tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-52685542919575558062024-03-19T08:22:59.948-04:00Footloose on the FreewayKavithahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00820299129749053242noreply@blogger.comBlogger54125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5268554291957555806.post-10592681107741280572012-04-15T00:09:00.027-04:002012-04-15T06:22:10.684-04:00Into the wild - Bandhavgarh National Park<div style="text-align: justify;"><span><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; ">Visiting a national park in India has been one of my dreams, especially considering that I have seen numerous pictures of Indian wildlife and caught myself longing to capture some of those animals on camera. So, we began our meticulous planning for a wildlife trip. We decided on Bandhavgarh National Park in Madhya Pradesh(MP) because of its high tiger density.</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify; "><span><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify; "><span>We live in Mumbai with no real flight options, the only direct flight from Mumbai to Jabalpur </span><span style="font-size: 100%; ">was cancelled thanks to the Kingfisher drama. So, we resorted to taking a train to Katni which is 95km by road from the park. My wife did an insane amount of re</span><span style="font-size: small; ">search and finalized on Pugdundee Safaris' "Tree House Hideaway" for our stay. In hindsight, I realize what a wonderful decision that was.</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify; "><span><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><img style="text-align: justify;float: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px; " src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPbuxytOEi6iJ2jXxm3XU_5hAJsmusqUXA7sIuqUl0viRlz7jZ7UR0kg-yMO95TgiIAeVlaCm2FAdul9soBANaetLczVbY3t_01oByVeZT1cqf9iJ-pdj72WAEDYYV8f7dzLbynyDc0g0/s320/TREE+HOUSE+3.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5731478120464885938" /></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify; "><span>Tree House Hideaway has been inspired by the Treehouse concept that is common in African jungles and they've done a fantastic job! They have very thoughtfully equipped luxury rooms atop trees. Ther</span><span style="font-size: 100%; ">e are all of five treehouses ensuring that it never gets crowded and every guest receives individual attention and pampering. Their package includes s</span><span style="font-size: 100%; ">tation pick-up and drop, forest entry and safaris, stay and 3 delicious meals a day.</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify; "><span><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify; "><span><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify; "><span>Day 1: </span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify; "><span>After a 16 hour train journey from Mumbai, we reached Katni at about 3.30 pm on a Thursday. We reached the resort at about 6pm after spotting a Nilghai and a few deer on the way. We checked into the resort and after a light tasty dinner, s</span><span style="font-size: 100%; ">ettled into a night of anticipation before our first safari the next morning.</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify; "><span><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify; "><span>Day 2: </span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify; "><span>We received the wake up call at 4.45am and were out of the room by 5.15am. Our Gypsy was waiting outside and we boarded it after grabbing some coffee and cookies. We were given blankets to cover ourselves as it was mildly chilly when we left. Our first Safari was</span><span style="font-size: 100%; ">at the Magdhi Zone or Zone 2 of the park, which is a relatively newer zone created to </span><span style="font-size: 100%; ">accommodate the increasing crowds visiting the park every year. On our way, we pick</span><span style="font-size: 100%; ">ed up our permits (which had been reserved well ahead of time by fantastic folks at Pugdundee</span><span style="font-size: 100%; ">) and we were the 5th jeep at the park entrance. The drive began at 6 </span><span style="font-size: 100%; ">am sharp and the excitement started kicking in slowly. We didnt go 500m before we saw one jeep stopping ahead of us to take a picture. We caught a Jungle cat, probably hunting for an early morning snack in the grass.</span><span style="font-size: 100%; "> Apparently a Jungle cat is a rare sight and we considered ourselves lucky.</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><img style="text-align: justify;display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 220px; " src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLcYe-ZyTpxKCkc6LiAoZQsGphyphenhyphenYcIGlD9qtYoVzbq15ZxbtEr9BpkkMyd4TcRI63Kk24tiaTTtJhOTIMq_AavZRFLuaHCI4_KwQU1b2vIm8lcpUN39Xo7uFRovCnhczLGodss3fV-yqs/s320/JUNGLE+CAT1.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5731480471944351906" /></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify; "><span>Our driver Wasim was a young guy and he knew the jungle roads like his backyard. While we looked intently for pug marks and signs of a tiger, we spotted numerous birds getting up and about at daybreak.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw7Uln2XiHPDndRdZWtnKbi1XohHoOSegICWKlfjIE25JrhQxX-PmwwltI1HR5ecWxzG5sARWl1DVtpEHl-YF0RCfNOyHuFPo5ZYvBXlUch7wU1PjDM-QHRdIlIedYCEStWQXnAKhaObY/s1600/PEACOCK1.JPG"><img style="text-align: justify;display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px; " src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw7Uln2XiHPDndRdZWtnKbi1XohHoOSegICWKlfjIE25JrhQxX-PmwwltI1HR5ecWxzG5sARWl1DVtpEHl-YF0RCfNOyHuFPo5ZYvBXlUch7wU1PjDM-QHRdIlIedYCEStWQXnAKhaObY/s320/PEACOCK1.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5731481252470732642" /></a><br />Our drive continued towards water holes and regular visiting spots of the tigers, but no luck yet. We saw a Sambar deer and langurs and we continued our drive for the next 1.5 hours. The gypsy drivers asked each other if they had seen a tiger and used the information to plan their routes. </span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify; "><span><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdF_tkVwMZPw4T7m9dt-gofvOajAXN3DkXvtvP8dih6f1B0vHrpf2ZldCzG2dciCp_OWbmB8GBttYYw1WDXI5OndbGb1QuWlmoj7k1BsXDOZMll-2HJdVYD8APMLcRsSYy0XHD02Lqk9M/s1600/DRIVERS+EXCHANGING+INFO.JPG"><img style="text-align: justify;display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px; " src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdF_tkVwMZPw4T7m9dt-gofvOajAXN3DkXvtvP8dih6f1B0vHrpf2ZldCzG2dciCp_OWbmB8GBttYYw1WDXI5OndbGb1QuWlmoj7k1BsXDOZMll-2HJdVYD8APMLcRsSYy0XHD02Lqk9M/s320/DRIVERS+EXCHANGING+INFO.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5731481615726350754" /></a></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify; "><span>Midway we made a stop for coffee, juice and fruits that the resort had sent along for us. Moving on, we drove to a watering hole where we saw a few jeeps waiting as they had just heard an alarm call. We stopped too and patiently waited for about half an hour expecting the tiger. But we weren't too lucky and the tiger never showed up. We were running out of time and started driving towards the exit gate. We drove back cracking jokes at people who were totally sullen or angry as they had not spotted a tiger. I daresay we were among the few who didn't mind it so much. After all we went there for a wilderness experience and were alright saving the tiger for another day.</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify; "><span><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify; "><span><span>We reached the resort where hot breakfast was waiting for us. This was when we</span> met a naturalist, Saravana Kumar, who incidentally hails from Tamil Nadu like us. He works half of every year leading nature and wildlife trips in India. He was currently hosting a couple from Switzerland. We ended up chatting quite a bit with him and became friends. </span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify; "><span><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify; "><span>After a refreshing shower and a relaxing nap, we had lunch and were ready for our evening safari. Since we had booked the evening safari in Tala zone or Zone 1 (which was in higher demand due to better chances of spotting tigers), we didnt want to be too late. </span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify; "><span><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify; "><span>The safari gates opened at 3.30pm and we were just ahead of time. As we entered the park, the excitement kicked in again. We went to a Vishnu statue in the Tala zone right at the footsteps of the famous Bandhavgarh Fort. After a few minutes there, we continued our drive. We were driving around for about an hour with no tiger in sight. Nevertheless, we had a great time sighting deer, birds and langurs. </span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify; "><span><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2VOSgUnTpoDe9-A7r0iDtVTi1vvmf5G8YPXBV3pYYK1qlGeytDvaAAqwTWAhNIq9qcput6ZHW22_OcPSIX7DunE_MOahpvIMRBQN5BzxrUiTFbTDHQg5CLCcm43KmD13EG71dKsr0-6M/s1600/SAMBAR3.JPG"><img style="text-align: justify;display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px; " src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2VOSgUnTpoDe9-A7r0iDtVTi1vvmf5G8YPXBV3pYYK1qlGeytDvaAAqwTWAhNIq9qcput6ZHW22_OcPSIX7DunE_MOahpvIMRBQN5BzxrUiTFbTDHQg5CLCcm43KmD13EG71dKsr0-6M/s320/SAMBAR3.