This post is sponsored by VISIT FLORIDA and the writer was hosted for this trip.
Disney Saratoga Springs
Disney Saratoga Springs Resort is a Disney Vacation Club property with great views and plenty of room for families to spread out. Situated near the shopping and dining mecca that is Disney Springs (formerly known as Downtown Disney), it’s one of the most sprawling Disney Vacation Club (DVC) resorts in all of Florida.
Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort is an absolute gem, with equestrian and eye-popping Victorian charm sprinkled throughout to reflect its namesake, Saratoga Springs, NY. That upstate New York town has a rich horse racing tradition that is elegantly on display throughout the Disney resort.
Saratoga Springs is just across the lake from this fun LEGO sea serpent at Disney Springs. Photo credit: Gwen Kleist
What’s a Preferred Villa?
My family was hosted in 2021 in a one-bedroom “preferred” villa in the Congress Park section of the resort. I didn’t know what to expect from the “preferred” part of my reservation in Lake Buena Vista. But once we arrived, we realized that it was far from a gimmick designed to extract more DVC points with little in return.
We were treated to a spectacular view of the lake separating Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa from Disney Springs, with the picturesque Paddlefish and Boathouse Restaurants just begging us to try jumbo lump crab-topped fries or oysters on the half-shell.
An elegant entrance sign for an elegant Disney World resort. Photo credit: John Vanda
A New View of Saratoga Springs Resort
Some quick background about my family and me: We’ve been Disney Vacation Club members since 2012 and it’s some of the best money we’ve ever spent. We’ve loved all of the different resorts we’ve stayed at in both Orlando and California. Each has its own character and charm.
Truth-be-told though, for the longest time, I’ve undersold and under-appreciated Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa. The first time we stayed there was in 2012. We were traveling with friends whom we are so close to that they’re family at this point.
I remember finding the resort good, but not remotely memorable. The rooms felt uninspired and uninteresting. Honestly, I can’t remember any one thing that stood out.
This beautiful statue stands outside The Carriage House of Saratoga Springs. Photo credit: John Vanda
Updates at Saratoga Springs
That just goes to show the importance of the renovations happening across Disney properties, including Saratoga Springs. The installation of the space-saving Murphy beds and fold-down twin bed (I go into detail about these later) are wonderful.
Disney has been taking design cues from big cities and doesn’t waste any space. You’ll now find USB ports for charging your various devices in dressers and nightstands. Thankfully there wasn’t one near the whirlpool tub or I’m sure someone would try it and be…shocked…at the outcome. (OK, I threw in a Dad Joke for you there, but seriously, do NOT use any electronic devices while plugged in and showering or bathing.)
In 2019, we stayed at the Treehouse Villas at Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa and were extremely impressed with the entire room, décor and the value-per-point that we paid as DVC members. That positive experience helped set the tone for a reimagined viewpoint of the overall resort.
5 Sections to Disney Saratoga Springs
Saratoga Springs is broken up into 5 sections (I’m not breaking down the Treehouse villas here. I find that they are so unique that they deserve their own feature. If that’s something you’re interested in, drop a note in the comments. If there’s enough interest, I’ll write a piece on it, as they are fantastic and fun.)
Here’s a quick breakdown on the others and what I consider to be their key selling points, besides a designated bus stop at each:
The Grandstand
The theming of the pools is my favorite part of this area. You can feel the horse-racing influence throughout and the kiddie pool has these fantastically-themed “Starting Gates” where the little ones can see who is the fastest.
The Carousel
This section is the farthest away from the check-in area and is the only section of these 5 without its own swimming pool. If you’re looking for peace and quiet at Saratoga Springs, this is your best bet. Don’t let the lack of the pool dissuade you, it’s only a short walk to the Paddock Pool and its epic waterslide.
The Paddock
All of the Paddock buildings border on a picturesque lake to provide serene views during your time relaxing in the room. (You may have to request a preferred room to get one of these views.) Along with the lake comes a fantastic swimming pool with a 146-foot long twisting waterslide that your kids, or maybe even you, will have fun with for hours.
The Springs
There is a small lake here, similar to the Paddock, that you may enjoy views of, but my favorite feature of The Springs is the proximity to the main pool and the main dining options. You’ll be less than a 10-minute walk from 3 restaurants and the largest pool in all of Saratoga Springs – High Rock Spring Pool. It features its own magnificent waterslide and 2 whirlpool spas.
Congress Park
This is where we stayed during our visit. My favorite part about this area was the proximity to Disney Springs. I love food, and being only a 10-minute walk from the mouth-watering magnificence of so many superb dining choices was quite a treat.
We like to try a new restaurant each time we visit, and this time it was Wine Bar George. The flaming cheese was quite a fun experience where servers light an entire tray of cheese on fire, about 3 feet from your table, and then put out the flames with a lemon. Then they ever-so-gently push the bottom part of your jaw back up to the top part of your jaw after watching the fiery light show.
SheBuysTravel Tip: Here’s how Disney Vacation Club works and how to know if it’s the right thing for your family. If you want to try before you buy, here’s how to rent DVC pointsfor big savings on these high-end Disney resort properties.
Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa Rooms
If you’ve never stayed at a DVC resort before, you are in for a treat. This is no ordinary resort hotel offering! There are beautiful Disney accents everywhere, from fences with Mickey-shaped cutouts, to artwork matching the style of the resort with familiar Disney characters. The Victorian charm oozes, and there is a quiet peacefulness as you walk around the grounds.
There are a few types of Walt Disney World Resorts, and Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort is in the deluxe offering (moderate and value are the other primary categories). The room amenities you can expect are:
Washer / Dryer
Kitchenette (fully stocked with cookware and utensils for dining in)
Private Balcony
Custom Disney artwork specific to that WDW resort
WiFi
Living Room
Did I mention that my kids loved testing this feature….over…and over…. Photo credit: Jessica Vanda
Even the Beds are More Fun!
Depending on the type of room you reserve, you may also be treated to some of the newest renovations, including a Murphy bed. (If you’re unfamiliar with this term don’t worry, just think of it like a sleeper sofa, but MAGICAL. Just picture a couch against a wall, except the wall is hiding a Transformer, and when you pull down the wall, a full-size bed magically appears in the place of the couch.)
This is one of the more brilliant uses of space that the Walt Disney Company has reimagined lately. My kids loved this feature and exhaustively tested out the functionality by taking down the bed, and putting the bed back into the wall…over…and over….and over again…. Really…..Well….Tested.
Our one-bedroom villa had a king-size bed, which is a huge plus for me, as I’m 6’1 and a queen bed just doesn’t cut it. That, and my wife needs to have room to escape because I’ve been told I’m a furnace producing heat at the level of the fire exploding from the nearby Rainforest Cafe every 10-15 minutes.
Another plus of the villa is the whirlpool spa. After you’ve been walking around the theme parks for 6-10 hours straight, coming back to your hotel room and soaking in the whirlpool is exactly what you need to energize yourself for the spectacular nightlife at Disney Springs. One of my favorite nighttime activities is heading to Raglan Road and enjoying live performances by singers who will transport your mind to Ireland.
There are two beds hiding in this photo of the one-bedroom bedroom villa at Saratoga Springs. Can you find either? Photo credit: Jessica Vanda
Other Room Options at Disney Saratoga Springs
To give you a quick idea of other room types available, Saratoga Springs offers:
Deluxe Studio (Standard/Preferred, Sleeps 4)
2 BR Villa (Standard/Preferred, Sleeps 8)
2BR Lock-Off Villa (Standard/Preferred, Sleeps 8). A lock-off villa is a Deluxe Studio Villa and a 1BR Villa with a connecting door
Treehouse Villas (Sleeps 9)
3 BR Grand Villa (Standard/Preferred, Sleeps 12)
MagicBands open doors at Walt Disney World Resort hotels. Photo credit: Matt Stroshane for Disney
Resort Features and Check-In
We used the My Disney Experience app to check-in and head straight to our room. (My kids love racing to the door to use their Magicbands to get into the room first.).
When we check into a Disney resort, I always make it a point to stop by the resort lobby. I’ve almost always got a question or two that the concierge is able to answer faster than you can type Google. The concierge can also help with bookings and cancellations that you may need.
The lobbies at Disney resort hotels are luxurious and grandiose, and are worth stopping by, and Saratoga Springs is no exception. It even has a special name, The Carriage House. My favorite touch was artwork of animated horses featured in various Disney works. Khan from Mulan looked especially good, plus it’s just fun to say “Khan from Mulan.”
Visiting the resort lobby is also an excellent excuse to visit the nearby gift shop. We enjoy picking up something specific to each DVC resort whenever we stay somewhere new, so the gift shop is a must-stop for us. (If you have any fun traditions that you do when you stay at a new Disney property, drop a comment below the article. I’d love to hear about it!)
Senses Spa
If you’ve ever been on a Disney Cruise, then you’ll recognize the name of the full-service spa on the ground called Senses. I’m too much of a park junkie to head to the spa, but I’ve been to the one on the Disney Fantasy Cruise Ship and it’s sublime.
That visit was the first time I’ve ever paid to have someone give me a shave, and I’d absolutely do it again. The couples massage is a wonderful way to treat you and your partner, but not your bank account.
Fitness Center
In all of my many stays at WDW properties, I’ve never once worked out. I’ve thought about it (hopefully burned 10 calories considering it), and even brought workout clothes once or twice, but it hasn’t happened.
That doesn’t mean you won’t enjoy the fitness center at Saratoga Springs. It’s an excellent opportunity to burn off the churros, or Mickey ice cream bars, or the (takes a deep breath) mouth-watering, blueberry muffins with a hint of lemon zest that seriously made me consider waiting in the 20-minute socially-distanced line to Starbucks again on Main Street in the Magic-Kingdom.
These hanging glass sculptures in the Artist’s Palette will have you picking your jaw off the floor. Photo credit: John Vanda
Dining Options at Saratoga Springs
On your way to checking out The Carriage House, you likely noticed a few of the dining options on the Saratoga Springs grounds. In no order of preference, they are:
The Artist’s Palette. Think of this as more of a quick-service restaurant, but with Mickey waffles. You can check out the full menu here. I really liked the glass sculptures hanging from the ceiling throughout. They were colorful and vibrant and added a really fun feel to the space.
The Turf Club Bar and Grill. I think Disney did a great job decorating this space. There are framed jerseys of jockeys throughout, and TVs spread around to kick back and watch some sporting events. Unfortunately, it was temporarily unavailable to dine at when we visited, but the menu actually made me drool: Asian inspired crispy shrimp, jumbo lump crab cakes, duck confit and prime rib to mention just a few. And have you joined my drool party? For the kids, the restaurant offers cheeseburgers, salmon, chicken breasts, pasta and hot dogs! But, if your kids are like mine, they’ll absolutely ask about the prime rib on the kid’s menu.
The Paddock Grill. This is a really cute pool-side bar, but it’s most convenient to use if you’re staying in The Paddock area of Saratoga Springs. We didn’t go this visit, but the Saratoga Burger (1/3-lb burger topped with pepper jack cheese, guacamole and smoked bacon) almost got me to head over. If I had told my wife they had fish tacos with pineapple salsa and cilantro (drooling continues), she may have invented a way to alter time and fit in a detour. Full menu can be viewed here.
With plenty of space to swim, 2 whirlpool spas and a waterslide, the High Rock Spring Pool has something for everyone. Photo credit: Kevin Gillooly
What about the Swimming Pools!?!?!
What’s that? You like to swim? Pretty sure Saratoga Springs is not the place for you. I’m sure you’ll be disappointed by the FIVE DIFFERENT POOL OPTIONS!
Here’s the rundown:
Main Pool (AKA High Rock Spring Pool). This pool has just about everything you’re going to want, except maybe small crowds. It’s large, and has multiple whirlpool spas, a pool bar, a great waterslide and an arcade nearby.
The Paddock Pool. Remember the Paddock Grill I mentioned earlier? Are you still dreaming of that burger? Combine it with a visit to the Paddock Pool and you’ve got a two-for-one-special on your hands. Well done! Reward yourself with a Mickey-shaped ice cream bar later. Then, burn off the calories going down the 146-foot-long waterslide.
Leisure Pools. The Treehouse Villas, the Grandstand and Congress Park areas all have what Disney refers to as Leisure Pools. They’re smaller, and don’t have waterslides, but they do have a whirlpool spa. The leisure pools in Congress Park and The Grandstand both have a children’s play area, and BBQ grilling available nearby. If you like to bring your own food and cook meals like we do on our DVC stays, then you’ll love the ability to cook out and get in some pool time.
Look….to your left….it’s Ghirardelli’s. You can’t see it, but you can smell the deliciousness in your MIND! Photo credit: Jessica Vanda.
Getting to the Disney Parks: Saratoga Springs Review
At less than a 15-minute drive to (almost) any of the four theme parks, Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort is excellently positioned. We stayed for 3 days and I liked knowing how long of a drive it was to each park. This is what I found:
EPCOT, 10 minutes
Magic Kingdom, 10 minutes
Animal Kingdom, 17 minutes. This park could be 40 minutes away and we’d still go. The entire family loves Animal Kingdom Park so much. Animal Kingdom Lodge is also our home DVC resort.
Water Parks
Blizzard Beach: 13 minutes
Typhoon Lagoon: 7 minutes
Ghirardelli’s: 7-10 minute walk. Listen, I know Ghirardelli’s isn’t a theme park, but it should be. Could you imagine? If you’ve been to Hersheypark, then you probably could, but that’s beside the point. Ghirardelli’s has this magnificent monster of a dessert called the Land’s End Salted Caramel Brownie Sundae. It is: vanilla ice cream, a full-size Ghirardelli chocolate brownie, caramel sauce, sea salt and handmade hot fudge topped with whipped cream, caramel sauce, Ghirardelli chocolate sauce and a cherry. ONLY 1700 CALORIES! Have one for breakfast and you don’t need to eat again until tomorrow 🙂
Lake Buena Vista Golf Course: 10 minute walk….ish. Fine, this isn’t a theme park either. Perhaps I should rename this list, but that ship has sailed. In Florida, you can’t turn 3 corners without stumbling onto another golf course and I counted at least 4 within 15 minutes of Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa. The Lake Buena Vista Golf Course begins on the grounds of the deluxe resort and is absolutely worth your time if you need time away from the theme parks.
Hollywood Studios: 10 minutes
Saratoga Springs Review: That’s a Wrap!
I was wrong about Saratoga Springs. We’ve used our Disney Vacation Club membership to stay at many DVC resorts and we love them all. After staying at Copper Creek, Animal Kingdom Lodge, Old Key West and the Riviera, my memories of Saratoga Springs from my first trip in 2012 just paled in comparison.
I’m really glad my family had the opportunity to stay here again. It’s lush and peaceful and elegant.
For us, the “preferred” room option at Saratoga Springs may become like the Savannah View at Animal Kingdom Lodge. Once you’ve experienced either, it’s hard to go back.
Thanks for taking the time to read this review, and leave questions and fun Disney memories in the comments! As Mickey likes to say “See Ya Real Soon!”
You can’t help but be charmed by Le Chateau Frontenac. The grand hotel in Quebec City resembles the starring castle in every fairy tale you’ve ever read. Here are recaps from two visits by the same writer. One’s a reminiscence from a long ago family road trip. The second reviews the hotel’s rooms, amenities and dining following a recent renovation. If you’re considering booking a stay, you’re probably wondering if it’s worth the splurge. With commanding river views, luxurious guest rooms and a brunch fit for a royal, Le Chateau Frontenac delivers a storybook happy ending for visitors to Quebec City.
The writer was hosted.
Once Upon a Time, There was a Teenage Girl…
It’s 1992 and we’re kilometers from Ville de Québec, Quebec City, Canada. The kids were in the back seat, and my 14-year-old daughter was moping, about separation from the love of her life back home for two excruciating weeks.
Chemin du Roy (Québec Route 138), the king’s road, took us along the scenic route on the edge of the St. Lawrence River, or Seaway, between Montréal and Québec City, about a two-hour drive we stretched into nearly four hours stopping at ancient graveyards in the shadow of stunning churches. We stopped at a marché (market) for ice cream and made the kids parrot, “s’il vous plaît, donnez-moi une barre de crème glacée.” Loosely translated it means “Please give me 1 ice cream bar.”
Fairmont Chateau Frontenac, an iconic hotel, was built over time to its place of dominance as an icon of Old Quebec. Photo credit: Eric J. Toll
Seeing the Castle Rise
Coming over a rise coming out of Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures, the tall castle-like tower of Fairmont Chateau Frontenac poked its green roof and reddish brick into the sky.
“That’s where we’re staying,” I said, hoping it would end the incessant moping of a teenager in love.
“No way!” was the immediate response. At least the moping was gone.
“Yes, indeed, you just wait and see.”
“It looks like a castle, Dad,” said my eight-year-old son. “Are we really staying there?”
“Yes, Queen Elizabeth II stayed there, why shouldn’t we? It is a castle,” I reply. “’Le Chateau Frontenac’ means ‘the castle Frontenac.’”
“What does Frontenac mean?” asks the ex-moper.
I didn’t know the answer to that one but later learned that Louis de Buade Comte de Frontenac was the first governor of Ville de Québec.
From below the Dufferin Terrace in the Champlain Quarter, the Fairmont Chateau Frontenac dominates the Quebec City skyline. Photo credit: Eric J. Toll
Are We There Yet?
We meandered from wide city streets to narrow historic ones towards the Porte Saint-Louis gate. Ville de Québec is the only walled city in North America. Entering the old town is like driving into a European city. The signs are in French (“Arreté” on the stop sign), so thank goodness for the universality of road sign colors and shapes shared by the United States and Canada. Speeds are in kilometers-per-hour, which turns 60+mph into 100km/h (“We’re going 100, kids.”). And the grey stones, colorful awnings and metal roofs give the feeling of living in history.
In the shadows of ancient stone buildings in Old Québec, the Frontenac is unseen as we drive down Rue Saint-Louis. When it looks like we’re about to drive through the throngs and into the Saint Lawrence Seaway, we turn under the ancient stone arch and into the porte-cochère of the then 100-year-old hotel.
Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac is an AAA-rated four-diamond hotel dominating the historic Québec City, capital of Québec province. It’s the only French-speaking dominion in North America. In urban Québec, most people speak both French and English, so my high school recollection of the language did not have to unnerve too many of the locals.
Upon leaving the car for valet parking, we walk through the brass-jacketed doors into l’accueil, the reception area, with its rich area rugs covering stone floors, wood-paneled walls and a blue-tin vaulted ceiling.
Richly polished and historic wood panels warm the reception area at Fairmont Chateau Frontenac, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. Photo credit: Eric J. Toll
Welcoming Courtesy, Exceptional Professional Standards
Walking to the front desk, the reception was very professional and welcoming. I try out my French to check-in. The clerk is young, friendly and professional. They suggest in an inviting way, in perfect English, “If you’re more comfortable in English, I am fluent.”
A Present Day Stay at Le Chateau
Fast forward 28 years to my visit in February 2020. One of the Fairmont Hotels, Le Chateau Frontenac completed more than 75 million Canadian dollars in restoration, bringing the hotel its original cachet from the glory days of the Canadian Pacific Railway. The renovation started in 2014 and was completed late in 2019.
Visitors, lodging professionals and media have bestowed nearly a half-page list of awards and excellence recognition on the hotel in the past five years. The hotel entwines its historic patina with contemporary luxuries.
A typical guest room in the historic Fairmont Chateau Frontenac. Photo credit: Eric J. Toll
The Rooms Radiate Comfort
I stayed in a guest room in one of the hotel “turrets,” with a trio of river-view windows overlooking the Flueve Saint-Laurent (St. Lawrence Seaway) and the Terrasse Dufferin walkway at the edge of the cliff above the seaway. In February, it was clogged with large ice flows breaking up along the way downstream from the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean.
The Chateau offers several different room options from standard rooms through executive suites with private dining. When restoring the hotel, one change was a reduction in the number of rooms to increase room size, even for standard rooms.
My room is warm, and the bed is extremely comfortable. There’s plenty of drawer space for two weeks worth of clothing – it’s winter, so the bulkiest clothes, now falling out of the suitcase are ten pairs of Knocker long underwear. There are microfiber shirts from REI and wind-resistant cargo pants. I’ve also brought my collection of Buff headware.
