Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Happy Hollow Park & Zoo

This past weekend we visited the Bay Area. We went to a wedding in San Jose and then visited D's family in Napa. The drive to San Jose took six hours. Not too bad, except that k threw up. (I think I passed along my car-sickness tendencies to her). n reciprocated by throwing up on the way home. Lovely. Needless to say, we made many stops along the way. We encountered a newly remodeled rest stop that was pretty nice:
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We ate lunch at Huong Lan in San Jose. I had read good yelp reviews on their banh mi. We had grilled pork and bbq chicken. I liked the pork better, although be warned, it comes with peanuts! The bbq chicken was ok, except the bright pink color was a little disconcerting. We also shared an order of spring rolls with really good dipping sauce and an order of mini egg rolls.
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Afterward we made the short drive over to Happy Hollow, which I would compare to Adventure City in Orange County. However, the grounds of Happy Hollow were recently refurbished, and much nicer than Adventure City. It also felt more spacious. Happy Hollow also has a mini zoo. Adventure City wins in the rides department though, since they have a better variety. The prices are also comparable...$12 at Happy Hollow v. $14 at Adventure City; parking is $10 at Happy Hollow, free at Adventure City.

There is a cool, newly opened bridge connecting the parking lot to the park.
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At the entrance there is a merry-go-round with unique animals to ride on.
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n is in a stage where he likes to make funny faces at the camera.
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Next, we went to the zoo portion. Mostly small animals, but more interesting than a petting zoo.
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k was anxious to go on the rides. n really liked the rides too. When k was his age, she didn't want to go on anything. I guess that's one of the differences between those two.

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I think they enjoyed being able to ride together on this one:
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The look of sheer joy on their faces was so heart-warming.

The longest line was for Danny the Dragon, a ride for the whole family. We had to wait one and a half cycles, probably about 15 minutes. Not bad at all, but it was getting hot, so D and n stood in line for us while k and I rested in the shade.
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Bouncing on the bouncy balls.

We thought we lost k's sunglasses, so I filled out a report at Lost & Found. They turned up later in D's cargo shorts pocket back at the hotel. All in all, it was a nice visit, probably about 2.5 hours total.

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