Where do you take five adults, four teens, three kids and one senior citizen in two Isuzu mu-X’s for a three-day weekend? Well, just drive northeast and take them to Baler in Aurora province. It’s actually an obvious choice as the destination offers fun activities for each and every member of the family.
This travel bug has been coming back to Baler frequently. My first trip was more than 20 years ago, and I had to take the adventurous route by bus that passed through the old winding roads via Villa from Cabanatuan. What used to be a punishing six-hour drive to Baler from Cabanatuan, travel time has been cut down to three hours from the well-paved roads all the way to Baler via SCTEX passing through Rizal and Pantabangan. So if you leave Manila at 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning, you can be surfing in Baler by mid-morning.