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5731482175637246738" /></a><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify; "><span>We then reached a spot where about 10 jeeps had parked and our driver indicated there was a tiger for sure. We stopped and looked at the direction where everyone was looking and there she was! The Banbehi female Tigress with her three cubs! I had my camera gear ready and tried to get a good angle but there were too many bushes obstructing our view. Just then, we sensed movement in the bushes and our driver did a great job by quickly driving a little off the road, passed a few jeeps and stopped ahead of all the jeeps right in the middle of a small bridge. Moments later, one of the cubs slowly walked out of the bushes into the clearing, he walked towards the road, snarled at us, crossed the road, and walked towards his kill (a sambar carcass lying under the bridge). He made sure it was still there, then went to the stream for a sip of water, and took a nice short swim in the water. He then decided to walk around the rest of the jeeps, crossed the road again and sat comfortably under a shade. All this took about 10 minutes and I would have fired close to 350 photographs. There were moments when I was standing on the open gypsy with one foot on the windsheild and the other on the driver's headrest. We watched the tiger family for the next hour or so until it was time to leave the park. We couldn't have been more satisfied and I was elated at having shot nearly 600 photographs of just one tiger!</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify; "><span><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify; "><span> A few pictures below:</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify; "><span><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhliz8s-lBVfL0ECNnI0lYHDOWrA6YRRD8FUTSZnrb1lsZUjiXs0TTpq1EzGsmhkRfsK9c1Vp5087Xhivi2Uz4U97JI6b5pXDfw6hOfP4qDLrjeDedirdzm2Y4B0KQ_it4wfRLaY-_maUs/s1600/T53.JPG"><img style="text-align: justify;display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px; " src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhliz8s-lBVfL0ECNnI0lYHDOWrA6YRRD8FUTSZnrb1lsZUjiXs0TTpq1EzGsmhkRfsK9c1Vp5087Xhivi2Uz4U97JI6b5pXDfw6hOfP4qDLrjeDedirdzm2Y4B0KQ_it4wfRLaY-_maUs/s320/T53.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5731483296635811362" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeDHy5Os733KtiidRlIHAQS2yZT9wXInoY8uoFgg_inE3k3SMD7u2dATlOmyeRqwAAwbTBxFXBKITX8WQDijZtUYTNkybo8GtyeZ2LyI58-4V5UzwvL-1VoAaqaM18JOvkw51yivN4e1E/s1600/T20.JPG"><img style="text-align: justify;display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px; " src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeDHy5Os733KtiidRlIHAQS2yZT9wXInoY8uoFgg_inE3k3SMD7u2dATlOmyeRqwAAwbTBxFXBKITX8WQDijZtUYTNkybo8GtyeZ2LyI58-4V5UzwvL-1VoAaqaM18JOvkw51yivN4e1E/s320/T20.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5731483200125012930" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLLsFqYehm-x9tPCdkpgySk_iywCyp9d_7jYDxYLqQDaszFi3oIUG-bxVKFqzZf2goYuQS7qhM80eyrkzSNGKCKGp-zBYAQUTxv7tiuH6_YNRMZzWWLJJqbc4JIlkhO-LuR9XgIhGzc8c/s1600/T10_2.JPG"><img style="text-align: justify;display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; width: 271px; height: 320px; " src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLLsFqYehm-x9tPCdkpgySk_iywCyp9d_7jYDxYLqQDaszFi3oIUG-bxVKFqzZf2goYuQS7qhM80eyrkzSNGKCKGp-zBYAQUTxv7tiuH6_YNRMZzWWLJJqbc4JIlkhO-LuR9XgIhGzc8c/s320/T10_2.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5731483092363424434" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpdENux5yJaYyl7twpden8ijsiqMlptd8qkT3SVeyKdA6oqW7X1G9HlR-h8nkQbJ3DWZvYxMw3SlKM6NmlA3Xlx74kQK9_4MaTPpq9mEqCDRJkViMBqJgLrCUE1fICxF16J13hJ5uYwzI/s1600/T3_2.JPG"><img style="text-align: justify;display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 236px; " src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpdENux5yJaYyl7twpden8ijsiqMlptd8qkT3SVeyKdA6oqW7X1G9HlR-h8nkQbJ3DWZvYxMw3SlKM6NmlA3Xlx74kQK9_4MaTPpq9mEqCDRJkViMBqJgLrCUE1fICxF16J13hJ5uYwzI/s320/T3_2.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5731483015993957490" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBREyDsO4nbCEsM0ZZMwgJJf1zxEwd8RxDju_BswKQNMMNOP0-jb7WiS92V8E2zx1E3_SWhFUxc7R27LdWhwr1W-DqDvyf9tYXTeZpezdDPTkBXNqo3CPFa_iKWZK9dth1YEtD-yhqSDI/s1600/T1.JPG"><img style="text-align: justify;display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px; " src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBREyDsO4nbCEsM0ZZMwgJJf1zxEwd8RxDju_BswKQNMMNOP0-jb7WiS92V8E2zx1E3_SWhFUxc7R27LdWhwr1W-DqDvyf9tYXTeZpezdDPTkBXNqo3CPFa_iKWZK9dth1YEtD-yhqSDI/s320/T1.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5731482917126393122" /></a><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify; "><span>We went back to the resort feeling triumphant and exchanged hi-fives with the resort owner (a Dutch expat who runs the 2 Pugdundee resorts at Badhavgarh with his girlfriend). After exchanging a few stories with him and fellow travelers over dinner it was time for bed before another early morning drive into the jungle.</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify; "><span><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify; "><span><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify; "><span>Day 3:</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify; "><span>We started our day at 4.45am and were thrilled to see that the resort had honored our request for the same driver who drove us the previous evening. After all, he was the one who made me climb atop his gypsy so that I could get great photographs of the tigers, and were reluctant to lose him! And before we knew it, we were entering the Magdhi zone. This time, wiser from the experience of the previous two drives, we kind of knew what to look far in the jungle and spotted a beautiful Changeable Hawk Eagle in the first 10 minutes. He was busy eating his morning breakfast and gave me ample opportunity to capture bird and prey to my heart's content! </span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify; "><span><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixrcEWdTwIiFr93E0FFX7xASAbPvQqQnfuJQEgzAaLjYEzMvsl07rQ9QaQthHLXHCVGiiB-R8y-ZNZENdLCR8qYPMyWHksmkhTZuNlcpkGex60Enj1s1YjXveN6RZikpCKox08i1WTyiQ/s1600/CHANGEABLE+HAWK+EAGLE2.JPG"><img style="text-align: justify;display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px; " src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixrcEWdTwIiFr93E0FFX7xASAbPvQqQnfuJQEgzAaLjYEzMvsl07rQ9QaQthHLXHCVGiiB-R8y-ZNZENdLCR8qYPMyWHksmkhTZuNlcpkGex60Enj1s1YjXveN6RZikpCKox08i1WTyiQ/s320/CHANGEABLE+HAWK+EAGLE2.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5731483792712302658" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv9DUoF0wcqTIKrEDv4zYJE9yvTupDYxbR-N5eb5rRNAy5NDOahJW3VS0aY37llBsudFp__ZE45C96fuUtFyt8nKh5UzjAngE3SL1bpMqRqPCSWBsadbEKGLzzdisY3Y-9jM_g9zoPlHQ/s1600/CHANGEABLE+HAWK+EAGLE+1.JPG"><img style="text-align: justify;display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px; " src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv9DUoF0wcqTIKrEDv4zYJE9yvTupDYxbR-N5eb5rRNAy5NDOahJW3VS0aY37llBsudFp__ZE45C96fuUtFyt8nKh5UzjAngE3SL1bpMqRqPCSWBsadbEKGLzzdisY3Y-9jM_g9zoPlHQ/s320/CHANGEABLE+HAWK+EAGLE+1.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5731483713179548146" /></a></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify; "><span><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify; "><span>As we continued our drive, we learned from one of the forest rangers that a tiger has been spotted in the other end of the zone and we decided to head there. The driver cautioned that it was going to be a bumpy ride and a little far away. Without hesitation, we signaled to him that we were up for it. when we reached the spot, we saw a few other jeeps waiting and joined them in excitement. We were alert for alarm calls, but all we got to hear was an annoying kid in the next jeep. </span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify; "><span><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify; "><span>Thinking the tiger will never even approach the area thanks to the noisy kid, we moved a few 100 meters away and waited there. No luck there either and as we decided to drive away, we heard an alarm call from a Sambar. We instantly rushed towards the nearest water hole (where the alarm call was coming from according to our guide) and where we saw Spotted deer with huge antlers. We waited hoping the tiger would come in for a drink. In seconds, the deer let out a few more calls and took off. The guide told us it could be a false alarm probably from the scent of tiger in the water hole from the morning. No luck yet.</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify; "><span><span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span><u><br /></u></span></div></span><span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5z-2pa13x5vdnZnjwLw_4xe4sqdb069EdXmizUGS432aqpJbYRKrSAcy6IJfTlxYSsprZXmH4qCTg8TUUblOT45oTVhoEdvmbg_AjFD05pUN33tGpJukGsnLCBlXv2RJmJdz1ZSoGF5I/s1600/SPOTTED+DEER+WITH+ANTLERS4.JPG"><img style="text-align: justify;display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px; " src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGV68-mVA6svnjhYTPtAzxzNQGy0FW37ggmbO0kXugDr-WVZ2JEa3vwoqwf1u4NzLNXbsi6emMg6lsQbq-OLNRfW-paJa9ZEjIAsXs13m-Fp7Rc3_3oVL3xwD3-sVFNGOVFVVqab4r8ME/s320/SPOTTED+DEER+WITH+ANTLERS2.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5731484316275704642" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7LVtkDgf62PIYv2Wnf6sgYYIbhR0r15Nqu8tBwDcuTaBghmiKEDXIvsBg38CYQkCkl5Puh8p5JKAD-3U5sqiTXaaVAkV0cbEhvbYH9l8aN72trtC4p8FHXs2WHK9AocsoCZHD_GZgnTQ/s1600/SPOTTED+DEER+WITH+ANTLERS4.JPG"><img style="text-align: justify;display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px; " src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7LVtkDgf62PIYv2Wnf6sgYYIbhR0r15Nqu8tBwDcuTaBghmiKEDXIvsBg38CYQkCkl5Puh8p5JKAD-3U5sqiTXaaVAkV0cbEhvbYH9l8aN72trtC4p8FHXs2WHK9AocsoCZHD_GZgnTQ/s320/SPOTTED+DEER+WITH+ANTLERS4.