Beyond Here

Another one of the lake...

2011-07-31T07:00:00.000-07:00

... this time with the island in between.

Frozen lake in the distance

2011-07-29T07:00:00.000-07:00

We chanced upon this area while we were doing the West Rime drive at Crater Lake. Master S had a lot of fun playing on these snow flats.... the snow was fresh and unspoiled probably because the week had seen some storms go by. But the weekend weather was lovely - it was hard to even wear a full sleeves shirt.

Sky or water ?

2011-07-27T07:00:00.000-07:00

The water was this calm and blue....

Crater Lake, OR

2011-07-25T07:29:00.000-07:00

Long weekend road trip to Crater Lake. Had to cut the trip short because of Master S's sudden illness, but still what a trip. The lake was at its serenest and calmest best... and Master S was in good spirits the whole day :)

From the covered bridge in Woodstock

2011-04-09T09:00:00.000-07:00

Green Mountains... and beyond

2011-04-07T09:00:00.000-07:00

This one too was taken from the car, though we stopped the car to take this one. We were driving through Green Mountains and Master S was sleeping in his car seat behind. Suddenly the views opened up across the valley and you could see layers of mountains in the distance.

Green Mountain National Forest

2011-04-05T09:00:00.000-07:00

So each day we generally ended up near atleast one picnic spot. We would take a break from the driving and walking around to relax. But more importantly, to get Master S to eat and run around. The picture below is of a picnic area in Green Mountain National Forest, while driving from Burlington Vermont to Woodstock. It was scenic - pretty much all of them are in New England, but this one also had a brook flowing by. The interesting thing is even though there was a road nearby, once we were near the brook, the sound of the water totally drowned the noise from the road. Very peaceful. And it was right next to the road.

University of Vermont

2011-04-03T09:00:00.000-07:00

It is rarely that I get good shots while just driving past. We were driving through Burlington downtown when we pass by the University of Vermont. The spires and the architechture looked particularly dramatic against the overcast skies.

Lake Champlain

2011-04-01T09:00:00.000-07:00

When we arrived in Burlington, it was pouring. But as we checked into our hotel and settled in, the pouring stopped for a while. We headed to Lake Champlain. The sky was still overcast with dark clouds but we were able to sneak in a couple of hours near the lake before it started pouring again. It was breezy and pleasant, not too cold infact and Master S had a lot of fun playing and running around in the gardens along the lake.

Another one from the fall color trip

2011-03-30T09:00:00.000-07:00

This too was around Burlington, Vermont

A run-down house in Stowe

2011-03-29T09:00:00.000-07:00

Near Stowe

2011-03-28T09:00:00.000-07:00

A scenic barn near Stowe in New England

On way to burlington

2011-03-25T09:00:00.000-07:00

3 days into the trip, we decided to drive from North Conway to Burlington through White Mountain National Forest. It was a cloudy day and it began to drizzle as we neared Burlington. The rain did not dampen our spirits though. It was a designated travel day plus there was this particular stretch on the way which was especially vibrant with color.

The colored patch was I think close to US-2W somewhere on way from North Conway to Burlington.

A river view by the Kanc Highway

2011-03-24T09:00:00.000-07:00

Picnic areas in New England are especially scenic. Just pull your car up near one and you are sure to find a nice quiet spot surrounded by trees. And if you are lucky, there will be a brook flowing close by.

Fall color trip

2011-03-23T09:00:00.000-07:00

The next few posts will all contain pictures from the fall color trip we did last year. I never got around to seriously posting about the trip even though it definitely ranks among one of my best vacations....

This one was taken while driving north from North Conway. We were driving along and came across hill after hill covered with autumn colored trees.

A picture a day

2011-03-22T12:58:00.000-07:00

So this blog keeps going into long spells of inactivity. Time to make an honest attemp to keep the spark alive - I am going to try and post a picture a day. Maybe add a line or two, but mostly just a picture. Lets see if that works.

These 2 pictures are of the Thompson Pass along the Richardson Highway in Alaska.

Changing seasons, changing colors.

2010-11-17T06:57:00.001-08:00

View from our window...

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My favorite red tree :)

2010-11-01T13:17:00.000-07:00

Even though leaves around here are just beginning to color and the trip to north east for fall color viewing was just a month ago, it seems like it happened ages ago... and I am missing fall.

Stowe to Jeffersonville

2010-10-18T18:57:00.000-07:00

So we are back from the trip and going through the normal round of infections one is prone to from travelling in a long flight. (Yeah, it happens to me without fail - fall sick immediately after a wonderful vacation).

There is lots to post and write. The trip covered New Hampshire, some portions of Maine and most of Vermont. And we were lucky - there was color in plenty. Hill after hill was covered with autumn colors, the air was crisp and not too cold and Master S was very patient and in good spirits throughout.

Snapshot of the trip since a friend asked for it -
Land into Boston
Drive to North Conway (3 hours) and stay there for 3 nights
Drive to Burlington (2.5 hours) and stay there for 2 nights
Drive to Woodstock and stay for a night
Back to Boston and fly back

Around North Conway, the must-do drives were the Kanc Highway, drive up north through Jackson to Artists' Bridge and through the Oxford Lake area of Maine and a visit to the Fryeburg fair.

Then through the White Mountain National Forest to Burlington. The drive on Highway 2 from Barre to Burlington was out of the world as was the drive from Stowe to Jeffersonville along Highway 108. The time in Burlington also included a visit to Lake Champlain and the Ben and Jerry's Icecream Factory tour.

Then down south to Woodstock on Highway 100 along the Green Mountain National Forest.

A number of short posts with mainly pictures from the drives will follow soon... the one above was along the drive from Stowe to Jeffersonville - trees in autumn color forming a canopy over the road. We saw fall here, literally - the leaves were falling slowly in front of us.

I want more of this Earth to be covered in such trees.

Artist's Bridge

2010-10-05T05:22:00.001-07:00

In Maine.
Have been yearning to see a covered bridge since I read - the Bridges of Madison County. Finally saw one, though not in Iowa.

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Falling for fall...

2010-10-05T05:17:00.001-07:00

Still on the trip... but I have a smartphone :)
It's gorgeous and so colorful here that it leaves me misty-eyed sometimes.

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A trip is going to happen soon

2010-09-28T07:51:00.000-07:00

Generally this blog sits orphaned - wondering why its owner even created it, for now and then she completely forgets about it. But then some friend or family member call up or chat and tell her how they love reading her blog. They remind the owner that she has this other baby to take care of too. And so she comes back....

A trip is in the works. Its time for fall colors and we are heading to New England for a taste of it. Back during our Masters, both Mr. S and I loved the fall in upstate New York. We have never really gone back to enjoy fall since we moved to CA. Come every fall season, we have been trying to catch glimpses of it in CA itself.

But this year we are finally making the trip. Its going to be a "coming-back" of sorts, almost. Our trip will not touch NY but we visit some neighboring ones. And we hope to see some color....

Watery Wednesday - Maligne Lake

2010-07-14T08:09:00.001-07:00

This post is from my phone.

For this Wednesday I am sharing a picture of Maligne Lake in Jasper. Surrounded by snow capped peaks, it makes for a perfect alpine Lake.

For more watery wednesday posts, click here

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A sow and her cubs

2010-07-09T18:00:00.000-07:00

That summer (the summer we visited Banff and Jasper) was definitely the summer of bear sightings for us.

It started with seeing a sow and 2 cubs cross the road right in front of our car on our drive over to Yosemite, followed by numerous sightings at Denali, peaked with being almost next to notorious grizzlies in Katmai and then ended with seeing another sow guide her 2 cubs near a river in Jasper.

We were taking a break to take in the scenery while driving over to Maligne Lake in Jasper. Mr. S has this magnificent tunnel vision when it comes to spotting wildlife. He suddenly exclaimed - "Bear!". Right there, below the cliff where we were standing, emerged a sow with her cubs from under some bushes. We followed them for quite some time as they made their way along the river but maintained a respectable distance.

A few more people driving by stopped when they saw us looking down so keenly beside the cliff. After sometime though, the bears just walked into another set of bushes and decided to stay there.

Jasper National Park

2010-07-07T12:30:00.000-07:00

Lake Pyramid

From Banff, we made our way further up north to Jasper National Park. Jasper turned out to be bigger and less crowded. Less crowds meant there were times when there was hardly anyone in sight and we would have the whole place to ourself.

Again lots of lake visiting and hiking around lakes happened in Jasper. Our first visit was to Lake Pyramid. Very quiet and hardly anyone there except for a few kayakers at one end of the lake.

From Lake Pyramid we went on to Lake Anne. Not too many people - now that might be just because my husband and I are early risers but there were a few people here sitting beside the lake and enjoying their books. I remember making a mental note to self - "Bring a book next time".

Lake Anne

People keep raving about Banff, but I definitely preferred Jasper to Banff. It was a larger park with much fewer crowds and much more wildlife sightings than in Banff. Walking and sitting around these lakes I felt one with nature and with myself... and fairly content with life in general.

For more watery wednesday posts, click here

Peyto Lake

2010-06-30T12:48:00.000-07:00

For this wednesday I chose this picture of Peyto Lake in Banff National Park along the Icefield Parkway. Pretty much all lakes in Banff had this turquoise blue color which also had a milky touch to it. But what stuck out about this lake was its weird shape - it looked like a bear.

For more watery wednesday posts, click here

Banff to Lake Louise - Highway 1A

2010-06-24T18:00:00.000-07:00

There are 2 parallel routes one can take between Banff and Lake Louise while driving. The faster one is Highway 1 or the Icefield Parkway. The slower is called Highway 1A. Before heading out on our trip, I had written in to a couple of friends to ask for recommendations on things to do in the area and one of the strong recommendations I got back from both was to definitely take Highway 1A atleast once - its slower but more scenic.

We had just started on 1A when we came across this bull elk grazing by the road. And further up there were a few distinguishable mountains one of which I remember was called Castle Mountain. (Note to self - should blog sooner so I remember more details. :( )

Castle Mountain

There were quite a few more spots for picture taking along this stretch of the drive, but it is this last picture that I really like. I have always wanted to photograph aspen tree trunks, expecially after I saw a B&W picture of the same by Ansel Adams. Along the drive we stopped at a rest point and I took this one of some trees growing in the forest section nearby - it is no way even an iota as good as what AA had taken, but it gave me immense satisfaction that I was finally able to capture something similar.

