William World News William F. Yurasko's blog v.14 – Nats, Penn State, Redskins, greater DC , travel, more

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – My brother and sister-in-law treated all of us to lodging for our trip to Walt Disney World. They choose Jambo House at Animal Kingdom Lodge for our 6 days, 5 nights. Jambo House is the first hotel built at Animal Kingdom Lodge. The large multi-story lobby features an African theme [...]

That’s No Rest Stop, It’s A ‘Travel Plaza’ – NPR
The second weekend of I-95: The Road Most Traveled features a look at the Delaware Welcome Center Travel Plaza that was recently reopened. The old service plaza was pretty bad and I only went to it a few times over the years. Typically, if I [...]

BALTIMORE — I think the first time I ever went to Baltimore it was 105° out. I remember standing under a white canopy waiting to get into the aquarium. By coincidence, my son’s first trip to Charm City had similar weather conditions, though we were going to the Maryland Zoo (formerly Baltimore Zoo) instead which [...]

AVALON, NJ — Typically, I spend one week out of the year completely off-line. That was this past week when my family visited the Jersey Shore. This was the first visit back since a “reality” show about over-tanned, obnoxious New Yorkers cast the Shore in a bad light. Thankfully, Avalon and Stone Harbor were the [...]

Amtrak makes fare discounts permanent – Washington Business JournalGood news, the $49 fares to New York’s Penn Station from Washington’s Union Station have been made permanent. Two weeks advance booking is still required.
Taking the train is the best way to get to Manhattan from D.C. and vice versa. Glad to see Amtrak is making a [...]

BOSTON — I was not that familiar with Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey, but I was informed by the Ombudman’s attorney that it “the” Boston children’s book. Since I have a son, I decided to get it, though I wound up buying it outside of Boston in the Curious George bookstore which is [...]

WASHINGTON, D.C. to BOSTON — When searching for a flight to take me to Boston and back, I was kind of surprised that the best deal I could get for National to Logan Airports was on Delta Connection, but economy being a major factor in my decision, I went with it.
Both flights were aboard Bombardier [...]

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Despite disliking Harvard (son of Yalie that I am) I like visiting Harvard Square. The Ombudsman works there and I spent some time there enjoying the early spring weather and more. The neighborhood is of course bustling with people, shops, restaurants, buskers and more. It is safe say that the Ombudsman works [...]

BOSTON — Since neither the Ombudsman nor his attorney was able to pick me up from Logan Airport, I relied on the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority, aka “the T”, to get me Harvard Square (more on that later). I thought, “No problem, I’ve been on the T both times I visited Boston and I [...]

BOSTON — For posterity’s sake, I’m documenting that the arena that the Boston Bruins and Boston Celtics play in right now is called the TD Garden. Previous names of the arena include TD Banknorth Garden, Fleet Center and Shawmut Center. When it was between names, individuals could buy the rights for a day. Sadly, the [...]