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5731485628859098690" /></a></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><span><u><br /></u></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify; "><span>After driving around for some more time, we spotted a kingfisher, a few Indian Rollers (Blue Jay) and some storks. We even spotted some sambar and spotted deer a ubiquitous sight in the jungle). During our breakfast stop, I spotted a bird atop a tree almost half a kilometer away. I used my telephoto lens to identify the bird while guide casually identified it as a Red Headed Vulture. As we were talking about the bird, it graced us by flying towards us and doing a few circles right above us. After a couple of great pictures we moved on. </span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify; "><span><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCzvmGQHdFU_7CBXuqmHEzDgV7H5ENeQBiS5VGS7WW4gnEYg0Q5qjmQSuNG5OpC7GCUXoiLs6hlB4-OCA4BK-3I93fe2BS7IZekCLhypsMgra5NoNgdKTdVXXGqmHsHzpRJynLBjmZJ7c/s1600/RED+HEADED+VULTURE1.JPG"><img style="text-align: justify;display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 207px; " src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCzvmGQHdFU_7CBXuqmHEzDgV7H5ENeQBiS5VGS7WW4gnEYg0Q5qjmQSuNG5OpC7GCUXoiLs6hlB4-OCA4BK-3I93fe2BS7IZekCLhypsMgra5NoNgdKTdVXXGqmHsHzpRJynLBjmZJ7c/s320/RED+HEADED+VULTURE1.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5731486670686341954" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj55FahSEDlUq1pmhyC9AbUxpbauHZcYygqo2ShNCjeTsfy2aQWZwc83XpTlyeK2p6rr65n54aDaqBBpXBZGbAixqjrbuRe7s1tuOFfLTfetyBo4UCXTl3ngP2POw7DDYCiw4P3rOXZmQw/s1600/RED+HEADED+VULTURE7.JPG"><img style="text-align: justify;display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px; " src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj55FahSEDlUq1pmhyC9AbUxpbauHZcYygqo2ShNCjeTsfy2aQWZwc83XpTlyeK2p6rr65n54aDaqBBpXBZGbAixqjrbuRe7s1tuOFfLTfetyBo4UCXTl3ngP2POw7DDYCiw4P3rOXZmQw/s320/RED+HEADED+VULTURE7.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5731486752004572402" /></a><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify; "><span>On our way back, we spotted Bison which were recently brought in from Kanha and hence kept inside a fenced area for protection. However, there was one wild bison roaming around freely. Here was one fat animal grazing peacefully occasionally letting out a low moo, probably to attract the femal bison inside the fence.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-Ej0TsQdg0uW03QGd0EAumy4y-Um_5OU8djtHW35Y6dgbIgGlQohSXhiQaUjyJWPu2GiaNzMIegyuOMHGLlxjEe8U5CIvjf7OoLHbkWWUKFtBu_AUND4_nlclGKlsrzHJQlu91maiKvo/s1600/BISON3.JPG"><img style="text-align: justify;display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px; " src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-Ej0TsQdg0uW03QGd0EAumy4y-Um_5OU8djtHW35Y6dgbIgGlQohSXhiQaUjyJWPu2GiaNzMIegyuOMHGLlxjEe8U5CIvjf7OoLHbkWWUKFtBu_AUND4_nlclGKlsrzHJQlu91maiKvo/s320/BISON3.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5731487171767673378" /></a></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify; "><span><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify; "><span>After a few more photographs, we continued our drive and spotted a jackal and a few peacocks.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP2LHOUi6ZJdeU702p1k3OQapO7_gPrGqOKOxS6uBO-SIn_j5RclAXelUqGiZuGGieV6XfdDO6PiikI8XBlEffJlhWW52Ckgu403wELC2XOfzfwNl0w3aywGUnNj0ZdL8Fux9BJ7e2r3U/s1600/COMMON+INDIAN+JACKAL.JPG"><img style="text-align: justify;display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 235px; " src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP2LHOUi6ZJdeU702p1k3OQapO7_gPrGqOKOxS6uBO-SIn_j5RclAXelUqGiZuGGieV6XfdDO6PiikI8XBlEffJlhWW52Ckgu403wELC2XOfzfwNl0w3aywGUnNj0ZdL8Fux9BJ7e2r3U/s320/COMMON+INDIAN+JACKAL.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5731487390139468610" /></a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixky7IMFpIrTY-Tx4eICUsanko_4P25ieMf3PA7ZitmE3TYvFminSbMUO5ftavGZVzdcd1i33clB7H856pWic0lq5W5V2a5PESRdkcnpanZMK7NJSoSuV9kuo-B0hlGYAriD0qa9XbaCo/s1600/PEACOCK11.JPG"><img style="text-align: justify;display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 234px; " src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixky7IMFpIrTY-Tx4eICUsanko_4P25ieMf3PA7ZitmE3TYvFminSbMUO5ftavGZVzdcd1i33clB7H856pWic0lq5W5V2a5PESRdkcnpanZMK7NJSoSuV9kuo-B0hlGYAriD0qa9XbaCo/s320/PEACOCK11.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5731487596621434290" /></a><br />By then, it was time to bid adieu to the forest and head back to the resort.</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify; "><span><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify; "><span>We had the entire morning and afternoon to while away as we didn't have to leave for our train until 6:30pm. As the Treehouse Hideaway was booked for the day, we were given a complimentary room and lunch at the other Pugdundee property- King's Lodge, a few kilometers away from Treehouse. That's what I call top notch customer service! So we showered and checked out of Treehouse and were driven to King's Lodge where we dropped off our luggage.</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify; "><span><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify; "><span>Saravana Kumar (aforementioned Naturalist) had invited us to visit a Conservation Farm along with his Swiss clients. We readily agreed because we'd never seen an Indian farm before. The little farm called "The Farm", perched at the edge of Bandhavgarh, is one of a kind. It is run by Mr. Dhruv Singh and his wife, who in their previous Avtars, have built and run a couple of the luxury resorts at Bandhavgarh. The Farm, the couple's new baby, promises to be a completely different way to experience the wilderness. </span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify; "><span><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify; "><span>The primary goal of The Farm is to regenerate part of the barren land surrounding the park, and to do so in a manner in which the local village communities can benefit from the effort. The Farm is designed to allow its guests to engage closely with members of local community, of which at best a select few work as (largely "invisible") English speaking staff in the high-end resorts in the area. At The Farm, the villagers play the numerous roles involved in running a farm- gardeners, chefs, caretakers, waiters, you name it. They also display and sell artwork by the local artists. What the owner likes to call a Nature Walk makes one realize that "Local, sustainable and ecologically balanced" runs through the DNA of the farm. The small but ambitious organic garden, containing only species of plants, herbs, vegetables etc. that are indigenous to the area. All food is cooked to order on a non-commercial scale, in a very thoughtfully built kitchen equipped for a variety of cuisines, both Indian and international. I suspect that after an afternoon at The Farm, one would leave with a wonderful taste of minimalist living, a whirlwind education in eco-tourism, and maybe even a newfound appreciation of Indian village life. </span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify; "><span> </span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify; "><span>On our drive back to King's Lodge, we realized how well we'd escaped the scorching morning sun at the farm. The better and lady half of the Dutch couple welcomed us at King's Lodge and showed us to our room. This resort was again a beautifully executed project, albeit with more rooms to make it more pocket friendly. We retired to the cool comfort of our air-conditioned room after lunch. I slumbered all afternoon while Kavitha, predictably, tucked into a book. We left the resort with the setting sun, after conveying our gushing appreciation to the Dutch couple and the other staff who worked so hard to make our stay at both resorts truly wonderful.</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify; "><span><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify; "><span>A much delayed 24 hour train journey and a long week of work later, here we are in good ol' Mumbai, reminiscing on our near-perfect wildlife experience, which I suspect we'll do many a time in the months to come!</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify; "><span><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify; "><span>PS: I'm sure you can spot which parts of this post I had no hand in writing <wink>!</wink></span></div>Arun Sundarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18219885089043197381noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5268554291957555806.post-78590381926363833322011-03-31T14:57:00.003-04:002011-03-31T15:02:20.488-04:00Chennai to Mumbai - road trip!<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre;"><p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; widows: 2; orphans: 2"></p><p class="p1">"Indian roads are not like US roads", "Do you know people at times drive on opposite sides on Indian highways?", "Do you know how many dogs/cows/people try to cross the highways in India and cause accidents?", "Do you even realize the distance?" are just a few of the questions I have been asked by people in the past week or so. All this because I decided to drive my Alto from Chennai to Mumbai. Of course with the interesting companionship of the fiance.