P.S. I have recently discovered this system of scheduled posts and I love it - I now create multiple posts mostly over the weekend and schedule them for posting throughout the week - should make this blog seem a lot more regular than it really is.

The tea house trail to Lake Agnes

2010-06-22T18:00:00.000-07:00

There are a few trails around Lake Louise and we decided to do the tea house trail. I would call it a moderate trail, not too easy, not too difficult, about 4.5 miles long and 1200 odd feet of elevation gain. Really it took us about 2 hours or so to reach the top. There is a tea house up there to refuel if you need to and then head back down.

Views along the trail

I remember there was some sort of bear warning in effect because Mr. S and I wore our bear bells - just tied small bells on our backpack and shoes. It was a shame though, because the trail was fairly busy and so no bear in sight. Mr. S soon removed his bells but I marched ahead - chhum chhum chhum. No wonder Mr. S kept trailing behind or leading ahead to take pictures - he was most likely embarassed. :)

Lake Agnes

There were a couple of lakes on the way whose name I forget before we reached Lake Agnes with the teahouse next to it. Serene, quite and small - are the words that come to mind now that I think about it. After a brief stop to munch on some cereal bars we had carried on us, we decided to go a little further up from the teahouse before heading back down. There were some splendid open views of Lake Louise from a window in the trees. Good half day of hiking, and we were back in time for a hearty lunch.

Lake Louise from the top of the trail

Watery Wednesday - Lake Louise

2010-06-22T15:25:00.000-07:00

My current blog posts go well with the watery wednesday theme since the Canadian Rockies are literally studded with gem colored lakes. This one is of Lake Louise, taken from I believe the 10th floor of Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise .

For more watery wednesday posts, click here

Lake Louise

2010-06-20T10:00:00.000-07:00

Lake Louise

Though our first visit was to Lake Moraine, it was Lake Louise that formed the base for our travels in the area. The larger area is conserved as a national park called the Banff National Park. And we spent about 4 days driving and hiking around in this area.

I had never seen such turquoise blue waters as those of Lake Louise - it was huge, serene and there were ice capped peaks in the distance. And unlike Lake Moraine, by the time we reached here, the sun was shining. It brought warmth to our spirits too.

Walk along the lake

We were eager to explore and on the first evening itself we strolled over to the other side of the lake. From that side, you could see the lake with the Fairmont hotel at the end. Its a luxurious hotel and our stay here was good. I had managed to convince Mr. S that it was ok to indulge once in a while. Though I must add that for the price we paid (even after we got a hefty discount because of some deal that was going on) the size of the room was rather disappointing. But since we were going to be mostly outdoors, it was ok.

View of the Lake with the hotel from the other side

Lake Moraine

2010-06-18T18:00:00.000-07:00

Lake Moraine

A colleague mentioned yesterday that she was going to visit the canadian rockies. And I thought of passing on some tips to the place since we visted it a couple of years back. Generally its easy - I just point people to my blog. But here I noticed that our trip to the Canadian Rockies had completely missed mention on my blog. The reason for not blogging about this trip, I will disclose in due course but for now the next few posts will be on our very wonderful trip to this region.

I will start with some pictures on one of the most scenic lakes in the area - Moraine Lake. Its close to Lake Louise, its bigger and more famous sister lake. A detour of about 15-20 minute drive takes you to this gem colored lake nestled in a valley surrounded by 10 peaks. It was a cloudy, drizzly day when we visited that lake. We could manage only a couple of hikes around the lake - one was to the top of some rock boulders that afforded a high view of the lake and the other was along the lake to the other side. Both were relatively easy hikes and we got plenty of time to amble about lazily and enjoy the views.

Most of the 10 peaks are hidden behind the clouds.

View from the top of the boulders.

There are no touch-ups on this picture - the water looked this blue.

Watery Wednesday: Missing Summit Lake, Alaska

2010-06-15T09:55:00.000-07:00

I was flipping through my pictures yesterday and came across this one of Summit Lake in Alaska. It was a bright, warm and pleasant day and we were driving along Richardson Highway. We had driven for a few hours by then, when this sight greeted us. Ah!

For more watery wednesday posts, click here

Our eagle's nest in Santa Fe

2010-06-02T18:00:00.000-07:00

Part of what made the Santa Fe part of our trip so relaxing and enjoyable was the place we stayed. It was a VRBO (vacation rental by owner) rental recommended to us by our friends B and R.

High up in the mountains with sun soaked decks, vast 180 degree views and abundant windows in the main house where one could sit and enjoy the night sky late into the night, it made for a perfect eagle's nest for us. Nikki was the most gracious owner and we felt right at home.

While Master S and I spent a lot of time on the deck lazing in the sun and rocking in the chairs, not surprisingly Mr. S used his downtime to catch up on work. Phew!

Pointers for Santa Fe

2010-06-01T18:00:00.000-07:00

I thought I will jot down some quick pointers for Santa Fe... or rather the high points of our trip to the city.

The Plaza in Santa Fe is where all the action is. Its a lively section of old town - there is a local street side bazaar of the native americans selling their jewelry, a couple of churches, lots of art galleries and handicraft shops, restaurants, jewelry shops, museums etc. Everthing centres around the plaza.

The other notable thing about the town was hanging chilies - they were everywhere. They were being sold in shops and people had them hanging outside their shops and houses.

Then there was this restaurant/shack kind of a place that was definitely serving the best chili sauce in town - it was spicy hot, made our noses water but it was yumm to the last drop. The Shed is definitely a must try for any visitor to Santa Fe.

And right next to it was this other colorful shop with lots of hanging chilies and strands of vegetables but this time they were made of glass. Made a pretty sight for the eyes. It was called the Rainbow Man.

Santa Fe

2010-05-30T17:00:00.000-07:00

After Monument Valley we headed over to Santa Fe. I had first heard great reviews about Santa Fe from some friends who took a road trip across US before leaving the country to return to their home country. I had also seen the pictures and it had definitely piqued my interest.

The whole city (old Santa Fe) has this Adobe architecture which are mud-caked walls as you would probably see in really remote indian villages. Everything from the restaurants to malls to barber shops to the bank had this kind of a look.

The Plaza in old part of the city was where we spent most of our time during our stay in Santa Fe. Here are some examples of Adobe architecture from the Plaza.

Desert blooms

2010-05-28T18:00:00.000-07:00

Monument Valley, as is evident from the previous pictures, is basically a desert area. The temperatures were high too (ok, not so high as they typically are). But the valley floor at a lot of places had these beautiful white flowers growing.

Drive into Monument Valley

2010-05-27T18:00:00.000-07:00

After refreshing ourselves from the long drive, we were ready for the drive into the valley. A dirt road took us into the valley. We did not have a jeep/SUV or a four wheel drive, so the first few switchbacks, which were bumpy to say the least, had us crossing our fingers. But thereafter it was a fairly ok dirt road.

It was a 17 mile loop but it took us more than 3 hours to do the whole thing because we wanted to stop at each and every corner. In addition to the mittens, we saw more weirdly shaped buttes. There was the Raingod Mesa, the Thunderbird Mesa, the Totem Poles, the Three Sisters etc. But the ones I liked the best were the Elephant butte and the Camel butte.

Nature has symmetry

2010-05-26T18:00:00.000-07:00

We are back - from a short but nice, relaxing vacation to one of the places that has been on my list of "places to visit before I die" for a long time now. We flew into Alburqurque, NM and then after a midway stop in Farmington, we reached the Monument Valley. Erosion over decades has resulted in these huge buttes that stand desolate in a valley and make for some of the most frequently photographed places in US. It is an Indian reservation area (Navajo Tribal Park to be precise) and so does not fall under the US National Park System.

While we first saw the huge buttes from the parking lot, when we checked into our room, the balcony afforded one of the best views into the valley.

View from our balcony (midday)

These particular formations are called the west and east mitten (for obvious reasons) and the Merrick butte (for no apparent reason). We ended up going click-click with our camera at these for a large part of our trip. I was particularly intrigued by the symmetry of the west and east mittens - how come natural erosion could have carved out such symmetrical structures right next to each other. But I guess thats nature for you - always intriguing.

Sunset

Sunrise

A sunny day at Crissy Field

2010-05-18T12:20:00.000-07:00

Winter this time has been uncommonly long, its still raining atleast once a week even now. A couple of weeks back though (seems like ages ago now), it was an exceptionally pleasant day. We decided to go to Crissy Field near Golden Gate bridge for a picnic with some friends. The beach and park area is right next to the bay and there are wonderful views of the bridge on a clear day.
And since it was a warm balmy day, people were out and about - they were flying kites, sun-bathing, jogging, biking and just lazing about. Good fun - sun, nice views and company of friends - what more can one ask for!

P.S. This is post no. 100. Almost 6 years, some on and off time on the blog but still counting... or should i say blogging. Not bad!

More blooms

2010-05-17T12:04:00.000-07:00

As promised in the last post, here is a glimpse into one corner of our garden. Its looking beautiful with all these small little flowers cropping us in abundant profusion.
The surprising thing is that at the onset of winter, our gardener insisted that we need to cut down everything to the ground for it to regrow in spring. I will admit I was a nervous believer then. But this whole area was subsequently cut down, and it sprang back up over the last couple of months with tiny-tiny flowers and this tall shrub.

A trip is in the works

2010-05-13T12:45:00.000-07:00

Yes, looks like we will have a small mini-vacation later next week. Travelling with Master S in tow has definitely been a learning in its own right, but summer is here and we are hoping that we can get back into the travel spirit. Lot more planning and preparation goes into a trip now and so trips are fewer and farer in between. But for now, I am happy and looking forward to next week.

Some more flowers from the hill behind the house:

P.S. Oh and some lovely flowers have sprung up in the garden in our backyard - it looks like a small English garden now :) But thats for the next post.

Its raining, its pouring...

2010-04-27T21:32:00.000-07:00

... the old man is snoring :)

It had been raining today all day and I kept humming this rhyme to Master S. Its pretty dull outside, except for the flowers on the hillside and the ones that are coming up in our own garden. Yes, we have our very own garden now. And its springing up new things every now and then.

