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Review: Shipwreck: Pirates and Treasures – Good for Kids? Discovery Times Square NYC

If you perk up when you hear about divers finding sunken wrecks full of precious metals, Shipwreck: Pirates and Treasure exhibit at Discovery Times Square would be a good one for you.

Learn about pirates and deep sea exploration at Shipwreck. Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan
Learn about pirates and deep sea exploration at Shipwreck. Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan

Groupon has discounted tickets as I post this, but act quickly. If you’re new to Groupon, get the tickets here. If you’re already a Groupon user, get the tickets here. Search under Long Island, NY in the search bar on top for “Shipwreck.” Tickets on Groupon are $12-15 (kid/adult), which is a savings. Read the Groupon fine print before buying.

As you might imagine, treasure seeking is a high tech affair. The exhibit focuses on finds from Odyssey Marine Exploration, a deep ocean exploration public company (NasdaqCM: OMEX) that salvages items from shipwrecks and does mineral exploration. They choose from the 6,500 shipwrecks in their database, evaluating them based on archeological importance, claims to the property, and other factors.

WHAT YOU’LL SEE Continue reading “Review: Shipwreck: Pirates and Treasures – Good for Kids? Discovery Times Square NYC”

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Review: Pole Position Raceway Birthday Party

***Pole Position is now RPM Raceway**

We won a Jersey City Pole Position birthday party at a silent auction (we were the high bidder!), and told our son that was his party the next year. It was the best birthday party ever. Fortunately only one of the kids had gone before, so it was a new experience for almost everyone.

Overview of the Pole Position Raceway in Jersey City. Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan
Overview of the Pole Position Raceway in Jersey City. Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan

The carts are electric. While the room is loud, it’s apparently quieter than if they use gas (and it smells better too).

They have party rooms overlooking the raceway on two sides of the building at Pole Position Raceway. Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan
They have party rooms overlooking the raceway on two sides of the building at Pole Position Raceway. Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan

Unfortunately we arrived late to our own party. Continue reading “Review: Pole Position Raceway Birthday Party”

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Review: Flying Porter Airlines

This is the third (and last) in my three part Toronto series. You can read about the Distillery Segway/food tour here, and a Toronto photo essay here.

I went to Toronto for the TBEX travel blogger conference, and flew Porter Airlines for the first time. While most flights go into the Pearson airport, my Porter flight arrived at the downtown Billy Bishop Airport, which is  two minute ferry ride from downtown Toronto. You can actually see the CN Tower (which looks like Seattle’s Space Needle) and downtown from the airline exit ramp. And if your staying downtown, even better. They run a free shuttle every 20 minutes dropping you off very close to the MTCC, Toronto’s convention center. My hotel was 1.5 blocks from there, making it a cheap way to get to/from the airport.

View of downtown from the Porter plane. Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan
View of downtown from the Porter plane. Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan

On board, the flight attendants are dressed in really cute designer outfits with retro pill box hats. I couldn’t find a royalty-free photo to use, but you can see the Porter uniforms here. Even on short flights, they serve complementary mini meals, including free wine and beer in actual glass.

porter food
Complementary Porter meals with actual wine and beer  served in actual glasses. Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan

If flying out of Billy Bishop Airport, get there early to enjoy the nicest waiting areas I’ve seen Continue reading “Review: Flying Porter Airlines”

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A Day in Coney Island – Aquarium and Amusement Park Rides

It seems each year we make a summer trek to the New York Aquarium. This year was different. We made the trek a week or so after it reopened from Superstorm Sandy. Though normally open year-round, the Aquarium suffered flooding to its lower levels (and even a few week on the upper levels), power outages and equipment damage, forcing it to shut down for an estimated $65 million in total repairs ($7 million spent so far). It partially reopened  Memorial Day weekend.

IMG_5643

The Aquarium fully reopens in 2016, with a new shark building (Ocean Wonders). Read more about the Aquarium damage from Sandy here (NY Daily News) and also here (NYT) Fees will be reduced while the exhibits aren’t fully opened.

What’s open? Continue reading “A Day in Coney Island – Aquarium and Amusement Park Rides”

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Toronto: Distellery District Segway Food Tour

As you saw from my Toronto photo tour yesterday, I was recently in Toronto for the TBEX travel blogger conference. I visited Toronto’s Distillery District with a tasting tour and Segway ride. Next time the Segway people might want to have us ride the Segway BEFORE the beer tasting, but there were no accidents so we’re all good. Thank you to See Toronto Now and the Segway Ontario’s Distillery shop for hosting the great tour.

The brick buildings and cobblestone of the Distillery District. Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan
The brick buildings and cobblestone of the Distillery District. Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan

The Distillery used to produce 250 million gallons of whiskey a year, and has a colorful history starting in 1831, including the company’s co-founder (James Worts) throwing himself into a well after his wife dies in childbirth. His milling partner William Gooderham recruits Worts’ 13 year old son to help him convert the mill into a whiskey distillery. A distillery that produced lots of whiskey for the Americans during the prohibition.