The group of writers at the hotel were all settled into Fairmont Gold rooms, which are spacious, comfortable and luxurious. I didn’t avail myself of the opportunity, but the room service menu is complete with multiple pages of options. The heating system kept the room warm against the wind and -20C (-4F) temperatures, dropping as low as -40C, which, coincidentally is also -40F. In the summer, the rooms have thermostat-controlled air conditioning. The deluxe rooms are priced accordingly. Mine had a king bed with a well-stocked minibar.
I texted a photo to my daughter, now a mother in San Francisco and not with her 1990s heart-throb; “Guess where I am?”
“Oh, Dad, that is my favorite hotel, even now,” she texts back. “I want to be there!”
Chateau Frontenac Amenities
The concierge is a true member of the hospitality royalty. When asked what would be fun to do with the kids, we were offered a long list of sites and activities in close walking distance to the hotel.
The hotel itself has an indoor pool, fitness center and spa. Kids will like the pool with its tiled lane stripes emulating a swim-race setting. A steam room and sauna are also available in the spa and pool area. The hotel offers babysitting services on request. And, as expected, there is a business center at Le Chateau.
The Fairmont Chateau Frontenac reproduced in gingerbread displayed in the grand hall in the hotel. Photo credit: Eric J. Toll
Dining options worth experiencing
Le Chateau Frontenac has three restaurants and a comfortable bar. Food and drink are plentiful at Le Chateau.
Le Place Dufferin
With the Terrase Dufferin at its doors, Le Place Dufferin opens onto the broad pedestrian walk. The sidewalk-level bistro offers Le Chateau’s breakfast buffet and summer brunch.
Many hotels offer breakfast buffets. Those free meals need no mention. If paying for the morning meal in a full-service hotel, a more delicious selection is expected, but most still offer a routine buffet.
In Le Place Dufferin, however, the buffet affords such variety that, even across several days, it’s impossible to try everything offered. I can recall eight different options for bread. The cheese bar shines with choices beyond the traditional cheddar, Monterey Jack, Pepper Jack, and American Swiss offered by most hotel buffets. There were 12 options if you include the fig jam.
It’s not cheap eating at Le Place Dufferin, but it is an extraordinary experience that transcends the price on the ticket. Beyond the cheese and fruit board, Le Place has an omelet bar, crisp bacon, waffles, pancakes and of course, sirop d’érable. Everywhere in Québec, there’s maple syrup for every meal.
Chefs at work in the hotel kitchen. Photo credit: Eric J. Toll
Bistro Le Sam
For a casual and creative meal, Le Sam Bistro Evolutif was a lovely dining experience. An open kitchen, comfortable seating, sharable, literal boards of meats and cheeses make Sam’s a meal worth experiencing even if not a guest at the hotel.
Atlantic wild-caught white fish was my choice, a type of fish rarely available in my desert southwest restaurants.
Food in the old city is so exceptional that hotels must really shine to outdo some of the exceptional eateries nearby. Le Sam is one of those, and on a winter visit, it was nice enjoying an outstanding meal without having to bundle up and face a -20C (-4F) temperature with a brisk wind off the seaway. On a sunny day, the windows of the restaurant offer views of the St. Lawrence River.
The wine and cheese bar sits on the second level of one of the turrets. Photo credit: Eric J. Toll
Drinks at 1608
After dinner, a group of us meandered back to 1608, the hotel’s bar overlooking the Fleuve Saint-Laurent. Nestled in a turret of the hotel’s architecture, the bar is circular, lending itself to conversation. Although crowded, the noise was a comfortable buzz, and it was easy to hear each other in our group of four.
The choice of mixed and neat drinks filled a lengthy menu. There’s something for every taste in the offerings. Service was professional, friendly and fast.
A portion of the Sunday buffet in Le Champlain restaurant at Fairmont Chateau Frontenac. Photo credit: Eric J. Toll
Brunch in Champlain Restaurant
The challenge of just three days in Ville de Québec is that there are so many exceptional restaurants, it’s hard to choose. One of my long-time favorites is the Québec traditional dining Aux Anciens Canadiens. Founded in 1675, it has been a neighbor of Le Chateau since before there was a Chateau. After dining there in all my previous Québec visits, I broke my streak and didn’t have a chance this time.
Three decades ago, the Champlain Restaurant was the epitome of exceptional presentation, exquisite service and luxurious dining. Although not enjoying dinner this time, conversations with several guests left the impression that the caliber of the restaurant had gone up since its renovation last year.
Our group of writers sampled the Sunday brunch at Champlain. The offerings are extensive; sampling is the only way to take in all of the options. The choices were arrayed beyond expectations. The brunch is laid out in its own dining room.
The omelet bar and meat carving station are towards the back, and working in that direction takes quite a while. The traditional stations are positioned throughout the room, but the bread station, for example, had more than a dozen different types of bread and rolls. Cereal had its own station, and there were choices of smoked fish to entice a stop.
No matter what breakfast craving is tickling taste buds, it’s going to be found here in the Champlain Restaurant brunch. Just serving up the memory makes me want to return really soon.
Starbucks, Le Chateau Coffee (Café) Shop
The hotel’s open-early, open-late coffee shop is a Starbucks, with its regular menu of offerings. There are few differences between Starbucks Canada and Starbucks in the U.S.
Flags mark the entrance to the castle at the Fairmont Chateau Frontenac in Quebec City. Photo credit: Eric J. Toll
About Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac
Located at 1 Rue des Carrieres, Quebec G1R 4P5, Le Chateau is the anchor of the UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is on the riverview edge of the St. Lawrence River and looks down into Quartier Petit Champlain. The luxury hotel towers over the old city and looks into le citadelle and the Quebec city center.,
The hotel is about 30 minutes from Quebec Jean Lesage International Airport. It has more than 600 rooms, fewer than were offered before the renovation, as rooms were enlarged. The airport shuttle stops on the street in front of the historic hotel.
The hotel is pet-friendly, but there is a surcharge and pets may not be left in the room unattended. There is dry cleaning and laundry service, as would be expected from a full-service hotel of this caliber. The hotel is nonsmoking.
I needed high-speed internet access throughout the trip for uploading my hundreds of daily photos. I took more than 4,000 pictures over ten days in Quebec province. The provided wifi was perfect for the job.
The hotel is known for its weddings, ballroom and conference center. There are meeting rooms clustered off the lobby area.
Want to add some adventure to your life? Head to Adventures on the Gorge, a rustic yet luxurious resort near the gorgeous New River Gorge National Park in West Virginia. The resort makes a perfect home base for white water rafting, ziplining, rock climbing, hiking and other outdoor adventures. Cap it off with a great meal while you watch the sun go down over the mountain valley.
The writer was hosted.
My daily work routine was giving me the doldrums. So, I re-energized my attitude by going on an adventure to southern West Virginia.
My son and I embarked on a road trip to Adventures on the Gorge, an adventure sports resort located near New River Gorge National Park.
This Adventures on the Gorge experience provided a positive charge of enthusiasm to our spirits. We enjoyed an out-of-the-ordinary vacation of high-energy fun filled with world-class whitewater rafting, rock climbing, gravity ziplines and more.
A very much needed escape from the hustle and bustle of city life!
The adventure sports resort provides scenic views of the New River Gorge. This is the spot to have a drink and watch the sun go down on an adventure-filled day. Photo credit: Tim Burns
Adventures on the Gorge
Originally whitewater rafting guides and outfitters on two of West Virginia’s famed rivers, the Gauley and the New, Adventures on the Gorge now is a full-service adventure resort providing numerous exhilarating outdoor activities.
Partake in a timbertrek aerial obstacle course, disc golf, hiking, mountain biking, paintball battles, swimming and ziplining on Adventures on the Gorge’s property. Adventurers are also bussed to New River Gorge National Park for rock climbing and whitewater rafting trips.
It is also OK to simply sit back in lounge chairs watching the river flow by from the rim of the New River Gorge.
All the world is a stage and it can be entertaining to relax enjoying the landscape around you. Sunrises and sunsets are especially stunning to take in on the New River Gorge.
One of the comfortable cabins at Adventures on the Gorge. Photo credit: Tim Burns
Accommodations at Adventures on the Gorge
Options for overnight stays range from rustic tent campsites to luxury cabins. In between options include RV sites and bare bones cabins.
We “roughed it” in a sportsman cabin equipped with air-conditioning, beds with comfy mattresses, cable television, a full-size fridge, microwave, wi-fi, and a shower. Some cabins even have hot tubs!
There is something for everyone whether your preference is rugged campgrounds or resort-style accommodations when it comes to staying on property at Adventures on the Gorge.
Whitewater rafting on the New River is a bucket list experience; Photo credit: Adventures on the Gorge
Whitewater Rafting for All Skill Levels
New River Gorge is one of the country’s best whitewater rafting spots thanks to its sandstone geography. The river erodes the rock, creating challenging rapids. The river flow is consistent and not dependent on mountain snowpack melt off.
There is a stretch of river for all skill levels in this area of West Virginia with both half-day and full-day excursions available through the resort. The options are:
Class 1 and 2 rapids on Upper New River. These are generally safe trips for most ages and abilities.
Class 3 rapidson the Lower New River. These are acceptable for beginning and casual rafters.
Class 4 rapids on the Lower New River. These provide an intermediate adventure rafting challenge.
Class 4 and 5 rapids on the Upper Gauley River. These rapids are challenging and are best for experienced rafters. During “Gauley Season” in September and October, the rapids are among the world’s most challenging, thanks to the rush of water that results when the Army Corps of Engineers drains the Summersville Dam.
I’m a lawyer, so I feel the need to remind that you are dealing with nature: there is always a level of danger when rafting. Someone could missteer the boat to crash into a rock; a bad bounce off waves could cause the raft to flip; or an off kilter plunge could wash someone into the water.
As an adventuring Traveling Dad, I also feel the need to note it is that element of risk and danger, as well as getting totally soaked, that makes whitewater rafting an adrenaline pumping experience.
Neither my son nor I had ever whitewater rafted before; but we went on this trip to go on an adventure, so jumped onboard for water rafting through Lower New River’s Class 3 and 4 rapids.
Whitewater Guides
We had a great river guide named Ray Ray who has been leading Adventures on the Gorge whitewater rafting trips for more than a decade. Knowing that Adventures on the Gorge retains veteran guides rather than just hiring students who are off school for summer break added a level of confidence that we were in good hands embarking on our first whitewater rafting experience.
Ray Ray is both professional and personable, which are both particularly important traits when you are going to be in a small boat together for a day tackling some exciting but also potentially dangerous situations.
He’s part Disney Jungle Cruise Captain full of dad jokes and part drill sergeant barking out instructions and commands. He made sure our crew was not just having an enjoyable time but getting home safely. We all got soaking wet but there were no mishaps during our rafting trip.
The sandstone rock formations in New River Gorge are great for climbing and rappelling; Photo credit: Tim Burns
Rock Climbing
The local geography is not just good for whitewater rafting. The rock formations on land are ideal for climbing. New River Gorge attracts climbing enthusiasts from around the world. My son loves rock climbing and he was very enthusiastic about doing this!
Adventures on the Gorge took us to a spot in the national park for our rock climbing excursion.
Our guide, Saul, was extremely knowledgeable and passionate about climbing. He made sure we were always putting safety first while also having an exciting adventure. Didn’t get upset by my asking “saul good man?” when questioning climbing surfaces. If he can put up with my TV show jokes you know he is a good guy.
Want an AoTG rock climbing guide who you will enjoy hanging with and provides confidence in your safety? Better call Saul!
The only thing to fear is fear itself when it comes to Adventures on the Gorge activities. Photo credit: Adventures on the Gorge
A fear of heights is my kryptonite but our Appalachian Mountain road trip was all about getting outside of comfort zones and enjoying an adventure. I wasn’t going to miss out on joining in on the rock climbing experience. Glad I did!
Spectacular views on the catwalk of New River Gorge Bridge more than 800 feet in the air. Photo credit: Tim Burns
New River Gorge Bridge
An engineering marvel, the New River Gorge Bridge is the longest single arch bridge in the Western Hemisphere. Standing 876 feet in the air, New River Gorge Bridge is the focal point for this region of West Virginia. Overlooks at Adventures on the Gorge resort provide exceptional views of the bridge.
To be really adventurous, take a trek across a catwalk that runs underneath the roadway for the length of the New River Gorge Bridge. Dangle your feet out over the river while you are high up in the sky. The view is spectacular!
TravelingDad Tip: Temperatures on the Bridge Walk will be about 20 degrees cooler than on the ground of New River Gorge. You may want to bundle up for the bridge walk.
Discover abandoned mines and ghost towns hiking through the forests of New River Gorge. Photo credit: Jackson Burns
Ghost Towns
In the early 20th Century, the New River Gorge was filled with industrial and residential buildings supporting coal mines in surrounding mountain slopes. Abandoned post-World War II, nature reclaimed much of this ground.
But for the curious, there are ruins to explore. We explored the remains of a 1920s era mining facility controlled by Henry Ford that provided coal to power his automobile manufacturing facilities.
To get there, we hiked through a waterfall-filled ravine where everything around us had an emerald tint to it from sunlight being filtered through a lush treetop canopy above us.
Arriving at the site there was a ghostly feel knowing the location once bustled with activity. Now there is only the sounds of chirping birds and our footsteps. The two of us felt like explorers uncovering the remains of a lost civilization.
Take a break from adventure to relax in the pool at Adventures on the Gorge. Photo credit: Tim Burns
Family Fun at Adventures on the Gorge
If adventure sports aren’t your thing, there are lots of other outdoor activities. Rafting through rapids and rappelling down cliffs don’t need to be on your agenda for a good time. There is plenty to do to keep all ages entertained during a family vacay:
A playground with wild west fort and pirate ship play structures that will delight little ones.
There is a pool to take a dip in.
Take an excursion to Summersville Lake for pontoon boat rides, kayaking and stand-up paddle boarding.
Enjoy the scenery of New River Gorge forests on a horseback ride.
And who doesn’t love roasting marshmallows over a fire pit to make s’mores?!
The BBQ platter at Smokey’s is delicious and will keep you fueled up for your adventures; Photo credit: Tim Burns
Dining at Adventures on the Gorge
The adventure resort has two great restaurants on site. Chetty’s Pub has a lunch and dinner menu focused on chicken wings in variety of sweet and spicey flavors. Smokey’s features a breakfast buffet in the morning and has dining entrees such as salmon, filet mignon and BBQ platters in the evening.
While the area surrounding Adventures on the Gorge and New River Gorge National Park has the appeal of being a wilderness landscape, the town of Fayetteville is a 10-minute drive away. The town has a Walmart Supercenter with grocery section for those who want to cook their own meals.
Fast food options include Arbys, McDonalds and Taco Bell. Plus, downtown Fayetteville has a number of casual sit-down restaurants.
Explore the canopy of the local forest by flying through the Adventures on the Gorge zipline course. Photo credit: Tim Burns
Bottom Line on AoTG
Whether craving adrenaline-pumping adventure sports, rustic camping, or an activity-filled family vacation, Adventures on the Gorge will provide a wildly fun time.
While New River Gorge may appear to be an out of the way place, it is within a 500 mile road trip friendly driving distance for 60% of the country’s population including Atlanta, Chicago, New York City, and Washington D.C. Additionally, it is easy to fly into the Charleston, West Virginia, airport an hour drive away.
My son and I challenged our comfort zones during these adventures on the Gorge and absolutely had a wildly fun time doing so. Not only was our road trip an entertaining, memory-making experience but sharing in these adventures was an incredible bonding opportunity.
If you are looking for adventure visit New River Gorge! Photo credit: Jackson Burns
Take the family to a minor league baseball game this year. It’s cheaper than the big league experience and there are ballparks all over the USA, so it’s an easy add-on to a road trip vacation. Find out how one TravelingDad feeds his baseball obsession all season long.
I’ve been a fan of Major League Baseball for as long as I can remember. Growing up in New York, I was a New York Yankees fan. Despite this, my very first professional baseball game was a New York Mets game. They played the Cubs. It was in 1984. Why a Mets game, you may ask? Well, Shea Stadium in Queens was a lot closer to my Long Island hometown than Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. There was also the fact that the South Bronx wasn’t exactly what you would call a garden spot in my youth.
My dad did eventually get me to Yankee Stadium, though. I’d never seen greener grass. I loved the whole experience of seeing the big leagues in person. The field, the baseball players, the crowd, the food…all of it. I still do. The only problem is that I live 30 miles from the nearest professional baseball team. Then, if I get up there for a game, it’s probably going to be a $200+ day for my family and me to be able to eat some grub and sit in seats that don’t require supplemental oxygen.
So, what’s a baseball fan like me to do? I’ve got three words for you: Minor League Baseball.
My first visit to the NEW Yankee Stadium in 2009. Photo credit: Charles Withers
AA Baseball: Up Close and Personal
I’ve been a fan of Minor League Baseball (MILB) almost as long as the big leagues. It’s got a different feel to it – one that harkens back to the earlier times of baseball, when it was the most important thing in a boy’s life.
My first game was seeing the Oneonta Yankees at Damaschke Field in Oneonta, New York. My experience at that game is actually a great example of what makes MILB a more personal experience. During that game, there was a foul ball hit down the left field line. It came to rest under a wood support for the fence that surrounded the field. So, I left the bleachers and ran down to try to find it, but I couldn’t. It was at this point that the left fielder started verbally directing me to where I could find the ball to make sure I got my trophy! So cool, right?
Even at double-a and triple-a (AAA) games, I have had similar experiences! I mean, what MLB team is going to ask me, a fan but certainly not a celebrity, to throw out the first pitch before a game? I’ll tell you what Minor League Baseball team did: the Harrisburg Senators! On a recent trip to the Harrisburg/Hershey, PA area with a few of my TravelingDad brethren, I actually got to realize a lifelong dream! I threw out the first pitch at a professional baseball game! They announced my name over the public address! I was live on video on their scoreboard! I got to throw it to one of the catchers for the Senators! And best of all, I didn’t screw up!! It went straight down the middle! That catcher could end up playing for the Fresno Grizzlies next, and the Nationals after that!
Minor league and spring training baseball are fun for kids. Photo credit: Cindy Richards
Minor League Baseball = Major League Fun
Something that MLB seems to have co-opted from MILB are the entertaining activities they do between innings to keep fans excited and entertained. The running of the Presidents at Washington Nationals home games or the Famous Racing Sausages at Milwaukee Brewers home games can trace their history back to the minors.
Fans at MILB games can frequently get involved in these contests like some of our Traveling Dads did in Harrisburg. My buddies participated in balloon pop relays and fired T-shirt cannons; entertaining to me for sure, and hopefully the rest of the crowd as well.
Another great aspect of the minor league teams is the incredible originality of their team names. Here are some examples: the Albuquerque Isotopes, the El Paso Chihuahuas, the Erie Seawolves, the Lehigh Valley Ironpigs, the Pensacola Blue Wahoos and the Richmond Flying Squirrels. Being a collector of baseball jerseys, those seem like ones I’d like to have in the closet. A lot more interesting than the San Francisco Giants or the Atlanta Braves, right?
Also, it can be a lot easier to snag an autograph from the players at a Durham Bulls or Pawtucket Red Sox game than it would be at a Houston Astros or Texas Rangers game. You should hold onto those, too, because you never know if that player will blast his way into the majors!
What does baseball smell like? Sausages on the grill! Photo credit: Pixabay
AAA Value at the Minor Leagues
As I mentioned at the beginning, bringing your family to see Major League Baseball can be cost prohibitive. It’s hard to justify hundreds of dollars to see something in person that you can watch at home on television for free and in air conditioning.
This is where Minor League Baseball really shines. After I finished throwing out the first pitch for the Harrisburg Senators, I got to sit in some GREAT seats behind home plate that included unlimited food for $35. Sitting in the same seats in some MLB parks could cost ten times that! Moreover, I will honestly say that the quality of play from these minor leaguers definitely makes the reduced cost an incredible bargain.
Even top prospects are expected to make their way up through the system before they get to play for the Blue Jays, the Dodgers or the Phillies. That means you may see tomorrow’s big stars way back before they got there. And for less money!
The stadiums themselves are also great facilities. Don’t get me wrong. They’re not all like Camden Yards in Baltimore where the Orioles play, but the food is good and the grass is just as green!
I’ve been a New York Yankees fan all my life and that is the team I most often want to see playing (and hopefully, winning). But I’m also a baseball fan who just loves going to the ballpark. But that’s not always possible, either because of economics or geography. That’s why I love minor league teams.
