Baguio adventures (Day 1 - February 21, 2014)

Here is the first chronicle of my three-day Baguio Trip with my dear high school friends including their loved ones (who in turn become my friends) last February 21-23, 2014. We were here to witness Flower Festival. Before heading to the grand parade of flowers, we checked out some of the best spots of the city of Pines and experienced adventure together.

Ate breakfast at Chowking Session Road
Although, I have listed some of Baguio's best eats, since its too early in the morning when we arrived at the Summer Capital of the country, we chose to dine in Chowking because, in reality, we were really hungry. :-)

Wright Park
If you think of Baguio, one of the top of the mind spots is Wright Park. It is famous for horseback riding. However, we did not do the horseback riding for we have other plans in mind.

The Mansion
This is the Philippine President's residence in Baguio City. It is where the foremost leader of the country stays whenever he/she visits the City of Pines.

Mines View Park
Another popular place to go to when you are in Baguio is Mines View Park. From the observation deck of the park, you can see the spectacular view of the mountains and the panoramic view of Benguet's gold and copper mines. Apart from the mountain view, you get to see Coco, a St. Bernard. Take note also of the different stalls of pasalubongs that will welcome you as you enter the vicinity.

with Coco

from the view deck

Friends!

solo moment

with my best bud in HS, Michelle

Camp John Hay's Tree Top Adventure
At last, I was able to do my adventure at Camp John Hay's Tree Top Adventure. I'm a big fan of zipline, despite the fact that I have fear of heights, I still did the superman activity (as they call it), with all my might, shouting my heart out. :-). I enjoyed this with the company of my dearest friends.

excited for the adventure!

lovely view of the mountains at Tree Top Adventure

after the zipline

the canopy ride

Forest House
After doing the different eco-adventure at Tree Top Adventure, this was our time to feast for food. As I checked for where to go for Baguio's Must Try food adventure in Travel Magazine, Forest House is part of the bucket list. No doubt, this fine dine restaurant gave us a great dining experience. Since we were really starving, we splurged on food. This is to compensate the tiredness we had during the adventure we did at Tree Top.

Of course, I definitely love the dessert part. We shared a slice of blueberry cheesecake and black and white cake which is Forest House's specialty of the house. More than the good food, I loved the ambiance of this restaurant. Very pretty and homey. :-)

at the entrance

inside the Forest House

Friends with Kuya Monching, our driver for the 3-day trip

sweet blueberry cheesecake

Strawberry Farm
Last stop of the day, strawberry picking at Strawberry Farm. After choosing the best strawberries as pasalubong, we also bought some of our take home goodies at the said area. I went home with jars of choco flakes and the famous sundot kulangot to bring home for my family and friends. :-)

Strawberry plantation

Harvest time!

Michelle wants to eat her strawberry right away.

Bestie Ed and her GF Leny enjoying their time picking strawberries

freshly, picked red strawberries as pasalubong

That's all for our First Day in Baguio. Fun, Adventure, Food Trip. :-)

A Day Tour in Baguio City

It seemed that Baguio had a sweet spot in my heart. My first visit in the City of Pines was in March 1997 with my family and their marriage encounter friends. 

Eleven years after, in September 2008, I went to Baguio together with my High School friend, Wybenn together with his officemates and friends from Cebu. I thought I won't be back after that visit. 

On February 2012, I was able to return in the city with my former manager due to work-related activity. It was also that same year when I had my first Flower Festival experience. 

This year, 2014, I came back in Cordillera's Summer Capital city not only once but twice all on the same month. :-) Baguio City has never failed to provide me with so much memories. Every visit is worth telling a story.

For this blog, I am sharing my first Baguio journey for the year, which was happened last February 2, 2014. This was a whole day activity with the family and some neighbors which we considered our family. We left our residence in Laguna at 2:30am and arrived in Baguio at 8:30 in the morning. We had several gas station stopovers including our visit in Our Lady of Manaoag in Pangasinan.

Our first stop: Burnham Park 

This is where we ate our home-cooked breakfast. We shared our pot luck food with our family as well as our friends from our neighborhood. After having our breakfast, my siblings and their friends had their boat ride while I took photos of the place. 

February is the perfect month to visit Baguio because of its cold weather. Other than its cool climate, flowers bloom beautifully on this month, that's why the city of Pines had its annual festivity called "Flower Festival" or "Panagbenga" in their own native dialect. I will have separate blog for my flower festival experience for the  year, 2014.

Burnham Park's Swan Boat

Great weather for a boat ride

My siblings and their friends were doing the Swan Boat Ride.

Good Morning Pines!

Flower bloomed beautifully in Baguio

Second stop: Bell Church, La Trinidad, Benguet

This was my first time to visit a Chinese Temple. I have to go as far as La Trinidad to experience this activity. Bell Church is designed with beautifully landscaped gardens and the place is surrounded with bells, dragons and Buddha sculptures.

entrance of Bell Church

Third Stop: Strawberry Farm, La Trinidad, Benguet

This was also a first for me despite being in Baguio for several times. This was one of the most enjoyable part of the trip. I enjoyed this activity with the company of my youngest sibling and her friends. Picking fresh, red strawberries was not an easy task. You have to be careful in choosing the best and sweetest strawberries. According to Ms. Melody, the strawberry caretaker who entertained and taught us how to pick the fresh strawberry, the fruit should be red in color but you have to pinch its stem when harvesting them.

Baguio City is likewise thought as Strawberry Basket in the Country for they produce the best and freshest strawberries.  After our strawberry picking session, we ate our home-cooked lunch. As for the dessert, we tried La Trinidad's strawberry ice cream. My verdict: YUMMY! :-)

Strawberry farm

They enjoyed strawberry picking activity.

Fourth stop: Lourdes Grotto

You have to climb 250+ steps to see Our Lady of Lourdes. This is where most Catholic visitors pay for a visit to pray for thanksgiving or for prayer petitions. That time, there were many vendors selling colorful candles which were symbolic for different petition you are about to pray for (health, studies, career, family, relationship, etc).

Fifth Stop: Baguio Botanical Garden

Baguio Botanical Garden is quite a large park where you find different Ifugao statues, Ifugao native huts and abundant greens. However, some parts of the garden are under renovation, thus, we did not see other areas of the park.

Sixth Stop: Good Shepherd Convent

This store is famous for sweet strawberry and ube jams made by the nuns. 

Seventh Stop: Camp John Hay and Tree Top Adventure

Unfortunately, Tree Top Adventure is already closed when we arrived at the said adventure park. The kids felt sad when they learned about this. They wanted to see and try different adventures here but not that day. 

Anyway, a whole day visit in Baguio was not enough. We had skipped several tourist spots in the city but spending one Sunday in Baguio with my family gave me good memories and happy times. :-)

-TouRIZta-