We were handed down a pretty well maintained garden by the previous owner. And we are trying our best to keep it that way. Since this is our first spring here, every new bloom is a new surprise. The latest is a lavendar bush - it just started blooming.

'tis the wildflower season

2010-04-26T18:29:00.000-07:00

I have been in love with the hill behind our house ever since we moved in last year. The first night I had woken up to a beautiful sunrise behind this very same hill. Then there is this quaint tree on the hillside on seeing which both Mr. S and I had remarked almost together - "I like that tree". On occasion I have also seen a fox, a turkey and lately a baby deer on the same hill. So it is no wonder that I waited with baited breath to see what surprise this hill would have in store for us this spring.

And lo behold! It covered itself with all sorts of wild flowers. There are california poppies scattered here and there, some lupine and some pink and red/maroon flowers whose name I don't even know. The hill is covered and I have been looking out to it day and night.

I had been bugging Mr. S to go back to the hill to take some pictures for a few days now and he finally obliged last weekend. He went right when the sun was beginning to go down and came back with this. I love my hill and I love Mr. S.

Peju Winery

2010-04-25T22:55:00.000-07:00

We visited Peju on our way back. Some research on the web and we had inferred that it would be easy to do with a kid. As expected, there were gardens and fountains all around. And the main tasting room was a more casual affair.

As soon as we entered, we were told that it was ok to share a tasting (my husband and I are not heavy drinkers or tasters for that matter) and that the tasting fee could be used as a discount if we decided to buy a bottle. Plus the person conducting the tasting was generous - we got to taste 7 instead of the normally 4 wines in a classic tasting, one of which was a reserve wine. The reserve wine was so costly, i decided to empty the glass to the last sip. I thought it will be criminal not to, given the cost of that wine :)

I found these trees lining the driveway to the entrance particularly interesting.

And for lack of a picture of fountains, here is one of Shaurya enjoying the fountains. He turned 1 that day and we decided it was ok for him to get himself all wet if he wanted to.

We did buy 2 wines from here - the Provence and the French Carnival. Both of them are mildly sweet wines and expected to pair well with spicy (read Indian, Mexican) food.

Some travel tips:

We stayed at the Wine Country Inn - our stay was comfortable, breakfast was good. Though you could hear some slight noise from the room above but we are heavy sleepers so not too much of an inconvenience.

Pizzeria Tra Vigne is a good place for a quick meal. Not a fancy place, it is frequented by locals and serves good pizzas, pastas and sandwiches.

And for a quick bite you could also try the Bouchon bakery in Yountville. Their strawberry-rhubarb tart was heavenly.

Beringer Winery - Napa

2010-04-22T17:21:00.000-07:00

The next winery we visited was Beringer. When we had started from our home, our planned visits were to Sterling and Peju - Beringer was a last minute decision based on what we saw from the road when we drove past. We had gotten a glimpse of the Rhinehouse from the road and it was too tempting to ignore.

Some history behind the Rhinehouse as we learnt later when we decided to visit the winery - it was built by Frederick Beringer (one of the 2 Beringer brothers) because he wanted his home to remind him of his German home.

Beringer winery is the oldest and continuous running winery in the Napa Valley. This tip came from our guide on a tour of the underground caves where the barrels storing the wines are kept. The tasting was also along this tour.

I will add that my one year old found the underground tour through the caves a little too interesting, to our dismay. 5 minutes into the tour he realized that his voice echoed when he spoke anything. The next 25 minutes were spent by him trying different sounds to see which one echoed the most and by my husband trying his best to trail the tour and keeping our son quiet so everyone else could hear what the guide was saying.

The gardens around Beringer were beautiful, there was lots of space to walk about idly. For picnic lovers, it was ok to picnic here - there were picnic tables around to use.

Almost 2 years - the fast is finally over

2010-04-21T19:55:00.000-07:00

Yep, between the pregnancy and the nursing, I have been off alcohol for that long. I am not a heavy drinker, mind you. But I do like to know that I can sip something here and there whenever I want to. And so these past couple of years I have looked enviously at each and everyone who has sipped something in front of me. Well, the fast is finally over. And what better way to break the fast than visit the wine country in our backyard - Napa Valley. Its barely 1.25 hours drive from where we live. And we decided to visit it last weekend.

First stop was Sterling Vineyards. With an aerial tramway, it was on the top of our list of wineries to visit. Also, they have a self-guided tour - less intimidating and easier to do with a one year old in stow.

The entrance to the winery made quite an impression. The trees were in spring bloom and lined the driveway to the parking lot.

And the views from top were spectacular. You could get a bird's eye view of the entire valley from there. The tasting was at different points along the self guided tour. I am not a wine connoisseur by any regard so I would rather not comment on the wines themselves, but we did come back with a slightly fizzy, sweet wine - a 2008 Malvasia Bianca. I guess it appealed to our Indian taste buds :)

Some tips while we are at it:

Their website has a $5 off coupon that can be used if you reach the winery before 12.30 pm.

Picnic lunches inside the winery are not allowed. We had to picnic in the car.

And Dean and Deluca on Hwy 29 is a good place to pick up some sandwiches.

A new love affair

2009-12-04T16:42:00.001-08:00

A new love affair is underway these days... with the Japanese maple outside our living room window. It has changed colors in preparation for fall - a bright crimson red. And every time I come down the stairs in the morning it makes me smile.

'tis the season of colored leaves

2009-11-09T17:09:00.000-08:00

Fall is here and trees all around are changing color. Outside my bedroom window I see a crimson leafed tree in a neighbor's backyard and another ochre colored one up the hill.

I am thinking of my time in Buffalo where fall came with so many hues that it was difficult to count... I am thinking of Letchworth State Park near Rochester where I was first introduced to the colors a maple tree can take ... And I am thinking of our trip to Yosemite a couple of years ago, when I had fallen in love yet again with this golden yellow valley.

Lake Tahoe

2009-09-16T09:52:00.000-07:00

A mini-vacation happened after a long time... we made a trip to Lake Tahoe over the labor day weekend. Slow and relaxing trip for the most part, a lot of time was spent just sightseeing and spending time at the beach. There was a wind advisory so it meant no water activities, which was a bummer. But the sunset, the beach and the gem colored water of the lake more than made up for it.

Emerald Bay

Lake Tahoe from the South Lake Recreation Area

Found these clouds particularly interesting

Sunset at the beach

And finally here is the honest reason for the blog being inactive for such a long time. This was Shaurya's first road trip - he is 5 months old and our new "boss".

An unexpected encounter

2009-04-04T07:15:00.000-07:00

Sunit and I were visiting San Francisco and were we surprised to come across someone familiar - Mahatma Gandhi. I believe it was in the backyard of the Ferry building but i am not sure since this was a while ago. We were filled with pride for those brief few moments. Took a number of pictures but this one with the bay bridge in the background was my favorite.

A new year is here !

2009-01-07T18:51:00.000-08:00

Happy new year everyone!!

Last year was especially good for travel. S and I were finally living together and that gave us a lot of opportunity for weekend trips and vacations. There was the trip to Yosemite, another one in search for wildflowers, wine tasting in Livermore, a hiking trip to Zion and Bryce, a short rendevouz in Vegas, a week long vacation in Alaska, another week in Canada's Banff and Jasper National parks - all in all lots of meadows, bends in rivers, waterfalls, colorful flowers, snow covered mountains, gem-colored lakes, glaciers and icefields and last but not the least loads of bear sightings. This was definitely the summer when we saw more bears than any other wildlife - the season started with seeing a sow and 2 cubs in Yosemite, and ended with seeing another sow with her cubs in Canada. In between was an exhillarating trip to Katmai to see the grizzlies. In addition to all this were the day-long trips to San Francisco and the towns nearby - an effort on our part to explore more of our new surroundings.

The past year was not so good in terms of blogging though. Repeated reminders from Mridula, yet the blogging lagged. The canada trip never made it to the blog, the alaska trip account was left incomplete....Zion, Bryce and Vegas accounts also never made it to the blog.

2009 promises to be exciting for us personally, though not so much on the travel front. But hopefully that will give me a chance to catch up on the blogging part. And who knows a trip or two might spring up unexpectedly. After all even a hike at Del Valle or Mt. Diablo closeby can be pretty rewarding. That reminds me there have been now 2 trips to Del Valle without the camera. And one was just this past weekend which technically puts it in this year, not bad :-)

Cheers for the new year!

Cuckoo's Photo Competition - Clouds

2008-09-19T09:01:00.000-07:00

Cuckoo continues her photography competition with a different topic each month.

The topic for this month is Clouds and here is my entry.

This picture was taken this summer when we visisted Alaska. We were driving from Fairbanks to Chena Hot Springs, the day had been clear for the most part when suddenly the clouds started reeling in. We stopped at this pond and the clouds were stark grey.

An interesting weather station!

2008-09-11T22:02:00.000-07:00

A few months ago, we went wine tasting with a couple of friends and came across this barn in front of one of the tasting rooms. In front of the barn was this very interesting "Official weather station"

Alaska - Part 5 - A drive down Richardson Highway

2008-07-22T22:41:00.000-07:00

During our trip to Alaska one day was dedicated to a drive down Richardson Highway. Richardson Highway runs from Fairbanks to Valdez, a distance of about 350 miles. Google Maps will tell you otherwise - that Richardson Highway runs from Delta Junction to Valdez and that the section before it is Steese Highway, but the actual road signs mark it as going from Fairbanks to Valdez.

Before leaving I had done some search on the internet - there were people who claimed it to be the most scenic highway in Alaska. Plus when we started it looked like it was going to be a pleasant day. Our 2 prior days in Denali had been cloudy and rainy at times and so I was really looking forward to the drive.

Our first majestic glimpse was that of the Alaska range that started coming into view pretty much as soon as we were leaving Fairbanks. As we crossed Delta Junction and the range came closer the views kept getting better.... Plus there were long stretches of the highway when we couldn't see a car for miles around us.