</p><p class="p1">The more I think about the drive, it seems very similar to the cross country road trip we did in the US, only much shorter and seemingly a little complicated, thanks to the questions in the first paragraph. But I have thought enough about it and spent sufficient time reading about the long distance road trips people have done in India. My conclusion: it's not that big a deal. Roads definitely are much better in India these days (especially the freeways that form the Golden Quadrilateral and the likes) and needless to say, our enthusiastic level is slightly on the higer side! </p><p class="p2">So, we decide to set off and here goes the plan: We leave from Chennai friday morning and reach Bangalore where we plan to meet Amar. We will then spend rest of the day atBandipur national park, thanks to my new found passion for wild life photography. Time per mitting, we might visit Mysore as well. Rest of the road trip is pretty much driving, where we are planning to do Banglore to Belgaum on saturday and Belgaum to Mumbai on sunday. Not a very exciting or a touristy plan per se, but driving on NH4 in itself should be fun! </p><p class="p2">We will be sure to post pictures and God forbid, the fiance might even write a travelogue in this blog! Now, be good and wish us luck!</p><p></p></span>Arun Sundarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18219885089043197381noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5268554291957555806.post-36859227263966580332010-10-11T19:55:00.016-04:002010-10-11T22:41:04.380-04:00Star Trails at Cherry springs state park<meta charset="utf-8"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; "><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">After my crazy <a href="http://arunsundarthinks.blogspot.com/2010/08/deer-and-midnight-drama.html">first attempt</a> at star trails photography, which by the way was not hugely successfull, I gave it a sincere shot two weeks ago. Considering all the lessons learnt from my first try, I decided to try out a place that's not awfully light polluted like </span></span><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1286841305_0"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Valley Forge</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1286841305_1"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">National park</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">. After some googling, I found out about Cherry Springs state park, which claimed to be 'gold rated' for </span></span><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1286841305_2"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">dark skies</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> in the east coast of US. Wonderful! In a split second (and out of sheer enthusiasm), I decided to do the 200 mile drive all by myself to photograph a few stars.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">
<br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I checked the weather - everything looked alright. On my way, I casually looked up at the sky and I saw the moon staring at my face. Before I could appreciate the beauty of it, I realized that such a bright moon would completely screw up the visibility in the sky! Oops! I should have checked the moon calendar. Since I had driven about 150 miles at that point, I decided to continue with the trip. I reached the park around </span></span><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1286841305_3"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">8pm</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, only to see a vacant astronomy field and not a soul around. I walked around the park (with the moon light shining, I did not even need a flashlight) to understand my coordinates. When I thought I had the whole field to myself, I see another car pull over. I was more surprised to see an Indian couple from </span></span><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1286841305_4"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">New Jersey</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">. After a few minutes of conversations, I understood they love nature and wanted to check this park out. And they did not even have a camera or a telescope. Whoa! after all, I was not as bad, there are people with dangerous levels of enthusiasm! </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">
<br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I then decided on a spot and setup my tripod. Any exposure more than 30 seconds made it look like a daylight photograph, thanks to the Moon who seemed like he was continously mocking at me! Few random conversations and some unsatisfying pictures of the moon later, I decided to sleep in my car hoping I might be able to get some sunrise shots. The morning was totally cloudy which made me return back home completely unsatisfied. </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">
<br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgojDiL2mok0WKXnTM83vZ2j6hpVopePod3QHpQWpQ29Rf2B6PAtnoRjvKw9SNT8fZ1Nw36ByK6-ntlxs-Nybt_-VrGCUuP2Tw5Jas0AL2ZQDMxNVRgJE5sE75bLWCSz-oKh6DWEJVIngA/s1600/night.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 194px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgojDiL2mok0WKXnTM83vZ2j6hpVopePod3QHpQWpQ29Rf2B6PAtnoRjvKw9SNT8fZ1Nw36ByK6-ntlxs-Nybt_-VrGCUuP2Tw5Jas0AL2ZQDMxNVRgJE5sE75bLWCSz-oKh6DWEJVIngA/s320/night.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5526943250281369026" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span"></span></span></p><div style="text-align: center;"><i><b><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Moon and a lone tree</span></span></b></i></div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">
<br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihEPo8-EFDSEwqOEuCCO8vj1HiEyOPSX2t1nYlK9l9xtyiyAN8XPsO81Cr2hY1xT8XWjdtmPnSK8yiH5Zlv9lTZA6bkblIY7pRuspUZENHscI6h-58Gv7VtgZkIhUOVL2pioJ3inrzcdQ/s1600/Cherry3.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihEPo8-EFDSEwqOEuCCO8vj1HiEyOPSX2t1nYlK9l9xtyiyAN8XPsO81Cr2hY1xT8XWjdtmPnSK8yiH5Zlv9lTZA6bkblIY7pRuspUZENHscI6h-58Gv7VtgZkIhUOVL2pioJ3inrzcdQ/s320/Cherry3.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5526942970756749186" /></a><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: normal; "><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">One of the astronomy observatories in the morning</span></span></i></b></span></div></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">
<br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">As I was narrating this story to one of my colleagues Eric last week, he showed interest in going there again. My enthusiasm rose again. I checked the weather, moon calendar, etc., and decided to make it there this past weekend. And this time, Eric drove. When we reached the park </span></span><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1286841305_5"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">saturday evening</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> around </span></span><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1286841305_6"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">7pm</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, I just could not believe my eyes. There were 100s of people, most of them setting up humungous telescopes! In a short while, the sky started becoming darker and at about 8.30pm, the sky was like one huge planetarium screen. It was one amazing sight and I will not forget the view for a while now!</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">
<br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I then setup my tripod and started taking pictures, each of my shots needing exposures of about 20 minutes or so. We spent the new few hours taking multiple photographs and amazing ourself at the sight! Thanks to Eric, he brought a couple of chairs where we sat and discussed everything under the sky (literally!) while we were waiting for the camera to take the pictures. We left the place around </span></span><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1286841305_7"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">11pm</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">. We would have spent a few more hours only if the weather was not getting unbearable cold. Here are some pictures!
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<br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2zi3gmN8p9bSrsbaZVtpUGL3zKI04OJX29POB_xEWW9_LRP4nQFxiGwyquztyEc8_j5BuMeRx_TWtSyalQ4ro48qdgCe12UNv6oxCX7kI3gO8sPIDM9LV52JG0SwpG9_x2QObWW1iB5I/s1600/Stars0.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 206px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2zi3gmN8p9bSrsbaZVtpUGL3zKI04OJX29POB_xEWW9_LRP4nQFxiGwyquztyEc8_j5BuMeRx_TWtSyalQ4ro48qdgCe12UNv6oxCX7kI3gO8sPIDM9LV52JG0SwpG9_x2QObWW1iB5I/s320/Stars0.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5526943570915422226" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span"></span></span></p><div style="text-align: center;"><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Star trails captured by exposing the camera for 22 minute</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">s</span></span></b></div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">
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<br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_RRNgRs9UwbXaVqUgdLrjhrFUOhL5F8Ufg76xzRnAH1nYCCEpr4z8TJbwAn9hfuWLNMEMV1AjhaJfcXKnHctNoQzUaaOoUG1_VvnffsWSd0MsqeVfeA_3SA4XXgfdHyP9VcquJwpKjxo/s1600/Sky11.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_RRNgRs9UwbXaVqUgdLrjhrFUOhL5F8Ufg76xzRnAH1nYCCEpr4z8TJbwAn9hfuWLNMEMV1AjhaJfcXKnHctNoQzUaaOoUG1_VvnffsWSd0MsqeVfeA_3SA4XXgfdHyP9VcquJwpKjxo/s320/Sky11.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5526943822520730850" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Milky Way</span></span></i></b></div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">
