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Orland Universal Studio is another place that you should visit when you visit Orlando. It does not have 6 theme parks like Disney World, but it has 2 theme parks: Islands of Adventure, and Universal Studio. Out of the 2 theme parks, Universal Studio theme park is more interesting since it has the Jurassic Park section and Harry Potter section. Nevertheless, Islands of Adventure also has great rides such as Terminator and MIB.
I recommend you to buy the park hopper ticket when you visit Orland Universal Studio. So that you can go back and forth between the parks. The chances are that you will be done with Island of Adventure in less than a day and Universal Studio takes more than a day to try all the rides. in addition, the entrances of the 2 parks are very close to each other. You don't have to worry about going back to your car and drive another 10 minutes to the other theme park.
It would be the best to go to Islands of Adventure first before Universal Studio. The Terminator ride is the place that you must go first! It has been around for ages and it is the most classic ride! Other notable rides at Islands of Adventure are Man In Black (MIB), Simpsons, and Mummy Return. This theme park also offers express pass that you can make use of; however, you will notice that you don't really need it because there isn't that many people. This is also one of the reason that you can get through the theme park fairly quickly. At Islands of Adventure, there is also this gigantic roller coaster. I didn't dare to go on it, but if you are an adventurous person, you should definitely give it a try.
Once you have been on all the rides at Islands of Adventure, you can make your way to Universal Studio. This is where the real adventure begins! Since you have already spent 3 quarters of the day at Islands of Adventure and only have 1 quarter of the day left, I recommend you to go on smaller rides for today. This is because the line up is shorter and you can get through the smaller rides very quickly. Save all your energy for the big day tomorrow! If you go to the Harry Potter ride, you will most likely have to line up for 3 hours!
On the next day, make sure you wake up early and get to the gate of Universal Studio before it opens. Once the gate opens, rush to the Harry Potter ride! You will most likely still have to wait for 30 minutes to 1 hour! Once you have completed the ride, your main mission is done for the day! Get yourself a cup of butter beer and take a walk around the park.
The next mission is to visit Jurassic Park. As you walk through the gate of Jurassic Park and listen to the Jurassic Park music theme, it makes you felt so epic already! There are few rides at the Jurassic Park section and there is also a museum which is quite interesting. When you go on to the ride, be prepare to get wet and hopefully it is a hot day or you have additional clothes to change!
The Spider Man ride is quite interesting too! It felt quite realistic and make you think that there really is a Spider Man on the ride with you! The Poseidon's Fury show is very entertaining too! The only down side is that you have to line up in the underground tunnel and the ventilation system isn't very good on that day. There are also other rides for the kids near the entrance, but you may or may not enjoy as much.
If you brought a backpack, there are lockers at each ride where you can store your backpack and pick them up later. It is quite convenient. Also, make sure you make sure of the Express Pass in this theme park. Lastly, the most popular thing that people do is buying the Harry Potter scarf and hood, and wear them in the park!
When you travel to Orlando, Disney World is the place that you must go to. Orland Disney World is the largest theme park in the world! It has 6 different theme parks. This includes Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studio, Animal Kingdom, Typhoon Lagoon, and Blizzard Beach. Each theme park definitely require you to spend at least a day there. During this trip, we only went to Magic Kingdom and Epcot due to time constraint.
Our flight arrived at 9 am in the morning and we rented a car from Enterprise. I would recommend you to rent a car so that you can go to other places such as Universal Studio and Orlando Downtown. The first place we went to is Disney Downtown. Disney Downtown does not require any admission fee. There is a lot of Disney themed store there and it pretty much make you feel like you are walking in the theme park. There is also a huge LEGO store at Disney Downtown with lots of giant LEGO sculptures outside and inside the store! There is also a lot of famous restaurant at Disney Downtown. The one we went to is the Boat House. The Boat House serves amazing sea food! The crab like is so tender and juicy!
Later in the afternoon, we went shopping at Orlando International Premium Outlet. The mall is bigger than what I expected and actually has quite a few luxury brands. Like many other premium outlet malls, parking is extremely hard to find and many people simply park their cars on the side of the road. If you are not a resident of Orland, I would recommend you to follow the rules and find a proper parking space.
After dinner, we checked in into the hotel. This time we stayed at Best Western on Universal Boulevard. This Best Western hotel offers a pretty good rate at the time that only cost us $85 a night. The location of the hotel is also very convenient for us since we plan to go to both Disney World and Universal Studio.