The Alaska Range along Denali Highway

There are portions where the highway runs parallel to the Alaskan Oil Pipeline. S had stopped to take pictures of the pipeline when he got talking to someone travelling in the other direction. This person told him - "Summit Lake is looking beautiful today". As we drove on we came upon this pristine blue lake clearly reflecting the snowcovered mountains around. This was definitely the high point of our drive.

Summit Lake

A larger part of the day had now been spent in the car. We were getting tired and were not stopping as much as we were in the beginning of the drive. But as we approached Glenallen, the Wrangell Mountains started coming into view - Mt. Sanford, Mt. Wrangell and Mt. Drum. The excitement came rushing back.

The Wrangell Mountains

Mt. Blackburn

Mt. Wrangell

This post is getting long...moreover I am getting sleepy. Rest of Richardson Highway in the next post.

Alaska - Part 4 - The Trip Plan

2008-07-22T21:47:00.000-07:00

A friend recently asked me what our exact trip plan for Alaska was and I forwarded her a small spreadsheet I maintain for longer trips. I thought it might be useful for other people planning a trip. Here is a snapshot of what I ended up sending to her.

Alaska - Part 3 - Grizzlies of Katmai

2008-07-13T18:50:00.000-07:00

Sunit and I have run into bears unexpectedly twice before. The first time left us scared - we were all alone on a hike in Yosemite. The second time was jaw dropping - we saw a sow and 2 cubs crossing the road, from the safety of our car.

So it was no surprise that one of the items on our itinerary to Alaska was a visit to Katmai - home to the grizzly bear. The Katmai National Park has the largest concentration of brown bears in the world. It also provides one of the safest environs to see bears. There are viewing platforms along the mouth of Brooks river and Brooks falls and though one has to leave the safety of the platform when going from one platform to another (about a mile or more apart), this is still the best way to see grizzlies closely without any need for binoculars or zoom lens. When the salmon visit the river for spawning, about 70-80 bears congregate at the brooks falls to catch fish.

Our final day saw us making a day trip to Katmai. Our travel plans were booked through Katmailand - We had a PenAir flight to King Salmon and from there a 30 minute float plane ride to the park. While we were on a day trip I would definitely suggest that people wanting to explore should spend atleast one night at the park and preferably two. But that will require planning months if not a year in advance since lodging at the park sells out really soon (there are very few options - a campground with a 60 person limit and a lodge with a similar limit) for the months when the fish are spawning.

When we visited the park, the fish were few because of a commercial fishing day right before we came. But there were bears still coming to the falls and the river to check for fish. Atleast 2 of the bears we saw were within 10 feet from us.

Some shots of these mighty creatures ....

Cuckoo's Photo Competition - Sunrise

2008-07-12T09:57:00.001-07:00

Cuckoo has been a regular visitor on my blog and I saw that she is hosting a photography competition on a different topic each month. Thats interesting. Now here's a reason for me to go back and look at all the pictures we take.

The topic for this month is Sunrise and here is my entry.

We were on a boat (ketuvallam) in Allepey in Kerala. At night we were docked near a paddy field. And early morning my parents woke us up to this cloudy sunrise...

Alaska - Part 2 - Wildflowers

2008-07-12T09:27:00.000-07:00

July in Alaska is a wonderful time to see wildflowers. And we did not have to make an effort to see them - they were all around - lining the roads, along our hikes, near lakes, even the grass had a pink hue to it. Below are some of the shots of wildflowers - lupines, campunalas, irises, grass etc.

Alaska - Part 1 - Denali National Park

2008-07-10T17:45:00.000-07:00

June 27th - finally it was time to leave for our much awaited trip to Alaska. We had booked the flights way back in February and I had spent the last month or so planning out the other stays/campsites etc.

Some last minute scrambling, packing etc. and we were on our way. We took the United flight to Anchorage where we were to sync up with a couple of our friends. Just before landing, around 11.30 at night we looked outside the window - all we could see was mountain after mountain covered with snow. And we could see it, it being summer and Alaska being close to North Pole it is hardly dark here during the summer days. We saw the view under and were all spruced up for the trip.

View from the plane

The first section of the trip (3 days) was a visit to Denali National Park. Denali is a 4 hour drive from Anchorage. The first night we drove up there and stayed outside. The drive itself was full of vast panoramic vistas, braided rivers and huge mountains. The one thing missing was blue skies - it was cloudy for the most part that day.

View along the drive upto Denali National Park

The next couple of days we planned on camping inside the park at Wonder Lake campground. Our friends who had camped in Denali before told us that if there is one place in the world you want to camp at it is Wonder Lake. This was going to be there first time at the Wonder Lake campsite too - earlier they had camped at a different location. So the following morning at 6.30 we were all packed and on the camper bus that was to take us inside the park.

It is a 6 hour bus ride from the entrance of the park to Wonder Lake (the last point where the bus goes). And no private verhicles are around inside the park after the first few miles. As we rode deeper into the park, the views became vaster and huger. It was definitely something like I had never seen before.

If you look closely, you can see the Denali peak in the background in the above picture

As we drove on, we got our first view of the peak from Stony Dome - our bus driver told us we were lucky. Being hidden in clouds for the most part, Denali or Mt. McKinley makes an appearance only once in 2-3 days for a really short time.

Denali is the highest mountain in US. At 21,000 or something feet, it is much lower than Mt. Everest (29,000 or something ft. ) but apparently is very shy and a bigger challenge for mountaineers because of its closeness to the North Pole. The elements are much harsher here. We got a much better view of the peak on the day we were travelling out of the park a couple of days later since it was a clearer day.

View of the peak on a clearer day

The 2 days in Denali were spent camping, hiking around and viewing wildlife of which there was plenty. I will make a separate post on the wildlife and wildflowers we came across. It rained both nights but our tents served us well as we had rain flys to cover the tents. The sound of the rain and hail(one night) hitting the top of the tent was a bit unnerving, but when you have tired limbs its relatively easy to fall asleep. Plus our sleeping bags were adequate and kept us warm. The one thing thing that did bother us were all the mosquitoes at Wonder Lake. Believe me when I say there were loads of them because being from India I am used to mosquitoes but this was different. We had to rub DEET and wear head nets to ward them off.

But despite the mosquitoes and the rain, all in all it was a nice camping trip inside Denali. Staying inside the park allowed us more time to explore more of the park. Alaska is wilderness at its best, and camping deep inside Denali provided the perfect remote wilderness experience.

The park was dotted with many such ponds

Mirror Lake, Yosemite

2008-05-04T23:11:00.000-07:00

Notice anything weird in this picture ? It is a mirror image, isn't it ?

Even though the title of the post pretty much gives it away, the picture above is of a few people standing near Mirror Lake at Yosemite National Park. And just to prove that the reflections are that good, I have actually inverted the image above.

Mirror Lake is a seasonal lake. A short 1.1 mile (2.2 miles roundtrip) hike, this is an easy walk. The lake is seasonal because it appears (it is of significant size) only when the waters in the high altitudes is melting. As summer sets in much of the water disappears and is replaced by meadows with pools of water here and there.

The hike here is off the beaten track. S and I always like coming here as early in the morning as possible - there are fewer people and we find the quiet around this place is very relaxing.

And Mt. Watkins always looks splendid with its reflection in the lake.

Another exciting trip to Yosemite

2008-04-28T23:02:00.000-07:00

Being in the bay area puts us in close proximity to Yosemite National Park. We both absolutely love the place. Infact our trips to the place have always been special.

The very first time we went there, we hit the park during perfect weather and full waterfalls. And since we did venture on one of the less frequented hikes, we also had a not-so-desired bear encounter that left us a little bit unsettled.

Our second trip to the place was during fall and the fall colors had us going ga-ga over the place. Fall in Yosemite was definitely beautiful.

So it was no wonder that when we set off friday evening for another trip we were absolutely impatient with excitement and what the place had in store for us.

It was an uneventful drive for the first couple of hours except for a long stretch when there were loads of white and purple wildflowers along the road. Till we were closer to the park and suddenly S hit the brakes - there were 4 deer on the road. And when it comes to wildlife the rule here is you wait for it to pass and you don't disturb them, so no horns either. This first sighting had us invigorated suddenly, we sat up and started looking around for more wildlife.

But soon it was dark and we pretty much gave up on seeing anything else. S was tired, he had not eaten for a long time either. We switched and I took the driver's seat. Very soon we were in the park but our camp was still some distance away. It was already dark and a windy road, I was driving slowly. Suddenly the head lights fell on a big brown creature on the other side of the road - a big black bear (Yep, I wrote it right - the bears in Yosemite are called black bears but they are brown in color). I hit the brakes, we looked at it in wonder, we waited for it to cross. I was about to start again when lo behold! we see 2 cubs following the mama bear. They were tiny, very tiny. Definitely not more than a month old. The sow looked back to make sure her cubs made it safely across the road. And as soon as they did, the party disappeared in the woods, while we sat there gaping in awe. All this happened in just 30-40 seconds, we did not get a chance to capture the moment in our camera. We looked at each other though, and smiled - thats a nice start.

The rest of the weekend was spent hiking to lakes, waterfalls etc. and picnicing in meadows. But as I look back, that split second bear sighting the very first night was definitely the highlight of our trip.

A different kind of model

2008-04-22T18:45:00.000-07:00

It happened at one of the vista points along Highway 1 recently.

A squirrel very graciously posed while we went click-click with our camera. Infact we clicked quite a few with the little one looking here and there and even straight into the camera lens. It was not scared at all...we were expecting it to scurry away but it was just not ready to leave.

The California Poppy

2008-04-22T18:41:00.000-07:00

In the end though, it is always the California poppy that rules!
While driving back on Highway 1 we chanced upon a number of patches of these, but this one particular patch was especially bright orange.

Fiscalini Ranch, Cambria

2008-04-19T10:20:00.000-07:00

Coming back to the weekend trip to see wildflowers....

While travelling down from our place we drove on Highway 101. All along the highway, after every mile were these markers reminding us that 101 is the historic El Camino Real. Since we could not stop the car just anywhere, (and I was hell bent upon taking a picture of this marker,) it took some time and effort before I could take a shot of this marker from the moving car. I was very pleased myself.

Till yesterday, when I was walking to a nearby grocery store on El Camino Real near our home (its a slow driving street instead of a fast moving highway when it runs through any city) and what should I see but the same markers. So much for putting in all that extra effort.

