That 70's Vacation - Four Points x 2

Hotel Details 
Hotel: Four Points Scranton & Niagara NY
Dates: September 3-5, 2015
Rate Paid: 3,500 SPG points/night
Regular Cost: $157/night 
Redemption: 4.5 cents/SPG point

Since we didn't want to spend too much money on our long weekend trip to Niagara Falls, we used our SPG points for hotel stays to save cash.

Fortunately, we found availability at Four Points Scranton on Thursday night and Four Points Niagara Falls NY on Friday night for 4,000 and 3,000 SPG points, respectively.

The Scranton location was pretty underwhelming, even for a Four Points. When we checked in, the staff seemed distracted as if we interrupted their game of Candy Crush. They were kind enough to give us our room keys and after my father asked, we were given vouchers for a complimentary breakfast (per our SPG Platinum status benefit).

Technically, SPG Platinum members should have also been upgraded to a King Suite, but we didn't push since an extra 70 sq ft wouldn't make a difference for a single night.

The room we had was fine, pretty clean and had working AC. Nothing to really complain about as we dropped off our things to head to the Scranton-Wilkes Barre Railriders baseball game.

The hotel did have an indoor pool, though we didn't use it on our stay. The lobby area was nicely appointed and would have been a nice place to lounge around if we were with a larger group of friends/family. But since we didn't get back from the Railriders game until 10PM, we were ready for bed to start our day early the next morning.

The next morning, we used our vouchers at the restaurant downstairs, The Electric Grill.

While SPG Platinum only guarantees you complimentary continental breakfast, this Four Points gave you a voucher for any item on the breakfast menu. We ordered the Fritatta and the Breakfast Sandwich while they were nice enough to include my kid's order of Pancakes for free.

The next day, we made our way up north towards Niagara Falls. Instead of heading into Canada on Friday night, my parents decided to stop at the border and enjoy a Friday night in the United States where our Verizon cell phone data package would still be free.

Unlike it's Scranton counterpart, the Four Points in Niagara Falls (really just outside Buffalo) was quite packed when we arrived Friday night. Apparently, there was a wedding. But despite the heightened level of activity, the front desk at this Four Points was super friendly and welcoming. This staff was exceptionally trained in the art of hospitality!

Our room was fine, pretty standard for Four Points. While there were no suite upgrades available, the Front Desk did upgrade us to a River View room on the 4th Floor. The bathroom was conveniently set up with the sink outside of the room with the toilet and bathtub.

The pool area looked like it was enclosed subsequent to the building being built, which made for a much nicer swimming experience in the evenings when the temperature got cooler.

But the best part of the Four Points Niagara Falls is the outdoor patio and deck overlooking the river. Simple but beautiful in the late afternoon and in the evening where they light up the bridge.

The best part was, since it was during Labor Day Weekend, the cash rate for a night here was going for $214 including tax. But since it was a Category 2 Starwood hotel and a weekend night, we only used 3,000 SPG points! At 7 cents/pt, that's an A+ redemption!

That 70's Vacation - Railriders Game

My father's favorite baseball team is the NY Yankees. Up until recently, their AAA minor league affiliate team was the Columbus Clippers based in Columbus, Ohio. As of 2007, the Yankees are using the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre team, who are currently called the Railriders, as their Triple-A affiliate.

So when we were going through Scranton, my father checked their game schedule. We saw that they had a home game the night we'd be there!

We didn't buy tickets in advance online as we weren't sure if we'd all go as a family or if just my father would go.

About 30 minutes before the game started, my mother decided she would come with him, so I had to tag along as well. Apparently it's illegal to leave a 3 year old by herself in a strange hotel in the state of Pennsylvania.

So we pulled up to PNC Field and paid the $2 for parking. Despite it being a minor league baseball team, the parking lot was full.

We forgot to recognize that Scranton/Wilkes-Barre isn't exactly a hotbed of nightlife so the Railrider games are probably the biggest activities going on here. Unfortunately, all the tickets for regular seats were sold out.

But fortunately, we were able to pick up a few Lawn Seats for $9/person. So we entered PNC Field and walked around a bit before finding our seats on the grass in right center field.

Around center field, they had a kid's play area with a bunch of inflatable activities, like bouncy houses and slides. For $5 per kid (free for adults), we spent a good hour here together. I didn't make any lifelong friends with the local Scrantonians, but there were tons of other kids (ages 3-12).

After it started to get dark, my father decided he wanted us to enjoy the actual game. So around the 4th inning, we went to grab some seats on the homerun side of the outfield wall where there were other couples and families relaxing on the grass on a perfectly cool summer night.

The Railriders won that game 12-2 over the Buffalo Bisons and clinched the International League North Divisional Title. Congrats, Railriders!

That 70's Vacation - Quiet Valley Living Historical Farm

So as we started planning, my mother had been complaining discussing with my father about how she would like to be more involved with our family vacations. So this Labor Day Weekend, she was responsible for picking our Thursday afternoon activity.

Based on our travel plans, we were scheduled to be near the Poconos and staying at the Four Points in Scranton, PA. After some internet research, she picked Quiet Valley Living Historical Farm.

The fun part of this experience is that the farm is a 19th century Pennsylvania German farm dedicated to the preservation and education of rural farm. It is staffed with men and women who act out historical characters from the 1800's. They go through how the original family arrived here and settled the terrain to build the home for future generations of their family.

Adults are charged $10 and kids over 3 years old are charged $5 for the visit. So $25 for my family was a full price to pay for a few hours. The tour isn't a typical "walk through as a group" format, but rather more like a living museum where you'd walk at your own pace and direction. As you come across various sections of the farm where you'd encounter different characters in the middle of various rural farm activities such as chopping wood, tending animals, weaving chairs and working the loom.

We'd learn about different aspects of living there and working with the various tools.

My favorite part was visiting with all the different animals, including horses, pigs, goats, sheep, cows and even wild turkeys.

As you can see, I had a blast!

That 70's Vacation - Intro

A few months ago, my parents had to figure out what to do for Labor Day Weekend. We knew that my pre-school would start the following week. This trip was going to be the last time (for the next 18 years) where we could get away before I had a state mandated academic calendar that would restrict our family trips.

So my father randomly picked Niagara Falls, given that we didn't want to fly anywhere.

As we started to look at the map, it was going to be a pretty long drive each way, so we decided to break up the road trip by stopping along the way in Pennsylvania and New York.

Of note, a few places on the route were the Poconos and the Finger Lakes before making it to Niagara Falls. Since my father loves finding "themes" for our multi-location trips (Japan/Korea, Germany/France and Italy/Greece come to mind), we dubbed this weekend trip as That 70's Vacation.

Apparently, these handful of US tourist destinations (along with Lake George) hit their peak in popularity during 1970's when East Coast American families would frequent these drive-able destinations and stay in motels. Think Mad Men meets the Simpsons.

These popular 70's vacation destinations even had some pretty amazing kitschy amenities such as heart-shaped Jacuzzi bathtubs for the couples along with their catchy television/radio jingles.

This little city girl was going back in time and into the country!