The next day we went to Magic Kingdom first. The parking lot of Magic Kingdom is huge! I have never seen such a big parking lot! There are people at the parking lot guiding the traffic so you can't just park your car anywhere. Once you parked your car, you will take the monorail to the front gate. If you get there before the park opens, you will be able to participate the gate opening ceremony. The ceremony is not really a big deal, so don't worry about it if you missed it.
When you enter Magic Kingdom, you
can start with Tomorrow Land and go through the whole park counter
clockwise. There are rides offering Express Pass, so make sure you make
use of this. As you would expect, the food at the theme park is extremely expensive but I would recommend getting yourself a turkey leg! The turkey leg is huge! I can barely finish the whole leg myself! Magic Kingdom is also where the Cinderella Castle is at. The Cinderella Castle is actually a very fancy and luxury restaurant. In order to dine there, you have to make reservation 6 month early! In addition, there are parades during the day and night. You can get the schedule of the parade at the information center. When the parade is about to start, make sure you pick a good spot to watch the parade. In my opinion, the parade during the day isn't that interesting. The parade at night is a must see though. At 9pm, there will be cool projections on the castle and there will be fire works afterwards.
Epcot is another theme park that you must visit. It is known to have a spherical structure at the entrance of the theme park. Epcot is split into 2 sections. The front section has all the rides that shows you a lot of cool technology. Many of them are futuristic and has a very long line up. So make sure you arrive early and use express pass wisely. In addition, I want to note that the Mars Mission ride offers 2 different options; intense and less intense option. If you have high blood pressure, you should take the less intense option. The back section has all the cultural stuff from many different nations. You get to see all the different interesting cultures and get to experience them. Each nation owns a pavilion and all the nation's pavilions surrounds the lake in the center. Each nation's pavilion also offers food and music. Thus it is a perfect place to go for lunch and dinner after a long fun day.
Painted Hill is 1 of the 7 Wonders in Oregon. Painted Hills is located about 4 hours east of Portland, but it is definitely possible to do a day trip from Portland if you go there early. Since Painted Hill is located on the East side of the Cascade Mountains, the climate is quite dry there. As you can see from the photo above, the hill looks like it is colored by the painted brush.
Although Painted Hill is 1 of the 7 wonders, not many people go to Painted Hill because it is quite far and it is in the middle of nowhere. To get to Painted Hill from Portland, you will drive down HWY 26 to the East through Mount Hood National Forest. It is very interesting to see the change of landscape once you get out of Cascade Mountains. The climate is very dry on the East side of Cascade Mountains.
You will only see few small trees and bushes along the highway. Once
you are almost at Painted Hill, you will make a left turn onto a dirty
road toward Painted Hill overlook.
Painted Hill area offers few short hikes for people to work around and learn about the geology in the region. The first hike is at Painted Hill overlook. From the parking lot to the overlook is only 0.5 miles with small elevation gain. From the overlook, you will be able to capture amazing photos of Painted Hill. This small hiking trail is suitable for everyone to hike on.
The second trail is Carrol Rim Trail. The trail head is on the opposite side of Painted Hill overlook. You don't really have to move your car and you can simply just walk down to the trail head. This trail is not difficult either, but it may be challenging for elder folks. This trail does have some elevation gain and some part of trail are very narrow for people to walk on. Thus when you take this trail, please pay extra attention to what you step on. Once you get to the top, you will have a 360 degree view of the entire region!
The third trail is Painted Cove Trail. You will drive about 1 minute from Painted Hill overlook to Painted Cove. The trail at Painted Cove is very easy. The trail has board walk for people to walk on and essentially no elevation gain. The trail takes you to walk through few small Painted Hills and give you a close look at the formation of the hill. When you hike this trail, make sure you stay on the board walk and do not step on Painted Hills! We still want to preserve the unique formation for other people to visit!
The last trail at Painted Hill is Leaf Hill Trail. I wouldn't really call this a trail, because the trail essentially just make a small loop around a small hill with trees; however, it is still interesting to pay a visit to Leaf Hill Trail. Along the trail, you will find a lot of leaf fossils along the trail. It is quite an unique experience since you don't get to see fossils of leafs everyday. You can pick up the leaf fossils and have a close look at it, but please don't take the fossil home. If everyone takes a fossil home when they pay a visit, there will be no leaf fossil left for future visitors to look at.
In addition, be aware that there are private areas in the region that you should not trespass. The signs are very clear so it is easy to spot it.
Lastly, as previously mentioned, the climate is very dry and hot. Make sure you stay hydrated and apply sun screen at all time! Enjoy your trip the the 7 Wonders of Oregon!
Tobermory is a small town at the tip of Bruce Peninsula in Ontario Canada. It is about 4.5 hours of drive from Toronto. It is an extremely popular tourist location during the summer time due to its clear blue water and lot of hiking trails within the National Park of Bruce Peninsula.