In any case, I actually found the whole 101 route to be very scenic, especially this time of the year since it was all green and colorful with flowers.

On our way back we drove back on Highway 1 along the coast. We decided to stretch our legs at the Fiscalini Ranch Preserve in Cambria. It was along the coast and there were a number of flowers here and there. Our morning walk ended up being a very pleasant one!

Travel Tips for Rome

2008-04-17T17:15:00.000-07:00

I have to intersperse my wildflower trip account with this post on Rome.

A lot of our friends are travelling to Rome this year (atleast 3 in the immediate friend circle) - and everytime they ask me for planning tips, I am reminded that I completely forgot to blog about our Italy travel. Actually we were so caught up in moving etc. that blogging about Italy took a back seat.

So here are some tips especially for Rome:

1. Buy yourself one of those Rick Steve's guide for Italy/Rome - it is very useful with very handy tips. A lot of the tips here are from that book that we used and found to be useful.

2. Pack light - If possible pack all your stuff into a big carry on, so your luggage does not get delayed or re-routed.

It happened to one of our friends - they reached Venice without their luggage and spent much of their trip shopping for clothes - Infact they got their luggage back only after they had returned to US.

Even when we tried to check-in our luggage at the train station at Zurich, the agent looked at us baffled - "you never check-in luggage (if possible) when travelling to Italy - you might not get it back"

3. If you pack light, pack some detergent packets to wash clothes in the sink. Dry them overnight in your room.

4. In Rome, Villa Borghese is a must see and it requires advance reservations - get those. People are allowed to enter every 2 hours. You will also have to check-in your camera and bags outside.

5. The only place I would recommend booking a tour is for your visit to the Sistine Chapel and the Vatican museum - we stood in line for more than 2 hours to get inside. Tour groups have a separate entrance.

6. It is a long journey from the entrance of the Vatican museum to Sistine Chapel. If you do not get an audio guide, take the tour group exit out of Sistine Chapel rather that walking back to the entrance.

7. St. Peter's Basilica feels heavenly early morning with the light streaming in from the windows, and the crowds are less too.

8. Get a Roma pass (from a participating site other than Colosseum) and use it for entrance into Colosseum. With the Roma Pass you get a free entrance to the first 2 participating sites but you do need to buy the ticket. Since the line at the Colosseum ticket window is long, all you need to do is first visit the Roman Forum next to the Colosseum. Inside the Roman Forum, there is a ticket office at the Palatine Hill entrance that sells tickets for Colosseum (the same ticket is valid at both the Palatine Hill and Colosseum). Buy your ticket here - there is hardly anyone here.

Then armed with your Roma Pass and ticket, you will skip the line and go straight to the security screening and then the turnstile.

9. Roma pass is useful if you are in Rome for atleast 3 days and plan to use the metro a lot.

10. Get yourself a comfortable place to stay - AC is a must in summer, its very hot.

11. Rome is hot and tires you down in summer - plan for afternoon siestas and sightsee during morning and late afternoons.

12. There is a lot of petty crime (read pickpocket) in Rome, especially at the sites popular with tourists. Be careful. We saw atleast 2 pieces of action ourselves and both times it was at the Spanish Steps. It is not a bad idea to carry a messenger bag instead of a purse, your camera in your neck, backpack in front etc. Be alert on the trains also.

13. Read Angels and Demons by Dan Brown if you have the time - the book is as good as a guide for Rome.

14. Eat Gelato at Giollitti (spelling might be wrong...)

15. If you plan to visit museums and you are not familiar so much with Christian stories/symbology, get a small booklet that can act as a gallery companion of sorts. Otherwise you will see a lot of wonderful pieces of art without understanding what they represent.

16. Piazza Navona has a lovely bazaar of sorts of paintings and prints by local artists every evening - check it out if you have time.

17. In one of the side-streets off Piazza Navona is a shop called Bortalucci which sells wonderful wooden toys for kids. A sister shop of the same is also at the airport. Even if you are not interested in buying anything, you need to visit this shop - Its fun to just look around.

18. We stayed at Hotel Sonya - it was not the typical high-end place, but we found it to be comfortable and adequate for ourselves and it was centrally located.

19. Spend some time walking around the piazzas. I loved Piazza Navona and the one near the Spanish Steps.

20. Trevi fountain is a must visit though it is pretty crowded at night.

Rome is wonderful with all it architecture, fountains, ruins, piazzas etc. Walk around and enjoy it at a relaxed pace. Even though you have to be a little careful, its worth the effort. You will surely have a time of your life there.

I was so full of it that I dreamt of it quite a few times after coming back !!

Wildflowers along Cottonwood Canyon off Highway 166

2008-04-16T19:30:00.000-07:00

While there was a lot of lavendar and blue wildflowers around this season, this is definitely the year of yellow. And the star attraction of our trip was a drive to Cottonwood Canyon Road off Highway 166. Since this was basically wide open space, we could park anywhere, climb the hills, walk among the flowers (of course on foot paths so as not to trample on the flowers).

Here are some pictures from the time spent there.

P.S. BTW the credit for alerting me to the wildflowers in Cottonwood Canyon goes to the author of the following blog. I came across his posts when looking for wildflower locations near our place and that is how we reached Cottonwood Canyon. Thanks kmw. It was a weekend well spent, all thanks to your tip.

Wildflowers at Shell Creek Road off CA-58

2008-04-15T12:00:00.000-07:00

The central California coast is looking magnificent this wildflower season. We went searching for them last weekend and once we were in the area, did not have to search much. They were pretty much everywhere. Lining the highways were yellow, lavendar and blue flowers (lupine) along with lots of california poppies. At times it was difficult to keep the eye on the road.

The following pictures were taken on Shell Creek Road, off CA-58, right before reaching the Carrizo Plain National Monument. Since it was not a freeway, there was plenty of time to walk around and observe the flowers at length.

Poppy fields in Lausanne

2008-04-07T22:30:00.000-07:00

These days there are california poppies blooming all around this place. They reminded me of these poppy fields growing in the wild that we came across outside Lausanne in Switzerland last year. We were having a hard time figuring our way out of the city in the car, when we came across these.

Getting lost can be fun sometimes.

Blooms at the Golden Gate State Park

2008-04-02T18:00:00.000-07:00

A picnic at Golden Gate State Park....
And the flowers were in full bloom after the long winter.
Spring is definitely here!

P.S. Mridula, this one is for you :-)

Mission Dolores

2008-03-10T21:43:00.000-07:00

We moved to the San Francisco area in August, and by the time we were all settled, the city was very cold. So at the first sight of pleasant weather, my husband dragged me to the city to explore -that was last weekend.

The Golden Gate Bridge, Fisherman's Wharf, Alcatraz, Crooked Street were all visited by us before so Sunit insisted we doscover the quainter historical parts - we decided to visit Mission Dolores - the oldest structure in San Francisco. Much of the structure, though restored, still stands on the original adobe walls and looks like how it did when it was constructed in the eighteenth century.

Here are some pictures from the trip.

Stained glass window inside the Basilica

The Basilica - I really liked the light streaming in from the stained glass windows and creating the red glow inside

The Cemetery - You can see that spring is here and cherry blossom trees are in full bloom

The Chapel

Light streaming in through a window in the Chapel

P.S. I am so glad spring is here and summer follows soon :-)

"Good Brakes, Good Horn and Good Luck"

2008-01-25T15:24:00.001-08:00

Ok so I have been absent for a while because of a number of reasons that are best left unsaid. But posts will be more regular from now on. Atleast so I hope....

One of the books that was a recent New York Times #1 bestseller and is available on all travel aisles in bookstores is "1000 Places to See before you die" - supposedly very popular these days. So when I was browsing through the travel channel TV guide and found a show by the same name, I was all curious.

In their own words about the show, the channel says - "1000 Places to See Before You Die chronicles the journey of a young couple - Albin and Melanie Ulle, who put their lives on hold to travel the world". Apparently they are getting an all expense paid trip to visit the places in the book over a period of 5 months.... That is definitely something I would love to do - put my life on hold and travel - but then always, there is my husband to bring me back to reality.

Now coming to the main story (yeah all this was just background), their most recent episode took them to India - Delhi and Agra specifically. The couple had a guide with them, a certain "Achala Sharma" who was orienting them. She took them in rickshaw and tuk-tuk, through some of the poorest and crowdiest of neighborhoods of Delhi. Honking in the west (read US) is a big no-no, and so when Albin asked her why do people in India honk so much, she said - "In India while driving all you need is good brakes, good horn and good luck" I thought that was a very interesting thought :-)

What are the actual places she took them to ? - Dilli Haat, Humayun's tomb, Gandhi Memorial, Red fort, Chandini Chowk, Spice Market, Bukhara, Hookah Bar (I haven't been to the last 2), Agra Fort, and of course, the quintessential for any visit to India - the Taj Mahal, which is a jaw dropping experience for any visitor. What surprised me though was that all frames showed a lot of poverty and crowds and traffic in India. A more balanced representation would have also included a trip to IIT, AIIMS, the high-rises, a couple of malls etc. But I was definitely glad there were no elephants or snake charmers in the show.

Fall Foliage at Yosemite

2007-11-05T21:20:00.000-08:00

Here are some random close-up shots of the fall colors at Yosemite. It was only last weekend that we went but it already seems like it was ages ago :-(

The first one is my favorite.

Fall in Yosemite

2007-10-30T18:00:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we travelled to Yosemite to see the fall colors. My online research showed that the peak fall color in the valley was likely to be for that particular weekend. And so I was all excited about the trip. To add to the fun, a couple of friends decided to join in too - the more the merrier.

Before we go into the actual description of the trip, some background is essential. When I came to the US it was to the east coast which is home to some of the best fall colors. While I do not miss all the cold and snow from the east coast, the 2 things I do miss here in California are the spring flowers and the fall colors. So when my husband went back to school on the east coast, I would travel every fall to meet him in the hope of seeing some color. But of course he was always busy and so we never made the trip. To cut a long story short, it was after a span of 7 years that I was hoping to see fall again.