I’m thinking I need to combine these two things into a trip to Tampa. Not only do I have a close friend living there, but it’s home to the Yankees spring training and the Tampa area has many minor league teams. Minor League baseball is an experience that is just as fun yet more accessible for regular trips to see our National Pastime the way it is meant to be experience: in person.
Baseball can be fun but going to games can be expensive. It’s one of the reasons we love affordable minor league baseball so much! Photo credit: Paul Eisenberg
It’s bigger in the Lone Star State, Texas wildflowers included. When winter turns into spring (yes we have winter) rural highways and byways explode with bluebonnets, Indian paintbrushes and many more colorful flowers. Also exploding? Stupidity. Yes, a total disregard for safety as people strive to get that perfect bluebonnet picture. Here’s what to do and not do as you find those Texas bluebonnets.
While you should never trespass for bluebonnet photos some country roads offer perfect photo opportunities from outside the fence. Photo Credit: Nasreen Stump
What is the Texas Bluebonnet?
Bluebonnets are the state flower of Texas. This may sound simple but there was actually controversy over it. In 1901 the Lupinus subcarnosus was named as the state flower. The blue flowers are actually a species of lupine and there are many species of bluebonnets. Following years of arguing the Texas Legislature issued a 1971 resolution allowing Lupinus Texensis and other bluebonnets to also be included as the official state flower.
Today, many Texas bluebonnet pictures feature the Lupinus Texensis which is deeper and brighter in color and has more flowers per stem. The Lupinus subcarnosus, which is sometimes called the sandyland bluebonnet, is a lighter shade of bluish purple and has fewer flowers per stem. You’ll also see it referred to as buffalo clover which makes zero sense because there actually is a completely different plant called buffalo clover.
To see more bluebonnet images and learn why maroon bluebonnets exist and other fun facts we recommend checking out the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.
Avoid snakes, scrapes and plants that cause rashes with these tips to achieve injury free bluebonnet pictures. Photo Credit: RAUL RODRIGUEZ from Getty Images
Bluebonnet Season in Central Texas
Bluebonnet Season (or what most of the U.S. would call “spring”) becomes a conquest of sorts in Central Texas. During Texas spring bluebonnet flowers pop up every March from San Antonio to Austin to Brenham and even stretching up to Ennis and Dallas. Much like the infamous “leaf peepers” of New England, Texas has its own breed of hard-core, never say die, and perhaps even fanatical seasonal botany enthusiasts that storm the countryside in search of the sights and smells of the bluebonnets. Our Yankee brethren may feel that no leaf peeping adventure is complete without coming home with a half-gallon of Vermont Pure Maple Syrup. Here in Texas the ultimate souvenir is the infamous “family bluebonnet pictures.”
This yearly pilgrimage to snap that perfect photo of little Johnny sitting in a field of bluebonnets may seem like a relatively mundane annual ritual. However, some people throw caution to the wind just to get that perfect picture of the baby laying in a bed of bluebonnets. EMS, Police, and Fire departments across this area of Texas all let out a collective groan as the first bluebonnets and Indian Paint Brushes (the orange/red sidekick to the bluebonnet), because they all know that their days at work are about to get “interesting.”
If you’re heading out to look for photo ops and spring wildflowers please keep the following safety tips in mind.
Texas Bluebonnet Pictures Dos and Don’ts
Looking for the perfect spots to see the Texas State Flower close up? We’ve got a full list of places to spot bluebonnets including Marble Falls (and the famous bluebonnet house), Llano, Muleshoe Bend, Willow City Loop, Houston, Brenham, the Texas Hill Country and more! Check it out here.
Bluebonnet Don’t: Don’t Stop on the Side of Highways
Highways are for AUTOMOBILES.
Yes, highways consisting of 4-6 lanes of traffic that allow a very liberal speed limit of 75 mph are for automobiles, and ONLY autos. Things that should not be on these highways (yes that includes the median and sides of the road) include babies, dogs, cats, Grandma, Grandpa, picnic baskets, the family parrot, or anything else that is not encased in steel and operated by a motor.
Do yourself a favor and resist the urge to come to a screeching halt in the left lane of a highway to get what you think would be a “great shot” (true story). If that little voice in your head is saying “this might be a bad idea,” now would be a good time to listen.
Would you let your toddler walk across a highway? No? Then don’t stop for pictures there.
Bluebonnets traditionally bloom in Central Texas in late March. Photo Credit: Nasreen Stump
Bluebonnet Do: Do Explore Texas Back Roads
There are many absolutely stunning back roads to be explored and enjoyed that have little to no additional traffic during the bluebonnet season, and are nearly full to bursting with bluebonnets and Indian paint brush gloriousness, so get off the beaten path and explore.
If you’re looking for REALLY off the beaten path bluebonnets head all the way west to Big Bend National Park or Big Bend Ranch State Park. The parks feature Lupinus Havardii (Chisos bluebonnets) which have a longer season but are not as “plump” and fluffy as traditional bluebonnets. Big Bend bluebonnets are in full bloom starting in mid-March and against the landscape look other-worldly.
Bluebonnet Don’t: Don’t Trespass on Private Property
Yes, there is the perfect patch of bluebonnets on the other side of the fence. No you should not scale the fence throwing the baby over to your partner to get a picture. Trespassing is against the law and Texans enjoy some very liberal personal property protection laws. Don’t do it.
Fun fact: Many people think picking bluebonnets is illegal. Technically, it’s not illegal but there are many reasons to leave bluebonnets in the wild. These native plants go back to seed every year. The next year’s crop depends on this natural germination process. So, if you want to take Texas bluebonnet pictures next year, leave them in the field.
Bluebonnet Do: Do Find Safe Locations to Pull Off the Road
Country churches have parking lots and many times picturesque scenery around them. Local businesses welcome bluebonnet tourists so make a stop out of it. Patronize a country store and take some safe (and legal) pictures on their property.
Parks and historical sites are other great spots to scope out.
Texas Bluebonnet Festivals 2022
One other great way to get safe photos is to attend a Texas bluebonnet wildflower festival. In 2022, the following bluebonnet festivals will be taking place in Texas:
Bluebonnets grow in fields in Texas. Do you know what else lives in fields in Texas?
Snakes
Central Texas is home to a wide variety of snakes which should be avoided unless you plan to be the next Bear Grylls. If you do decide to go wading in a field of tall grass, know that you are in prime real estate for many of these particular serpents that range in poisonous levels from “uh-oh” to “holy crap.”
You know how Texans wear cowboy boots? It’s not just fashion – it’s practical. Wear proper footwear that covers the lower part of your leg when you’re walking in fields. And walk with an exaggeratedly heavy footfall so that the snake can feel the vibrations of you coming and get out of your way.
Be particularly cautious when stepping over large rocks or fallen trees. These are a favorite “hang-out” for our bitey friends.
Tip from a Paramedic TravelingDad:If you do happen to be one of the unlucky 37,500 Americans who is bitten by a venomous snake each year, DO NOT have someone try to “suck the venom out.” This does not work! It usually results in two patients instead of one for the paramedics to take care of and an embarrassing story for you to tell your grandchildren. Simply move away from the offending creature. Wash the area with soap and water and move the extremity as little as possible. Snake bites are rarely fatal, so try not to panic.
Creepy Crawlies and Things that Bite
Central Texas is also home to a virtual cornucopia of creepy crawlies including but not limited to: black widows, brown recluse spiders, scorpions, ticks, fire ants, bees, wasps, centipedes and tarantulas (yes…actual tarantulas that live in the wild).
The chances of you encountering some of nature’s more “unique” offerings are relatively slim. But nothing spoils a weekend family outing like accidentally sitting little Johnny down on a fire ant nest.
TravelingDad Tip:If someone is stung or bitten, watch for symptoms of an allergic reaction (hives, swelling, etc.). Have any? Seek medical attention immediately. If there is swelling of the tongue, mouth, lips, throat, difficulty swallowing or difficulty breathing, call 911 IMMEDIATELY. These anaphylactic reactions can progress quickly.
Watch out for cacti and other prickly, stinging plants that often exist near bluebonnet picture opportunities. Photo Credit: Nasreen Stump
Bluebonnet Don’t: Don’t Forget That Not All Fauna is Friendly
Do a pre-selfie scan of the area you’re planning to sit or lie down in for that perfect picture. Be sure it is free of poison ivy, poison oak, poison sumac, and sharp cacti. Be aware that some stinging plants like bull nettle resemble wildflowers!
TravelingDad Tip: Exposed to a scratchy friend? Wash the affected area with soap and water. If you do develop an itchy rash, it can usually be treated with over=the-counter creams and salves.
With all of that being said, it is a time honored tradition and a uniquely Texas experience to take photos in fields of Texas bluebonnets. When basic common sense and safely precautions are followed the experience is more enjoyable. Dress appropriately, keep an eye on your surroundings and take your annual photos.
Nothing says holidays like a theme park! Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey is all dressed up for the holidays. Yes, it will be cold. But is that enough to make a hearty family stay home? Travel along as this TravelingDad and his family marvel at the lights, the rides, the tiny crowds and the breathtaking Skyway ride over it all at Six Flags Holiday in the Park.
The writer was hosted.
Only 10 minutes have passed since we pulled into the Daffy Duck section of the parking lot at Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey. We’ll spend the next 4 ½ hours sizing up the festive attractions of Six Flags Holiday in the Park.
As we walk to the park entrance my daughter Maya, 19, asks, “Did you know two of the Sister Wives divorced Cody?” She asks this question of her sister Libby, 22, and brother Felix, 15.
I know that Maya is hungry, because she follows her non sequitur with other hyper-enthusiastic comments having to do with food. She is not hangry. Maya is the equivalent of whatever hangry is for a happy person. She wants funnel cake, Chinese food, hot chocolate, and other delicacies, all of which, not coincidentally, you can get here at Six Flags Great Adventure.
Food will come later, though, because of the cardinal theme park rule: Thrill rides first, food second. And in keeping with Eisenberg Six Flags Tradition, our first ride will be Superman.
Is It Worth Braving the Cold for Six Flags Holiday in the Park?
Paul Eisenberg and family during Six Flags Holiday in the Park at Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey. Photo courtesy of Paul Eisenberg
As we walk to Superman, I ask out loud, “Is it worth braving the cold for this so far?” But only my wife Toby hears me as our three children power walk 20 feet ahead of us. They tend to do this whenever they’re together. This dynamic differs from when I visited Six Flags Great Adventure in June and it was just me and my two girls. We stuck together and had some nice father-daughter laughs.
But this dynamic is just fine. Toby and I will have several chances throughout the day to chat with our children out of earshot. Plus, we have long been fond of the actual sight of our kids walking ahead of us, together in the distance, without us.
As we watch this trio in front of us, I have a thought I imagine many other mortal parents have: Please let these kids stay friends after we’re gone.
The kids often kept well ahead of us. Photo credit: Paul Eisenberg
My far less deep thoughts have to do with my question, which Toby is kind enough to answer. Yes, she says, it is worth braving the cold today because there are so few people here. The park has only been open for half an hour – on this Saturday and other selected winter days the park is open from 1 to 9pm. And over the next few hours here, we will seldom have to wait in line.
And at least for now, it is not cold. It is crisp. We have all dressed sensibly in layers, with hats and gloves at the ready if we want them. And we will want them.
Six Flags Holiday in the Park: Taking It In
During Holiday in the Park, park buildings and rides are done up with holiday flair. Photo credit: Paul Eisenberg
Six Flags Holiday in the Park is available on select dates November 13 through January 2. The park gets a heavy overlay of holiday lights. It adorns many of its existing attractions with more light displays and garland and other festive décor. And the park deposits oversized holiday ornaments here and there, making for fun photo opportunities.
During Six Flags Holiday in the Park, Six Flags Great Adventure also gives different regions of the park seasonal names. And as you might expect, most of these regions have non-seasonal names the rest of the year.
So during the holiday season, Superman, ordinarily identified by its Boardwalk location, is in the Deck the Halls region. And the location during non-seasonal times known as the Lakefront is during the holidays home to Polar Point, Poinsettia Peak and the North Pole. You get the idea.
The Six Flags Holiday in the Park version of the park map identifies all the seasonal regions of this winter wonderland.
A World’s Fair-worthy display. Photo credit: Paul Eisenberg
Along with the park’s existing roller coasters, eateries and shops, the park map also identifies seasonal attractions and holiday events. So when we arrive at Deck the Halls, where Superman is, we have the opportunity for a meet and greet with the Winter Wizard, which we decline. We can also take in a merry magic show. Decline.
We are that Superman focused.
We’ll avail ourselves later of some of the Six Flags Holiday in the Park seasonal entertainment. For now we’re enjoying our brisk walk in the crispy air that has an undercurrent of wood smoke from fire pits situated throughout the park.
“That smell reminds me of the sweet incense they burned in the clay ovens when mom and I were in New Mexico. That was before your time,” I say wistfully.
“It smells like the laser cutter at school,” Maya says, less wistfully.
Superman: Ultimate Flight
On this November day, crowds were sparse in the park and non-existent at the Superman queue. Photo credit: Paul Eisenberg
When we get to Superman, Maya wheels around to underscore the aforementioned benefit of visiting Six Flags Great Adventure on a crisp November day: “There’s NO line.”
And indeed, the only issue prior to boarding is that this is Felix’s first time on the ride and he’s a little freaked out. But he’d rather suck it up than disappoint either of his sisters.
We wait to board the ride – the three kids queued up for one row, us parents in the row next to theirs. “Make sure you’re each buckled in,” Toby says to them. I feel like this is a very mom thing to say. Similarly, Toby’s diligence about their safety extends to her passing her bottle of hand sanitizer to everyone after we touch anything.
Covid Protocols at Six Flags Great Adventure
Hand sanitizing stations are available throughout Six Flags Great Adventure. Photo credit: Paul Eisenberg
Toby’s modest little bottle of hand sanitizer, like a miraculous Chanukah candle from ancient times, lasted all of us the full 4½ hours of our day at Six Flags. But had it run out, Six Flags is also diligent about having hand sanitizer stations throughout the park. The mask mandate today is the same as it was when we visited in June. As noted on the Six Flags website: “Face coverings are not mandatory during your visit but are recommended for unvaccinated individuals.”
And, as during our previous visit, most park-goers were maskless indoors and out, though a percentage, including my crew, remained masked indoors and when we encountered pockets of congestion outdoors.
In short, between my family’s personal precautions and the park’s wide-open, uncrowded spaces, we felt safe.
Ain’t We Got Indoor Fun: “Frost,” The Live Performance
These two simulated bending and dancing on ice. Photo credit: Paul Eisenberg
You probably won’t be astonished to learn that it got colder as the day went on. And believe it not, at the very moment the air turned from brisk to frosty, we found ourselves in the festively dubbed Holiday Heroes region of the park, standing before a theater showing a Six Flags Holiday in the Park special attraction, “Frost.”
It’s nice and warm in the theater, just as the festively-dressed door attendants promised. And we’re pleased that there were many empty rows to pick from.
During “Frost,” a show offered during Six Flags Holiday in the Park, we had space to spare. Photo credit: Paul Eisenberg
The 25-minute show is packed, the announcer says, with “astounding feats of acrobatic artistry.”
The acrobatic artists in “Frost” included this dude:
This kind of made me nervous but ultimately the dude knew what he was doing. Photo credit: Paul Eisenberg
And don’t let the goofy green hats fool you. These two are serious about being limber.
Making trampolining look easy. Photo credit: Paul Eisenberg
Holiday Craze Mirror Maze
Our next stop was the Holiday Craze Mirror Maze ($6 per person, $5 for members and passholders), which sounds like a seasonally-themed episode of “Succession” but is in actuality a Holiday in the Park indoor attraction nestled within the park’s North Pole region.
If you like the idea of an experience with darling animated displays of Santa Claus that somewhat randomly includes a mini dance party led by a live elf, this is your maze. The experience is so kid friendly that we were happy to let a 2-year old girl and her family walk ahead of us and lead us through.
My wife appreciated that all maze participants were required to wear disposable rubber gloves. And I appreciated that Snowflake and Plum gamely took time away from their maze-guarding duties to appear in this photo.
Snowflake and Plum welcomed us to the Holiday Craze Mirror Maze. Photo credit: Paul Eisenberg
Meanwhile, at the Hall of Justice
As the mercury dipped further we availed ourselves of two indoor thrill rides, Justice League: Battle for Metropolis and Skull Mountain, which according to the Six Flags Holiday in the Park map, may be found respectively in the Holiday Heroes and Poinsettia Peak regions of the park.
The thrill level Six Flags assigns to Justice League is moderate, and that’s accurate: Equipped with 3D glasses and a laser blaster, you shoot at targets presented by immersive videos.
What I found more memorable than the ride was the Hall of Justice itself, both the exterior:
Outside the Hall of Justice. Photo credit: Paul Eisenberg
And the interior.
The line queue décor makes Justice League worthy. Photo credit: Paul Eisenberg
Halls of justice everywhere should display these banners, in my opinion.
I rode Skull Mountain for the first time in June. It still feels like “being strapped to a park bench while being propelled along a track.” The dude next to me – I always get to sit with the stranger if there’s an uneven number in our group – elevated my enjoyment of the ride by turning back to his friends and yelling “Keep your eyes shut no matter what. No matter WHAT,” advice that’s largely unnecessary because it’s quite dark inside this rickety mountain.
Our Meal at Six Flags Holiday in the Park
Our holiday feast at Six Flags Holiday in the Park. Photo credit: Paul Eisenberg
Beyond the existing dining spots in the park, the region seasonally named Merry Marketplace has a dining tent. You can avail yourself of Holiday Spirits — spiked hot chocolate or wine for $10.99 or seasonal beer ($11.99) or the Holiday Feast meal. We partook of the latter. For $17.99, this includes your choice of turkey, ham or lamb. You also get several sides. And, of course, because what would the festive season be without it, you get a pickle on a stick.
The mashed potatoes were a highlight of this plate. We appreciated that you could actually taste the red potatoes and get just the right amount of their texture. My daughters said it reminded them of the turkey and fixings served up by their colleges. This isn’t as backhanded a compliment as it sounds, as the festive meals at school were a cut above the usual fare.
If I look through the lens of, this is a theme park with theme park prices and add the additional lens of, it’s cold, we’re hungry, and our plates are loaded, this is a solid meal for 18 bucks.
Later on we skip that classic seasonal treat, s’mores. Though it was tempting to linger over one of the fire pits to roast some. We opt instead for funnel cake. It’s as enjoyable as ever, especially when it’s still warm, especially when you’re at an outdoor café table in November.
What Made Six Flags Holiday in the Park All Worth It
View from Skyway during Six Flags Holiday in the Park. Photo credit: Maya Eisenberg
Both during our June visit and today, the only attraction with a significant line was the cable car ride, Skyway. You board this ride in the Lakefront area, aka Poinsettia Peak.
As we waited on the cable car line – which maybe lasted all of 15 minutes – I pondered that throughout the day we had passed from region to region, seeing the park’s attractions festooned with seasonal flair and trees adorned with holiday lights. And it was nice. “Festive without being too gaudy,” as Toby put it.
But as we head skyward in our cable car for the 8-minute round trip ride, I realize something. Throughout the day, I literally wasn’t seeing the forest for the trees. At ground level, we could certainly appreciate the different parts of the park and its many decorations and tree lights.
But when it gets dark and you’re 104 feet off the ground, the Holiday in the Park lights look quite different.
Because from up here, you CAN see the forest for the trees. You can see it all. Toby is a Jersey girl and grew up visiting this park. She noted that other times of year if you ride Skyway at night, it’s nice to see the lights of the thrill rides. But you don’t see these dazzling lights.
Would we visit Six Flags Holiday in the Park again? Yes, especially if we again arrive in early afternoon to take advantage of the relative warmth and light crowds. Especially if we bring warmer coats. And we would definitely stay until sundown and do Skyway again.
After Skyway, I loitered in the cold while my family scoured one of the shops. I was transfixed by a Christmas tree seemingly doing a mini light show just for me.
As the twinkling lights cycled from one color to the next I became aware of Sarah Evans on the sound system, who at that moment happened to be singing that “nothing is better than all of us together at Christmas.”
Even when it isn’t Christmas or the park isn’t Holiday in the Park, I take her point.
Six Flags Holiday in the Park: Other Ways, Other Locations
Does exploring a theme park on foot in the cold not pack appeal? Then you can have the Six Flags Holiday in the Park Drive-Thru Experience from the comfort of your vehicle at Six Flags Great Adventure and in other chilly places like Chicago’s Six Flags Great America.
