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Penn, Maryland, NJ and NY
  • Sean Plamondon
  • Alexa Plamondon
August 2023

Penn, Maryland, NJ and NY

A 9-day adventure by Sean & Alexa Read more
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  • Trip start
    August 11, 2023
    Penn, Maryland, NJ and NY
    Took this pic just before noticing the no cameras sign
    Mac and cheese on steroidsThe battle begins!Alexa's version of positive comment card

    Clark's Summit

    August 11, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    Me and Alexa's 9 day road trip starts here

    Just a travel day. Picked up alexa from badminton camp mid afternoon and we drove 5 hours to the Scranton area for the night. Alexa chatted my ear off for 4.5 of the 5 hours - i think she is excited haha. Found a nice restaurant across the street and ordered meals that no human should ever be capable of finishing.

    And most importantly, started our rummy 500 battle! Round 1 goes to me but its far too early to celebrate. Alexa will most certainly return with a vengeance :)

    Off to Baltimore tomorrow.    Read more

  • Penn, Maryland, NJ and NY
    These jellyfish are not dangerous and we could pet themSlothCooled off in the hard rock cafe after our pirate cruiseSalmon stuffed with crab and shrimpCalimari

    Baltimore

    August 12, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 32 °C

    3.5 hour drive to baltimore today but i unfortunately i unwittingly made a wrong turn almost immediately and 30 minutes later started recognizing towns i knew from prior drives to Philadelphia. Glad i did.

    Was able to correct it in time and get on a good route to baltimore still and didn't mess up my prebooked and prepaid stuff. Staying at a really nice downtown hotel called the Lord Baltimore. Alexa was immediately struck and exclaimed how fancy this hotel is haha. Definitely not our usual type of accomodation :)

    Started our afternoon on a pirate cruise which i didn't realize was meant for much younger kids but we had a good time and the harbour views were great. Then spent a few hours in the amazing national aquarium. If you're ever in baltimore, its a must see/do. In addition to seeing a gazillion types of fish and sea creatures including sharks, jellyfish, dolphins, etc, theres tons of exotic birds and even some sloths.

    We watched a 20 minute 4D movie about sharks there too. Before entering i was telling alexa i wonder what the 4D represents? Odours? Maybe the seat moves? Haha much more. The seats would rumble and vibrate, gusts of wind would hit our faces, blasts of air from below us too, water sprayed at times and during the tense moments, there is a small rod build into the seat back that would suddenly protrude and poke your back and make everyone jump. Very different theatre experience haha.

    Finished up at a really nice seafood place where alexa had calimari and i had salmon stuffed with crab and shrimp. Both of us are really tired and the heat here wiped us out pretty good too at 38C. No rush tomorrow and we can both sleep in and catch up on some z's.    Read more

  • Penn, Maryland, NJ and NY
    Crab ballsCrab soup

    Ocean City - Day 1

    August 13, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    Drove 3 hours to get to ocean city plus a quick pitstop at best buy to get alexa a charging cord for her ipad

    Our hotel is right on the boardwalk so everything is very walkable and convenient for us. Immediately bought boogie boards and went to the beach and spent a few hours in the waves and relaxing in the sun.

    Walked the length of the boardwalk to the main pier but all the food options at that end are pretty junky, so i found us a great seafood spot bayside a few blocks away called M.R. Ducks right next to the marina. Maryland is famous for its crab, so i ordered crab balls and crab soup. Yummy! And we had an amazing sunset as alexa exacted her revenge on me in rummy 500.

    Then back to the boardwalk and we went on all the big midway rides. The ferris wheel, roller coaster, and some other really crazy rides that i don't know how to describe. Super fun. I took a video of the coaster ride but it was such a violent ride i could barely keep the camera focused on where we were going.

    And a really nice long walk back down the boardwalk to our hotel. I think we both passed out really fast.    Read more

  • Penn, Maryland, NJ and NY
    Crab cakes

    Ocean City - Day 2

    August 14, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    Slept in until noon. We both really needed that. Plus we got to bed after midnight. And have had extremely full days.

    Started our day at the beach again. Shortly after settling in with our beach chairs, we saw 4 dolphins jumping in and out of the water in the nearby distance (oxymoron?)