When you go to Tobermory, Flower Pot Island is a place that you must go. You can make reservation online to take the ferry to the island. When you make reservation to Flower Pot Island, I recommend to make reservation with Bruce Anchor. It is a smaller boat but less crowded. The boat also has a glass bottom floor and takes you to see the shipwreck at Big Tub Harbor. This shipwreck sunk was sunk in September 1885 and is a popular snorkeling place. When you get to Flower Pot Island, there are 2 hiking trails that you can take. The first trail is longer and takes you to the famous Flower Pot Rock. The trail also takes you all the way around the island to the small light house overlook. This trail is usually more crowded with a lot of people. The second trails is less crowded because most people don't have time to do both trails. Part of this trail is more rocky and difficult to walk on, so make sure you have proper footwear with you. I would recommend to spend the whole day there so that you can complete both trails. If you are bringing your pet with you, make sure you check with the ferry company to see if they allow pets on the boat.
When you get back to Tobermory, I recommend you to try Georgian Bay White Fish. Almost all the restaurants at Tobermory offer fish and chips meal with Georgian Bay White Fish. The fish is extremely juicy, tender, and fresh. We went to Shipwreck Lee's restaurant for the fish and chips. It is a pirate themed restaurant with mostly outdoor seating. You don't want to take the indoor seats because it is so hot in there. The restaurant even offer all you can eat option for Georgian Bay White Fish! Thus if you have a craving for white fish, that is the restaurant to go to!
Near the end of the day, make sure you drive to Singing Sand Beach to watch the sunset. It is only about 10 minutes away from Tobermory. The road to Singing Sand Beach is a bit small and easy to miss. It would be better if you check the location on Google Map first before you head out to the beach. Usually it is not crowded at Singing Sand Beach because most people are not aware of this place due to lack of signs on the road. Singing
Sand Beach has a large area of calm shallow water and you can walk really far into the water without getting your shorts wet. There isn't any fish or seaweed in the water either due to the shallow water. It is a gorgeous
scene during the sunset when the sunlight reflects off the water. So it is a great place to chill here at the end of the day and enjoy the view of sunset
On the next day, make sure you pay a visit to Bruce Peninsula National Park and do some hiking trails. The hiking trails at Bruce Peninsula National Park is quite easy and suitable for everyone. There are usually numbered signs telling you which part of the trail you are on. So you will not get lost that easily. Besides, the trails are usually crowded with lot of people. The trail will take you to the shore of Lake Superior. The water is extremely clear and attracts many people to have a swim in the water. There are even people brought their cooler with them and hiked 2KM to the shore. It must have been very tiring to hike the trail while trying to carry the cooler filled with drinks. Remember that you cannot have alcoholic drink in the public.
There are many other trails in the park. At the entrance, you will receive a map of the area marking all the trails and the trails are labelled with different difficulties. So if you are not a very good hiker, you can take the easy trail that just goes around a small lake. One issue I find with easy trail is that there are so many bees around the trails. Although the bees are not going to sting you, it is still annoying to have bees flying around you and even stop on top of your head.
For the whole trip, I would say 3 days is enough to see most of the stuff in Tobermory and Bruce Peninsula National Park. There isn't any fancy hotel at Tobermory, but who needs a fancy hotel when you can enjoy the nature!
Lost Lake is located in Mount Hood National Forest and it is about 1.5 hours East of Portland. It is a very VERY popular camping site and extremely hard to secure a camp site unless you go there early. Lost Lake provides a clear view of Mount Hood and offers numerous hiking trails around the lake.
To get to Lost Lake, the easiest route is to take Lost Lake Road all the way to the end. However, when I went there for the first time, my GPS told me to take Low Low Bypass. This was a terrible idea. Low Low Bypass is a gravel road and unpaved. In some sections, the road became very narrow with cliff on one side. I was extremely nervous and being very focused on the road. After 40 minutes, I finally drove off Low Low Bypass and got back on track onto Lost Lake Road. I was wondering why GPS instructed me to take Low Low Bypass, and it appears that it is because the absolute distance is actually shorted if you take Low Low Bypass; however, I probably spent more time driving because I had to drive slowly.
Unlike Trillium Lake, there is a lodge at Lost Lake providing supplies, snacks, and boat rentals. It even has rooms on the second floor to let you stay over night! The lodge also provides a motorized air pump that you can use for free to inflate your flotation devices. This is very convenient especially for a dad who has to inflate all the flotation devices for his kids! For others such as myself, I usually rent a peddling boat for an hour and peddle the boat to the center of the lake to enjoy the breeze. when you peddle your boat in the lake, make sure you stay aware of the surroundings and don't run your boat into other people!