Does exploring a thrill park in the the cold pack zero appeal by foot or car? The warmer climes of Six Flags Magic Mountain in Los Angeles and Six Flags Over Texas in Dallas also offer Holiday in the Park. Visit sixflags.com to see which ones offer the annual holiday experience.
Disney’s night shows extend the magic for families. You’ll want to catch at least one during your vacation at Disney World. Here’s everything you need to know about what fireworks are available in 2021 and what new shows started in October. Plus the best photo spots and where to stand if you want to hit the park exit quickly after the fireworks finale.
There’s no question that Disney brings the magic to a family vacation. One of our family’s favorites are the Disney World nighttime shows and fireworks. The music! The projections! It’s enough to make me feel like a little girl all over again. At the time of reopening from their Covid closure, these shows were paused due to pandemic restrictions. As of July, some have returned. Take a magical journey with us as we outline the best Disney World night shows, nostalgic favorite fireworks from the past, what’s new for the future and which nighttime spectaculars we hope return soon.
Currently, there are two Disney World night shows running. If you’re planning your Walt Disney World vacation, know that fireworks are limited currently. The situation is fluid and things can change. If you don’t already have the My Disney Experience app on your phone, download it. You’ll be able to check showtimes and available experiences easily from the convenience of your phone with this app.
Best Fireworks at Walt Disney World: The Complete Guide
Let’s run through all of the fireworks shows available at each of the Walt Disney World theme parks. With only two shows currently available, we’ll skip the rankings (for now). Currently, in the battle of Disney Enchantment vs Harmonious, Harmonious is our #1 and Disney Enchantmentis #2. We gave the #1 to the EPCOT nighttime show because it weaves in so many varied sights and sounds with a great soundtrack.
Magic Kingdom Nighttime Spectacular: Disney Enchantment
Ahh, the quintessential Disney park. Magic Kingdom is where kids of all ages come to see their favorite princesses and beloved characters like Mickey Mouse. But one of the best things about Magic Kingdom happens after dark. Disney Enchantment kicked off on October 1st and features music, enhanced lighting, fireworks and a completely new projection immersion that will come all the way from Cinderella Castle down Main Street, U.S.A.. It is currently scheduled for an 8:00pm showtime, making it one of the earliest nighttime shows at Disney.
Disney Enchantment replaces the Happily Ever Afterfireworks show, one of my personal favorites. When it opens with “…And they all lived happily ever after” you’ll be sucked in. The music is deeply moving and emotional. I saw it when this show launched in 2017 (replacing Wishes: A Magical Gathering of Disney Dreams) and it remains a favorite. This show combines a moving score with a castle projection show, lasers, Tinker Bell flying through the air and pyrotechnics. I may keep watching the video occasionally to keep the serotonin levels up.
Best Viewing Spots for Happily Ever After Disney Fireworks
If you walk down Main Street in Magic Kingdom towards Cinderella Castle you’ll see multiple areas that you can settle in. You’ll want to make sure you have a clear view of the castle since that’s where the majority of the action is. Setting yourself up near the Partners Statue in front of the Cinderella Castle will give you a great view, but it can be crowded. Personally, I’m a fan of the bridge area going towards Tomorrowland. As long as you’re closer to the end of Main Street than to Tomorrowland your view will be decent.
If the projection show isn’t as important to you (and you’re looking to make a run for the Disney transportation at the end) set up at the end of Main Street U.S.A. near the Walt Disney World Railroad Station. The overall view won’t be as good, but you’ll get a decent view with a quick exit. Once the train station reopens, viewing from the station itself gives you a unique and elevated view.
SheBuysTravel Tip: If you aren’t a huge fireworks fan or have already seen them on your trip, use the showtime to ride all the thrill rides like Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Seven Dwarves Mine Train! The lines are significantly shorter.
EPCOT: Changes are Coming to this Disney World Night Show
Harmonious at EPCOT: Launched on October 1st
Harmonious is being billed as one of the largest nighttime spectaculars (and most expensive) ever created for a Disney park. I’m super curious to see it because it involves a diverse ensemble of 240 artists from around the world. Currently, the start time for the new show is appearing as 9:45pm in the Disney calendar.
Best EPCOT Forever Fireworks Viewing Spots
Since the Disney World night show at EPCOT takes place around the World Showcase Lagoon there are TONS of spots with a good view. The busiest areas tend to be near the World Showcase entrance (World Showcase Plaza) between Mexico and Canada and on the other side of the showcase around France and the United Kingdom. Why are these spots busy? Well, they’re the closest to the two park exits. If running for transportation near the close of the show is important to you, then the World Showcase entrance will put you close to the monorail and the busses. Hanging out near France will put you near the Skyliner and the Friendship boats.
Unlike Illuminations, all of the action for EPCOT Foreveris in the air so proximity to the water isn’t as important. If you drove or are fine with taking your time to get out, think about hanging out up near the gift shop area in Japan. You’ll be up a little higher and the photos with the Torii gate in them are impressive. Another option is the bridge between France and the United Kingdom. It tends to be a bit quieter here because it’s further back from the water and folks who saw Illuminations assume the best views are near the water. If you’d like to get some food and a drink, join the walk up list for Morocco’s Spice Table. Their waterfront patio views are perfect for taking in the nighttime spectacular.
Pre-covid, you could reserve a Fastpass+ to view the nighttime show from the World Showcase Plaza. This option isn’t currently available but we’ll be watching for it to return.
Past EPCOT Fireworks: Remembering Illuminations and EPCOT Forever
I may get a little teary in this section. We did our first multigenerational Walt Disney World Resort vacation in 2000 with my immediate family, my grandparents, my aunt and uncle and my cousins. EPCOT was my favorite Disney World theme park. In a hint of my travel writing future, I was fascinated with other cultures and cuisines. I still remember the way that I felt on that unseasonably cool Florida night leaning on a metal fence watching Illuminations: Reflections of Earth. It was bittersweet when fellow travel writer Breeze Leonard (on a kid-free Disney trip which i highly recommend) watched one of the last Illuminations showtimes in September of 2019, just shy of 20 years later.
To continue down my sappy fireworks path, Breeze and I were lucky enough to watch the new show at EPCOT, EPCOT Forever, in early March 2020. We were sitting along the fence in Mexico happily chomping down on nachos and drinking margaritas, blissfully unaware of how the world would be changing in just a few short weeks. EPCOT Forever had a short run though ending on September 28, 2021.
SheBuysTravel Tip: If you are able to get a late reservation for La Hacienda restaurant in Mexico, the open air patio provides the perfect viewing spot for this Disney World night show!
Disney’s Animal Kingdom: Things to Do at Night
The Disney light show, Tree of Life Awakenings, inspired by the story of The Lion King is currently unavailable. This shorter nighttime show traditionally occurs every 10 minutes until the park closes. The Tree of Life comes to life with lights and music. Since you can’t see it in person, feel free to watch the whole show in the below video.
If you’re looking to see Rivers of Light, I’m sorry to let you know that this show ended in 2020. One of the things I loved about this show was the amphitheater style seating. It was one of the few shows where getting a spot to sit was fairly easy. In case you missed the opportunity to see it, definitely check out the Rivers of Light full length video below!
Disney Kite Tails
This one isn’t a Disney nighttime spectacular, but we just have to mention it. First of all, it will utilize the Discovery River Amphitheater which means you can watch it seated – fantastic news for parents with young kiddos! This daytime entertainment will feature performers flying windcatchers and kites alongside music. The kites will be three dimensional and showcase different Disney animal friends like Simba, Zazu and more.
Disney’s Hollywood Studios: Fireworks and More
Sadly, Star Wars: A Galactic Spectacular is one of the shows that hasn’t returned yet. This spectacular combines music, fireworks and projections as well as live actors. Perfect for any Star Wars fanatic making the trek to visit Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.
There are all sorts of exciting things coming to the Walt Disney World Resort for their 50th anniversary. One of those is Beacons of Magic. This nighttime spectacular will run across all four theme parks, lighting up iconic Disney landmarks. While this won’t be a “show”, we are excited for the photo opportunities it will provide!
Magic Kingdom- Cinderella Castle
Animal Kingdom- Tree of Life
Hollywood Studios- Tower Hotel
EPCOT- Spaceship Earth
Walt Disney World Resorts: Nighttime Offerings and Fireworks Viewing
A question that always comes up is – what resorts can I see fireworks from? If you’re looking to spot pyrotechnics from outside the park, these are your best bets.
Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort – You can view fireworks at Magic Kingdom from the beach at the Polynesian. Nothing better than watching the fireworks while eating a Dole Whip from Pineapple Lanai. Or have a meal at Ohana while watching the fireworks.
Grand Floridian Resort and Spa – View from the shore or book a meal at Narcoossee’s and enjoy a meal with a Disney fireworks view.
Contemporary Resort – Head to the fourth floor to view fireworks or make a reservation at the California Grill for a yummy meal and access to their outdoor viewing area. I’ve done this once and it was a great experience!
Boardwalk Area – Your mileage may vary here but some rooms have fireworks views to EPCOT. There are also plenty of spots to snag a treat before you sit down to try to catch a view.
Disney’s Electrical Water Pageant
If you’re looking for Disney nighttime spectaculars outside of the theme parks themselves, you’re in luck. There’s a fun floating nighttime parade called the Electrical Water Pageant. This show starts near the Polynesian Village Resort and winds its way past several resorts before culminating at the Contemporary Resort. You’ll want to pay attention to the timing to be sure that you don’t miss it passing your Walt Disney World Resort! The pageant runs from 9:00pm until 10:30pm. During that time the barges that display the lights are moving along the waterways. Timing is therefore an estimate and you should be in place a little early so that you don’t miss it. Here’s the current Electrical Water Pageant resort order:
Even with recent adjustments to the schedules Walt Disney World night shows are still thriving and just as magical as ever! What is your favorite Disney World night show?
The Jersey Devil Coaster is the tallest, fastest, and longest single rail coaster on the planet. It’s open now at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, New Jersey. Ride along with this TravelingDad and his daughters as they test the ride. And learn why you should wait to order that funnel cake sundae and just how tough it can be to impress a teen.
The writer and his daughters were given free admission to the park to test the Jersey Devil Coaster.
“They have a funnel cake sundae here,” my daughter, Maya, 18, says as we pass the Six Flags Funnel Cake Factory.
“We should probably wait on that,” I say.
Not because it’s 10:45 a.m. That’s actually the perfect time to have warm funnel cake blanketed with powdered sugar and luscious vanilla ice cream.
We’re waiting because Maya, her big sister Libby, 21, and I have an appointment to ride the new Jersey Devil Coaster at Six Flags Great Adventure. TravelingDad is among the media invited to preview the ride on this hot but not unbearable 9th of June.
Warming Up on Other Roller Coasters
Me, during the Jersey Devil Coaster ride. Photo courtesy of Paul Eisenberg
With a few hours to kill before trying out the Jersey Devil Coaster, we warm up with some other roller coasters. First, a turn on Batman: The Ride. I’m okay afterwards, though I’m pretty sure I’m tasting food from two days ago.
We also knock off Skull Mountain and Runaway Mine Train, which feel like variations on being strapped to a park bench while being propelled along a track, although the latter bench has a cushion that softens the blow a bit as you’re thrown from side to side.
Also on our agenda is Superman: Ultimate Flight, but we just call it “Supaman” in my family. It is far and away, or perhaps up, up, and away, our favorite.
And then Libby takes a breather while Maya and I ride Bizarro. I keep my eyes closed the whole time and there’s an icy cold film of sweat on my forehead as we leave the ride.
“Dad, you’re white,” Maya says, and she’s not wrong. Bizarro has literally thrown me for a loop. Maya has long loved this ride and is fine with it.
Pandemic Protocols at Six Flags Great Adventure
Crowds were sparse on the day we rode the Jersey Devil Coaster. Photo credit: Paul Eisenberg
As the three of us wander the park, the crowds are happily thin. Perhaps because it’s a Thursday morning.
But also, as of this writing, the world is still in the midst of a pandemic, battling a deadly coronavirus. Though you almost wouldn’t know it because of the many smiling faces, nearly all maskless.
Covid-19 protocols at Six Flags Great Adventure include lots of hand sanitizer stations. Photo credit: Paul Eisenberg.
For much of our visit, except for when we go into shops and eateries, we are maskless, too. According to the current safety protocols posted on the Six Flags website, “Face coverings are not mandatory during your visit but are recommended for unvaccinated individuals.”
There are plenty of hand sanitizer stations on hand as well as “SixSafe” Covid-19 reminders, including the almost quaint “wear your mask.”
If you told me on June 9, 2020 that a year later I’d be wandering around Great Adventure with my kids, I wouldn’t have believed you.
Say What You Need to Say
SixSafe signs are a reminder that the pandemic isn’t over. Photo credit: Paul Eisenberg
The park sound system is working tirelessly and loudly to pump that pre-summer fun energy into the atmosphere. The playlist is eclectic. When we stumbled off Bizarro earlier, the first sounds I heard as my head cleared were Brad Paisley explaining that “you lost your job and you need a drink, you look around and start to think,” and well, that’s the perfect song for this moment.
I still have my job, but sure need a drink. But that will have to wait until after the Jersey Devil Coaster.
Presently over the loudspeakers, John Mayer is relentlessly urging us all to “say what you need to say,” over and over, at which point Maya says to Libby irritability, “Is this the WHOLE song?” as if it’s Libby’s fault the lyrics of the song are ruthlessly repetitive and the park is playing it.
Maya’s outburst reminds me how much I miss spending time with these girls who enjoy being sisters. They do have a baby brother, Felix, who is home with mom. Which leads me to ask my daughters:
“When was the last time the three of us hung out without your brother?”
“I don’t know, but it was probably 2005,” Libby says, which was before he was born and is a bit of an exaggeration, but not much of one.
All About the Jersey Devil Coaster
I pull out the Jersey Devil Coaster press release handed to me by Six Flags PR when we arrived. I learn, among other things, that:
The ride has a 48-inch height requirement. Let’s be clear about that.
You sit single file — aka inline style, aka one rider per row — with your legs hanging down on either side of the track. Watch the video below for a better idea of what this looks like.
The Jersey Devil Coaster, which can go up to 58 mph on 3,000 feet of track, will be the fastest and longest single-rail coaster on the planet. I mention this to Maya. She says those superlatives are all well and good, but points out that there are not that many single-rail roller coasters in the world. She’s not snotty about it, but as a theme park enthusiast and architecture student she knows her stuff. Older teens keep it real, Six Flags.
The longest single-rail roller coaster is also the world’s tallest such coaster at 13 stories, will be the park’s 13th roller coaster, and has its opening date to the public on June 13, 2021. If you’re a triskaidekaphobe you’ve already stopped reading, but the usage of 13 is a hat tip to the enduring New Jersey myth of the Jersey Devil who haunts the Pine Barrens, a million creepy forested acres that meets the northern edge of Jackson Township, where Six Flags Great Adventure & Safari are based.
The Jersey Devil, according to one version of the myth, was reportedly the child of the Devil and Pine Barrens resident Jane Leeds, aka Mother Leeds. Ms. Leeds did not immediately respond to requests for comment for this article.
Signage outside the ride suggests the Jersey Devil is “a two-legged creature with a horse or goat-like head and large, bat-like wings,” so you could likely pick him out of a line-up. Here’s an artist’s rendering in the form of the statue in front of the roller coaster.
This Jersey Devil statue greets riders. Photo credit: Paul Eisenberg
While the rest of the Jersey Devil Coaster is demonically themed, the design stops way short of horror, as this cute sign above the ride entrance underscores.
Paul and his daughters, Libby on the left and Maya on the right, ready to ride! Photo courtesy Paul Eisenberg
And a devil’s face adorns the front of each of the four 12-passenger coaster trains, technically bringing the number of riders in each train to, you guessed it, 13.
We check in for the ride. A Great Adventure PR person, Stacy, who kindly took the photo above, asks: “TravelingDad plus two?”
Yes, that sums it up.
Our Ride on the Jersey Devil Coaster
Here’s how the ride went, literally from my perspective.
Jersey Devil Coaster: Our Review
We agreed that the first moments of the ride were the best.
“The anticipation as you move slowly up that first hill – and the fact that it’s loud – makes it scarier, and builds the intensity,” Libby said.
And once you crest that first hill, the subsequent first drop – as you could perhaps tell from my face in the video – is truly thrilling. Maya agreed. It’s an 87-degree drop. And to be in the front car of a roller coaster looking into the abyss of a near right angle? Well, that’s an experience you carry with you for a while.
Libby enjoyed the first drop but liked the zero-g roll more — “It felt like I was floating.” And I heard a few roller coaster enthusiasts murmuring approvingly about the roll later on once we were off the ride.
A Middle-Aged Scream Machine
Maya and Libby agree that the drops of the Jersey Devil Coaster are similar to the Incredicoaster in Disneyland. The feeling on the inversions, they suggest, were similar to those on Bizarro.
As with Bizarro, Batman, and several other of its thrill rides, Great Adventure gives Jersey Devil a “Maximum” thrill rating for its intense elements.
And this is accurate, given the Devil’s first drop following its climb up a 130-foot lift hill. There are three “dramatic inversions,” according to Six Flags. These include a “180-degree stall, raven dive, and zero-gravity roll.”
Though amidst all my screaming — which was not fake, I am a middle-aged scream machine — the only part I remember for sure was the first drop. To recall the rest, I just watch the video over and over, and you should, too.
For Maya, it was hard to articulate precisely what was off for her about the ride, but I gathered she would have preferred slightly different pacing. She liked various elements, but they were almost flying by too fast for her to enjoy them.
Jersey Devil Coaster: The Bottom Line
We enjoyed the Jersey Devil Coaster’s opening moves and selected moments throughout. It truly is a thrill to help break in a brand-new roller coaster. But we prefer the overall experience on some of the park’s other thrill rides.
To put it another way, while parents are supposed to love all their children equally, at Six Flags Great Adventure you are not required to love all the roller coasters equally.
We have the opportunity to ride the Jersey Devil Coaster again, but after three hours of thrill rides we quit while our brains are still intact and turn our attention to filling our stomachs.
What to Eat at Six Flags Great Adventure
The pork roll at Six Flags Great Adventure is about as New Jersey as it gets. Photo credit: Paul Eisenberg
Once done with the rides, we knew exactly what we wanted to eat.
Pork Roll
Pork Roll is about as New Jersey as it gets. This sandwich had three thoughtfully grilled slices comingled with two heavenly squares of American Cheese. And food snobs, cover your ears: God Bless American Cheese.
Not to be reductive, but it’s a ham and cheese sandwich. But it’s the ham and cheese sandwich I needed after many months of having no pork roll at all.
Funnel Cake
The quintessential theme park food: ice topped funnel cake. Photo credit: Paul Eisenberg
And at last, the quintessential amusement park food, funnel cake.
We knew this is how the day would end and if you read the opening line of this article, so did you. Libby opted for a plain funnel cake and Maya and I shared the sundae version. The funnel cake itself was pretty good, but the ice cream was exceptional.
We ran around Six Flags Great Adventure all afternoon. But my favorite part of the day was when we sat on a narrow wooden fence, quietly watching riders crest the crazy bell-curved track of Kingda Ka. It was almost Zen-like.
We didn’t ride Kingda Ka, Nitro, El Toro or every other last roller coaster in the place. We didn’t have the fortitude. But maybe next time.
And there will be a next time, because my 14-year-old son was at school while we were here. And I’ll likely tire of him saying, “My sisters spent the day riding roller coasters at Six Flags Great Adventure and all I got was this freakishly long package of multi-colored cotton candy.”
Maya shows off the freakishly long package of cotton candy we bought as a consolation prize for the brother who wasn’t with us. Photo credit: Paul Eisenberg
How to Get to Six Flags Great Adventure
You can drive here and park, which is the case with nearly every amusement park in the galaxy.
If you depart from New York, a cost-effective way to get here is by New Jersey Transit Bus. That’s what we did. On the morning we went, the bus ride cost each of us $38 round-trip. It took about ninety minutes each way, between Port Authority Bus Terminal in NYC and Six Flags in Jackson Township, New Jersey. NJ Transit also offers fare packages that include the bus and park admission.
Disclaimer: Six Flags Great Adventure covered our park admission as part of the Jersey Devil Coaster media preview. And as I hope is evident, my honest opinions are my own. I paid for transportation and the food described herein.
National Parks are often places families get out of the car and just walk to an overlook. Bryce Canyon National Park has a variety of trails that are family-friendly. The easiest and most beautiful is the Queen’s Garden Complex that mixes family-friendly with something a little more challenging for those sojourning further.
