Beyond Here

A friend recently asked about places to eat at Berkeley. I have been going to Berkeley for work for almost 6 years now and so in no particular order, here are the places I have liked over the years. 1. Jazz Cafe     This comes up first because I go there so often. The food is flavorful, menu is limited. The specials are exceptional and this place serves a Caesar Salad I could eat for life. 2. Cheeseboard Pizza     They have one vegetarian pizza on the menu, its different everyday. But you can never go wrong. Live music most afternoons and a casual vibe. Grab your pizza and if there is no space find a park/bench nearby. Its a worker cooperative, just adds to the appeal. 3. Finfine Ethiopian     For family style, finger-licking, good Ethiopian food, this is my place. Never disappoints - I ate my first piece of chicken here, got so tempted after looking at Mr. S's dish. (This place has since closed.) 4. Chez Panisse     This is for the c...

... this time with the island in between.

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.

The water was this calm and blue....

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 :)

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.

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.

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.

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.

A scenic barn near Stowe in New England

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

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.

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.

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.

View from our window... Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.4

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.

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...

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. Published with Blogger-droid v1.4.7