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JADSpirits Travel Log

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Trip to La Union and Baguio City for Daniz' 9th Birthday

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Daniz’s Birthday Trip started in 2011, a week after she turned 6 years old. It was an accidental weekend getaway in Cagayan De Oro and Bukidnon. On her 7th Birthday, she chose Hong Kong Disneyland Adventure over a themed party at Jollibee. And on her 8th, we braved the road to Las Casas Filipinas, a day after typhoon Santi brought havoc to Central Luzon. 

And it became an annual event…

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For this year, we took advantage of the long weekend, a 3-day vacation, from Saturday to Sunday (October 4~6).
  • Day 1: La Union with an overnight stay at San Juan Surf Resort
  • Day 2-3: Baguio City with an overnight accommodation at Camp John Hay’s Forest Lodge Hotel
This Birthday Trip is both planned and unplanned. In a way, it was planned because we booked the resort and the hotel a week before the trip and we discussed the general itinerary: Mabalacat City (Home) using Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX) and Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union (TPLEX) – La Union (Agoo, San Fernando, Luna, San Juan) – Baguio City – Mabalacat City. Unplanned because we did not have a specific itinerary of the tourist spots to visit…we just go with the flow.

Below are the sights along the way…

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In La Union, we visited the following places:
  • Stop #1 – Basilica of Our Lady of Charity in Agoo
  • Stop #2 – St. William The Hermit Cathedral in San Fernando
  • Stop #3 – Golden Society Food House
  • Stop #5 – Sts. Peter and Paul Parish in Bauang (early morning of the following day)
During the initial planning of this trip, we inquire about the grape picking in Bauang, but unfortunately all grapes were harvested end of September. Along the way to Luna (passing San Juan), we saw the entrance to the Ma-Cho Temple but we decided to skip it because our “little surfer” is so eager to be at the beach…same reason why we also forego our visit to Our Lady of Namacpacan Church in Luna and head directly to San Juan Surf Resort.

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The following day, right after we visited Bauang Church, we proceeded towards Naguilian Road to Baguio City. Our first time to use this road. It was an easy travel for Froggy, our old but reliable green car. But compared to Kennon Road...the road is not as smooth and small communities are already abound along the way.

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At the end of Naguilian Road, just a few kilometers away from Baguio, we were advise to take a detour to La Trinidad…part of the road is under construction and the nearest detour is not passable by car, only jeepneys and big vehicles.

These are our stops in our 2-day stay in Baguio City:

Day 1
  • Stop #2: Mountain Maid and Training Center (Good Shepherd)
  • Stop #3: Botanical Garden
  • Stop #4: Carlo’s Pizza (Camp John Hay)
  • Stop #5: Forest Lodge Hotel (Camp John Hay)
Day 2
  • · Stop #1: 50’s Diner
  • · Stop #2: Strawberry Farm (La Trinidad)
  • · Stop #3: Easter Weaving, Inc.
  • · Stop #4: Hannan & Apple (Burnham Park)
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At around 4:00pm, we headed home through the Kennon Road. After about twenty minutes, we had taken a wrong turn because of the detour sign due to road construction.

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Jonjie saw someone inside a big gate of what looks like a huge vacant area. When Jonjie asked for direction, he wave his hand to let us and we found ourselves in a runway. After leaving the area, we saw some signs “To Loakan Airport”.

And after a few minutes of getting lost, we are back on track. Below are the sights of the Kennon Road I took using my iPhone 4S while the car is running.

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Our travel time from the Godspeed arch of Baguio City to the Welcome sign of La Union was one and a half hours. If not for the heavy traffic of more than an hour in Villasis, Pangasinan, we will be home in less than four hours.

Please wait for the related posts of this trip. In case you missed the link above, you may read the available posts:
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