People talk often of Zion National Park, but the more beautiful of the two southeastern Utah national parks is Bryce Canyon National Park.
Zion is beautiful and its nickname as “the Yosemite of Utah” is well-deserved. Its less-crowded back country is breathtaking, the towering canyon walls and cliff-side hikes are worth the sore calves.
My heart yearns for Bryce Canyon, its hoodoos, spires and red rock colors contrasting with the vivid pine greens. A trip to the canyon will capture yours as well.
At the southern tip of the canyon rim, Rainbow Point looks northward across Bryce Canyon National Park in this view from June 18, 2014. Photo credit: Eric Jay Toll
It’s being discovered more and more, and that means peak travel seasons are seeing greater crowds, but the park is lovely in the shoulder seasons and even winter has its unique beauty when the snow covers the red rock like frosting on an orange cake.
Let’s Take a Hike—Family Easy Queen’s Garden Trail Complex
On the approach to Queens Garden, hikers pass through a tunnel carved into an extension of Bryce Canyon on June 19, 2014. Photo credit: Eric Jay Toll
The park service rates Queen’s Garden trail as “easy,” which means family-friendly. The nearly two-mile (3 kilometers) loop is a drop and climb of over 300 feet (98 meters) from the overlook into Queen Victoria’s Court.
White snow contrasts with the green forest and the red rock of Bryce Canyon, as seen from the Sunrise Overlook on March 28, 2008. Photo credit: Eric Jay Toll
The well packed trail has benches and boulders for resting, making it an easy trek from the Sunrise Point overlook down to the garden. The shapes and colors of the hoodoos and spires make for great conversation, amazing photographic backdrops and the entire hike worthwhile.
Snow can last late into the spring, as hikers pack it down into the red rock on the Queen Garden Trail southbound in Bryce Canyon National Park on March 28, 2008. Photo credit: Eric Jay Toll
The switchbacks are easy to navigate. The wide trail makes it possible for side-by-side hiking, perfect for holding hands. Despite a pretty good crowd on the summer day we took the trail, there was plenty of space for taking pictures, and even with language differences, other hikers gladly exchanged photo-shoots to get everyone in parties in the photos.
The Queen’s Garden trail is described as the easiest descent into the Bryce Amphitheater. Dropping down the trail crowds thin. Many like to go down to the first saddle between clusters of spires where photos capture the unique landscape of Bryce Canyon. The crowds thin, the deeper the trail dives into the canyon.
The bottom of the trail is a royal court of hoodoos arranged in a semi-circle on each side of a spire named “Queen Victoria.” The contrasting red-orange color of the red rock with the cool, dark green of the trees makes a picture-perfect setting.
Many hikers turn around at the Queen’s Garden and hike out the switchbacks.
For us, this is where the trail became more beautiful. Walking through a cedar forest, the Queen’s Loop Connector trail is an easy hike to the Navajo Loop trail base. It’s about a mile (1.5 km) along the connector. Most of the hike is in the cool shade of the cedars and pines.
The landscape changes dramatically from the bright colors of the rock to the rich, lushness of an evergreen forest. The trail has a few ups and downs, but is essentially following a terrace at the base of the canyon wall. The ease of travel is deceptive, because of what awaits the hiker.
Getting up the Canyon Wall – Navajo Loop Takes Breath Away, Literally
At the base of Navajo Loop, the trail changes from easy to moderate. This is suitable for older children. Young children may find the climb ahead to be very strenuous. There are few resting places once starting the canyon climb on Navajo Trail.
The Navajo Trail has iconic photo settings of lone trees stretching skyward within the walls of slot canyons. The trail weaves its way up the side of the canyon wall, and at the moment it appears to be a dead end, the trail turns into a slot canyon cut into the cliff walls. This is called “Wall Street” for a reason. It’s the only slot canyon in Bryce Canyon National Park.
The easy walk through Wall Street to the slot canyon is deceptively peaceful. It has a gentle rise, car-size boulders worn into comfortable resting places. The sun penetrates deep into the canyon, making the walls of the slot appear to glow. The final steps from the slot are just that, water-carved, man-improved steps to climb out the entrance.
Awaiting is a steep canyon-wall switchback rising more than 500 feet (150 meters) to the rim. The switchbacks are steep, and even in good shape, the 7,500 foot (2,300m) elevation rising to 8,000 feet (2,500m) will take breath away. Close to the top of the switchbacks, the trail has railings to help make the final rise.
It’s worth every step, every muscle ache and each opportunity to stop, recapture breath and look into the descent and out across the ledges to the amazing views that are uniquely Bryce Canyon.
The slot canyons near the end of the Navajo Loop Trail guide hikers into a slot canyon just before the steep swtchback climb out to the canyon rim in this picture at Bryce Canyon National Park from June 19, 2014. Photo credit: Eric Jay Toll
Hiking Bryce Canyon National Park
Overall, the park offers varying options to see the sights. The main road runs the length of Bryce Point with numerous turnouts and overlooks. The most popular are Bryce, Sunrise and Rainbow points. They are also the most crowded during peak seasons, and the Park Service now runs free shuttle buses to the most popular overlooks.
Looking down from Sunset Point at (half of) the switchbacks that must be climbed to exit the Navajo Loop Trail, Bryce Canyon National Park in this view from June 10, 2014. Those are hikers down at the bottom of the canyon. Photo credit: Eric Jay Toll
The park’s trail guides separate the hiking opportunities into day and overnight hikes, and three levels of difficulty. Assistance is available at the visitor center, and there are numerous hiking guides to the park.
Hiking Safely
Bryce Canyon National Park is a wild and natural setting. While going to walkable overlooks and picnic areas are like visiting a park, hikes are not walks around the neighborhood. Nature is totally unforgiving and will kill the unprepared.
Drifting from sunlight to shade to the coolness of the slot canyon at Wall Street, Bryce Canyon National Park, as seen in this view from June 19, 2014. Photo credit: Eric Jay Toll
This is high desert. The rim elevation is in the 8,000 foot (2,500m) neighborhood. The thinning air and low humidity will create significant thirst. Summer days can be very hot in direct sunlight. Wear sunscreen and light color clothing.
Spring hikers climb up the icy and snow-packed slope of the exit from the Queen’s Garden slot canyon trail on March 28, 2008. Had it not been for trekking poles, we would not have gotten up the switchbacks. Photo credit: Eric Jay Toll
Carry 1 liter of water per person per hour when hiking. Always have water in the car. Even without hiking, drink about 3 liters of non-caffeine liquids per day. Sugary drinks, like soda, will dehydrate you as well.
Remember it takes twice as long to hike up the canyon wall as it does to hike down to the bottom.
Be weather aware, especially in the summer. Lightning strikes often and is deadly. When thunder is heard, take shelter until the storm passes. Do not take shelter under trees, and watch for areas of obvious run-off from the canyon wall. Plummeting runoff water flows can carry rocks and boulders. If rain is forecast—check the boards in the visitor center—be sure to carry rain ponchos.
Wear layers. Temperatures can drop or rise suddenly depending on where the hiking trail leads. Be prepared to remain warm or cool down as necessary.
Queen’s Garden is an easy hike, and we observed people wearing open-toed shoes, sandals and flip-flops. It’s possible, but better to be in a shoe holding the heel firmly and supporting the arch. Hiking boots are recommended. For the Navajo Trail, hiking without proper hiking shoes or boots is an invitation to foot injury.
We’ve hiked the trail in the spring with snow on the ground. Trekking poles were an absolute necessity. We would not have made it up the Navajo Trail without them. The Queen’s Garden trail is mostly in sunlight, and mud was the biggest challenge at some locations. It would have been smarter to have crampons for the boots to come out through Wall Street, but the trekking poles made it possible. They are not necessities on Queen’s Garden, but sure made the hike down more comfortable.
Getting to Bryce Canyon National Park
Bryce Canyon National Park is located in southwestern Utah east of U.S. 89 between Panguitch and Tropic. It’s just a couple of hours drive north of Zion National Park, and three hours west of Capital Reef National Park.
The nearest major airport is Las Vegas, Nevada, on Interstate 15 to the southwest. St. George, Utah, which is near Zion National Park, also is served by commercial carriers.
Depending on the length of a vacation, it is possible to spend a week of quality time at Zion, Bryce Canyon and Capital Reef national parks on one trip looping south from Salt Lake City or north from Las Vegas. Also nearby by are Arches and Canyonlands national parks in Utah, and Monument Valley Tribal Park and Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona. Five national monuments and three Utah state parks are also worth visits in the same vicinity.
The sapphire blue of the desert sky at the Sunrise View Overlook, Bryce Canyon National Park on June 18, 2014. Photo credit: Eric Jay Toll
For an incredibly culturally mixed experience, start a trip in Saguenay-Lac Saint-Jean region of Québec, Canada. In many visits to Montréal and Ville de Québec (Québec City), the urban mixed English-French experience and the historic cities are flavors of Europe in North America.
The region is a recreationalist’s dream. Lac-Saint-Jean is over 1,000km2 (387mi2) and drains into the Saguenay River. The river drops 90m (300ft) as it moves southeast into Baie des Ha! Ha! and becomes the Fjord-du-Saguenay, the Saguenay Fjord. The fjord is one of the rare intracontinental fjords and runs for 105km (65mi). Its deepest point is 270m (900ft). Instead of emptying into an ocean, the fjord connects with the Fleuve Saint-Laurent, the St. Lawrence Seaway. The fjord is perfect for inland sea kayaking.
A side note about Québécoise websites: most of the sites are in French, but in the top bar, click the “EN” or “English” menu command for an English version. Avoid using the “translate this page” option. Some sites are only in French, and the browser translator will be needed. These are noted as “(French)” right after the link.
Covered with snow and ice, the frigid waters of Ruissau Hector still surface here and there on the run from Monts-Valin to Rivière Valin. Photo: Eric Jay Toll
Heading three hours north of Ville de Québec climbs into the enchanted world of the Reserve Faunique des Laurentides (Forest Reserve of the Laurentides). The nearly 7,900km (3,500mi2) on an excellent divided highway weaving around lakes, rivers and lands in the heart of the Canadian boreal forest, the “great north woods.” The region is a year-round wonderland. Visiting in the heart of the subarctic winter means being well-prepared to be warm. It was easy to see why Saguenay-Lac Saint-Jean is a fantastic place to visit anytime during the year.
The region is known for its wild blueberries, jams and blueberry products. Even the bicycle route around the lake is the Blueberry Bike Route. There is much more than the delicious berry to Saguenay-Lac Saint-Jean. This is the land of outdoor activities. From the United States, a visit to Québec province will be much richer if it includes the cultural and recreation experience of winter in Saguenay-Lac Saint-Jean.
Économusée Bilodeau, Normandin
A polar bear seems to be looking for its Coke bottle, belying its vicious nature. Photo: Eric Jay Toll
Frozen in its soon-to-be-museum exhibit pose, the clean white fur and benign expression made me look for the Coca-Cola bottle in its paw. The long dark claws were a real reminder that this polar bear wasn’t interested in carrying the kids; he was planning to hunt me for lunch. Luckily, although the polar bear was less than ten feet from where I was standing, it was a “taxidermy.”
“Our taxidermy division poses animals for museums, universities and very rich people,” said Samuel Bilodeau, grandson of the founder of Bilodeau Canada, a global purveyor of fur and leather clothing, Québec’s original industry. “We design and make our own clothing and boots, have taxidermy artists and create robotic animals for television and movies. ‘A Night In The Museum’ was one of the films using our animals.”
Bilodeau gently speaks fluent English and moves us through his family’s économusée in the quaint village of Normandin in the Saguenay-Lac Saint-Jean region of Québec, Canada. We’re about three hours north of Ville de Québec (Québec City). Normandin has about 3,100 people, and Bilodeau employs several hundred as the village’s largest employer.
Économusée
Économusée is a global network of museums, most often contained within a business. The tours allow touting its traditional Québécoise industrial roots. There are 28 in Québec, eight in Saguenay-Lac Saint-Jean, more than any other region or city in the province.
“There would be no Québec without fur. It’s what brought the French to the area in the first place. Almost all historical trade in Québec started with the fur trappers, traders and tanners,” Bilodeau adds. “We are a certified sustainable company, and we use every portion of the pelts we receive. No waste.”
Watching artisans craft the famous the Mounties’ iconic fur hat
The hat must be as tough as the “Mounties,” the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The RCMP order hundreds of their traditional fur hat from Bilodeau. Samuel Bilodeau models a fur hat custom-made by Bilodeau for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Each hat is made by hand at Bilodeau in Normandin, Quebec. Photo: Eric Jay Toll
He picks up a fur hat, one of the hundreds the company is making for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, he says, “These hats get a lot of rough use, they have to be warm, comfortable and last for years. Only natural fur can do that.”
We watch as his team uses every scrap of a pelt to make the hat. Even the loose fur combed out of the hat is sent to Le Chevrier du Nord, who add the fur into the skeins of mohair they market. It’s also a museum, Économusée de la Lainerie, in Saint-Fulgence.
The last stop in the économusée is in the taxidermy shop where a monstrous jawbone from a beluga whale spans more than the length of the three worktables.
“This whale washed ashore in Massachusetts,” explains Bilodeau. “We’re doing the work on the jawbone, and other specialists are working on the rest of the body. The whole whale is longer than a house.”
And longer than the taxidermy studio, he added.
Économusées may have hours that vary with seasons, so checking the individual webpages is worthwhile when planning a trip. Wild blueberry jam and the chocolatier are next on my list.
Zoo Sauvage – The Zoo Without Walls, Saint-Felicien
Sharing the history of the “great north woods” in Saguenay, the Zoo Sauvage has restored a historic logging camp dining hall. Photo: Eric Jay Toll
“Well, this one is quite a ham,” laughs Cindy Lavoie, a guide for Zoo Sauvage, an open range wildlife conservation center in the Saguenay-Lac Saint-Jean region of Québec. It’s just a couple of us riding in a bus on a snow-packed road for an exclusive tour.
Routine visitors, even in winter, tour Zoo Sauvage in open trains in the summer, closed up and heated in the winter. The heat was a good thing, as an unexpected cold front dropped temperatures to extreme lows. It was -23C (-9F) the morning of our winter excursion. Even so, the train was packed with visitors heading out for their tour.
As we entered the controlled area, wildlife roams freely on hundreds of acres open ranges, a massive bull elk walked up to the bus and posed. Cindy stops the bus and cameras click. We head a little further along in the large mammal range where elk, bison and moose share the woods and grasslands.
Zoo Sauvage incorporates Québécoise history with the preserved original ranch log cabin and historically reconstructed logging camps of the “great north woods,” after all, and this is the real Boreal Forest we’re visiting. The historic ranch cabin and other buildings within the zoo preserve are available for group use. We step out of the bus onto the platform in the logger’s dining hall to shoot some photos.
No Taking Selfies with Moose or Wolf
An arctic wolf pack alpha male warily eyes the tour bus as it moves across its range. Photo: Eric Jay Toll
Heading back to the bus, we’re stopped dead in our tracks. An old bison is slowly walking up the road right by the door of the bus. The massive bull stops gazes at the bus, an intruder upon his range. We’re feeling the cold, and Cindy stops us short of the bus.
Eventually, it felt like forever, the old guy moves on and we rush into the bus. The animals are used to people in their territories, yet they are still wild. Visitors are not allowed to try to shoot selfies with a moose or arctic wolf.
He trod at a leisurely pace in front of the bus until meeting up with other members of the herd at a feeding trough. In the winter, zoo personnel ensures that all the animals have plenty to eat. Zoo Sauvage’s Accueil, the visitor center, has as café to provide the same for visitors.
Every boreal continent at the zoo
Each continent with a boreal forest is represented at Zoo Sauvage, Saint-Felicien, Québec, Canada. Graphic: Zoo Sauvage 2020
The preserve is separate ranges representing the boreal forest’s circling the globe. The ecosystem sits below the arctic circle on every continent. Tundra, Mongolia, Asia, North American mountains and the mixed forest are all represented with preserved wildlife.
From the Accueil, there is a 4.5km pedestrian walk leading to some of the continental representations, including a salmon river, Rivière au Saumon. Mammals, birds and other boreal denizens are in this area. There is also a children’s zoo at the top of the mixed forest.
In the bitter cold, our exposure on the pedestrian walk was limited to the polar bear habitat. We didn’t see the cub, but the mother was near the path and headed away as we approached, but still was quite close. There’s quite a difference between seeing polar bear taxidermy and the real thing. The claws are long, and she can really move.
Zoo Sauvage is open all year, although there are reduced numbers of train rides in winter. Refer to its website.
Visiting a First Nation: Société d’Histoire et d’Archéologie de Mashteuiatsh Musée, Mashteuiatsh
The Mashteuiatsh decorated their clothing and instruments with embroidered artwork on the leather. Photo: Eric Jay Toll
On the point of the western shore Lac-Saint-Jean, where the Rivière Ashuapmushuan enters the lake, sits the newly remodeled museum of a Québécoise First Nation, the Mashteuiatsh. In February, the lake is a frozen expanse of snow-covered ice.
Raphaël Langevin, a tourism technician for the museum, is showing current and future exhibits. At a blank wall, she paints a picture with pride for the coming exhibition. She says, “We’re collecting photos from every member of the community to put into frames on this wall. We want to show that this is a long-lived culture.”
Make a Mashteuiatsh Craft
Visitors to the museum can spend about an hour learning to create one of several different craft objects using traditional methods. The exhibits on the table were made by children visiting the museum. Photo: Eric Jay Toll
The museum is a combination of static, changing and interactive exhibits. It also provides children with an opportunity to learn to make traditional Mashteuiatsh crafts and art. Part of its beauty is its collection of evolving artifacts used by the community members. Snowshoes, canoes, baskets and dolls are a few of the antiquities displayed in the exhibit halls.
The new exhibit hall provides space for interaction with community members. The layout has visitors circling the story of the Nation.
Museum hours vary by season; museum guides are multilingual.
Living on Ice: Village Sur Glace, Roberval
An ice village on Lac-Saint-Jean, Québec, provides winter recreation to those staying in the shacks on the ice. Photo: Eric Jay Toll
It takes getting used to the idea of driving on ice. Dropping off the land in the Jardin des Ursulines in the lakeside town of Roberval and pulling up to Village Sur Glace (French), the Ice Village is a drive-of-faith. Looking at the collection of portable buildings surrounding the village, along with a group of parked cars and trucks, brought a double-take to this desert-dwelling writer.
“We’ve got an Olympic size ice rink here on the ice,” explained Alexandra Gosselin, the director-general for Village Sur Glace. She pointed to a wide oval track where plowing the lake snow clears the ice for skating. It wasn’t too busy, being a workday. “This place is filled with people on the weekend. There’s a lot to do.”
The center of the oval has an outdoor playground, and a cluster of children climb and slide, playing in the snow. The village is essentially a recreation vehicle park on ice. It’s hard to fathom ice thick enough to hold all the trailers and vehicles.
In Québec: Where There’s Ice, There’s Hockey
“There’s an area of hockey over there,” Alexandre said as we walked in the snow between the skate track and the village homes. We go into one of the recreation vehicles. “These are set up for families, corporate retreats, parties, and some are rigged for overnight accommodations.”
Walking to the edge of the village, she points out Isle aux Coulevres. It’s about 4km (2.5mi) from the ice village to the island. A group of people on Nordic skis head across the ice towards the wooded island. She says, “That trail is used by snowshoers, skiers and snowmobilers. We also have fat (tire) bikes.”
Back in the welcome shack, Alexandre talks about the equipment available to use at the site. There is a stack of child strollers designed like mini-Zambonis. Another trailer is for ski and skate rental. There are also food vendors for those who don’t want to cook. Planned activities fill the calendar throughout the season.
Village Sur Glace operates from January through March each winter.
Parc National des Monts-Valin, Saint-Fulgence
Snow-covered Monts Valin are reached with a shuttle going up, and getting down with skis, winter hiking, and snowshoes. Photo: Eric Jay Toll
Across the boreal forest, Québec has publicly accessible lakes, rivers, preserves and stunning national parks. Parc National des Monts-Valin, nestled into the mountains above the Saguenay Fjord, is one destination.
With peaks towering nearly 1,000m (3,300ft) above the fjord, the park has distinct seasonal activities.