We set off early morning (5 am - I absolutely insisted we leave early) and were inside the park by 9 am. It took us another 30 minutes or more to drive to the valley floor where the color was at its peak. It was stop and go after that even without the traffic - we wanted to stop at each and every bend :-)

The color was in plenty - the oaks, dogwoods etc. all were showing color. It was a pleasant day too. The colors were being clearly reflected in whichever rivers and ponds still had water (since by fall most of the water bodies are already drying up). We spent a good amount of time in the valley walking around, clicking pictures.

We later went to the mariposa grove and hiked a bit there. On our way back through the valley we noticed that the color was even brighter - it was changing fast, within a span of half a day.

The following day we travelled back - reaching the bay area by mid-afternoon, in time to get ready for the work-week ahead. It had been a little hectic but a very fulfilling weekend.

Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland

2007-10-16T08:20:00.000-07:00

My latest favorite place in the world is Lauterbrunnen. It is a beautiful valley near Interlaken.

For most Indians, Interlaken is synonymous with Yash Chopra movies and classic Swiss scenery. But about 20 miles from Interlaken, is this quaint little town and valley called Lauterbrunnen and this place formed the base of our Swiss travel in the Berner Oberland area.

While Interlaken boasts of all the touristy stuff, if you want to live close to the mountains and numerous waterfalls (close to nature as my mom would say), Lauterbrunnen is where you need to be. A small town, that leads to a beautiful valley, with waterfalls falling on either side. When we went out for our first walk on the valley floor, I stood at one point and counted the total number of waterfalls visible - the count was 11. Streams trickle down from anywhere and everywhere. My husband remarked - "This is much like Yosemite, but multiplied by 10'.

Days in this place just seemed to vanish - there was so much to do. There were beautiful walks on the valley floor next to the river, and numerous hikes, some to the top of waterfalls, others took you high onto the ridge surrounding the valley. One day was spent taking the cogwheel train to Jungfrau - the top of Europe. Another day was spent taking the lift to Murren and walking the flower trail over there (More on the flower trail in a later post).

On a rainy day (to my disappointment, I would have been happier closer to the valley), we also did the Golden Pass Scenic route in a train and explored the lakes near Interlaken. BTW that is where Interlaken gets its name - "Between the lakes" - it is between two lakes, Lake Thun and Lake Brienz.

Valley view from our hotel

I guess we were also very satisfied with our stay at this place - at the Staubach Hotel, a very comfortable and fairly reasonable hotel. The staff was very helpful and gave us numerous tips on things to do and places to eat in the area.

If I look back at our trip, I think we were happiest at Lauterbrunnen. Another time around, I would just plan to go to this area and spend a week there.

View of the valley from one of the mountains

Yellowstone National Park

2007-09-26T14:42:00.000-07:00

The first week of September we visited Yellowstone National Park, the oldest and first national park of the United States. It was one of those trips that we had always wanted to do but just hadn't gotten around to. To say that Yellowstone is huge would be an understatement. The Grand Loop which is about 150 miles of road covers only 1/5th of the park. The region is diverse - meandering rivers, waterfalls, canyons etc.

What it is most famous for, though, is that it is one of the most thermally active regions in US and probably the world. The place has a huge history of volcanic eruptions. And there are numerous hot springs, geysers, fumaroles, mud pots all across the park.

Its not just the fuming earth that one sees. There is mud throwing up with fumes, looking like paint pots going plop, plop. There are rainbow colored hot water springs because of the silica deposits and thermophiles at the bottom of the springs. There are also the numerous geysers throwing up water hundreds of feet up in the air at different times of day. Some are regular like the famous Old Faithful while others are irregular, they blow up whenever they feel like it, once in a few days, months or sometimes even years.

There is plenty of wildlife too. Elk, deer, bison, beaver, bear and numerous birds are all in plenty. We saw "Bears" allright, loads of them at close quarters, at the IMAX in West Yellowstone. So much for it being called bear country. But we saw numerous elk and bison. They were everywhere. There is no way one can visit Yellowstone and not see these. "Wildlife jams" are common early morning and in the evening. Either its a bison on the road slowing traffic down or its a bull elk bugling about near a river, attracting so much attention that people stop their cars right on the road to see whats happening.

This one particular bull elk that we saw near Madison River was notorious for causing jams. We saw it cause a jam each of the 5 days we were in the Park. The first couple of days we actually stopped, but later our main aim was to sneak our car through the jam as quickly as possible.

More (selected) pictures from the trip to Yellowstone can be viewed at this link

Lake Yellowstone

2007-09-25T12:00:00.000-07:00

I have been absent for a while but thats because we were moving and travelling more and there was just so much to do. Well I am back... and hopefully will be regular, because there is so much to catch up on.

And for those who have been bugging me about pictures from my Yellowstone trip, here's a teaser...with more to follow soon.

St. Gotthard Pass, Switzerland

2007-08-05T10:57:00.000-07:00

On a scenic drive from Luzern, we drove to the St. Gotthard pass. Here are some pictures from once we reached the pass.

This is definitely a must-do drive if you have a car in the Luzern area and is an easy, day trip. It is dangerously scenic - we had to make sure that whosoever was driving was concentrating on the road and not on the mountains around.

I am not lazy....

2007-08-03T00:24:00.000-07:00

...if thats what you people have been thinking. Infact things have been pretty hectic ever since we got back from our Europe trip.

I am moving....moving from San Diego to the bay area. I am leaving the place I have called home for the last 6.5 years, a place that I have grown to love, a place that still amazes me.

Sunit keeps reminding me we are moving to newer and fresher beginnings(and that we will make frequent visits to Yosemite, one of my favorite national parks).Too many things around me are changing too fast. Oh yes, I always knew I was to move someday. But somethings just hit you when they happen. So here I am just going with the flow, sometimes its best to let go.

Though I have to confess, a part of me occasionally does peek out excitedly to see whats in store - new friends, new places and a new home... :-)

This blog will be a little lazy for some time. But I will be back by the end of the month and will definitely write in detail about my Europe trip.

Till then...I guess its "happy" packing for me.

Beautiful cowbell land - Appenzell

2007-07-11T23:42:00.000-07:00

I had first seen the swiss cowbells in one of Yash Chopra's movies - DDLJ. And the area that comes closest to the Switzerland as how I imagined it to be, the land of cowbells, was - Appenzell. There were sloping hills, churches with spike towers, cows with cowbells...

When we drove towards Appenzell, it was raining. I was a little disappointed. But even with the clouds and rains, it was wonderful. And so disappointment gave way to smiles as we drove towards this place. I was looking forward to walking around in these hills.

The clouds cleared up the following day. And so we woke up early eager to step out and do some walks into the country side. To say that Appenzell is beautiful would be an understatement. It was almost magical after the rains from the previous day.

When we landed in Switzerland, one of the fellow travellers had quipped - "So are they landing our plane onto a farm or something". That is exactly how it felt - there were green sloping hills all around. And the color that hits you with a bang is "green".

Switzerland was great...onto Italy now

2007-06-25T14:02:00.000-07:00

Had my first good access to internet today - in Venice right now. The Switzerland part of the trip just ended and it could not have been better.

Till I get back to San Diego, here is something to feast your eyes on.

Chapel Bridge in Luzern

Lake Geneva at Montreux

And here is a quick one of Venice too...

Grand Canal at Venice

Its time for a break!!

2007-06-10T23:58:00.000-07:00

I am finally going on a vacation we have been planning for almost 5 months now. After a lot of roadblocks, buts and ifs, we have everything worked out.

The plan is to spend 11 days in Switzerland - Luzern, Appenzell, Lausanne, Lauterbrunnen. My parents will be joining us there while we wander about in the "Yash Chopra country". And then Sunit and I head off for 10 days to Italy - Venice, Florence and Rome. I can't wait to see the Sistine Chapel and walk around the Coloseum. And sit on the Spanish Steps.

We get back on 4th of July. We are not likely to have any internet access, if I do I will post some pictures. Else I will see you all after the trip. Happy blogging till then !!

Walk down the hill

2007-06-10T23:38:00.000-07:00

Spring was wonderful last year around our apartment. There had been plenty of rain, and flowers were in plenty all around. The hill opposite our apartment driveway was covered with big purple flowers. There were bright pink flowers along the sidewalk too.

But the flowers that most caught my fancy were a little way down the hill. Everyday as I would drive to work, I would pass this beautiful patch of orange california poppies and reddish-pink flowers. And I would think I have to walk down there someday. So one of the weekends, we decided to take a walk down the hill and look at them closely. Here are the pictures from that walk - as you can see we were wonderfully rewarded.

The rains weren't all that good this year. I waited for the patch to bloom this year, but there were very few flowers :-(

Torrey Pines State Park and Beach

2007-06-03T00:00:00.000-07:00

Everytime I think about San Diego, I feel lucky that I have spent the last 6.5 years in such a beautiful place. And when I tend to be forgetting, this place reinforces the same time and again.

Like the fact, that I can go for my morning walks to the Torrey Pines State Park and Beach, which is just 2-3 miles from our apartment. Every so often, when the realization dawns, I drag Sunit or some friend to the place.

The state park and beach are next to each other. The beach is infact visible from the hill where we rent our apartment. Its a long stretch of brown sand and while the section right next to the road is crowded, if one walks towards the state park there are fewer people and quieter moments to enjoy.

The park is more rugged, with extensive cliffs and canyon formations. And it is also the home to the Torrey Pine, a rare tree in US (and from where the park gets its name).

There are a number of short and long trails in the park that take to different scenic overlooks. Last time we dragged some visiting friends there, we packed a small picnic of sandwiches and after the hike, rewarded ourselves by sitting near a cliff and munching at our sandwiches while looking out to the sea and beach in the distance. What else can one ask for!

I would say the state park is a must see for anyone visiting San Diego over an extended period of time.

Whats in a name!

2007-05-31T23:48:00.000-07:00

I have been meaning to change the name of my blog for a long time now. No special reason - "Travel Memoirs" was always meant to be a temporary name till I came up with something I could associate more with.

So here it is - the new avatar for my blog - "BEYOND HERE".

For places which were represented in old world maps as "Beyond here there be dragons..."
For that feeling within, to reach beyond whats around.
And for places beyond here which beckon me...