<br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTtv6BVGizZWp3ACvLcF_3myLFpCHAqV0uincr_dcFV-nnVat69POaCEfCZ2SQruAIoblu38o0ofWIFuX-JTvNFAZhUxanY1IOONC3Onsbk1JtO0zrt6iUHOPEk1K5C8VGVyiWyjrQYEQ/s1600/Stars12.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 246px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTtv6BVGizZWp3ACvLcF_3myLFpCHAqV0uincr_dcFV-nnVat69POaCEfCZ2SQruAIoblu38o0ofWIFuX-JTvNFAZhUxanY1IOONC3Onsbk1JtO0zrt6iUHOPEk1K5C8VGVyiWyjrQYEQ/s320/Stars12.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5526947204499436802" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Star trails captured by exposing the camera for 12 minutes</span></span></i></b></div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">
<br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaBEUe_UhODtRNJYRInWH1Cnxph3T6fFH-hu9rpkXgM8E3qGRKiXUwLudFjUjKe7maOEk1POVJIOVx0X1T2Plq0CBVsDMtpcRsG6K-52NZRj4c78xJvlHHFvntgqJlrVd0McJl6p6VJ0E/s1600/stars2.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaBEUe_UhODtRNJYRInWH1Cnxph3T6fFH-hu9rpkXgM8E3qGRKiXUwLudFjUjKe7maOEk1POVJIOVx0X1T2Plq0CBVsDMtpcRsG6K-52NZRj4c78xJvlHHFvntgqJlrVd0McJl6p6VJ0E/s320/stars2.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5526947445043354002" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Star trails captured by exposing the camera for 30 minutes</span></span></i></b></div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">
<br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXzfK1UtCTQGZIm_mWf1IB3vuyJm81vjS7cDQyPB7rCZMEYg8Lf314xxB4cbGnVgVIkPYat9y3NgMzhVhrw27w6VwdFwaw3IrEccbmqb-50XaSPAuZuyEYzn0zS-HhokTPGnuwm981vi0/s1600/Arun+and+Eric.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXzfK1UtCTQGZIm_mWf1IB3vuyJm81vjS7cDQyPB7rCZMEYg8Lf314xxB4cbGnVgVIkPYat9y3NgMzhVhrw27w6VwdFwaw3IrEccbmqb-50XaSPAuZuyEYzn0zS-HhokTPGnuwm981vi0/s320/Arun+and+Eric.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5526947615872583058" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Arun and Eric on the way to the park</span></span></i></b></div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">
<br />For any photographer looking for tips on </span></span><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1286841305_8"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">star trail photography</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, here is some technical info from my experience:</span></span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"></span></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">
<br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I first checked the ambient lighting by shooting a 30 second exposure at f/4 and ISO 1600. Once I knew how my camera sees the light, I reduced the ISO to about 200 and increased the exposure to 20 minutes. I had my camera set on a tripod and used a remote control to fire the shot. Since I also had the high exposure noise reduction setting ON in my camera, I had to wait for an additional 20 minutes for the camera to cancel out any noise. After 40 minutes, I got this photograph where I could see the trails rotating around Polaris. After two trips to the place and numerous attempts at star trails, I finally got a photograph that I was satisfied with! I was one happy camper for those few seconds! Regarding the composition, I used a 10-20mm wide angle lens and included a little bit of tree line in the horizon so that it adds perspective to the photograph.</span></span></p></span></div>Arun Sundarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18219885089043197381noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5268554291957555806.post-88263604076996204342010-09-17T17:43:00.016-04:002010-09-17T22:20:14.998-04:00Frankfurt and Amterdam - quick taste of Europe in 4 days - part II<div>Part I <a href="http://footlooseonthefreeway.blogspot.com/2010/09/frankfurt-and-amsterdam-quick-taste-of.html">here</a></div><div><br /></div><div>After a few discussions with the locals, we started the day2 at Amsterdam with a visit to Flower market, which turned out to be just a market that sells flowers (what a surprise!). I was expecting the place to provide a little more photographic opportunities. Nonetheless, it gave us an idea of how freaking expensive tulip bulbs are. Damn, who even buy those?!</div><div><br />Our next stop was 'iamsterdam' symbol, which I have seen in some photographs earlier and was planning on visiting. I dragged my friends along and took a tram to reach the place, which (as against my expectations) turned out to a place that has monkeys (in people's bodies) climbing on the very symbol for silly photos. I have always hated such people and wondered if some nice locations can be reserved for just photographers, at least one hour a day so that one could spend a peaceful hour shooting pictures without people monkeying around in the frame. </div><div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKlAAph5P28A7DL5kzjdwalnu_Rm7POXjlj6Jrn_24MIJimlp1_5D29Zht9OAVwx1PjYP7AwLTWXBZEQvHvCIsPWvXio-G249ewYxypCvUsE-D6OC17dvtlizQtZXdNOQYAuO9yxl-xVM/s1600/Iam22.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 167px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKlAAph5P28A7DL5kzjdwalnu_Rm7POXjlj6Jrn_24MIJimlp1_5D29Zht9OAVwx1PjYP7AwLTWXBZEQvHvCIsPWvXio-G249ewYxypCvUsE-D6OC17dvtlizQtZXdNOQYAuO9yxl-xVM/s320/Iam22.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5518011061686885938" /></a></div><div>We had to deal with what we had. I tried my best, walked around a bit trying different compostions, but was not too pleased with the results. Later I resorted to taking 'typical tourist' pictures of ourselves. After all, the tram ride should be worth at least for my friends!</div><div><br /></div><div>We spent the second half of the day at Madoradam, which I thought was very unique and European. Its a small park that has miniatureds/models of remarkable locations/icons in Netherlands. I liked the place (once again would have loved it if people were not around!).<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgERFNuFvalxvq0JXo5-r5AY5de4vS8MEKsHGGuCEqSwYT6SM147Zg4E_aRkLQZHHm5j9FWLzBxZht7t5N8k7HXi9IdAcPA_nogwWEwfoiNc8p_SZZ8sSR-yv2rZbPfyFPcI8sr81FqG-A/s1600/Madoradam2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgERFNuFvalxvq0JXo5-r5AY5de4vS8MEKsHGGuCEqSwYT6SM147Zg4E_aRkLQZHHm5j9FWLzBxZht7t5N8k7HXi9IdAcPA_nogwWEwfoiNc8p_SZZ8sSR-yv2rZbPfyFPcI8sr81FqG-A/s320/Madoradam2.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5518012531775881378" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNbejjBwUffwmK6772TG-gXejskSoL9lqn5RVI7XztjW6zivjYoP8Yhx7RbbziqXXquLjdpev1SfcnIp_ZbYDA9iA1C3nWxvthYCoF6V9cLn91zH5wfj8Qxi5PI5fW7Hhs2wjbsjwGYj8/s1600/Mado8.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 307px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNbejjBwUffwmK6772TG-gXejskSoL9lqn5RVI7XztjW6zivjYoP8Yhx7RbbziqXXquLjdpev1SfcnIp_ZbYDA9iA1C3nWxvthYCoF6V9cLn91zH5wfj8Qxi5PI5fW7Hhs2wjbsjwGYj8/s320/Mado8.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5518012425026339570" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4qQ-wJ_gql4vhyphenhyphenx1KjPtczuZiCeT_2Q3AQVNHnsoqXWWgwIKK8UXj_YOXj-nhEueNOSZ17IljG81aDXBkAZgnHby4weWKwHr46I0CbsIVsvYByuI7dNY_2C7EnScVu9qrgReWpjCs1Z0/s1600/Madoradam1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4qQ-wJ_gql4vhyphenhyphenx1KjPtczuZiCeT_2Q3AQVNHnsoqXWWgwIKK8UXj_YOXj-nhEueNOSZ17IljG81aDXBkAZgnHby4weWKwHr46I0CbsIVsvYByuI7dNY_2C7EnScVu9qrgReWpjCs1Z0/s320/Madoradam1.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5518012724148877730" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><i>Madoram</i></span></div><br />We spent close to three hours in the park and headed back to Amsterdam Main station, just in time for our ICE back to Frankfurt.</div><div><br />The day which went fine till then became all the more interesting when we started playing Dumb-charades in the train. Added to the fact that we had a coupe for just the four of us (which was considered to be a 'silent' one too with sound proof doors). We had an absolutely fun time in the return journey and I was secretly wishing for that journey to become longer than scheduled. Who knew I had such evil powers?! </div><div><br /></div><div>Kranthy (one of our other friends) looked outside and called out that the train had just stopped at a train station called (Duisburg), the same station we had passed about half hour ago. Confused, we stepped out of our coach only to hear the announcement that the train is travelling towards 'Amsterdam'! </div><div><br /></div><div>After a short 'what the fuck?!' moment, we took out our tickets to confirm that we indeed had a reservation on a 'direct' train from Amsterdam to Frankfurt. And we were not sitting on a wrong coach either. Frustrated at the pace the train was gaining (in the wrong direction), I and Vijai went to the train crew to enquire. </div><div><br /></div><div>The crew lady slowly said "Oh sorry, this train is heading towards Amsterdam. You should have changed trains at Koln. We made an announcement too, didnt you hear?!" in a thick German accent. When I told her we heard no announcement, she simply apologized and pointed us to a senior crew member. Now, this senior crew member was drinking at the bar and suggested very casually that we should alight at the next station, take a train back to Koln and switch to another train to Frankfurt. As he finished talking, the train was already slowing down. His final word was that our current tickets were good to travel in the first class of whichever (or how manyever) trains we were going to take that night.