Québécoise live for winter sports. In the national park, there are trails for snowshoeing, cross-country skiing and backcountry winter hiking. Although it’s not common in the lower 48 U.S. states, fat (tire) cycling is prevalent in Saguenay. Park trails cover more than 75km (46mi). There are winter cabin and hut accommodations available throughout the park. Snowmobile routes circumnavigate the park through valleys and over mountains providing for nearly 400km (250mi) of groomed, marked trails.
Monts-Valin, when the snow is gone, adds water sports—canoeing, kayaking, fishing, hiking, backpacking and camping, and mountain biking. Trails range from 2.5km (1.5mi) to 22km (13mi), and longer distances are possible with interconnecting loop trails.
Contact Nature, La Baie
Skis, boots, poles, snowshoes and more can be rented from Le Bec-Scie at Contact Nature’s Plein Aire preserve near La Baie, Québec, Canada. Photo: Eric Jay Toll
If ecotourism were to have a model organization, it would be Contact Nature in La Baie; the most eastern of the three municipalities comprise the city of Saguenay. The others are Chicoutimi and Saguenay. In the car with Director-General Marc-André Galbrand, we head towards the ZEC Mars-Moulin (French) southwest of La Baie.
The zone d’exploitation contrôlée, a forest controlled harvest zone, adjoins the area of the Rivière au Mars managed by Contact Nature. We’re stopping at Centre Plein Air Bec-Scie. The lodge sits to the side of the road with a packed parking lot of vehicles on one side and snowmobiles on the other.
It’s winter and the air temperature is around -25C (-13F). We grab lunch at the café, then Marc-André shows off the facilities. Priced for families, most equipment rental for children is at no charge or significantly reduced cost. There are free lockers to gear up for activities.
Winter includes Nordic skiing, snowshoeing, snowmobiling, fat (tire) bike riding and dogsledding. That’s where we’re heading. It’s going to be an abbreviated run due to time limitations, but this experience is different than the trails at Descent Malbaie in Charlevoix. Instead of dogs pulling the sleds on forest roads, at Contact Nature, the run is on a narrow track deep into the Boreal Forest.
Not Even a Barking Dog in the Forest
The heavy snow and thick woods make the trip soothingly quiet. The dogs are all excited about the run. When we stop to rest, they hop around, bark, roll in the snow and are anxious to start going again. We’re moving along on the return loop when Julien slows the dogs to a stop letting them rest briefly at the top of a rise.
“It’s hard; it’s hard if you don’t like it,” he says in thickly French-accented English, meaning, “it’s hard not to like it,” as we look into a thick grove of birch trees on one side of the trail, and an opening in the copse of trees looking onto the Rivière à Mars. “I just wanted to show you my office.”
In summer, Contact Nature manages fishing, canoeing, kayaking, hiking, backpacking, and tent or mini-cabin camping. The backcountry trails are great for mountain biking.
Contact Nature is open all year with winter and Summer-Fall activities.
Pêche Blanche, Villages d’Anse-à-Benjamin et Anse-à-Philippe, Le Baie
Hélene and Marc, the Mayor and First Lady of the Fishing Village D’Anse Benjamin on the Saguenay Fjord in Baie de Ha! Ha!, La Baie, Québec, Canada. Photo: Eric Jay Toll
“Visiteurs étrangers? Nous fêterons!” says Hélene, as the group of us crowd into the tiny, but very warm, fishing cabin owned by the first lady and her husband, Marc, the “mayor” of Village d’Anse-à-Benjamin, an ice fishing village sitting on Baie des Ha! Ha! of the shore of La Baie. The baie is the geologic beginning of the Saguenay Fjord.
Our group includes Marc-André from Contact Nature, the organization managing the ice fishing village, and five friends from France who are visiting Saguenay and staying a couple of nights at the ice fishing village. Hélène carefully pours a big dollop of erable (maple syrup) into a small plastic shot glass and then floats a hefty shot of ice-cold vodka on top. Marc passes the shot glasses all around, “You let the vodka sit on your tongue until the syrup runs in”to your mouth,” he says.
“À santé!” we all shout.
A snowmobiler pulls his ice fishing shack on skids down the snow-covered road on the Saguenay Fjord. Photo: Eric Jay Toll
Fishing “shacks” boast bunk beds and a chemical toilet. At the front doors is a bucket with several freshly caught frozen sea bass. In the constant below 0C (32F) temperature, there’s no need to keep the fish in the freezer. After all, this village is sitting on around 90cm (3ft) of solid ice.
“We have engineers check the ice thickness, and that controls how we distribute the fishing shacks and assign parking spaces,” explains Marc-André. “The Saguenay police patrol the village and will ticket anyone who parks in unmarked spaces.”
A Village Collage
Several couples set up their fishing lines to go deep into the Saguenay Fjord after saltwater fish on Baie du Ha! Ha! near La Baie, Québec, Canada. Photo: Eric Jay Toll
The fishing village has hundreds of fishing shacks in different sizes, shapes and colors. Some are on rails, some on wheels, all are towable. As Marc-André talks, a snowmobile passes towing a small fishing shack down the street. It may be on the ice, but the village has plowed roads, traffic control signs, street names and addresses.
The water is so deep under the village that it has both fresh and saltwater zones with a wide variety of fish. Fish weighing upwards of 25kg to 30kg (55 to 65 pounds) and more were caught through the holes in the ice.
The Contact Nature fishing villages are open from mid-December to mid-March. The rest of the year, the fishing is from boats on open water.
Musée du Fjord, La Baie
A family touches and strokes marine life found in the Saguenay Fjord at the Fjord Museum, La Baie, Québec, Canada. Photo: Eric Jay Toll
Back on snow-covered land along the south shore of the bay stands the Musée du Fjord, the Museum of the Fjord. This family-oriented museum includes an aquarium simulating the 275m (900ft) depth of the only navigable fjord in North America.
With its salt and freshwater zones, the fjord is home to many saltwater dwelling fish, such as sea bass and unique-in-the-world six-point starfish. The floor-to-ceiling aquarium has species native to the waterway, including trout, salmon, redfish, halibut, turbot and cod. The exhibit has more than 650 specimens.
In the saltwater aquarium among the more than 650 species from the Saguenay Fjord, the starfish have six points. The museum is located in La Baie, Québec, Canada.
Across from the aquarium is the “petting pond” where kids can touch fish and ocean dwellers in a shallow, interactive exhibit space. The museum offers a video about the fjord, permanent and changing exhibits.
The region is served from Montréal at Saguenay-Bagotville Aéroport by Air Canada, Sunwing, PAL and Pascan airlines. The Québec government has service from Québec City. Saguenay-Lac Saint-Jean is also accessible by car from Québec City. It’s a beautiful drive. In addition to the four airlines serving Saguenay, Québec City Jean-Lesage International Aéroport is served by American, United and WestJet.
It’s about a three-hour drive using Québec Route 185, Route Antonio-Talbot. In winter, rent an all-wheel or four-wheel drive vehicle. The road from the provincial capital is a divided, limited-access highway. It’s an easy and beautiful drive, most of the way through Réserve Faunique des Laurentides.
Celebrating Winter in Saguenay-Lac Saint-Jean
With a width of 1.5km to 3.5km, the Saguenay Fjord is more than 105km long with a depth nearly 300m. It is a combination of fresh and saltwater. Photo: Eric Jay Toll
While the winter is beautiful in Québec, it does require some planning and layering to stay warm. During the four days in Saguenay-Lac Saint-Jean, an unexpected cold front dropped the temperature between -20C (-4F) to -42C (-40F) range with the wind whipping across the lake and down from the arctic. When planning an active day, avoid cotton and plan to layer up.
Layers of clothing that transpire perspiration and block the wind are perfect. I wore Knocker men’s polyester long underwear every day, an REI Co-Op Stacked shirt with a sweater. Sometimes I wore a breathable fabric sweatshirt. With my ski parka, a Buff multi-functional headwear over my neck and ears, wool cap and ski gloves, I was never cold. I also wore a glove liner to give my finger the flexibility to use my Canon EOS 80D camera.
Exploring the Boreal forest in the winter provides unique life experiences for the family, there’s more in the summer. This is the land of the wild blueberry. When the snows melt and flowers bloom, seasonal économusées are open featuring local craft foods and all things blueberry. Even the beautiful bike trail around-Lac-Saint-Jean is called the Veloroute des Bleuets, the bike route of blueberries.
Temperatures are moderate and there is a little less humidity than experiences along le Fleuve Saint-Laurent. Saguenay-Lac Saint-Jean is splashed with hundreds of lakes in the forests. The Saguenay Fjord is an adventure in canoe or kayak.
Do you avoid flying into Newark Liberty International Airport because you think it will be time consuming and expensive to get to Manhattan from Newark? Well, think again. Even with a large family, going from Newark to NYC by train is the answer! The trip into Manhattan from EWR in Newark, New Jersey, can be quick and surprisingly CHEAP– less than an hour for only $13 per person!
Admit it: EWR isn’t as cool as saying “JFK” and doesn’t roll off the tongue like “La Guardia.” Plus, well, it’s Newark, right?
Believe me, I’ve heard it all before. But Newark Liberty has been my choice to fly in to New York City for years, primarily because I used to fly United a ton and EWR is United’s largest presence in the New York metro area. And it’s a pretty quick ride to midtown Manhattan if you’re willing to ditch the sexiness and cachet of a car service or rideshare apps like Uber, Lyft, and Via.
As a dad, I have a thing for teaching my kids how to navigate airports, train stations, bus routes, shuttles, and other types of public transportation. Why? Because I was a clueless 18-year-old on my first trip to New York. I was completely unfamiliar with (and a little bit scared of) public transportation. But with experience comes comfort and with education comes confidence.
Plus, I’m a cheap dad in addition to being a traveling dad. And the last time I took a cab into New York City from Newark it cost me nearly $100 and took more than 90 minutes with traffic and tunnel backups. It would be much worse in rush hour!
Purchase tickets to New York Penn Station at a kiosk inside the Newark airport. Photo credit: Boyd Rogers
So How Do You Get from Newark to NYC by Train?
Take note: This a three-step process:
The Newark airport AirTrain
Transfer at the Newark Liberty International Airport stop
Take an NJ Transit train to New York Penn Station
FIRST: Stop at the NJ Transit kiosks at the AirTrain locations inside the airport terminals to purchase your ticket to NY Penn Station (one ticket per person). The kiosks take cash and credit cards and are easy to use.
SECOND: Board the AirTrain and head toward the Newark Liberty International Airport stop, which is close to Terminal C, just after the P4 Parking Lot stop. (Don’t worry – if you go the wrong direction, you can get off at any of the terminal stops, cross the platform, and catch the AirTrain going the other way.)
NJ Transit kiosks take credit cards and are user-friendly. Photo credit: Boyd Rogers
These are great teaching tools for kids – they need to know how to read and follow signs, how to use kiosks, how to guide themselves around train platforms, and how to navigate system interchanges such as the Newark Liberty International Airport stop. (And, of course, to learn that mistakes on public transportation usually can be fixed with a little patience and problem-solving.)
One terrific part of the AirTrain system is that there are uniformed personnel on every platform and at the entry to the NJ Transit system. These friendly folks communicate with passengers, direct people to the right platform, and help them navigate to the elevators and escalators. You really can’t get lost, and you’ll always have someone to ask. Plus there are lighted signs, maps, monitors, and plenty of other visual helps.
On our recent trip, it was just me and my wife. (Yes, it’s true: Traveling Dads didn’t become dads through spontaneous combustion.) We wanted to see just how long it would take a couple of fairly experienced travelers to get through the system.
The Breakdown:
Our plane from Charlotte landed in late afternoon.
After deboarding, we reached the Terminal C AirTrain station at 6:13 pm and used the kiosk to buy two adult one-way NJ Transit tickets to New York Penn Station for a total of $26.
We waited a bit longer than usual for an AirTrain to arrive – probably 10-12 minutes or so – before catching the train for the two stops to the Newark Liberty International Airport stop.
We only waited about 5 minutes on Track A for an arriving NJ Transit train, and were physically on the NJ Transit train at 6:40 pm.
The NJ Transit train stopped at Newark Penn Station, the Secaucus Transfer Station, and then its last stop was New York Penn Station (basically 34th Street between 7th and 8th Avenues).
We arrived at NY Penn Station at 7:06 pm, for a grand total of 53 minutes of travel time but only 26 minutes from when we boarded the NJ Transit train.
Even with a leg cast, NJ Transit was still faster than ground transportation from EWR to NY Penn Station. Photo credit: Boyd Rogers
DISCLAIMER: Due to my wife’s leg cast and her accompanying knee scooter, we were a bit slower than normal getting around the airport and trains. We may have been able to shave a few minutes off our time otherwise. However, both the AirTrain and NJ Transit were fairly easy to navigate despite the temporary disability.
Things to Keep in Mind:
Accept the fact it takes a few steps – it’s not beep-beep-boop on your iPhone and then going out to meet your personal driver.
There are snacks and vending machines at AirTrain’s Newark Liberty International Airport station, and there is an indoor, heated waiting room on the NJ Transit platform for Track A, with restrooms.
HOLD ON TO YOUR TICKET. You will need it to get into the NJ Transit system AND will need to show it to the NJ Transit conductor on the NJ Transit train.
We had plenty of space in the overhead racks on NJ Transit for our luggage.
You will end up at NY Penn station, so you’ll need to be prepared to walk, take the subway system, or grab a cab to your destination within the city. We took a Via ride-share to our hotel.
NJ Transit trains run seven days a week from 5 am to 2 am, but there is NO SERVICE during the three wee hours of the morn. (AirTrains operate 24/7.)
The Bottom Line
Our total cost for two adults from Newark Liberty International airport to Manhattan was $34.71 — $26 for train tickets + $8.71 for Via. Total time from EWR to New York Penn Station was 53 minutes.
Yes, there are other ways to get into the City from Newark International, and in my experience they can take anywhere from an hour to 2+ hours depending on traffic. At the time of this writing, the cost of a shuttle (such as SuperShuttle) was $21 per person one-way, and $90-100 for a taxi (including tip and tolls).
Would you try public transportation from Newark Liberty Airport to NYC if it was faster and cheaper?
The group has the Austrian luges on the ground. Several have already plopped down on the sled. Others are still looking askance at the traditional wooden sleds with a little apprehension showing on their faces, including me.
We’re about to start a 7.5km (4.7-mile) sled run that drops nearly 700 meters (2,300 feet) down the face of Le Massif near Petite-Rivière-Saint-François in the Charlevoix region. Located in North America, about two hours east of Ville de Québec (Quebec City), Québec, it’s one of five family activities that celebrate the Canadian winter in Charlevoix region.
The trip to Charlevoix started with the globally famous Quebec Winter Carnival in Quebec City several days earlier. The Canadians call it “Carnaval.” More on that later.
Disclosure: The writer was hosted for this trip.
Le Massif de Charlevoix: Well below zero and well above just plain fun
A brisk wind from the Canadian Fleuve Saint-Laurent chills the -30 Celsius (-22F) temperature at the summit. Just stepping off the snowcat that ferried our group to the summit, wool hats pulled low, my Buff headgear is snugly covering my ears and neck. I pull the lower portion up so it’s over the nose to create a balaclava. Gloves sealed tight. Nerves steeled. It’s time to go. We’re at a ski resort, but we’re going to sled.
“Yee haw!!”
With the swoosh of our toboggans’ Teflon-coated wooden rails on hard-packed snow, we’re racing on sleds down the slopes. For the brave sledders, the luge can hit speeds as fast as 40km/h (25 mph). I drop my foot into the snow to slow and a spray of white powder covers my face. Canada is on the metric system, so this winter, we’re trying to use “meters.”
“Remember, put your entire foot down flat into the snow,” shouts Maude Barrette Desjardins, marketing director for Le Massif de Charlevoix, and our tour guide for the roughly one hour run down the side of the mountain. “These traditional wooden Austrian luges were made for us. The sled run is a unique family outdoor activity.”
It’s not the high-tech carbon fiber skeleton used in the Olympics; the Austrian luge has a woven seat. The remainder of the toboggan is wood. A Teflon strip is added to the rails. The luge is controlled by dropping a left or right foot into the snow to turn left or right, or lean the opposite way, right or left to turn left or right. Remember, feet are the opposite of leans. This is a cross-country run in a winter wonderland.
There’s a surprise at the bottom of the run
Le Massif is a multiple-use year-round Canadian outdoor experience filled with a variety of winter activities. It has a ski run, a luge, cross-country and snowshoeing trails, snowmobiling and lodging. The only thing missing is snow tubing. A major expansion is underway by owner Daniel Gauthier, the founder of Cirque du Soleil.
Once at the bottom, we headed for the line waiting for gondola’s back to the summit where we will feel winter in the wind chill.
“Follow me,” said Maude. “We have a surprise for you.”
Thinking the surprise was to be avoiding the line, we were quite surprised to find ourselves watching the gondola tenders place two red checkered cloth-covered tables in the car and load up the table with chocolate fondue, cheese, fruit and marshmallows.
There wasn’t a bite left once we got to the top 20 minutes later.
The Flavor Route in Charlevoix
Cheese monger Robert talks with Tourisme Charlevoix guide Camille Tremblay about the cheeses offered in the fromagerie near Baie-Saint-Paul, Québec, in the Charlevoix region. Credit: Eric Jay Toll.
We slip into Famille Migneron de Charlevoix, a fromagerie – cheese maker – between the villages of Saint-Urbain and Baie Saint-Paul, where Québec routes 138 and 381 meet between the two towns. This is the true land of the Quebecois.
Robert was working the counter and brought out several of the local Canadian cheeses crafted at the fromagerie. Cut into bite-sized cubes; he shared the various cheeses we could see stacked in the climate-controlled cheese cave. We sampled three of the white, tangy cheeses. Le Migneron, Le Ciel (Heaven) de Charlevoix and Le Tomme d’Elles. Then he brought out Le Secret de Maurice, a creamy, spreadable cheese that compares quite favorably with French brie.
“We don’t usually share this at the tasting counter,” he says, cutting away the top of the thick rind to reveal the creamy, spreadable white cheese inside. Taking small spoons and dipping them one-after-the-other into the cheese, Robert says, “Here, try this. You’ll love it.”
La Route des Saveurs (The Flavor Trail) is a region-wide loop connecting passionate producers of food and beverage across the area. Along the Flavor Trail, some artisan producers are closed or have reduced hours in winter. However, that shouldn’t discourage the beautiful scenic drive. Charlevoix region is a place to savor locally produced, created and crafted foods and wines.
The villages of Baie-Saint-Paul and La-Malbaie anchor the trip and make great places for spending the night. Many of the producers have shops on site between the two villages. Travel eastbound on Québec 362, Route de Fleuve, hugging the shore of the Saint Lawrence Seaway, and return westbound on Québec Route 138 through the mountains.
Stop at the Jetté des Capelans on Québec Route 262 at Saint-Irénée-les-Bains and walk out to the picnic area in the Fleuve de Saint Laurent. In winter, you can hear the song of the ice flows in the seaway.
Snow Cat Shuttle, Fatbikes, Nordic Skis, Snowshoes in Parc-National-Des-Haute-Gorges-de-la-Rivière-Malbaie
Jessica Napier (inset) passes the camera at a fast clip while Linda Cabasin and Heidi Gollub make lesser progress on the ice-covered snow with their fatbikes near La Draveur Visitor Center in Parc-National-des-Haute-Gorges-de-la-Riviêre-Malbaie near La Malbaie, Québec, in the Charlevoix region. Credit: Eric Jay Toll.
“This is a lot harder than it looks,” said Linda Cabasin, one of our group of writers, as she pushed her fatbike, a fat-tired bicycle, through the thickening snow. “You really have to get rolling to keep upright.”
Heidi Gollub, another writer in the group, was moving slowly on the snow-packed trail. The two were trailing Jessica Napier, whose tires threw snow into the air as she passed us at quite a clip. “This is fun,” she yelled as she flew by.
In the distance, a cluster of three fatbike riders was rolling smoothly over the trail heading upriver towards the frozen Russeau waterfall. Their laughter echoed off the adjoining sides of the deep gorge holding the Le Draveur Visitors Centre in Parc-National-Des-Haute-Gorges-de-la-Rivière-Malbaie. The park is quite the destination for a get-away winter or summer.
La Draveur Visitor Center in Parc-National-des-Haute-Gorges-de-la-Riviêre-Malbaie near La Malbaie, Québec, in the Charlevoix region. Credit: Eric Jay Toll.