One interesting thing we saw once was that a Golden Retriever went swimming at Lost Lake. After a while the dog seems to get very tired and unable to get back to the shore. The owner of the Golden Retriever got very nervous and started to scream for help. Luckily there was a boat near by and the guy is able to peddle the boat to the dog in time to grab the dog onto the boat. Otherwise it would have been a tragic.
Other than hiking around the lake, the lake offers rentals for boat, canoes, and paddle board. You can rent a boat and paddle to the centre of the lake and enjoy the whole afternoon there and feel the breeze of the wind! Nevertheless, you can bring your own canoes and any other flotation devices! One thing to note is motorized boat is not permitted.
Trillium Lake is a beautiful lake located in the Oregon Mount Hood National Forest. The lake is about an hour away from Portland. At the shore of the lake, it offers gorgeous view of Trillium Lake itself, the forest, and most importantly Mount Hood itself. It has been a popular weekend getaway for the Oregonians during the summer.
To get to Trillium Lake from Portland, you can take HWY 26 and go East towards Mount Hood. You will first pass the town of Boring (which is really boring) until you enter Mount Hood National Forest. The road to Trillium Lake will be on your right hand side. Once you get to Trillium Lake, there are 2 parking lots where you can park your car. There are usually more parking spaces on the west parking lot. If you get there early in the morning, it won't be difficult to find a parking space. Like most of the other hiking trails in Oregon, you have to pay 5 dollars for the parking if you don't have Northwest Forest Pass. There is usually a ranger
walking around the parking lot to make sure everyone has purchased a
parking permit, so don't try to take your chance and not buying one! If you need to get some change, you can ask the range too!
Unlike Lost Lake, there isn't a lodge to provide you supplies and snacks. So make sure you bring enough water with you. The facility at Trillium Lake does not offer boat rental either. However, you can choose to bring your own canoe and any other flotation device to the lake. Keep in mind that motorized device is not allowed at Trillium Lake. So don't bring any motor boat with you. You won't find a place to lay down the motor boat either.
While you are at Trillium Lake, you will also see many dogs swimming in the lake and most of these dogs are Labrador Retrievers! Many Oregonians bring their beloved dogs to here for their first swim in the lake. So if you also happen to have a dog yourself, make sure to bring your dog with you to Trillium Lake! They will definitely enjoy the lake just as much as you do! If you are not a fan of swimming in the lake, there are also several hiking trails around the lake. The easier trail would be hiking around the lake in a look. This will only take around 30 minutes. There are other trails that are more difficult and have high elevation gain. Overall, Trillium Lake is a great place to spend a day at and enjoy the nature!
Ramona Falls lays within the heart of Mount Hood National Forest and is one of the popular hikes among families. It is about an hour East of Portland. The hike itself is around 2.5 miles long round loop trail and suitable for everyone. The elevation gain is around 650ft.
There are many water falls in Mount Hood National Forest, but Ramona Falls is one of the most well known one and the most popular one. To get to Ramona Falls, you have to get pass Zig Zag River road and make a left turn on HWY 26. Then you will drive for few minutes and drive onto gravel road. Pay extra attention when driving on the gravel road since there is a lot of pot holes everywhere. There are other small roads that lead to the camp ground, but it should be easy enough to follow the sign that lead you to Ramona Falls trail head. The parking lot at trail head is quite large, thus you don't have to worry about having a space to park your car. This trail head also requires you to pay 5 dollars, or you can get NW Forest Pass.
The beginning of the trail goes along Sandy River and then the trail goes in and out of forest. At the half way mark of the trail, the trail crosses Sandy River and you can see Mount Hood from here. Along the hiking trails, you would often see horse riders. If you see horses gaining up on you, just step aside and let them pass first. Also pay close attention to the "left over stuff" from the horses! Don't step on it! In addition, since the trail crosses with PCT, you may see hikers who have been hiking for the past few months on PCT and getting very close to complete their mission to reach Canada! Don't get too frustrated if they do smell "a little" since they have been hiking for months!
The trail also crosses some small streams of water. The interesting part is that the trail crosses the stream on a wooden log. This is quite interesting! Please make sure to make close attention when crossing the bridge. The bridge could be very wet and slippery. There isn't any hand rail on the bridge either, so you don't want to fall off the bridge and fall into the water. Once you reached Ramona Falls, people often have picnic and enjoy the nature of the beautiful waterfall. Make sure you bring your camera to capture the beautiful waterfall!
Note: Please don't feed the wild life animals that you see along the trail or at the waterfall!