Some fun sculptures at the Distillery District. Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan
A fun sculpture at the Distillery District. Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan

Though the area is now paved as far as the eye can see, it used to be on the water. Garbage thrown into the water was eventually paved over into landfill (kind of like in parts of the San Francisco Bay Area, though they didn’t use garbage), and the coastline is now much further away. Continue reading “Toronto: Distellery District Segway Food Tour”

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Toronto – a Photo Essay

I recently went to Toronto as part of a travel blogging conference. I hadn’t been before and made the most of my minimal free time. I thought the best way to show you the Toronto I saw was via photo essay.

Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan
Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan

This was the view from the downtown Billy Bishop airport, during the ferry ride to the mainland. The skyline was gorgeous from any view.

Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan
Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan

We shared the conference center with a bodybuilding conference and a Yu-Gi-Oh conference. It was not hard to tell who belonged at which! This is Julie Lockhart, who won second place in her class at Toronto’s OPA (Ontario Physique Association) Provincial Championships. She’ll compete next Continue reading “Toronto – a Photo Essay”

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Review: Hotel Giraffe in NYC

My daughter and I do a girls’ trip to NYC every summer to see shows and exhibits. This is the first year we’ve stayed over, and we’re so glad we did. We were guests of Hotel Giraffe, a boutique hotel on 26th Street and Park Avenue South, very close to Madison Square Park. Rated number four onTripAdvisor, out of 433 hotels in Manhattan, we had high expectations. And they were met.

Hotel Giraffe on 26th and Park Avenue South, NYC
Hotel Giraffe on 26th and Park Avenue South, NYC

Hotel Giraffe is part of a family of hotels in the Library Hotel Collection, four unique boutique hotels in Manhattan. I reviewed Hotel Elysee last summer. Hotel Giraffe has 72 rooms in a corner building, each room with a with small balcony. Unfortunately for us it was pouring rain while we were there, but we could still keep the windows open. We stayed in a king suite, which is the type of room I like to stay in when traveling with my kids. The kids get the living room, and my husband and I get the bedroom. It was quite spacious.

The king suite at Hotel Giraffe. Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan
The king suite at Hotel Giraffe. Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan

This place had more closets than Continue reading “Review: Hotel Giraffe in NYC”

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Cicadas in New Jersey – part 2

The cicadas have reached a threshold. You can now hear their constant hum outside. It sounds like a constant rubbing of one of these frog instruments.

frog

This may give some of you nightmares, but it’s a beautiful movie: 

The kids were privileged (!) to see two cicadas mating yesterday- at least that’s what I think they were doing – right there in the Bank of America sidewalk in their parking lot. In the 20+ minutes we were in there (exchanging U.S. dollars for Canadian dollars for my trip to Toronto – yay!), they stayed at it, though moving slightly to a different part of the sidewalk.

cicada sex
cicada sex. Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan

We’re hearing that some areas of NJ – even some areas of our town – still haven’t seen any.  So here are some pictures for those of you who are missing them. Continue reading “Cicadas in New Jersey – part 2”

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Brood II Cicadas in New Jersey

You’ve probably heard about the cicadas taking over New Jersey and other parts of the country. It’s part of the 17 year cycle. I read all about their lifecycle on Wikipedia.

Last week we spotted the first few nymphs emerging from the ground. A block away there were reports of massive molting, and a few started appearing on our block. For us, the change was last night/this morning. On the walk to school there was a definite change. You have to look down if you want to avoid stepping on them. They were littering our front walk way. I’ve heard this will get much worse. They aren’t making noise yet and the ground isn’t undulating with the creatures.

The nymph shell.
The empty nymph shell. Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan

Apparently these are called nymph shells. After the bug crawls out of the earth (almost a foot down), they shed their skins and become adults. You can see those skins everywhere, from the ground to the grass, to tree trunks and telephone poles to tires. Continue reading “Brood II Cicadas in New Jersey”

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Bowman’s Hill Wildflower Preserve

Last summer we had the opportunity to go through Bowman’s Hill Wildflower Preserve on our way from Washington Crossing Historic Park back to New Hope, PA (read all the things you can do with kids in the Lambertville/New Hope area here).

Unfortunately for us it was past the peak spring flower season, which is why I urge you to go now! Even without the maximum number of flowers, though, it’s a beautiful place I’d like to spend more time. The best views for us, ironically, were at the entrance – ironically before we entered to pay. See what’s in bloom before you go.

We saw a ton of butterflies.

Lots of butterfiles at Bowman's Hill Preserve. Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan
Lots of butterfiles at Bowman’s Hill Preserve. Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan

Continue reading “Bowman’s Hill Wildflower Preserve”

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