travel

Balderramas Back East – Phase 3: Ocean City, MD

Romey

After getting our fill of mountain and full family time in Jim Thorpe, PA, we ventured further east to Ocean City, Maryland. Earlier this year, when our family was trying to find a gathering point, a sizable segment of the family wanted a beach getaway, resulting my mom traveling with my sister, Christina, her family, and mine to get our beach fix at Ocean City.

Traveling from Jim Thorpe to Ocean City on a Friday presented some challenges with traffic, turning our 4-hour trip into a 6.5-hour trip. Our accommodations for the next few days was a 3-bedroom condo, which luckily didn’t feel too cramped for the nine of us. We finally pulled in after 6 pm, too late to spend any meaningful time at the beach. That didn’t stop us from unpacking as quickly as we could so that we could put our feet into the ocean.

I captured this video of everyone talking on the beach for the first time.

With kids, of course, “putting feet” into the ocean quickly turns into getting your clothes soaked. They enjoyed their little taste of the ocean, anxious for spending the rest of the weekend on the beach.

After a restful Friday night, we ventured to the Ocean City Boardwalk, which embodied the stereotypical image that I formed in my head as we were planning. It was complete with tourist shops, fried food stands, along with an amusement park (which luckily wasn’t yet open for the day).

We did a little shopping, loading up on some stickers and magnets, then took a walk to the pier to get a full view of the ocean. We opted to go earlier in the morning so that we could devote as much of Saturday to beaching. Everyone was anxious to get back to our condo, however, so that we could quickly hit the beach.

We spent the rest of the day playing in the ocean and on the beach, getting our fill of waves, sun, sand, and games. The last time we had been to the ocean, in 2018, we had a more secluded experience in North Carolina. At Ocean City, the beach was much more crowded, but we managed to carve out our little space for a beautiful afternoon. Right when we were packing up, we saw some fins from dolphins that were swimming out in the ocean.

We did learn, the hard way, that the limit for the kids being on the ocean was about 4 hours. Many of the kids were melting down by the time dinner time rolled around. We fed the kids some mac and cheese, while the adult got a seafood boil that was probably too spicy for them anyway. After 2018 though, I learned my lesson and stayed away from drinking too much of the broth.

After the kids went to bed, Christina, Tony, and I ventured back onto a beach for a moonlit walk to see what we could find on the beach. We found a cool surfing toy, as well as a baby seagull that was looking for his parents.

Recognizing our time limits, we shifted our Sunday schedule to include two separate times at the beach. We went immediately after breakfast for a two-hour stretch, with another trip planned for the early evening. In between beaching, Tony and I went to go pick up my rental car for Phase 4, while everyone else went back to the Boardwalk before we met back up for an early dinner.

Mariana had enough of the beach and was ready to get cleaned up, but while we were up in the room, a horseshoe crap washed up on the shore. After checking it out, it was returned back into the ocean.

We ended our time at the beach by writing “SOB ’23” (Summer of Balderramas) in the sand – a tradition that we started back in Daytona that we’ll continue as we venture to other beaches.

Sadly, with the conclusion of Phase 3, we also ended our team with our extended family. The girls and I packed up on Monday morning and made our way towards Washington, DC – the final phase of Balderramas Back East.

Balderramas Back East – Phase 2: Jim Thorpe, PA

Romey

After our wonderful time during Phase 1 of our trip, we set out on Sunday to make the 2+ hour drive to the Poconos Mountains, specifically, Jim Thorpe Pennsylvania, for Phase 2. This phase was the focal point of our trip, as it was the first time my siblings and mother had gathered together in over two years.

My sister found and coordinated a VRBO home just outside of Jim Thorpe that accommodated all 15 of us (7 adults and 9 kids) – a fantastic find. Each adult/couple had their own room and bed, while the five oldest grandchildren slept in a room with two bunks and a twin bed. The three-floor house also featured a nice game room on the basement level with a pool table, foosball table, and shuffleboard. Usually, that would be awesome, but with so many kids under 10, the pool balls became magnets of destruction that quickly had to be hidden.