    Then we had a blast boogie boarding the waves for a couple of hours. Super fun to do and pretty hilarious to exit and watch alexa get occasionally diced by the waves too haha

    From there we went to speedworld which is a mega go-carting place with 8 different tracks. Had so much fun battling each other plus the other racers. A bit of rain made things really slippery and caused a few car pileups, usually with me in the middle of it, and alexa crashing hard into me as she was always looking for a seam to get by me.

    Finished our night at really down to earth Coins restaurant and bar. After a bizarre conversation with the hostess, Dave the bartender took care of us and we had great food and times. I tried the crabcakes, which were awesome. Alexa capped the night with some minecraft and i finally booked our new jersey hotel 2 days from now. Yay    Read more

  • Penn, Maryland, NJ and NY
    Fish Tales restaurantZipper rideSeacrets tables IN the bay

    Ocean City - Day 3

    August 15, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    After another late evening we slept until 11am and lazily got going at noon. Walked to a really fun restaurant called Fish Tales on the bay side. Had a very dominican / carib island feel to it. Alexa ordered something called Walking Taco which was a bag of doritos filled with spiced ground beef and melted cheese. Haha we had no idea thats what the walking taco would be. I had the biggest and most tender scallops ever but they were covered in a spicy wing sauce and topped with blue cheese. Weird flavor explosion in my mouth.

    Spent the rest of the afternoon at the beach. Paid for a big umbrella so we could relax more this time and not get scorched by the sizzling sun here. The waves were huge today! It was really hard to get the boogie board out to tummy deep waters and the waves diced me up pretty good when i did. Alexa wisely played in the more shallow areas while i got myself back to the chair to let all the salt water drain from my nose and ears :)

    Took alexa on my childhood favorite Zipper ride, and then we went to a really cool mini golf place next door. It was ridiculously packed and slow going, but fun. After a bit of rain, started getting an amazing sunset, so we ditched at the second last hole to race to our next destination bay side for some nice pictures for supper.

    Got to the restaurant Seacrets just in time before the sun went down and watched the sky go through yellows, oranges and pinks before a huge thundershower forced us back inside. Its a really unique restaurant with live bands all day in different sections (its huge), outdoor seating literally in the bay, and tons of booths and tables in the sand plus a very Jamaican vibe inside. We split a full rack of ribs with a caprese salad and side of fresh fruit. Back to the hotel and lights out by 10 as we are back on the road in the morning.    Read more

  • Penn, Maryland, NJ and NY
    The Joker
    SupermanEl ToroKingda KaYou can see the train cresting the topMedusaMedusa againPre congo rapidsPost congo rapidsJersey DevilWonder womanPoint Pleasant on Jersey Shore

    Six Flags / Point Pleasant

    August 16, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    Started our drive back towards Canada but not without some fun stops along the way. Alexa and i have talked about this specific day for a few months lesding up to now. Mostly because this particular six flags has the world's tallest roller coaster at 425 feet tall ! Plus a whole bunch of other huge crazy coasters as well.

    Decided to begin our day on the smallest of all of them but a really unique one called The Joker where you ride beside the track and your seat can fully rotate on its own in free motion independant of the ride. Hands down the scariest thing i have ever done including sky diving many years ago. Poor alexa screamed so much and so loud you'd swear she was being murdered next to me. I was absolutely not ready for that experience wow!

    We were both really shaken up by that ride and it helped to be in line for a while for our next few rides to calm the nerves. Rode superman which has you lying face down. Then green lantern which is a stand up roller coaster. Both of which put you through a lot of loops and inversions. Then the rain came during our food break which seemed to clear out a ton of people from the park and we were walking right onto most rides.

    El Toro was easily the biggest and best wooden coaster I've ever ridden and it freaked me out cuz i was coming way out of my seat on the hills. Followed by Medusa which probably had more inversions than I've ever experienced but super fun.

    Finally we nervously got in line for Kingda Ka, the tallest in the world. It accelerates you from zero to 200kmh in seconds, shoots you straight upwards to the top, slowly crests the peak and then straight down all 425 feet with a barrel roll. I waa soooo scared sitting there waiting for take off. The entire up and down takes about 7 seconds and its actually hard to even have time to be scared. That initial drop feels all kinds of wrong but its over so fast. We loved it so much, we got right back in line and did it again! Feels like you've strapped yourself to a rocket that tries and fails to take you into orbit haha.

    After that, rode the amazingly smooth and wild single seat Jersey Devil, got alexa completely soaked on the congo rapids, then wild mouse in the dark called The Dark Knight and finished with inverted coaster Batman.

