Trip Reports Archives – Page 9 of 27

Carowinds WinterFest

December 23rd, 2021admin0 Comments

Up until a few years ago, Carowinds shut down for the season after SCarowinds ended on Halloween. But in 2017, the theme park introduced a new holiday event, WinterFest. Open on weekends and select evenings between Thanksgiving and New Years, WinterFest offers holiday decorations, entertainment, activities, rides, and more. When my kids were younger, the SCarowinds decorations terrified them, even during the day. But even as I was ushering them quickly through the scary sections to get to the Peanuts’ Great Pumpkin Fest, I recognized that Carowinds did an amazing (albeit scary) job with their decorations. I was excited to …

Immersive Van Gogh

August 30th, 2021admin0 Comments

Earlier in the summer, my FaceBook feed started filling up with people posing next to larger than life metal sunflowers and gigantic paint cans and brushes. Everyone I knew seemed to be visiting the Immersive Van Gogh exhibit, a traveling show that has visited such cities as Paris, Chicago and Los Angeles. In Charlotte, it is located in trendy Camp North End. Running through early 2022, ticket prices vary based on demand and start at $39.99 for adults ($24.99 for kids), although the “cheap” tickets were very hard to come by and typically only available in the middle of the …

Dupont State Park

August 25th, 2021admin0 Comments

We have done quite a bit of hiking around North Carolina and hands down my favorite place to go is Dupont State Park. I don’t know of anywhere else in the state that you can do a 3 mile hike and see 3 different waterfalls. So when my sister and her family decided to stop in Asheville on the way back to NJ from Hilton Head, I knew exactly the hike to take them on. I have done this hike twice before and both times parked at High Falls parking area and did the loop from there that included High …

Lawton Stables

August 22nd, 2021admin0 Comments

My youngest loves all things related to animals and really enjoyed his first horseback riding experience at Cedar Creek Stables in Lake Lure, NC. Last summer he had really wanted to ride horses while we were on our annual trip to Hilton Head, but the stables were closed due to the pandemic. So we were thrilled to find that Lawton Stables was open again this summer. We didn’t have any other takers on this adventure among the siblings and cousins so we made it a mom-son outing. At $75 per person, it was a little pricey so I was happy …

Dolphin and Nature Tours

August 21st, 2021admin0 Comments

This was our 8th summer visiting Hilton Head Island with my extended family, and although the majority of our annual visit is spent relaxing together at the beach or by the pool, we usually try to do an outing or two while we are there. It had been at least 5 years since we had gone on a boat ride so we decided to do a sunset dolphin cruise. There are many options for dolphin cruises leaving from various points around the island. We narrowed it down to a private sunset cruise and ultimately booked with Dolphin & Nature Tours. …

Colonial Williamsburg

July 27th, 2021admin0 Comments

I have long wanted to take the kids to Colonial Williamsburg. When I was looking for a mid-way stopping point on our way home from our annual summer road trip to NJ, I felt like we had covered almost everything on both the mountain route and the I-95 / I-85 route. So even though Williamsburg was off the path a bit, I figured we could stay two nights to make the stop worthwhile. Despite horrendous traffic, we made it in time to go on the Haunted Williamsburg tour our first night. We had a full day to explore Colonial Williamsburg …

Haunted Williamsburg

July 26th, 2021admin0 Comments

There are several ghost tours available in the Williamsburg area, but we decided to go with the official tour run through Colonial Williamsburg. They have exclusive access to the buildings and restricted outdoor spaces, and their storytellers are costumed, adding an authentic period feel to their stories. Their tour is also kid friendly for ages 8 and up. Two tours are offered nightly, one at 7pm and one at 8:30pm. Tickets cost $19 for adults and $12 for kids. Since our kids are older, we went with the later time, hoping the darkness would add to the spooky ambiance. We …

Puerto Ayora

June 24th, 2021admin0 Comments

Located on the southern end of Santa Cruz, Puerto Ayora is a bustling little town with plenty of restaurants, shops, and hotels to meet any tourist’s needs. We passed through Santa Cruz on our initial arrival to the islands and had time for lunch in town before catching the afternoon ferry to Isabela. We returned at the end of our trip and spent three days here and really enjoyed the change of pace after our time in Puerto Villamil. The pier is the central point of town. Of course, inter-island ferries and day trip boats come and go from here, …

Los Gemelos

June 23rd, 2021admin0 Comments

Our final stop on our Galapagos adventure, Los Gemelos (or the Twin Craters) are two giant sink holes formed when empty magma chambers in the ground below collapsed over time due to erosion and tectonic shifts. The craters were essentially the caved-in remains of huge versions of the lava tunnels we had walked through at nearby El Chato. I was glad that we stopped here after El Chato so that I wasn’t aware that the roof collapsing on the lava tunnels was a risk! The Twin Craters are found on either side of the main road through Santa Cruz. Our …

El Chato Tortoise Reserve

June 23rd, 2021admin0 Comments

Located in the highlands of Santa Cruz, El Chato is a private tortoise reserve that is home to hundreds of Galapagos giant tortoises. Because the reserve is located between the Baltra airport and Puerto Ayora, many people stop here on the way to or from the airport. Our original 2020 itinerary had us staying on Santa Cruz at the beginning of our trip so we were planning to stop after our arrival from Quito. But when we rescheduled because of the pandemic, we flipped our itinerary and stayed on Isabela first so we ended up visiting El Chato on our …