Of our six-day stay, I spent three of them working remotely, while my family ventured out to explore and enjoy Jim Thorpe and the surrounding area. Rather than give a day-by-day chronology of our trip, I’ll share some highlights of our time together in this house in the woods, reflecting just how quickly the week passed, and what a blur it became.

Decorating the house for my mom’s birthday

The whole basis for this trip was to celebrate my mom’s birthday (as she had one ending in a “0”). On the first night, after my mom and all her grandchildren went to bed, my siblings and I went downstairs to blow up balloons and decorated the main level. We blew up dozens of balloons and balloon words, then snuck onto the main level and found ways to hang them that didn’t involve using any tape. The evening was filled with lots of laughing, creativity, and fun. Everyone woke up to a fun surprise.

An image of the main floor of our vacation rental, with balloons that read "Happy Birthday 70", "Love You Wow", and other balloons draped over the television on the wall.

Riding the Train

We took a trip on the Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway and took in some of the beautiful scenery. The kids absolutely loved the train and being in the open-air car. The ride was the perfect length to keep the attention of 7 kids under 12. It was great seeing the Poconos Mountain countryside, but I’m honestly partial to the Royal Gorge Route Railroad in Colorado.

This video of Clara taking in the training experience stole my heart.

Family Photos

On Tuesday evening, we connected with a photographer to get some full family shots, venturing out to this pasture next to a lake (I’m sorry, but I don’t recall which one). The scenery was very majestic and I think we got some great shots. We were also reminded just how challenging it can be to photograph young kids in an unfamiliar setting. Our photographer was extremely patient with the kids, but we definitely had to temper our expectations. I’m anxious to see how they’ll turn out.

Just hanging out at the house

We had tons of fun just all being under one roof. The kids played a ton of Just Dance on the Switch, with most of them not being able to beat Dax, their 4-year-old cousin. Throughout the day we ate and drank well, played lots of games, laughed, relaxed, and just enjoyed having everyone together.

Sadly, the end of the week, and Phase 2, came all too soon, and I had to say farewell to two of my siblings as they ventured home. We all packed up our things and headed out, towards the next phase of our trip: Ocean City, Maryland.

Balderrama’s Back East – Phase 1: New York

Romey

After months of waiting, my girls and I are on our long-awaited trip to meet up with family back East. This post covers our first leg of the trip: Binghamton, NY.

We booked the flight with Frontier Airlines, which is always more than you’ve bargained for. In this case, our departing flight got rebooked twice and had us leaving Denver before 7am. This resulted in our original airport shuttle being canceled, and the other airport shuttle moved us up another hour. The girls and I had to be out of the house by 2:30am. We luckily got on the shuttle and got to the airport in time. We were grateful for the extra hour, as the DIA security line wrapped all the way to baggage claim. We made it to our flight, although bleary-eyed.

We got into Binghamton and got picked up by Tony, my brother-in-law, and spent the rest of Wednesday getting settled and acclimated to our new home for the next few days.

For me, this was also a working trip, so I spent the day working remotely during Phase 1, while my daughters went out and enjoyed parts of Binghamton. Everyone spent Thursday at Animal Adventure Park and seeing different animals. Clara and her cousin, Sonia, got to hold some parrots. The girls also witnessed a first-hand lesson on turtle procreation.

On Friday we took in a little Americana by watching a Double-A baseball between the Binghamton Rumble Ponies and the Somerset Patriots. During the 7th inning, a massive rainstorm moved in and despite only lasting about twenty minutes, flooded out the field. The teams concluded the conditions were too dangerous to keep playing and called the game. However, they proceeded with an amazing fireworks show that actually made up for a canceled July 4th display from the prior week.

Our last full day in Binghamton was spent at Beer Tree Brew, where they had a cute craft fair and some great food. There’s a slow stream near the brewery where the girls waded and swam – the perfect way to cool off during a hot and humid day!