</div><div><br />We got off the train at a station called Dusseldorf and walked to the next platform, only to read the signboard that said 'train to Koln is delayed by 35 minutes'. Awesome. As we were waiting, two cops came and asked us for ID (and said they were from some international border control/passport control or something). We all had our passports except for Kranthy. All he had was his work ID card. </div><div><br /></div><div>I said to myself 'Great, this night is just getting better and better!". If it was US, we all would have been taken into custody, enquired and questioned till the cops confirm our identity from the immigration department. Looking at his work ID, the cops let him slide and wished us good night. Whoa! Europe is cool!</div><div><br />We waited for close to 40 minutes and the ICE train that was supposed to arrive never did. Instead, a local train to Koln came. In a few seconds, we got on to the local train, our only concern being what if the ICE train arrives afterward and overtakes this local train. The flipside was to wait to Dusseldorf station all night (if the ICE train never comes). We took the lesser evil and reached Koln in the local train. </div><div><br /></div><div>It was close to midgnight (we should have reached Frankfurt at 10.30pm per our original schedule). With no other option than to laugh at ourselves, we waited for another one hour at Koln before the ICE train for Frankfurt finally arrived. </div><div><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXu6DjTyyUQl9JAcGVv_FoCnEk7y5bHxohigjskWsIcKOHqj-vFhwVm-LlYv0eaufmKDkkhEgHknAsbs2zfkO_RTRKBQAC4mPHm8bePFzercO1Y6ut7YGbpI_m0oyCbnCdzyu8iIXVa1U/s1600/Koln.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXu6DjTyyUQl9JAcGVv_FoCnEk7y5bHxohigjskWsIcKOHqj-vFhwVm-LlYv0eaufmKDkkhEgHknAsbs2zfkO_RTRKBQAC4mPHm8bePFzercO1Y6ut7YGbpI_m0oyCbnCdzyu8iIXVa1U/s320/Koln.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5518013780474417170" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Four of us waiting at Koln statio</i>n</div></span><br /></div><div>When we thought it all ended finally, we came to know that the train was taking a round-about route and will take close to 3 hours (instead of regular 1 hour). Great. We finally reached Frankfurt at 3.30am. After taking four trains and a six hour delay, to say that we had a nice experience is a complete under statement.</div><div><br /><i>Whoever said Europe's train network rocks, here, get it from me 'Europe train network sucks!'</i><br /><br />On the same note, Vijai bought this toy called Rolling monkey at Amsterdam. For all that we went through that day, this is what kept coming to our mind!:<br /></div><div><br /></div><br /><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxfGcqRJaMp00xGzqK6BBEEXlbZ99QpYYNXUYLrklFjTm1Xm5VdPwTsYcQhBkA0fPPBDRPp63s8kDFuHZdT1A' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe>Arun Sundarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18219885089043197381noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5268554291957555806.post-80430275890372568792010-09-09T23:53:00.017-04:002010-09-17T22:19:43.504-04:00Frankfurt and Amsterdam – a quick taste of Europe in 4 days - part I<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">It was about 3am Eastern when the captain announced that the flight has started its descent. That is when it truly dawned on me that I have indeed made the long awaited trip to Europe. Its been about 2 years I and Vijai have been talking about making such a trip and have been dreaming about it for even longer.</span></span></p><div><span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">The flight touched down at Frankfurt Airport at about 7am local time. The immigration was surprisingly quick (if I compared to US) and climate was quite pleasant hovering about 8 to 10 degrees Celsius. Outside the airport, Vijai was waiting to receive me as well as for an unforgettable travel experience.</span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">We reached Frankfurt Hauptbahnof (where Vijai lives) in about 20 minutes. After breakfast and a few hours of random conversations, we headed out to do local walk-about around downtown Frankfurt. Frankfurt was the first foreign city I visited (about 6 years ago) and it still sort of remains one of my favorite cities. Last time, I was gaping at the wide difference between Frankfurt and the Indian cities. </span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">This time, I was able to appreciate more than a few things in the city, the best part being the architecture.<br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvy8cPDLTouVJ-ulTgEBe5QqhHgOk4pi4IIPGNcla6vP1vtrsWVLRnga_x_sZscpgH8J4204J__G5ML0BCDycYgNNTnRZUdvMmstUgUxQSwj294WO3X_yR4Qpv9vgu-XOaBb_s07xBeJA/s1600/Fra3.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvy8cPDLTouVJ-ulTgEBe5QqhHgOk4pi4IIPGNcla6vP1vtrsWVLRnga_x_sZscpgH8J4204J__G5ML0BCDycYgNNTnRZUdvMmstUgUxQSwj294WO3X_yR4Qpv9vgu-XOaBb_s07xBeJA/s320/Fra3.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5515762885169239474" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit47mg9wWScj20R-vIWYTN8w8jaIU8stL7-6BfXw8AX0Rt18fQ3O1X6lOfIae-PkkgSfOKcAJT8w9eBaUv_mTFvcFD9OH_JwK3mHFRR6geJlLzpnhq_uMmYJLDeeIHUjfMAm-XzZa9Guo/s1600/Fra13.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit47mg9wWScj20R-vIWYTN8w8jaIU8stL7-6BfXw8AX0Rt18fQ3O1X6lOfIae-PkkgSfOKcAJT8w9eBaUv_mTFvcFD9OH_JwK3mHFRR6geJlLzpnhq_uMmYJLDeeIHUjfMAm-XzZa9Guo/s320/Fra13.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5515761598738839106" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br />The city does not have towering skyscrapers, but it has a nice mix of old buildings and funky new ones next to each other. Such variety in architecture means only one thing: nice opportunity for photographs. </span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">We pretty much spent the rest of the day roaming around the city, a nice long walk along the Main river waterfront and ending the day with a visit to Frankfurt Main tower observatory.</span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd1r8XsXxCQ9FnTmvX8Oytj8tIENuphuFDTWmPFWsi0rtfuFVq9IUIkxO-gr-ZqjfjtIru78BabHoMlr_noe8mI1Uwdfq54zbyF-Pci8kp0Dg9OTk4kgk1j-z0yn1vEJJsRENycx4WoNc/s1600/Fra17.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd1r8XsXxCQ9FnTmvX8Oytj8tIENuphuFDTWmPFWsi0rtfuFVq9IUIkxO-gr-ZqjfjtIru78BabHoMlr_noe8mI1Uwdfq54zbyF-Pci8kp0Dg9OTk4kgk1j-z0yn1vEJJsRENycx4WoNc/s320/Fra17.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5515761404681557890" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0LSWSLELN15I8ZX-nPi902FeYb3VtVTvclIBUwcEzz6oQFUiRS9WHuxeHWDwB1r30MetrZRYFAERzL98fno3H7F1TyhnhyOqlm4XrhZksDJFRbIw_xSZRHPF0A6X6KFQBRx5PZUUA-0w/s1600/Fra9.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 184px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0LSWSLELN15I8ZX-nPi902FeYb3VtVTvclIBUwcEzz6oQFUiRS9WHuxeHWDwB1r30MetrZRYFAERzL98fno3H7F1TyhnhyOqlm4XrhZksDJFRbIw_xSZRHPF0A6X6KFQBRx5PZUUA-0w/s320/Fra9.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5515763371520682674" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY8BfAxoMdXPL3kz7hZNP5BJKTBMQvhQ8-3M58SfThq938ujDut7JP5ONJDIsOtdPUcAJSup7UEayUmMaGf4ALxOWIGPcBE41df63QxjmSiLkYhMWHMazjps-RYzJDT6xA6HlXraZ4wyQ/s1600/FRA4.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY8BfAxoMdXPL3kz7hZNP5BJKTBMQvhQ8-3M58SfThq938ujDut7JP5ONJDIsOtdPUcAJSup7UEayUmMaGf4ALxOWIGPcBE41df63QxjmSiLkYhMWHMazjps-RYzJDT6xA6HlXraZ4wyQ/s320/FRA4.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5515763193693861346" /></a></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">We had an early morning the following day, as we had reservations made on the ICE train to Amsterdam. Amsterdam is about 550 kms from Frankfurt and the ICE train covered the distance in about 4 hours. The train hit a top speed of about 300kmph more than a few times and it was quite a comfortable ride, thanks to Vijai for booking first class tickets.</span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><span class="Apple-style-span"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVb-2VO7EOIE0e3fOZ1siHeRSv4kE5Pu86qHdXzCuykp9FjeyC6OD7NlPjZJ1haPtIyxrMuGEqk5hS_UXBButuZuh-2yrTG1oqH5nYnjAQtBs7CVpvx2QCWxqqmsMPwuLSw9n9vwnR-6E/s1600/Ice1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVb-2VO7EOIE0e3fOZ1siHeRSv4kE5Pu86qHdXzCuykp9FjeyC6OD7NlPjZJ1haPtIyxrMuGEqk5hS_UXBButuZuh-2yrTG1oqH5nYnjAQtBs7CVpvx2QCWxqqmsMPwuLSw9n9vwnR-6E/s320/Ice1.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5515780302397415426" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br />We reached Amsterdam at around noon. After a delayed visit to the Tourist information centre (with a long line of freaking tourists!), we quickly planned for a high-level agenda for the day.</span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Amsterdam is about as dirty as any European country could ever get. It could have been a lot neater – I, for sure, did not expect people to pee on the roads (they have some strange road side closets that people pee on – I guess only the Gods and the locals can understand the funda behind the concept. For us tourists, it was nothing but a disgusting stinking intersection!)</span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">As much as the city is clumsy, it still had an inexplicable charm to it. Blame it on the unstoppable tourists or the undying activities happening in the city or perhaps the numerous canals that act as veins to the city. We started off with a customary visit to Madame Tussauds wax museum, which in my opinion was so-so. The exhibits were alright, but the museum layout was so poorly planned that there was absolutely no room in most places. After coming out, we were joking that the museum was so cramped that Gandhi almost seemed like he was touching Dalai Lama's ass and Dalai Lama was blessing Mandela's balls!