P.S. The link remains the same. The basic theme remains the same. Just the name changes. After all, whats in a name!

Everglades National Park - II

2007-05-27T11:41:00.000-07:00

There is another thing Everglades is famous for and quite possibly why it is called everglades or sometimes the "river of grass".

The sawgrass found in the park is not stuck to the ground but is floating and making its way to the ocean continuously. The water flows slowly from a lake in the north to the Florida bay in the south, covering a distance of close to a 100 miles. Since the water is shallow and flows over limestone, the sawgrass found here is also flowing at a very slow rate (or so they say, because the rate at which it is flowing is so slow, that it was unnoticeable to the human eye).

The Skeleton Forest amidst the sawgrass

Endless views of this can be seen at the Pahayokee Overlook which is a boardwalk to a bridge that overlooks this "river of grass"

A bridge across nowhere - to the Pahayokee Overlook

Also interesting is the Mahagony Hammock trail. Its a boardwalk to a small hammock (small groups of trees) which is home to the oldest mahogany tree in US. Such hammocks are a common sight - while driving through the park you can see a lot of them floating among the everglades or the sawgrass.

The hammock islands in the floating sawgrass

When the hammocks run into the ocean they become part of the Ten Thousand Islands. The islands or rather islets (they are small groups of mangroves, that have detached from the main land and are so small that they are mostly uninhabitable) are not 10,000 in number, but they are numerous enough and are just called so.

Remember a picture I posted earlier - those islands in the distance are some of the Ten Thousand Islands.

We could afford only a day in the Everglades National Park and went from the Royal Palms Visitor Center to the Flamingo Vistor Center, taking short walks/trails along the way. We ended our day at the Park at the Flamingo center where we took a boat ride through the mangroves in the park.

Mangroves - interesting roots

Everglades National Park - I (Anhinga Trail)

2007-05-26T16:31:00.000-07:00

When we decided to go to Everglades National Park for a day trip from Orlando, there was just one thing I knew about the place - I would see loads of alligators.

The first one we spotted

The guidebooks or websites warned, though, that while there is a good chance of seeing wildlife in the Park, nothing is guaranteed. So when we started on the Anhinga Trail and saw the first alligator, I remarked to my husband - "Look at this closely, this might be the only one we see today". I could not have been more wrong.

For by the time we were done with Anhinga Trail alone, we had seen close to 30-40 alligators, in different sizes, most with their mouths shut but some with their mouths open. They were everywhere. And we saw them throughout the park. Even when we stopped my a small lake just for a quiet, peaceful moment, one of these swam up to the shore to bless us with his sight.

The trail also provided lots of opportunities for bird watching - herons, egrets, anhingas were in abundance here. This particular bird (in the first picture below) was a dare devil of sorts - she would try to peck at the camera if you brought it too close, but refused to budge an inch from where it stood.

The Anhinga trail is a short, easy walk (.5 miles I think, you can hardly call it a "trail") and close to the main entrance of the park. Its definitely a must see for any visitor to the park.

Fatehpur Sikri

2007-05-14T18:13:00.000-07:00

I was looking through my pictures and came across some of Fatehpur Sikri. And I wondered - how come I never wrote about it ? Was it simply because the touts made it impossible for me to enjoy the place ? Or was it because the weather was so hot ?

Don't get me wrong, the place itself is beautiful. And the architecture great and awe inspiring, especially the red sandstone made it look out of the world. Infact I was reminded of quite a few scenes of the movie Pardes. But still....

So I decided to pen down what were the precise reasons that put me off.

Reason 1: First impression - We approached the fort through a small bazaar outside the fort. There were touts in the bazaar who insisted that we stop our car and pay them some amount for parking near the fort. They were using a thick rope as a makeshift barrier to stop passerbys like us.

Reason 2: As soon as we got out of the car, there were guides pursuing us like crazy. There seemed to be no official place to get any ticket/information on the place. Apparently the fort itself is managed by the local board or something (I forget) and so there is no one to enforce propriety.

Reason 3: This is a trivial reason, but I distinctly remember that we were not allowed to wear shoes in some portions and the ground was burning hot.

Reason 4: Even when we went inside the dargah of Salim Chishti, a priest/qazi put a hand behind my head and before I knew what was happening, with a hard push bent it in front of the dargah. Then with a long bunch of feathers he blessed me and asked me to pay some money as "donation". Of course I paid up the damages (I am sorry, I can't call it an offering since it was not of my own free will). But even after that they would not let me stand for a couple of minutes in the dargah. "Move ahead", he said.

In all fairness, here are some high-points of the place.

1. The red sandstone architecture and the expansive courtyard.

2. The intricately carved windows inside the dargah, made of a single marble piece.

3. The magnificence of the huge Buland Darwaza, even though it was infested with bee nests (honeycombs) at the very top.

4. The hawker outside that was selling cool and refreshing fruit salad and kakri (type of cucumber).

But I really wish the government would pay more attention to the upkeep and maintenance of these monuments. And do something about these touts.

An Unexpected Visitor

2007-05-04T17:47:00.000-07:00

We had an unexpected visitor the other day.

I was at work and my husband was at home. We were discussing something on the phone when my husband exclaimed - "Oh My God! There's a deer under our balcony. I will have to call you back". And he hung up on me.

I would have rather had him on the phone, narrating each little bit. I heard back from him,though, an hour later when he sent in these pictures to me. They still made my day.

Some background might be useful. We live in an apartment that overlooks the Los Penaquitos Canyon on the back side. There is a walkway at the rear and a fence that separates the canyon from the apartment community. You can see the latter in the last picture.

Now my husband at one time refused to believe that there are any deer near our home. I had seen them multiple times before - once in our apartment parking lot and once around a sharp bend on the road at night. When I told him about them, he had replied back, saying - "It was dark, it was probably a dog". Till one day we were walking back from a neighbor's place and he saw a family/group of deer (isn't there a name for that? ) behind the fence in the canyon. He has been a believer ever since.

And the other's day incident served as a double confirmation.

Soarin' at Epcot

2007-05-03T17:50:00.000-07:00

My writings on Epcot are not complete without this - my favorite ride at Epcot was "Soaring". It was a simulator ride which made you feel as if you were gliding or soaring over California. An exhillarating feeling and more so for us since we have been living in California for six and a half years. The ride provided a different view of the all too familiar sights of California to us.

While I don't have any picture of the ride itself (we were all buckled up and everything), here is one of a nice exhibit outside the same ride.

And a link from Disney's website with more insight into the ride.

As a side note, there is a "test track" ride also in Epcot. Its famed as one of the fastest and longest rides in Disney history. And that was enough to scare me out of taking a ride on it. I am yet to hear the end of it from my husband because I wouldn't let him ride it either.

An Inconvenient Truth

2007-04-22T06:16:00.000-07:00

Disclaimer: No, its not an advertisement for the documentary. Though I was seeing it last night and am still thinking about it today.

For quite some time now, we(work colleagues) have been having a discussion - to recycle or not ? Is global warming for real ? Or is it just one of the cyclical warmings that happens every so many years (we've had numerous such cycles in the history of this planet) and will most likely be followed by another Ice age ? Is it too egoistic of man to think that he can effect nature in such a big way ?

I had been meaning to see the documentary for a long time now. And I finally rented it yesterday. 5 minutes into the documentary, I was in for a shock when Gore compared pictures of glaciers receding from mountains from 30 years before and 2005. What was even more alarming was the rate at which they were receding. Now these were places I some day hope to visit (as do many of you, I guess), and to think that they will be altered so much before I even get to catch a glimpse of them.

Another hour into the documentary, and I paused it. Gore was now talking about the Arctic and Antarctic glaciers. More particularly, the break up of Larsen B glacier ice shelf in Antarctica. In a matter of 35 days (this is not a typo), a glacier that was miles long, disappeared. It baffled even scientists - a mass they thought would be stable for about 100 years or more, gone within a span on 35 days.

All political propaganda aside (there is lots of it in the documentary), the documentary was definitely a blow in the face to wake up. Even we are seeing the consequences of global warming - how else does one explain Hurricane Katrina or the torrential rains in Mumbai ?

So what can we do ? What can just one person do ? After all, isn't the government first required to pass some regulation to reduce carbon emissions ?

The good thing is we can do a lot.
To start off, here is a list of 10 things easy enough for anyone of us to do (from www.climatecrisis.net).

Time magazine came out with another list of 51 things we all can do. While some of the ideas here may seem far fetched, but some are definitely doable.

Or just go and see this documentary, rent it. Check the facts for yourself on the internet that are mentioned in the documentary.

Or see this page on wikipedia on global warming.

It is an inconvenient TRUTH, the operative word being TRUTH.

P.S. Just realized, its Earth Day today. Talk about timing!

Experimental Projects for Communities Of Tomorrow

2007-04-20T12:58:00.000-07:00

I am still at the airport, my flight is still not here and I continue writing.

So as I mentioned in the last post, while in Orlando we visited the Epcot Centre. EPCOT, the word, stands for Experimental Project for Communities of Tomorrow. It was a Disney park, but with a difference - more nature and environment oriented, had some interesting shows and rides highlighting the interactions of humans with Nature, a world pavilion showcasing different cultures of the world etc.

True to its name, there were many experimental projects being showcased also. One of these, which really had us interested, was their greenhouse effort, where they were experimenting with different ways of growing plants.

For example, these chilli peppers that are being grown in small amounts of soil with just enough nutrient being provided. And you can also see the tomato vines hanging from the top and getting their nutrients from the centre tree trunk.

Or these melons/cantaloupes growing from the top too. Notice that in both these cases, there is some soil but the plant nutrient is being provided through the pipes.

The clincher, though were these hanging vines of tomatoes and flowers that were being grown without the use of any soil. The tomato vines were revolving on a ring and when their roots passed through a sub section of the ring, they were sprayed with water and nutrient.

Similarly for these violas, the nutrient was being sprayed directly onto the flowers and leaves.

