Capturing the Winter Wonderland-Poconos, New York
Updated: Jun 28, 2023
This past week we spent five days traveling over February Break here in Western, NY. My husband started a new job, so I tackled this trip alone with the two kids, Maris (8) and Theo (5). Total travel time was about five hours from Buffalo, NY to East Stroudsburg, PA aka The Poconos.
We left early Monday morning and stopped in Syracuse. This was on the way and a great place to enjoy some time with history. Our first stop was at The Harriet Tubman Home in Auburn. Our youngest daughter is a huge history buff and loves Harriet. The Harriet Tubman Home is charged with sharing Harriet Tubman's core values with visitors through a guided tour of the property. The historical park was established on January 10, 2017.
Afterwards we headed towards Syracuse and visited The MOST Museum -Museum of Science and Technology! If you are an educator, admission is free. The museum was very hands on and supported by many local sponsors. The museum is geared towards students in grades K-8. There is so much to do and learn from STEM, electricity, weather, health, apothecary, space, etc. We spent almost four hours in the museum and could have stayed even longer. This museum certainly caters to curiosity with engineering, architecture and design. Hours are Thursday-Sunday 9:30-5:00pm and they do open extra days during Syracuse school holiday breaks. A general admission ticket for adults is $12 and kids 2-11 are $10. We ate dinner at the original Dinosaur BBQ and enjoyed delicious ribs and pulled pork! Our daughter has Celiacs Disease and the menu had many options available.
Upon completing the museum and dinner, we stayed at Hilton Garden Inn. It was $110 for the night and had a pool for the kids to swim in at night. We turned down early for another day on the road.
The next day we had a 2.5 hour drive to The Poconos. We stopped for breakfast at Mother's Cupboard. So many locals, hole in the wall, and cash only! That's how you know it is a gem! The staff were great and the food was hearty and delicious. 4.7 stars on Yelp! Once finished, we stopped by Byrne Dairy and fueled up and grabbed chocolate milks for the road. This is MUST if you ever pass one. It is so creamy and smooth! We arrived in the Poconos and spent the day at Kalahari Water Park & Resorts. This water park is great for all ages. Hours and hours of fun! My favorite was the indoor/outdoor pool and the water slides! Our kids are finally at the age where they can enjoy most of the areas independently being 8 and 5. One downfall is there is no outside food. So with allergies and no outside food it is hard to save money in this department. There were several restaurants throughout the resort, but it was pricey! We stayed until close at 8pm and could have even went longer. The kids were wiped and so was I. I don't recommend going during a holiday break because it was busy. The water park was SOLD OUT the day we visited. Afterwards, there were options for arcade, laser tag, bowling, shopping, mini golf, etc. It felt like there was always something more we could have done.
Kalahari, Poconos NY
Afterwards the rest of our stay was at Skytop Lodge. Great location geared towards families and so many activities going on all day long for all ages. Their workers are all exchange students from around the world. We got to talk to, learn from. and meet so many people. Truly a great experience in itself for our family. They have several restaurants on premise and an amazing opportunity to explore the outdoors. We LOVE hiking, exploring, and enjoy nature so this place truly catered to that! When you arrive they give you an agenda of everything that is taking place throughout the day. They really cater to the families that are staying so much that you never have to leave the premise and plan something else to do nearby. Check out the gallery HERE to view more photos of Skytop Lodge through the seasons and the variety of activities HERE. Some of our favorites included snow tubing, ice skating, chocolate tasting, arts & crafts, Chocolate Bar Bingo, Hot chocolate bar, swimming pool, Ice Cream Social, hayride, nature hike, magician show and the tournaments.
Thank you for taking the time to read my FIRST travel blog post! I appreciate each and everyone of you! So many people have reached out and I hope that we can share a glimpse of travel with family to make traveling with your kids more enjoyable and manageable! If you have any questions feel free to reach out and remember to join us Instagram and Facebook @ Strible Fam Seeks Adventure
Love,
Kristine
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