</span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">We then checked into the hotel and took the Canon ride tour in the evening. Idea of touring inside a city completely on canals was a nice experience and felt very European to me.</span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw8i71sv0XCU3SLc9hIm5hNvXx_8L2DioXqqA9HuMxeufFiBpxmhB72rAqZ4MoBLhzAjhgwkMladlotGTmBAwujdD5Xsene16xRHbc7j2y6_Jh3zgm72rdm59QGqhv87Zfyo6BtXYU9_g/s1600/Ams7.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw8i71sv0XCU3SLc9hIm5hNvXx_8L2DioXqqA9HuMxeufFiBpxmhB72rAqZ4MoBLhzAjhgwkMladlotGTmBAwujdD5Xsene16xRHbc7j2y6_Jh3zgm72rdm59QGqhv87Zfyo6BtXYU9_g/s320/Ams7.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5515776076235719106" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZuHDfBRk6ewJC5mBnEPQW-VZ-hy63fOx9DG3wwdaAUfg1F7YoUxbhHRYZCvNOFpaH7sSHt4MSx3hkx0qerGR7Ckltor4jUAiINahUrSh0Scfga8YViy2Go27zKaqYB9WhyphenhyphenKydl07fT_c/s1600/Ams5.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 235px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZuHDfBRk6ewJC5mBnEPQW-VZ-hy63fOx9DG3wwdaAUfg1F7YoUxbhHRYZCvNOFpaH7sSHt4MSx3hkx0qerGR7Ckltor4jUAiINahUrSh0Scfga8YViy2Go27zKaqYB9WhyphenhyphenKydl07fT_c/s320/Ams5.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5515775892596227106" /></a></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">We then went to photograph the only Wind Mill (or Molen as the dutch call it) in the city and spent about an hour there. I wish we had the time to go photograph a few more wind mills.<br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLwD7Ac6ZQSxfp4wKt4AU3PepAnhj4r9SbBcbl1KboTrixmIMfFRzlg4-4dUMc8sgcF7blwLQj_lU5aAzvDVkoOu_E8LfmkfNkW5yac5bK0aO47KIcweBQdAAJov6Dqj6pvyn2Est44QE/s1600/Molen2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 262px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLwD7Ac6ZQSxfp4wKt4AU3PepAnhj4r9SbBcbl1KboTrixmIMfFRzlg4-4dUMc8sgcF7blwLQj_lU5aAzvDVkoOu_E8LfmkfNkW5yac5bK0aO47KIcweBQdAAJov6Dqj6pvyn2Est44QE/s320/Molen2.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5515776699725299938" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br />Later in the night, we strolled across the red light district (and our hotel was right there!) and took a few more photograph the city's night life. City did not have too much of what a photographer might call a night life.<br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEargE8qYBpysxrS7V0-S_9Aa6m1NSle1-NSDgsgs_Wta7rvNERK-ud3F3o8jSYj48dNIVeUby8dQOK1OuAPa-Yu876foDWM0Jid2B_5VwJDNH5AfpRLb4FreLdeHJQ-g4Etr3oqLpYT4/s1600/Ams4.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEargE8qYBpysxrS7V0-S_9Aa6m1NSle1-NSDgsgs_Wta7rvNERK-ud3F3o8jSYj48dNIVeUby8dQOK1OuAPa-Yu876foDWM0Jid2B_5VwJDNH5AfpRLb4FreLdeHJQ-g4Etr3oqLpYT4/s320/Ams4.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5515776256553619106" /></a></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in"></p><span><p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">The story of day 2 at Amsterdam and the funny ICE train experience on our return journey</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><a href="http://footlooseonthefreeway.blogspot.com/2010/09/frankfurt-and-amterdam-part-ii.html"> here</a>.</span></span></p></span><p></p></span></div>Arun Sundarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18219885089043197381noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5268554291957555806.post-60477815720879284842010-08-30T19:21:00.016-04:002010-08-31T10:37:09.346-04:00Gettysburg Battlefield!<span class="Apple-style-span" ><p class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span">I did a solo trip to </span><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1283210512_3"><span class="Apple-style-span">Gettysburg National park</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"> this past weekend. This was the first time I made a trip to a 'touristy' location in US all by myself. It was a different experience having to navigate the auto tour using a map and driving at the same time. I started out at the visitor center where the </span><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1283210512_4" ><span class="Apple-style-span">national park guide</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" >recommended me to visit the museum before I go on the auto tour. I am not a great fan of museums (and nothing much to photograph there either) so I paced through the various sections of the museum fairly quickly. If you like museums and a fan of history, this is a great place for you! If not, you may skip the museum. There was a interactive video and the famous </span><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1283210512_5" ><span class="Apple-style-span">Cyclorama</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" > in the visitor center, I skipped them too! </span></p><p class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >After a quick visit to the museum and a customary visit to the restroom, I headed back to the car and started the auto tour. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span">The auto tour at Gettysburg National park is about 20 miles long (most of which is one way and perfectly guided by signboards). It covers pretty much all of the important spots that are relevant to the three day part of the civil war that happened at Gettysburg battlefield. Gettysburg battle is apparently bloodiest of all wars where more than 51000 soldiers died in a span of about 3 days (in July 1863). It was a little brutal to realize the amount of bloodshed, but what else can I expect during a visit to a battlefield?!</span></span></p><p class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJo6dIuoQl7BVAHr6JAbuVGf08Aeg_DLh-cUtuB1Gh0LQodlZIAqnnc8DP7AJo652YbepAquApf4unoMqka5PA5yzS71A5a7GXFR3FJMDOeutgVJ5Ols_JX5k7vCIHiddcW28Dvjfm8MQ/s1600/Get6.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJo6dIuoQl7BVAHr6JAbuVGf08Aeg_DLh-cUtuB1Gh0LQodlZIAqnnc8DP7AJo652YbepAquApf4unoMqka5PA5yzS71A5a7GXFR3FJMDOeutgVJ5Ols_JX5k7vCIHiddcW28Dvjfm8MQ/s320/Get6.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5511350057664730274" border="0" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" >I followed the tour map and visited the various marked spots, stopping very frequently for photographs. I also considered this trip as a test run for my new </span><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1283210512_6" ><span class="Apple-style-span">Canon 7D</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" > before my trip to Germany/Amsterdam next week. Of all the features, I liked Canon 7D for its sheer speed. Man, the camera is quick! 7D takes 3 shots in less than a second, which I could never have achieved in my older 450D. The day was quite bright and I was able to shoot HDRs, without tripod most of the time.</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"> </p><p class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span >Flipside of the day being too bright was it was too freaking hot. After every few pictures, I had to take refuge in my car as the sun was scorching right on the top of my head. But that did not stop me from continuing the tour. As I drove through the tour route, I marked a few spots in the map to come back during sunset (as I thought those places would be more beautiful to photograph during sunset).</span> </span></p><p class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxPi5rqy7EuokfvRK1G4vodRXTp5FoZynamULiRqfOdIZZbKDxOEwPwxF4EuFJ0ltixPVqQKvBG5x7I7aETjc0oQCPaCVIac3QZ0js7o81oBcoJsGw4bF6dpnc68qgRpASwXZSyoNaiS0/s1600/Get5.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxPi5rqy7EuokfvRK1G4vodRXTp5FoZynamULiRqfOdIZZbKDxOEwPwxF4EuFJ0ltixPVqQKvBG5x7I7aETjc0oQCPaCVIac3QZ0js7o81oBcoJsGw4bF6dpnc68qgRpASwXZSyoNaiS0/s320/Get5.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5511350216622472978" border="0" /></a><span >I liked the Pennsylvania memorial better than many other spots for it gave me a complete panoramic view of the surroundings and still presenting a beautiful foreground. I took close to 4 hours for the auto tour, when the park officer suggested it would take about 2 and half hours. Maybe I spent too much time photographing a few spots than he had imagined.</span></span></p><p class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwaTPEgpLGfU5mbtRbymVUpGRn-OfIIWfvLb0jN-sUfAp4_ncanRH2pePuRinc0v6Ahea3TWewtSKa608aydHgnlv2xTJks9H5Zxoy3iJoC-qx_a13FsPvm-olSPrFwRB0G9ejbLPqj8w/s1600/Get41.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwaTPEgpLGfU5mbtRbymVUpGRn-OfIIWfvLb0jN-sUfAp4_ncanRH2pePuRinc0v6Ahea3TWewtSKa608aydHgnlv2xTJks9H5Zxoy3iJoC-qx_a13FsPvm-olSPrFwRB0G9ejbLPqj8w/s320/Get41.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5511351170402513250" border="0" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" >During sunset, I was in the 'The Angle' region which in my opinion was the best! It could not have gotten better, I spent about 1 hour there (forgetting all about the other spots I had marked before to revisit - maybe some other time!). The region was very beautiful and every photographer would enjoy this place for the sheer number of different composition ideas this place offers! I had a great time and considered that a satisfying end to a tiring day.</span></span></p><p class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizcvVTkb05pWBkB8IPWRdTtT-yc7VKZ9nILLJbE7JYgTayz4IVZfnFE00FNthB4xaSglUxIZn41pLFjxH2ZIcyyjCKbXA9iyhcyBajEYgRWsLdy-Ml0FFLsOxcWnSTS1a5BZufOhnJX-w/s1600/Get10.