Sights around Parc-National-des-Haute-Gorges-de-la-Rivière-Malbaie
A snowcat shuttle takes visitors to La Chute-du-Russeau-Blanc, an ice-encrusted waterfall with flows under the ice, places for ice climbing and scenic trails deep into the forest. Shuttle reservations are required. The snowcat loops twice daily. At the end of the ride is a stunning landscape, the froze waterfall, and he very committed winter sports enthusiast can ice climb.
Starting at the visitor center, there are trails for cross-country skiing, snowshoeing and the fatbike rides. The park clears a portion of snow off the ice on Rivière Malbaie for the Canadian national sport, hockey. If a game is not underway, the area is used for ice skating.
Just under an hour northwest of Village La Malbaie, Le Draveur Visitors Centre sits in a deeply carved gorge on Rivière Malbaie. A thick coating of ice clears the way for ice skating, hockey, backcountry skiing, Nordic skiing and fatbike riding. It’s a day-use park during the winter, but the shuttle, the bikes and just walking around can keep a family busy for most of a day.
Dogsledding
“You stand on the brake with both feet and say ‘doucement, doucement,’ to make the dogs stop,” the gravelly voice of André Heller explains as he demonstrates bringing six eager dogs to a halt as our quick lesson in dogsledding. Heller spoke English with a thick Quebecois (Québécoise in french) french accent. We were getting ready to send five teams dogsledding into the wilderness. He looks like central casting’s prototype for the role of a consummate outdoorsman in the woods.
His “office” is the great outdoors, and we stand in the snow overlooking a small lake with its cluster of ice fishing huts.
Heller’s Descent Malbaie takes riders on half and full-day expeditions into the forest about 45 minutes northwest of La Malbaie. Getting set up, the dogs are playful, anxious and noisy. Once they go to work, they are quiet, so the only sound is the swoosh of the dogsled on the trail and the “bon chiens” (good dogs) and commands from Heller.
“À gee! À gee!” Heller says more firmly. That’s the command for a dog team to make a right turn.
“Are you okay?” he asks, in English, after the dogs make the sharp right and the sled nearly tips. “This is a new trail for the dogs, and they don’t quite have it learned.”
Hard to get Québec dogs to understand English commands
André Heller, owner Descente Malbaie, gives instructions on how to drive (or mush) a dog sled. Credit: Eric Jay Toll.
The team behind us with Heidi and Jessica aren’t so lucky, their sled slashes in the steep side of the track and falls, tossing Jessica into the snow and leaving Heidi hanging on to keep the dogs from continuing to run. Their laughter lets all know they are okay, and she can’t remember the french commands. She’s shouting, “Stop! Stop!” but the dogs are not bilingual.
Heller says to our team and the other, “Doucement! Doucement!” while standing on our brake. He sets an anchor in the snow and ties a rope around a tree to keep the dogs from running off with me in the sled and goes back to help the other two American writers.
The team of dogs can hit speeds into the 30 to 40 km/h (18 to 25 mph) on this trail. Heller takes riders deep into the snow-covered forest. If you’re riding, you’ll be bundled up in a heavy blanket watching the dogs pull the sled down the trail.
For our half-day ride, we covered nearly 20 km (12.5 miles) on a forest road, a backcountry trail and a segment of Le Traversée de Charlevoix, a 56.8 mile (91.5km) regional hiking trail. Descent Malbaie also offers a full day ride.
Un promenade dans Baie-Saint-Paul
The village of Baie-Saint-Paul, Québec, in the Charlevoix region, is a charming town with galleries, restaurants, craft stores and inns along its Main Street, Rue-Saint-Jean-Baptiste. ‘Credit: Eric Jay Toll
Après déjeuner—a few days in Charlevoix and it’s easy to start picking up french words—after breakfast, we walk from Hôtel St. Germain to the center of Baie-Saint-Paul, a charming Charlevoix village where Rivière du Gouffre meets Le Fleuve de Saint Laurent in Baie Saint-Paul. See, in one paragraph, 16 french words have become part of the vocabulary. Loosely translated, it’s where the Gouffre River meets the St. Lawrence River in Baie Saint-Paul.
“There was a convent here for many years,” explains Camille Tremblay, our guide from Tourisme Charlevoix. “The city has preserved it and converted into artists studios and public uses.”
Musée-D’arte-Contemperain de Baie-Saint-Paul in the center of the village in Québec, Charlevoix region. Credit: Eric Jay Toll
The brick building hugs the sidewalk for almost an entire city block on Rue Ambrose-Fafard (Québec Route 362). A block further up the street is the modern Musée d’Arte Contemporain du Baie-Saint-Paul. The museum has not yet opened, so all we can do is look in the windows.
Stephan, the owner of the Gallerie-D’Arte-Iris talks about the international group of arists he represents. Credit: Eric Jay Toll.
The Art of Quebec
Still craving a chance to see the work of local artists, we’re satiated visiting galleries and craft stores along within the historic buildings and shops that make up the main street, Rue-Saint-Jean-Baptiste, a block further towards the river.
We stopped in Gallerie D’Arte Iris and talked with Stephan, the gallery owner. Featuring work from local artists, as well as an international selection, his gallery has a broad selection of price points from the casual tourist looking for quality souvenirs arts and crafts to the serious collector.
We wander past a microbrewery, restaurants, and a long sequence of galleries. Baie-Saint-Paul is a working town, and the quaint visitor-oriented shops and galleries are set side-by-side with the main street businesses important to any active village.
Celebrating Winter in Quebec
The bartender keeps busy as the public crowds into tour the Hotel de Glace in Valcartier, Quebec, Canada. The hotel is open annually from mid-December through Mid-March, depending on temperature.
What’s exciting about a winter vacation in Quebec, and winter runs into late April and early May, are the variety of experiential travel opportunities awaiting a family. Quebec City, la Ville de Quebec, is an attraction of its own. The only walled city in North America, the old city (Vieux Quebec) goes bonkers for Carnaval each February. The winter celebrations run from mid-December through mid-April.
Old Quebec spins out from the Fairmont Château Frontenac. This iconic hotel towers over the old city. There are many auberges or inns, and about 45 minutes north of Quebec is the only ice hotel in North America, the Hôtel de Glace. Located in Valcartier, Hôtel de Glace and its hand-carved ice bar is a unique experience surrounded by an indoor water park, snow tubing and a chance to skate. Throughout the city, highly detailed ice sculptures stand in front of stores and restaurants.
In Quebec City, one of the big attractions is the ice canoe race. Teams from all over the province compete in hand-built, 250-pound (114kg) flat-bottom boats that are a cross between a canoe and a rowing scull. The skill and stamina required to paddle against the Saint Lawrence Seaway current and push the canoes across ice flows is clearly evident watching the race.
Carnaval itself used to take place on the Plains of Abraham, but it now is spread throughout the city. The international snow sculpture contest is no longer part of the event, but there is much to see and do along the cobblestone streets of Old Quebec. Even in winter, this is an experiential getaway the family can enjoy.
Getting to the Charlevoix Region
The weak winter sun reflects in Fleuve Saint Laurent on the Jettée-des-Capelin at Saint-Irénée-des-Bains, Québec in Charlevoix region. Credit: Eric Jay Toll.
Major airlines serve Lester B. Pearson International Airport (YYZ) in Toronto and Montréal-Trudeau International Airport (YUL). Connecting flights land in Ville de Québec Jean Lesage International Airport (YBQ). There are international flights to Québec from Newark-Liberty International Airport (EWR), and seasonally from Chicago-O’Hare (ORD) and Philadelphia International Airport (PHL), Miami International (MIA) and also direct flights to cities in Mexico.
Charlevoix is about two hours east of Québec City. There is seasonal train service to the region. Beginning in 2021, the train will run year-round. Québec Route 138 is not an expressway or freeway along its full length. The highway paralleling the St. Lawrence River is a divided road in many areas and as easy to drive as a major U.S. highway, even when just one lane in each direction.
Dressing Appropriately for Winter Wonderland of Québec
While the winter is beautiful in Québec, it does require some planning and layering to stay warm. Winter temperatures in Charlevoix range from -5C to -20C (23F to -4F). A highly unusual cold spell with wind off the water dropped temperatures while we were there to the -20C (-4F) to -42C (-40F) range with the windchill. We were never cold, and the temperatures didn’t stop our outdoor activities. That includes heading outside on a -30C night in a robe and bathing suit to soak in the St. Germain Hotel’s Nordic Spa hot tub. When planning an active day, avoid cotton and plan to layer up. Watch the Quebecois around you to see layering in action.
Layers of clothing that transpire perspiration and block the wind are perfect. I wore Knocker men’s polyester long underwear every day, an REI Co-Op Stacked shirt with a sweater. Sometimes I wore a breathable fabric sweatshirt. With my ski parka, a Buff multi-functional headwear over my neck and ears, wool cap and ski gloves, I was never cold. I also wore a glove liner to give my finger the dexterity to use my Canon EOS 80D camera.
“It would take us 22 hours to drive back to New York,” my 13-year-old son reports while lounging belly-up on his queen size bed.
We’re in Texas, 30 miles north of Dallas in a high, quiet room at the Omni Frisco Hotel, having minutes earlier dropped our bags on the floor and plopped on our beds after a 4-hour flight and 25-minute ride from DFW International Airport.
The city of Frisco is considered part of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, which includes 11 counties that tend to run into each other. A travel tip shared with us soon after arrival is that if you’re ever confused about your location, just look up; whatever water tower you see, that’s where you are.
I wonder briefly if Felix is really trying to tell me that he wants to leave Frisco and head back to New York. This is only the second of two father-son trips — sans mom and sisters — in his life. The first one we took three years ago to the Finger Lakes was successful, or so I thought until he burst into tears at the Rochester airport because I was spending too much time on my phone and evidently had been the entire trip.
“I need to take notes and pictures on my phone for work, you know this,” I explained at the time, and as often happens — at least with my parenting –I twisted his sadness towards me into anger towards him because I didn’t feel he appreciated that I had to split my attention between him and my work. We calmed down soon after we hugged it out, but the argument left a mark on the trip and on both of us.
I didn’t want to reprise the Rochester airport outburst in Frisco, nor did I want the two of us complacently retreating into our own phones as our family too often does after work and school.
This trip would be different, or at least I hoped. And spoiler alert, it was.
But for now, my worry that Felix might want to drive for 22 hours back to New York was dispelled seconds later when he looked up at the wall and said “that’s a 55-inch TV.”
“How do you know? I ask
“I saw it on the hotel website,” he says. That he has memorized some of our room specs is a good sign that he’s been anticipating this trip. Though during our time in Frisco, we never put on the TV. Except for a few episodes of “Family Guy,” because my wife doesn’t like the show, and she’s not here.
The Ford Center at the Star, as seen from the Omni Frisco Hotel
Those pockets of time in our room, resting up in between the other fun things we did, were among our favorite father-son moments, and there were several as we made our way around Frisco, accompanied much of the time by Wesley Lucas of Visit Frisco, who invited me and Felix here and generously gave up much of her weekend with her own family to shepherd us around town.
While Visit Frisco hosted us during our stay, my opinions about what we saw and did are my own.
Frisco is a nice place to visit and people want to live here
After investigating every corner and amenity in the room we head down to Neighborhood Services, a restaurant tucked inside the Omni Frisco Hotel’s lobby. I have huevos rancheros, surprisingly light even with its luscious layer of chorizo. Felix, a flexitarian, which for him means he doesn’t eat meat except when he feels like it, tackles most of a “straight up sandwich,” a brioche with a fried egg and cheese as well as bacon and ham, because really, you shouldn’t ever have to choose between those two things.
Huevos Rancheros by the restaurant Neighborhood Services at the Omni Frisco Hotel
Wesley picks us up and it’ll be one of the few times Felix lets me ride shotgun, because he seldom gets the passenger seat, plus he hasn’t stopped talking since he was born, making him especially good company for grown-ups during car trips. During our first few minutes together Wesley’s love for her home state quickly starts to show, in part perhaps because she’s doing her job well, but she’s also a 7th-generation Texan. And something tells me you can’t fake a love of Texas if you’re that many generations deep.
I also learn that Wesley’s parents are cattle ranchers and that she’s the sixth great grandniece of James K. Polk, who through a prescient game of long ball must have really wanted me to come to Frisco, too: Polk’s notable bill signings while 11th President of the United States included annexing Texas as the 28th state of the Union.
From the Frisco fact sheet Wesley has supplied I also learn that the population of Frisco more than quintupled between 1990 and 2000 and more than tripled between 2000 and 2010. Many residents have migrated north from Dallas. And Frisco is also something of a playground for locals: 85% of the city’s visitation is comprised of day-trippers. So evidently Frisco is a nice place to visit and perhaps you would want to live here.
With Mario, the patron saint of, well, everything. Photo: Wesley Lucas
Frisco is a gateway to video games and queso
During two getaways to the Strong Museum of Play in Rochester, one of which was during the aforementioned father-son trip, I got a chill when I saw how the museum curators reverently placed video game consoles behind panes of glass, cherishing them as historical artifacts, though not ancient ones, I would suggest, as many of these gaming systems are part of my childhood.
I got that same little chill in Frisco when Wesley let us loose in the National Videogame Museum, which despite packing in many thousands of samples of video game memorabilia and hardware and software is a spartan and clean industrial space, and not sticky, cluttered, and dark, which perhaps would have been a too-on-the-nose homage to gamers, myself included.
Trying out some relics at the National Videogame Museum
The museum is organized by stages that helpfully reinforce the timeline of gaming evolution. And as easy as it would be to work your way through here sequentially, the fact-covered walls and displays and shelves — happily groaning with consoles, monitors, gaming cartridges, and circuit boards — lend themselves to wandering as you’re distracted by literally the next shiny new object wherever you turn.
Amid the displays are interactive elements like the world’s largest Pong console and a long table of home computers throughout history. Felix tries out some of the console games that made their mark way before his time, like the Resident Evil games, but whose gameplay and characters, he quickly appreciated, paved the way for the games we have played throughout his young life on Playstation, Xbox, Wii, Nintendo Switch and our phones. And despite our mutual pledge to limit our phone time our cameras are out all the time in this place because it’s both a gamer’s shrine and buffet.
My favorite display at the National Videogame Museum, because I’m a nerd
And my expectations for gaming and darkness — minus the stickiness and most of the clutter — are rewarded when we stumble back in time into a replicated 80s arcade. While Felix is seeing these massive cabinets with monitors and joysticks for the first time, I momentarily return to my childhood to see if after knocking out Glass Joe and Piston Hurricane in “Punch Out” I can put down Bald Bull, which Past Paul was only able to do once — Present Paul succeeds once more.
And I take several turns relishing “Star Wars,” whose graphics resemble nothing more than bright little staples that take the form of tie fighters and the contours of the Death Star, but oh how exciting when those bright staples blow apart on screen, graphically a masterpiece in the 80’s and a simple pleasure now, but no less thrilling. Can you feel me, fellow nerds?
Proof that the Death Star has in fact been destroyed
The National Videogame Museum is the big dog within the Frisco Discovery Center, also home to TrainTopia, a Museum of the American Railroad exhibit worth a walk-through to see the six G-scale trains locomoting around 2,500 square feet of landscapes and tiny cars and people; and the Sci-Tech Discovery Center, whose exhibits and displays include cars you can construct and propel along a track with bursts of air and an enormous nose that periodically sneezes.
Part of TrainTopia, a permanent exhibit of the Museum of the American Railroad
Afterwards we nibble on mac and cheese balls and steak bites at Nerdvana, a craft bar where you can play videogames or old school board games from the comfort of your table. Not incidentally the eatery was launched by Kristy Pitchford, wife of Randy Pitchford, CEO of Gearbox, on whose ground floor Nerdvana is nestled.
Tex-Mex at La Hacienda Ranch in Frisco
As Felix eats like the 13-year-old boy that he is and I eat like the Traveling Dad that I am, we seldom simply nibble on anything, but the fact is we’re saving room for La Hacienda Ranch, where Felix fully flexes his flexitarianism by having a steak and I do the same. Making our sizzling plates a little extra and a lot Tex Mex is the little pat of ancho butter melting on the filet, atop rice and beans and for good measure a little enchilada, as if to say, you know you wanted to try me, so here I am.
An important fact is that in 1971, La Hacienda founder Mariano Martinez invented the frozen margarita machine. As a salute to this great man I should be having a margarita but instead I spoon queso on top of my steak, rice, beans, and enchilada because Wesley, who is so into queso she has blogged about it, has suggested to me that “queso is life,” and she’s right.
Ode to the Waffle at the Omni Frisco Hotel
Our room at the Omni Frisco is on a high floor and evidently very quiet because we’ve slept for more than 10 hours. I wake up Felix and point this out to him.“We should just move to this hotel room,” he says, and he knows I get his meaning. Seldom is there a morning when our New York City neighbors don’t wake us up. I also didn’t wake once in the night with a feeling of existential dread, which is perhaps luck, or maybe it’s just knowing breakfast is coming.
We tuck into the Neighborhood Services buffet ($18.85) with the requisite eggs, crispy bacon, sausage, breakfast potatoes, and pastries. There’s also a tray with waffles, which I bypass, but Felix tries one and insists I taste his.
And then I return to the buffet and get my own waffle.
It has a certain gooey chewiness, but not from being undercooked. It’s more of a magical, pliable sweetness. I flag down our waiter by name — something my dad used to do in restaurants, I think just to embarrass me, because when servers tell you their names are you really supposed to use them? Discuss. Felix doesn’t seem to mind, though, and I say to Justin, “Justin, why is this waffle so good?” And the dude has started to smile before I even finish the question. He says he tries the waffles at every opportunity and believes that there are sugar crystals in the batter, but isn’t certain. When Justin leaves and I say “sugar crystals?” and Felix says “I don’t think he’s actually allowed to tell you.”
The aforementioned waffle that really didn’t need a drop of that syrup
Wesley picks us up and we motor over to the Stonebriar Centre and its outpost of KidZania, that despite being in Frisco is dubbed KidZania Dallas. It won’t be the first time we need to reconcile that things called Dallas are in Frisco.
Role Playing in Frisco at KidZania Dallas
There are several possible elevator pitches that would describe KidZania. It’s an indoor mini-city where kids can role-play different jobs and earn money for them. Or, it’s a safe haven that “lets kids be kids in an adult world,” as Wesley put it. Or, being as its multi-aisle thoroughfares resemble the stores within a mall, one could call it a mall within a mall. It’s all of these things.
The airport security approach to KidZania Dallas
We head up the escalator where the nose of an airplane quickly comes into view, perched above what looks a lot like airport check-in desks. All the KidZanzias — there are 28, this being the first North American location, with more U.S. outposts reportedly coming to New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles — have this exterior and we check in, passing through “airport security” into KidZania proper.
And when you first set foot in here it really does look like you’ve entered another part of the mall, except there’s an almost “Truman Show”-esque pristine innocence to it, including a blue sky that hovers over the rows of boutiques and businesses.
KidZania is billed as an experience for kids 6 to 14, which had both me and Felix wondering if at 13 he would find KidZania to be too babyish or at best, a 20-minute walk-through. That concern was muted about a minute into our visit when an energetic young woman — one of the KidZania facilitators, known as “Zupervisors” — approached Felix and asked him if he wanted to be part of a news team. Sure, he said, and he was hustled down an aisle past a few storefronts to WFAA 8 ABC – a real ABC affiliate and one of several corporate sponsors who pay to have a presence here.
Zupervisors are the only grown-ups permitted inside the individual role-playing areas with the kids, so from outside the TV station I see Felix suddenly appear on a large monitor. He’s wearing a gray blazer and is sitting behind a news desk beside another boy, presumably his co-anchor. From where I sit I see a guy in a glass-walled, dark control room playing with the set’s background colors, which I see changing behind Felix and his co-anchor as the zupervising director chats with them about what’s to come.
A Zupervisor schools Felix and his co-anchor at KidZania Dallas
Another Zupervisor emerges from the studio and invites me and the other parents and guardians in to watch the newscast, showing us to benches that are technically within the same space as the kids but also deliberately separate; once the newscast is over, grown-ups will exit separately from the sitting area and be reunited with their kids outside. I like the fact that this rule is enforced.
Felix and his co-anchor run through the day’s news, including that “there’s a fire at the match factory,” which is a nice call-out to the fact that a few KidZania “blocks” away there is indeed a match factory, where uniform-clad boys and girls are diligently putting out the fire. Wesley observes that there are no gender boundaries at KidZania, suggesting that a girl can become a firefighter as easily as a boy can wander into a salon and be trained as a nail technician, which Felix actually ended up doing.