Two different kind of flower arrangements

2007-04-15T06:57:00.000-07:00

I am sitting at the Chicago airport, gate L2A, waiting for my connection to Detroit. And loads of time to kill. And since there is no wireless hotspot here, I thought might as well catch up on some of the blogging. I can type up the posts and then post them when I reach Ann Arbor.

versus

So I searched my computer for recent pictures and found some from our recent trip to Orlando. They were all taken at the Disney's Epcot Centre. (As a side note, I am a big fan of Disney parks, I have been to the LA Disneyland atleast 5-6 times in the last 6 years that I have been in San Diego).

versus

It being spring time there were flowers in abundance. Now I am a big fan of flowers growing just as they are vs. flowers that are made to look like something else. I remember commenting the same on one of Sigma's post too. In any case, when I found the latter mixed with my all time favorite Disney characters, it became hard to make the same choice. Here are the pictures of both kind.

versus

Its a lonely world out there

2007-04-03T22:55:00.000-07:00

Its a lonely world out there

P.S. This is a view of the Florida Bay from Flamingo at the Everglades National Park.
Just got back from a trip to Orlando and southern Florida, details to follow soon.

"Oh!" for Orchids

2007-03-18T20:26:00.000-07:00

I had some friends come over for dinner last night. And one of them brought for me this huge tray full of the most lovely flowers - Orchids.

It took me quite a while to snip and snap the stems and arrange the flowers in the different vases ( I was able to fill up 6 bud vases in all) and even after that I had a small tray of flowers left over.

But once it was all done, they made a pretty sight. And I went "Oh!" for Orchids.

P.S. Love the flowers - thanks Rosalyn.

Joshua Tree National Park - The Colorado Desert

2007-03-07T15:44:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned in my last post, JTNP is the location where 2 different desert ecosystems come together, the Mojave Desert and the Colorado Desert. While the Mojave Desert is at higher elevations (above 3000ft) and is characterized by the Joshua Trees, the lower elevations (less than 3000 ft) is part of the Colorado Desert and home to some very interesting cactii species.

The Pinto Basin

We entered the part from the North Entrance (Twentynine Palms) and very soon we were surrounded by the vastness of the Colorado Desert. As we drove along, and took mini-trails to capture the scenes into our camera, we realized that the camera was not doing justice to the views. The panoramic views of the Pinto basin, for example, as captured by the camera were not half as good as the actual views themselves. Now that may be our camera (we have a point and shoot and not a digital SLR and I have been making a case to my husband to buy a DSLR) or it maybe the fact that the field of vision of the human eye is much bigger than what any camera has.

The Cholla Cactus Garden

In any case, as we saw the Pinto Basin in the distance and drove towards it, we noticed a cactii "garden" of sorts on our right hand side. I call it a garden because it was actually a fairly small concentrated patch, in the middle of nowhere, of these strange looking cactii called the Cholla (its not pronounced chholla, but rather choya). They had dark brown trunks and yellowish green prickly tips.

A closer look at this strange cactus

There were warning signs telling us to keep to the path because the prickly tops "fly" (break and even a slight wind draft is enough to carry them into the air) and stick to passerbys. The needles apparently are a pain to take out.

The Octillo Cactus

Next to the Cholla garden were also these Octillo cactii - now these I am sure I had seen before in the Anza Borrego Desert. Actually I saw one of them there and here they were in plenty.

I was definitely more impressed by the Joshua tree but the Cholla cactii were also nice and different to look at. And so though there was not much to see in the lower elevations of the park, the time spent there was not totally wasted. Plus the view of the Pinto Basin was enough for me to go "wow! that is huge".

Joshua Tree National Park

2007-03-04T22:40:00.000-08:00

This weekend we travelled to the Joshua Tree National Park.

It was my idea. And my husband just played along. I had gotten a book recently from Barnes and Noble on the National Parks of US and while going through it, I realized that we were just a 2.5 hour drive from this park. So I waited eagerly for the right weather and some free time, and off we went.

From San Diego, we started early in the morning and reached the north entrance visitor centre at about 11 in the morning. To be honest, there was not much I expected - from the pictures in the book it was not a typical desert with sand dunes and unlike Rajasthan back in India, it did not even have forts to offer. It was more out of curiosity - after all the most scenic spots in US are preserved as National Parks.

When we finally entered the park and drove through the place, what greeted us totally took us by surprise. I am sure my husband shared my feelings - he mentioned he was glad to come to the Park after every 20-30 minutes.

As I mentioned, the vastness of the place totally took us by surprise. The stark browns against the clear blue skies were really pleasant to look at. A quick reading of the information at the visitor centre told us that the Park contained 2 distinct desert eco-systems out of the 4 major deserts in US - the Colorado desert at the lower elevations and the Mojave desert at the higher elevations.

Our first sight of the Joshua tree completely awed us. Not a typical tree loaded with leaves and not a typical cactus with stocky, green stems and thorns. They looked like a blend of both, with trunks and branches like those of trees and bunches of cactus on the tips of branches. Joshua trees were located in the Mojave part of the park, at higher elevations. And they were all around in that area. One of the strangest looking tree we had seen.

I need to write more on this trip, about the Colorado part of the desert, but thats for a later post.

Best Restaurants - San Diego ( Earlier was - View of downtown San Diego at night)

2007-02-11T23:14:00.000-08:00

When I started off this post, I wanted to write about this wonderful restaurant Sunit and I went to over the weekend - Bertrand at Mister A's. And the even better view the place afforded of downtown San Diego at night. But as I looked at the post closer, it looked more like a best restaurant guide for San Diego. So I went ahead and changed the title.

Remember, I am a vegetarian so most of the recommendations are based on the vegetarian fare these places afford. Plus I have a sweet tooth - so sumptuous desserts are a must for any place that I must like.

Bertrand at Mr A's - We went to celebrate a special occasion. A pretty formal place where most people (including those waiting upon you) are dressed in suits. We started off with a Cream of Artichoke soup which quite frankly was the best part of the meal for me. They have an extensive wine list which was difficult to sift through. But their veggie tempuras were pretty much like the pakoras in India. And the white and dark chocolate mousse bars were good to taste and great to look at with all the chocolate curls topping the bars.

For the best desserts in San Diego, its definitely "Extraordinary Desserts" by Karen Krasne. Generally crowded so expect to stand in a line. And if you are lucky and torta-misu is on the menu, don't miss it.

For fusion cuisine, I like Kemo Sabe - their crusted brie appetizer is something to die for. And their creme brulee is great (both to eat and look at)

Then there is Parallel 33 - it serves fusion cuisine from countries located on the 33rd parallel. The food is good, especially their lentil soup. And for dessert, their Meqdool date madeleines served with rose ice-cream should definitely not be missed.

And among the italian fares, there is La Dolce Vita in La Jolla downtown. It has a very nice ambience, you can sit outside on their patio by the fountain and sometimes you will have live italian songs being sung.

Ok, so you get it - I could carry on and on and this list would not end. I live to eat. But this recent trip to Bertrand, their food and the downtown view from there did make me think that San Diego has a lot, a good lot infact, to offer in terms of eating choices.

The Sheesh Mahal at Amer Fort

2007-02-02T21:54:00.000-08:00

One thing we regretted during our visit to the Amer Fort was not taking a guide outside. We were convinced we would find one inside at a lower rate. As luck would have it, we did not find one inside. So as we moved from one part of the fort to the other we had no idea of what it was we were actually looking at or what the stories behind the walls were.

My husband and brother-in-law, however, resorted to a sneaky way of getting the information. In order to catch snippets of guide talk, they would walk close to the guides who were with other people and try to eavesdrop on their stories.

And it is through this channel that we found that the chambers we had been marvelling at the most were those of the "Sheesh Mahal" - some sort of victory hall.

While there is no more information I have on these halls, I really did like 2 particular sections - one was the mirror inlaid walls and ceiling and the other one was the wall with the painted blue and yellow vases.

What would be really good though is if these places could provide some sort of pamphlet (along with the entry tickets) talking about the history and significance of the site. I know - that would still not provide all the juicy, fictitious stories that get passed from one generation of guides to the other, but it would atleast give some historical facts on the place.

Amer Fort - First Impressions

2007-01-29T19:20:00.000-08:00

After having a hefty breakfast at our hotel, on our very first morning in Jaipur, we left for Amer fort. It is about 12kms from Jaipur. And if I remember correctly, was built by Raja Man Singh.

Our first glimpse of the fort and its imposing walls - And we all sat up in our seats eagerly awaiting for what was in store. There are 2 ways to approach the main fort - first is on elephant back and up the ramps along the fort walls and second is to drive your vehicle right upto the main entrance and then climb the stairs to the main door of the fort.

Since our little one (Kuhu) was also travelling with us, we took the less adventurous route and decided to drive upto the main entrance (Mind you, that was not less exciting to say the least. The road is very narrow and steep at times and carves its way right through the village and up the hill. And if you are not careful enough, you will miss the turn from the village to the fort road atleast once if not more - we managed to miss that turn twice.)

Then of course, as soon as we reached the main entrance we were surrounded by the all too familiar guides and touts wanting to take our family inside. In any case, after some time in the line for the ticket, we finally made our way into the fort.

Surrounded by barren land and bare vegetation on all sides, hardly any people in sight, one could easily imagine what an imposing effect the fort would have had on the enemies and friends alike.

I was talking to a friend the other day and telling her about our visit to Amer fort, and she said she remembered sitting inside the fort (she had been there before) and imagining herself to be the queen coming up the ramps on her elephants, or sometimes looking down at the court proceedings from the "jharokas" made specially for that purpose. She very aptly summarized the first impression Amer fort has on most people.

High point of my trip to India

2007-01-28T18:14:00.000-08:00

I was sifting through last year's pictures, sorting them and archiving them, when I realized that there is loads of blogging of my travels that I actually never got around to doing. So my resolution for this year (I know, I am already a month late) is to blog all my last year's travels. (Lets see how far I keep up to it)

I am going to start right off with my latest trip - a trip to India. A lot many highlights of the trip - a trip to Jaipur, meeting my cousins and their children, attending a friend's wedding and eating loads of moong dal halwa. But the high point of the trip was definitely getting to meet my niece for the first time.

She was 3 months old when I landed and a complete bundle of cuteness with all her stares and tantrums. Made sure every one catered to her every whim and need. And we all did, after all this was the first little one in our family. So while details of our trip to Jaipur will follow in later posts, this one is for my niece - Kuhu.