    Drove 30 minutes to the Jersey Shore to Point Pleasant Beach and found a nearby place for a late meal, some cards and still chatting away about today's experiences. Pretty sure we talked more about the terrifying joker ride more than everything else combined. But the best was alexa telling me 20 times what an amazing day she had :)    Read more

  • Penn, Maryland, NJ and NY
    At liberty state park
    Times squareWe climbed to the apex of the building in the middle. Normal viewing platform is below the apexVessel. Interesting architectural structure next to our building ascentAlexa at 1200 feet above the cityMuch easier doing this after our building climbPanoramic from The EdgeManhattan bridge from dumbo areaCecconi's restaurant in dumboLamb ragout. Really good!Brooklyn bridge from dumbo areaView from just outside our Brooklyn restaurantLast stop at the yard house. Felt imperative to order a yard of beer :)

    New York City

    August 17, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C

    Short one hour drive today to Liberty State Park on the New Jersey side of new york to get the closest views of the statue of liberty without hopping on a boat. I originally wanted to get tickets to take the stairs to the crown of the statue but it was soldout.

    Navigated our way to Times Square as our hotel is only 1 block away. Driving there wasn't particularly difficult, just really slow and congested. Required some aggressiveness though to fight for lane changes etc.

    Walked around time square and then walked to Hudson Yards where i found a really unique experience for us. We ascended 100 stories in the 6th tallest building in new york city via elevator and then with harnesses, ascended another 16 stories via stairs, most of which were outside the building. And eventually to a ledge where tourists could lean out over the edge. This is apparently the tallest exterior building climb in the world.

    Climbing the staircase outside didn't bother me, but definitely quite a thrilling thing to do. I couldn't get myself to lean out over the ledge at the top. However alexa apparently is much braver than me and did both the forward and backward lean! Wow. After that, went to the normal viewing platform and got a bunch of pictures of the city and us on the glass floor and against the angled glass walls over the city.

    From here, we took the subway to the Brooklyn bridge and walked across it to Brooklyn and we found the really cool Dumbo area which is an old industrial area revitalized into a hip restaurant area with cobblestone streets. Had a really good meal at a nice italian restaurant and then took in the nighttime views of the brooklyn and Manhattan bridges.

    Took the subway back to times square, and relaxed at a restaurant where alexa reconnected with her friends online and i did the same with a ridiculous Yard of beer at the Yard House.    Read more

  • Penn, Maryland, NJ and NY
    Crazy new ride that flips riders at 170 feet up
    The comet. Great wooden coaster at lake georgeView from Christie'sView from Beach ClubMy bucket of seafood. Yum!

    Lake George

    August 18, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    Drove 3.5 hours north to Lake George. New York State has an interesting toll situation now where you just drive through a set of cameras and they send you a bill in the mail. Convenient but i have no idea how much i owe :) Will find out soon

    Started at Six Flags. Alexa and i have been there several times before so we knew all the rides well and were not in a rush plus there aren't many adrenaline type rides at this location. But walking in a new giant one has been built that looks super scary.

    Went on a few other rides but my stomach was feeling off so we only spent 2 hours and left without trying that new scary ride. Spent the evening relaxing by the lake. We both caught up on messages with friends and was nice to have a down quiet day to re-charge a bit.

    I ordered a seafood bucket that was fantastic. Lobster, mussels, clams, shrimp, plus corn, sausage and potatoes. Sooo good. While alexa odered the ribs and chicken combo. And back to our hotel by 930pm. The eariest maybe the whole trip :)    Read more

  • Penn, Maryland, NJ and NY

    Ausable Chasm / Ottawa

    August 19, 2023 in Canada ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    Slept in again and then drove 90 minutes to Ausable Chasm. Initially was planning to do the adventure course with harnesses and ropes but alexa wasn't feeling it today so we had a very enjoyable and relaxing hike through the canyon. Such a beautiful spot. Love it here.

    Then 3 more hours back to ottawa. We are both exhausted. We fit so much into those 8.5 days. Even wore me out haha which is pretty hard to do 😄

    We started a fun experiment as soon as we crossed the border. We counted every single American flag we saw during the entire trip. Proper flags. Didnt count images of flags or flag banners etc. How many do you think we saw in 8.5 days?

    964 !

    'murica! Haha    Read more

    Trip end
    August 19, 2023
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