While KidZania is a circumscribed area, it can be all too easy to lose track of your kids, which is why grown-ups and kids are issued RFID bracelets that the staff can track. And eventually KidZania will introduce an app you can use to track your kids yourself. To underscore this point, I lose track of Felix twice while we are here. I jog a quick lap around the perimeter, trying not to look too crazy eyed and know that if I just focus I’ll find him, which I do. This technique has worked for all three of my kids over the years. There’s nothing quite like responsible parenting by running around, folks.
I wish all employment offices were called Jobz.
When I find Felix after one of the times I’ve lost him I learn that he has stopped into KidZania’s employment office, Jobz, to be matched for a job, so we proceed to the KidZania hospital.
Is there a doctor in the house?
We head to the entrance of the KidZania ER, where a “doctor” in blue scrubs emerges and asks if I am with him. Yes, I say. She asks me if I want to be a burn victim. Or course, I say.
The doctor pulls out a pen and makes a thick red mark on my hand. It looks like the kind of ink that will never come off. But I decide just to roll with the role playing and worry about the ink later. The good doctor directs me to go sit in front of Mooyah, which is a couple “blocks” down and around the corner. She says my wait will be about seven minutes.
I obey and sure enough, after sitting at a cafe table for seven minutes I hear an ambulance siren, which doesn’t actually register right away because a) I’ve already heard it several times since I’ve been here and b) I grew up in New York City and sometimes don’t respond to high-decibel noises at all.
But I do look up and realize that the doctor who hired Felix and drew on my hand is driving the ambulance, with Felix in the back.
The ambulance pulls up to what I now notice is a car lightly crumpled around a pole and finally I start to get it: I am a victim of this car crash, and a medical team is now on the scene to treat me. Felix and his doctor mentor, both of them now wearing the blue scrubs, approach me.
I say to Felix, “Are you sure you went to medical school?” and his mentor immediately responds “Yes, he is fully trained.” Dead serious. She then prompts Felix a little bit about what to do next, building on the training session she had evidently been running him through while I was waiting. Felix consults a laminated paper to ascertain how bad my burn is and then takes out a bandage to dress it.
My son the doctor wraps my burn. Photo: Wesley Lucas
“You look a little young to be a doctor,” I say, still trying to get a smile out of either him or his mentor.
“Yes, we go right to work,” she says. No luck on the smile from either of them. Felix is pretty intent on wrapping my burn. When he’s done, his mentor instructs me to meet them back at the ER entrance where we started and she whisks him away in the ambulance.
A few minutes later I pick up Felix, who’s back in his street clothes and richer by 10 “KidZos.” A KidZo is the currency kids can use to buy prizes in the KidZania gift shop — a tickets-for-trinkets transaction not unlike the process at Dave & Busters and Chuck E. Cheese, though here you work hard for the fake money, which you can load onto a plastic card and save for another visit if you like.
Despite there being no gender boundaries at KidZania, the pay scale is all too real: Felix earned 10 KidZos apiece as a news anchor, burn specialist and later on as a pilot-in-training — the reclaimed airplane husks that grace the fronts of all the KidZanias have flight simulator terminals inside — but he only got $8 for his stint as a nail technician, which at least from where I was sitting looked to be far more labor intensive than news anchoring, fake-burn wrapping, and simulated flying. But who am I to question the KidZania economy?
KidZos, the kid currency of KidZania
After nearly three hours here Felix has earned a shade under 100 KidZos, which not shockingly — per my references to Dave, Buster, and Chuck E. — are barely enough to cover the lowest-end prize. When I ask the shop attendant if I can supplement Felix’s KidZos with cash or buy additional KidZos to give him she says, “No, KidZos have to be earned.”
Lured by the desire to earn more KidZos, Felix felt he probably could have spent more time here. But we have more to do today.
No escape, and that’s just fine
We head over to Countdown 2 Escape and attempt to bust out of a Zanzibar-themed room outfitted as a beautifully-rendered tented camp. Since in addition to being a travel writer I also write for a safari company, I can’t help showing off my knowledge of Africa, which I share out loud randomly to impress Felix as well as the woman outside the room who monitors our progress and constantly has to give us clues.
We fail to escape the room, but as we’re leaving Felix suggests that while in the room I did all the “thinking stuff” while he did the “fun stuff,” though I tell him he’s selling himself short, because soon after we got into the room he looked at a photo on the wall and knew immediately how it tied in to the combination on the lock fastening the box below it. I want to say this illustrates how sometimes as adults we overthink the solutions to puzzles while our kids are able to see things more quickly and easily. But put another way, I think the kid is just smarter than I am, and that’s just fine.
I’m pretty sure I signed a document at the escape place that made me promise not to reveal any of the room’s secrets or take photos, so here’s a nice shot from outside the building, where a local artist kindly crafted this made-for-social-media mural.
A father-son moment in Frisco. Photo: Wesley Lucas
Mario Kart in Real Life
We head next to Kartland Indoor Performance Raceway, an indoor track inhabiting about 50,000 square feet. After watching a short no-nonsense video we’re outfitted with little do-rags and helmets and assigned cars.
Felix takes the car behind me and after we’re belted in I am thoroughly jolted as he rams into me. “This isn’t Mario Kart, mother–” I say inside my helmet and I try to turn my head and give him a look but my helmet as well as my kart harness are as constricting as you’d expect and that’s a good thing.
I pull out onto the track and for the first few laps I’m cruising ahead of Felix, but I know it’s just a matter of time, because I don’t really drive much in real life and as I’ve begun to establish, Felix is smarter and a faster learner than I am.
As with Mario Kart, I’m in last place.
As I’m coming out of a turn, pumping the breaks in a tentative herky-jerky way, Felix glides past me as we pass through a wide-mouthed turn, and he remains ahead during the remainder of our laps.
After we park, Felix asks if I let him pass me and I assure him I did not, while he assures me that he didn’t ram me on purpose earlier. Given his love of Mario Kart across all gaming platforms as well as the freedom here to push your electric kart up to a speed of 45 mph, I’m pretty certain this was Felix’s favorite activity in Frisco, also because he told me it was.
We did Mario cart IRL and lived. Photo: Wesley Lucas
What Does a Yankee Know About Being Texan?
After the indoor karting Wesley and I chat some more and she makes the offhand comment that Frisco is not “super Texan,” and as she’s the daughter of a cattle rancher, which sounds super Texan, I begin to understand the frame of reference I sense she’s trying to give me.
But it also gets me thinking, what can a Yankee ever know about being a Texan? And as if in answer to my question, Wesley asks if I want to see the remains of a ranch house — the Brinkmann, formerly Cloyce Box Ranch — destroyed by fire in the 1980s, which served as the original Southfork in the first few episodes of the original “Dallas” TV series. That is until the producers were asked to move, and would go on to film at a different Texas ranch.
And yes, I sure did want to see it.
“Get off my land, Barnes!” You may need a middle-aged person to explain this reference.
I only get a brief glimpse of the former ranch as we pass it. But there’s even more nostalgia in this moment than when I was playing old-timey arcade games the day before. Southfork, in its ranch incarnations real and imagined, feels super Texan to me because the original “Dallas” was for me and many others of my generation what it meant to be from Texas. It made us want to be Texans, or at least be the Ewings — sometimes the good Ewings, sometimes the bad ones. I used to fantasize about stumbling down the steps of Ewing Manor and sauntering bleary eyed into breakfast, where a pitcher of Bloody Marys and platter of crispy bacon awaited, Miss Ellie giving me that exasperated but kind look she reserved for her rascal sons.
We all have different dreams.
And when my thoughts wander to pork I know I must be hungry. Coincidentally it’s time to get our BBQ on at Tender Smokehouse, which I hope we can all agree is super Texan.
We order, well, everything.
The brisket is fatty and tender and also crispy, with that pit-mastered bark on the edges I’ve watched for decades on Food Network but never experienced until now. I sample a bit of sausage that someone had the good sense to stuff with both cheese and jalapeño, which strikes me as the perfect food to serve at a New Year’s Eve party. And then I try the barbecue beans with bits of brisket mixed in and decide that in addition to being my favorite bite of the trip this easily could be my desert island food.
Discoveries like this beer bottle cap pig mosaic at Tender Smokehouse is why I love to travel almost as much as I love bacon
The Star in Frisco Has Lured the Dallas Cowboys
In 2016 the about as-super-Texan-as-you-can-get Dallas Cowboys began using the 91-acres of The Star in Frisco as its world headquarters and practice facility. It’s anchored by the Ford Center, which accommodates the Cowboys for their indoor practices and hosts sporting events and concerts.
From our hotel window we can see the Ford’s artificial-turfed plaza, which Felix and I will criss-cross frequently during our stay, and every time we do we see kids throwing a football around, their parents feverishly clicking photos of them with the Cowboys-logoed end zone in the background.
The plaza at The Star naturally is a favorite place to throw a football around
The Cowboys practice and train inside the Ford Center as well as out, on two fields — one with real grass, one with artificial turf — so that the team can practice on the same kind of surface they plan to play on next. I’m neither a sports writer or a sports fan, so this is the first time I’m hearing a training factoid like this, and I’m fascinated.
Likewise later on, when Felix and I are led on a group tour of The Star, we come to understand that you don’t have to be a sports fan to appreciate sports culture. More specifically, the Cowboys culture and ethos yielded interesting and teachable moments, largely because we had an amazing tour guide whose love of the Cowboys, like Wesley’s love of Texas, could not be doubted.
R-E-S-P-E-C-T
The Star tour begins alongside a wall displaying 59 years of Dallas Cowboys history and its with almost bubbling urgency that we’re made to understand exactly what it took for the Cowboys to achieve those eight Super Bowl wins. We’re shown into a large conference room that’s nice but still, feels pretty much like a conventional conference room, until our guide describes it as “the most powerful room in the building,” because this is where draft picks are decided. Well, that’s different, and that simple statement transforms how we feel while we’re standing in that room. That’s what a good tour guide does.
About as close as you may ever get to a Super Bowl ring. Enjoy.
As we leave the building’s most powerful room, our guide mentions casually that being drafted for the team doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to make the cut, and that comment ends up serving as a nice underlying theme, for the kids on the tour especially, that you may get your shot, but you also have to, you know, work to keep it.
This idea is reinforced as we pass through hallways, stairwells, the cafeteria, really everywhere, where on probably not-so-randomly placed monitors and walls are empowering words like “We must establish our identity in everything we do” and “Be who we are,” as well as the more succinct “Fight” and spelled out in large bold letters in one hallway, “RESPECT,” leaving no doubt what principles you need to embody if you want to be part of the Cowboys Nation.
I want to say I was the person most excited on the tour to learn the origin of the Hail Mary pass but some people maybe didn’t let it show
While the Cowboys absorb a lot of the attention in this part of Texas, minor league baseball fans might wish to take note that about six minutes south of the Ford Center you can watch the Frisco RoughRiders play their home games at Dr Pepper Ballpark, which above its right-field wall runs — get this — a lazy river. In a ballpark.
Indoor Skydiving at iFly
After breakfast, by design not a very heavy one, we head over to iFly Dallas, which like KidZania Dallas and the Dallas Cowboys world headquarters is not at all confusingly in Frisco. Upon arrival, we get a pretty good snapshot of what’s about to happen: Inside a large clear chamber we see a jumpsuited person, who turns out to be an instructor, gently guiding another jumpsuited person into the chamber, where gusts of air from large fans above and below suspend both of them in the air.
But before Felix and I get our turn with some other fliers in the chamber we’re outfitted with our own jumpsuits, which we slip on over our street clothes. You can also keep your street shoes on, but since I’m trying to be Texan by wearing boots I’m supplied with a pair of sneakers to wear, along with goggles and a helmet. We’re pulled into a room where video and live instructions focus on how to arch your body and hold your arms and legs so that you can fly as high and as smoothly as possible. Afterwards Felix and I and two other families are escorted to the outer ring of the chamber, where we arrange ourselves on a bench and wait our turn.
Felix and I are seated at the end of the row, so we have the benefit of watching all the other fliers go before us. This makes the anticipation a bit more nerve wracking but it’s useful to see how the instructor is correcting some of the fliers, both through hand signals and in a hands-on way. In one case the instructor encourages one flier to keep her back straighter and cautions another not to bend his legs so much. Meanwhile a staffer outside the chamber, signaling the instructor inside, adjusts the fan speed throughout the flights, taking into account, among other things, I gather, the body type of each flier as well as how high they want to fly.
How to Fly
For the most part the grown-ups and kids who go before us appear to enjoy their flights, but one of the younger kids who enters the chamber decides pretty early into her flight that she doesn’t like it, and after briefly trying to encourage her to stick with it, the instructor gently guides her back out to her parents in the outer chamber. Something similar happens with a boy a few turns later. I suspect these kids found the chamber to be too noisy — you’re warned about the roar of the fans beforehand, hence the need to obey hand signals.
And Felix and I discover upon our initial flights — we’ll each do two — that the fans not only make the chamber loud, but that the wind can also make it challenging to breathe normally. The gusts of air from the fans place a fair amount of pressure on your face, even inside your helmet, so small, shallow breaths are the way to go, and if you want to enjoy your flight it helps to quickly get used to that.
During my first flight, my instructor gets me comfortable with my body positioning and the feeling of, well, flying. During the second flight, when the fans are cranked up to ludicrous speed, my instructor and I are propelled even higher into the chamber.
Perhaps because Felix and I got to learn from watching the fliers before us, we manage to hold our bodies in optimal ways inside the chamber so that our flights are smooth and lofty.
One thought that crosses my mind during my flights is that I never see Superman bending his legs back, so I try to keep them straight in back of me. During my second flight I also rock my arms left and right a little bit like I’ve seen cinematic Supermans do when they’re fighting wind shear. This rocking has absolutely no practical application here and actually throws off my balance a little, but it is during these few moments — when I’m not focused on the noise of the fans or gusts of air or people outside the chamber possibly judging how I’m holding my body — that I am flying. And it feels pretty great.
Chicken fried pepperoni with Chuck Norris Gravy at Mash’d
Three Words: Chuck Norris Gravy
Afterwards we have lunch at Mash’d, where Felix and I tuck into some chicken and biscuits and an order of chicken fried pepperoni, which is as good as it sounds. Both dishes are accompanied by Chuck Norris gravy, which is less gravy and more peppery dipping sauce. Either way any condiment named after Chuck Norris seems pretty super Texan to me.
Afterwards we return to our room, where we’ve been granted a late check out. I had packed up our bags earlier, so there’s nothing to do up here at this point but relish the silence.
Despite having taken hundreds of photos during our time in Frisco I’ve limited my note taking to my notebook and have refrained from mindlessly checking my phone at every opportunity. And for the most part Felix has been mirroring my restrained phone use, though there are moments like now when we’re sprawled on our beds, not with Felix forlornly looking at me looking at my phone, but me adding photos to my Frisco Instagram story and Felix likely looking at TikTok.
And we were both fine with that.
Some getaways take you out of your comfort zone, but Frisco has firmly put us into ours. Where we can drive and fly and try to escape rooms and eat everything in sight and role play in a perfect world, or be our imperfect selves while perfecting the art of doing nothing, which as father and son we’ve become pretty good at doing together.
Visiting Frisco Texas during the Spring? Here’s Where to Find Texas Bluebonnets
Although bluebonnets, the state flower of Texas, bloom everywhere across the state, one of the best places to find them is the Texas Hill Country. You will be able to find Bluebonnets in and around nearby Dallas, Fort Worth, and Decatur as well as near lakes, fields or parks throughout Texas.
One quarter of all Americans think that the Grand Canyon is near Las Vegas, and not in Arizona, making the mistake of adding hours and boredom in getting to one of the most beautiful places on earth. Flying into the Grand Canyon State makes it possible to see any of seven different national monuments on the road from PHX to the Grand Canyon National Park.
Agua Fria National Monument, Black Canyon City, Arizona
Agua Fria National Monument. 45 minutes north of Phoenix, I-17 exits 256, 259 or Cordes Junction. More set up for sight-doing, Agua Fria is a rich mix of high desert and Mogollon Rim country (Pronounce it like the locals, mo-GEE-yun, with the “G” like “gone”). The monument has canyon overlooks, varied vegetation, and numerous archeological sites. It has steep canyons with waterfalls and water running almost year round.
Cliff dwelling Montezuma’s Castle was named because early explorers thought it was also part of the Mayan and Aztec empires. Credit: Tomas Castelazo, Creative Commons.
Montezuma Castle National Monument, Camp Verde, Arizona
Montezuma Castle National Monument. 90 minutes north of Phoenix, I-17 exit 289 near Camp Verde. When it was first found by American pioneers, this ancestral pueblo of the Sinagua people was thought the be a castle of the legendary Montezuma. The well-preserved cliff dwelling was built without metal tools at a time when most of Europe was still living in mud hovels. Evidence has been found of trade between the Sinagua and people on the Pacific coast and in Central America.
Creating a 360-degree view from the hilltop, Tuzigoot ancestral pueblo was a center of commerce in the Verde Valley. Credit: Eric Jay Toll
Tuzigoot National Monument, Cottonwood, Arizona
Tuzigoot National Monument. 90 minutes north of Phoenix, I-17 exit 287 west, 15 minutes, to Cottonwood. This ancestral pueblo stands at the crossroads of a major trade route of ancient people. The hilltop location allowed the Sinagua people to see for miles when traders were arriving. The site also encompasses an unique Arizona wetlands.
Pueblos in Walnut Canyon National Monument are small cliff dwellings. There are 25 on the Island loop trail. Credit: Daniel Schwen, NPS
Walnut Canyon National Monument, Flagstaff, Arizona
Walnut Canyon National Monument. 15 minutes east of Flagstaff, I-40 exit 204.The deep green and cream-rock canyon guarded a water source for the Ancestral Pueblos. Two of their villages border the two mile moderately-difficult hike to the canyon floor from the Visitor Center on the rim.
A family plays with the giant, but very light lava rocks at Sunset Crater National Monument. Credit: Eric Jay Toll
Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument, Flagstaff, Arizona
Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument. 20 minutes north of Flagstaff, on U.S. 89. The Sinagua people were living in the area when Sunset Crater erupted a thousand years ago. The landscape is black with the cooled lava flows. Islands of greenery are growing in the lava and pumice scattered across the volcanic landscape on the edge of the Painted Desert. Sunset Crater sits on the edge of the Flagstaff volcanic field, a collection of more than 600 cinder cones and ancient volcanos—including Arizona’s tallest mountain, Humphreys Peak (12,637 feet)—that drops away into the Painted Desert shimmering in the sunlight to the east.
Wupatki National Monument, Flagstaff, Arizona
Wupatki National Monument. 40 minutes north of Flagstaff on U.S. 89 connecting with Sunset Crater on a loop road. The monument is home to some of the few publicly accessible ancestral pueblos in Arizona. A two-hour driving tour allows visits with some short, easy hikes to the main pueblos. A thirty minute stay in the monument includes a visit to the visitor center and Wupatki Pueblo, the largest in the park.
Little Colorado River Gorge Navajo Tribal Park, Cameron, Navajo Nation, Arizona
Little Colorado River Gorge Navajo Tribal Park. 20 minutes before Grand Canyon Desert View (east) entrance on Arizona Highway 64. Visitor and permit center at Hwy. 64 and U.S. 89 intersection in Cameron. Although not a U.S. national monument, the sacred confluence of the Little Colorado and Colorado rivers can be seen from roadside overlooks or short hikes. In the spring or after monsoon rains, Grand Falls of the Little Colorado are also a beautiful side trip. Carrying the colored sands of the Painted Desert, the falls run brown and are also called “Chocolate Falls.” Remember that the Navajo Nation is essentially a separate country within the boundaries of the U.S. Obey speed laws and respect the Navajo’s belief that this landscape is sacred ground.
How to Get Around
If you’ll be covering a lot of ground on this trip, camping is the best way to do it. And the best way to camp is by RV. If you don’t own an RV, you always rent one. Unlike camping in a tent, which requires spending a lot of your vacation time unpacking the car, putting up the tent and setting up the campsite, traveling by RV just requires you drive in, hook up to the electric, water and sewer, and you’re done.
Other nearby national monuments and parks worth side trips
While the seven national monuments in Arizona are possible to see add one day to a Grand Canyon trip, there are other natural wonders in the Four Corners region worthy of adding days to any trip. Tribal parks are Navajo Nation parks. All others are managed by the National Park Service.