The rest of our time in Binghamton was filled with quality cousin time, play, and enjoying our family’s home and hospitality. Sunday was spent packing and heading out for Phase 2: the Poconos Mountains.

More Balderramas in Yellowstone

More Balderramas in Yellowstone

Romey

This is part 2 of my Balderramas in Yellowstone post.

After two busy days of driving around the west end of Yellowstone, we opted for going low-key for day three and do things a little closer to the west entrance.

Our first stop was a cute shoreline along the Madison River, where we enjoyed some time in the stream and a picnic over by the river.

Next up was a quick stop over at the Fountain Paint Pot. In terms of number of features, this was probably the best stop we had. In addition to the “Mud Pots” that would boil over, there was also a cave that spewed out smoke and sounded like a dragon was living in it. There were also the multi-colored pools, similar to what we saw in the Grand Prismatic, as well as a geyser.

We headed back into the West Entrance town and enjoyed some brews at the Slippery Otter.

We had originally planned to go back home on Sunday, making a long day of driving, but the drive between Rock Springs, WY and to Island Park took a lot longer than we expected, due to road construction and going through towns. We opted to break the drive into two days and just go back to Rock Springs on Sunday. This created the opportunity to drive through Yellowstone on the way back and stopping to see the West Thumb Geyser Basin.

We also continued to drive through the South Entrance (which was much smaller than the West Entrance) and drive along the Grand Tetons. We were told by multiple people that it would be well-worth the drive – and they were right! We just made a quick stop at a pull-off and grabbed some beautiful pictures.

Our trip concluded back in Rock Springs with some rest and swimming! With as much fun as we had, we’re glad to be back home.

South Dakota

South Dakota

Romey

Hello from South Dakota! We ventured up north for a few days to spend time with family, see some sights and relax up north a bit. We’re up here near Custer, about 4.5 hours from our home in Windsor. I was really surprised just how short the drive felt, especially with a 5 and 3-year-old in the car. The girls were champs, Clara was particularly excited about a camera that is new to her (our last point & shoot camera we had before our smartphones overtook it) and proceeded to take pictures out the window for most of the trip, as well as a dozen pictures of her tray table.

We’re staying at a beautiful house that is next a pond and a pasture, nestled between two hills.

The weather has been cool, a bit rainy, but also beautiful as well. This has been a nice escape of the summer weather that reached Colorado last week.

After spending Saturday getting settled-in, we ventured out to Hot Springs to see the Mammoth Site. I’ll admit that I didn’t really do much research beforehand and had assumed that they uncovered the remains of a single mammoth, but found out that the Mammoth Site actually houses the remains of at least 61 mammoths, as they fell into a hot springs trap long ago.

The girls got to take part in a Junior Paleontoligists dig, where they got to dig up replicas. They really enjoyed playing in the dirt and making their discoveries.

We picked up lunch at the Daily Bread Bakery and Cafe and had an awesome buffalo chicken sandwich, then spent the afternoon swimming at Evan’s Plunge. We actually didn’t realize that the hot springs aren’t all that hot (at least those have been to Glenwood or Steamboat). The water is definitely warm and clear, and we had a lot of fun swimming.

On the way there and back, we drove through a Buffalo pasture, where we got to witness the beautiful animals up close. Bethany took this photo from the passenger window.

On Monday we ventured north to Mt. Rushmore. The day turned out to be rainy, but the rain let up just long enough to get some beautiful shots of the mountain sculpture.

We managed to get a little closer through the scenic path, snagging a better shot.

Between the time we viewed it on the scenic trail and when we got back to the observation point, the clouds and rained rolled in, preventing it from being viewed.

The rain squashed our plans for the rest of the day but gave us the opportunity to stop back in Custer and eat at The Burger and Bun Co. It was highly recommended from friends and definitely lived up to the hype!

The rest of our day was spent relaxing back at the house and resting up. We’re gearing up for full day on Tuesday before we head back to Colorado on Wednesday. More to come!