north of Palm Springs. Over there are big giant fan palms that took years to grow. Thousand Palms park is San Andreas fault. There is oasis formed in the middle of dessert because of the water from underground coming out of the fractures of San Andreas fault. We took the trail to Maclean Pond, It is round trip of 1 hr . We walked on the San Andreas Fault Line to get the pond. The pond was clear and amazing to see it in middle of dessert . It was amazing in two ways. Walking on the San Andreas Fault Line and seeing giant palms above you. It was a good nature trail hike though. The park closes at 6.00 PM sharp .. After that we met with some friends from LA and chatted for couple of hours and then went back to hotel.. We ate at Applebee’s that night and slept for the night. Palm Springs was a really great adventure and vacation.