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizcvVTkb05pWBkB8IPWRdTtT-yc7VKZ9nILLJbE7JYgTayz4IVZfnFE00FNthB4xaSglUxIZn41pLFjxH2ZIcyyjCKbXA9iyhcyBajEYgRWsLdy-Ml0FFLsOxcWnSTS1a5BZufOhnJX-w/s320/Get10.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5511351388002345010" border="0" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;" ><i><span class="Apple-style-span">Overall, Gettysburg is a great place if you are either a history buff or a photo enthusiast. For others, it might be a slight </span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span">toss up!</span></i></span></span></i></p></span>Arun Sundarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18219885089043197381noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5268554291957555806.post-40614278542352838712010-08-27T10:34:00.004-04:002010-08-27T15:26:14.682-04:00PerseverenceIt is a strangely inexplicable feeling when your loved one leans on your shoulder and cries her heart out, when you are absolutely helpless but to offer some vain consolation and talk hopefully about the future. It is sort of difficult to seem absolutely positive and say 'everything's going to be alright' when you have no clue of the future and are only half sure of what might happen. But I think I did alright with Kavi as she went through one of the toughest phases a Wharton grad can endure.<br /><br />After having gone through what I call as the absolute testing times, Kavi finally got a breakthrough and got an awesome job in the financial capital of des last week. It was one hell of a journey and now it seems like all the turbulence has finally settled down.<br /><br />I am not too good at expressing what I feel most of the time, but I wanted to write this blog post to tell her how proud I am of her. She fought through the tough times like a real fighter and she always seemed to know that she was going to get what she wanted. She used to occasionally falter, break down at the hard luck she is destined with, but she never doubted that she would get what she wanted.<br /><br />If I was her, I would have succumbed to the pressure long ago, but she really stood out as a fine example of perseverance. I guess I want to congratulate her and I can't think of a better way than to write a post for this!<br /><br /><em></em><em>And with this, I am also one step closer to my long time ambition of becoming a house husband and now it seems very attainable! Wish me good luck :)</em>Arun Sundarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18219885089043197381noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5268554291957555806.post-48510526355208867012010-04-28T18:54:00.011-04:002010-04-28T20:14:42.281-04:00Desi Saga!<div>I don't think I have spent a weekend at India that has been boring and dry. And when one is on vacation, every single day seems like a weekend! In the last (almost) six years that I have been out of the country, I have made sure I pay a visit to chennai at least once a year (if not more) on an average. And thanks to excellent family and friends circle, any amount of time spent back home has seemed surprisingly short, every single time. This vacation I had a couple of weeks ago is no exception.</div><div><br /></div><div>Though most of the days meant multiple commitments in terms of meeting people, I never felt too busy. I started the vacation with an awesome drive along the ECR with the best of friends (the same set of friends who surprised me at the Airport when I landed the previous night!). A drive to ECR, at least for me, necessarily means a visit to the casuarina bay. We did go there to do some random photo sessions, conversations and had a great time playing with our very own 'chennaiite's tennis ball high-catch!</div><div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK4ifGKjtXgtkwnyFq9vURSQjne0Ap7ZsFXu8sq5IoXwrA_7zdgltStDBUZyZhOMMqoNULtQcEpv8GkXp1s7SK9wSuOZPNDCfFy42cKTtUQG5sw7f5AR6NMZKfR-eQZzRIsSm8iKvE3vg/s1600/IMG_8626.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 218px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK4ifGKjtXgtkwnyFq9vURSQjne0Ap7ZsFXu8sq5IoXwrA_7zdgltStDBUZyZhOMMqoNULtQcEpv8GkXp1s7SK9wSuOZPNDCfFy42cKTtUQG5sw7f5AR6NMZKfR-eQZzRIsSm8iKvE3vg/s320/IMG_8626.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5465336878369049570" /></a><i><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:small;">The gang at ECR</span></div></i></div><div><br /></div><div>Later in the day towards the sunset, we did the renowned Catamaran ride at Fisherman's cove where all 8 of us were taken deep into the ocean and provided with the option of jumping into the waters (with a life jacket of course). For someone who does not know to swim, faking to do so in the middle of the ocean is what I really call 'bliss'. To say that the one hour of laughter and fun, with the wobbling waves constantly bumping us around, was fun would be a total understatement. </div><div><br /></div><div>In the same week, as if it's a personal Tryst I have with God, I made the customary trip to Tirupati. I saw actor Madhavan in the queue to darshan. Not that its a big deal nor anybody even took account of him, but adding such extra information to blogpost, in my opinion, sort of adds to the whole 'pointlessness' of blogposts. Anyways, a few pictures I took at Tirupati:</div><div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNa6_3vu5-mICS9roAyM3LNOxjax92H_3dhAHTcYhtuAxWxGrgQbpgZWzgxLZYNN-Ywu5okabkW7jZfIhTuTg_DlSF_ZsG6CMJ6zwSLOZH7FGRjISW2AiX5tLSYaEMWSMjcOfRdJv2Py0/s1600/Pushkarni3.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNa6_3vu5-mICS9roAyM3LNOxjax92H_3dhAHTcYhtuAxWxGrgQbpgZWzgxLZYNN-Ywu5okabkW7jZfIhTuTg_DlSF_ZsG6CMJ6zwSLOZH7FGRjISW2AiX5tLSYaEMWSMjcOfRdJv2Py0/s320/Pushkarni3.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5465337466933165762" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; ">Tirupati Temple Pond</span></div></span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzxGtqg8cQ3Y50ipKvMHtcpH9O-pZyrEJoYg8hmP6jwJM3sWOaCLF3PNh6WhhliujLKoQZ7Fua-NFLG9Jv6TL5kb6VkHKGVURRremZ8W3zf0cpUPC6stxItvdmIJakJaN2uQbzOfeZykU/s1600/Tirupati+Ghat.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzxGtqg8cQ3Y50ipKvMHtcpH9O-pZyrEJoYg8hmP6jwJM3sWOaCLF3PNh6WhhliujLKoQZ7Fua-NFLG9Jv6TL5kb6VkHKGVURRremZ8W3zf0cpUPC6stxItvdmIJakJaN2uQbzOfeZykU/s320/Tirupati+Ghat.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5465337332072413490" /></a><i><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:small;">Tirupati Ghat Road (HDR)</span></div></i></div><div><br /></div><div>And as a measure of being a dutiful son, did some furniture shopping and TV purchase for the house as well. A photo of the apartment with the new setup:</div><div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwrNPC_ML1o-8oQc5X93s77NwPn8hkBiKqiHozunDugEHIAsU21rSTdW3WKJgPFtXUuSInpqgUsRvvsy2o3-ubKLhfbp1yZbuCg9H-pKBokNFpQ4fpddbIjLhmgJGdLUhCDXKP3OMIifQ/s1600/Home2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwrNPC_ML1o-8oQc5X93s77NwPn8hkBiKqiHozunDugEHIAsU21rSTdW3WKJgPFtXUuSInpqgUsRvvsy2o3-ubKLhfbp1yZbuCg9H-pKBokNFpQ4fpddbIjLhmgJGdLUhCDXKP3OMIifQ/s320/Home2.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5465337117734807122" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; ">Apartment Makeover</span></div></span><br /></div><div>To fulfill all desires, I went to a few movies, a few malls and an IPL match too (where Chennai lost miserably, as pre-planned). Also did a photo trip with a fellow photo enthusiast (<a href="http://raavionline.com/">Amar</a>). Having done millions of such trips with him in the US, it was really nice to do one such trip in India. We went to Mahabalipuram and I had a whole new perspective for the place with the camera in my hands. I was a little bugged because they did not allow tripod in some places. When I tried to ask for a reason, I was told something that was completely out of my comprehension level. They don't allow tripods to photograph sculptures because placing tripods in front of them will create cracks in rocks! I swear to God, thats exactly what I was told!! I nodded at the lady who said this and put my tripod into my bag. Nevertheless, got a few pictures:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDKFSoB7POAqOP14DmoLK9G-mVUVu6G6dM-Vg9s0j2kY06OiFRI_cvSRhRJhzYZOc9fmXYFAhhwtupYN3MXIMH3GZ64eCSpMjuPo1E9ohQ10vv4ADBPcsmCJscqLIvs_hyqPfyWpnZjrg/s1600/Lighthouse2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDKFSoB7POAqOP14DmoLK9G-mVUVu6G6dM-Vg9s0j2kY06OiFRI_cvSRhRJhzYZOc9fmXYFAhhwtupYN3MXIMH3GZ64eCSpMjuPo1E9ohQ10vv4ADBPcsmCJscqLIvs_hyqPfyWpnZjrg/s320/Lighthouse2.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5465338527515088530" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><i>Lighthouse at Mahabalipuram</i></span> </span></div></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA822_7Ug1xgdnbOHQDFYEMCweOAttbDz-J4eYT0jqctU8sMG3agcJeNGQHqPnAs27QGn6C9lyuN37cPZC_mKyHY6JjMbdYtxMc6CmKHPucY7jN1q2cd6U7I3h0ksXGzG4euLv4iWeisA/s1600/Mahabs2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA822_7Ug1xgdnbOHQDFYEMCweOAttbDz-J4eYT0jqctU8sMG3agcJeNGQHqPnAs27QGn6C9lyuN37cPZC_mKyHY6JjMbdYtxMc6CmKHPucY7jN1q2cd6U7I3h0ksXGzG4euLv4iWeisA/s320/Mahabs2.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5465338208625197554" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; ">One of the temples at Mahabalipuram</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmK48F0VnlJsytLtf958ud1QK5pnjf_Z00zGHFr-rZhC0g1Oaj7wTxND34eSijeK0x9kYgpmU7RKS8_SHdqhmFeoZvjDG2lYok9oXVaVtl7XxK9PGW6Bkog34-3j9_69fftipcz_8bP3g/s1600/Mahabs+sunset1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmK48F0VnlJsytLtf958ud1QK5pnjf_Z00zGHFr-rZhC0g1Oaj7wTxND34eSijeK0x9kYgpmU7RKS8_SHdqhmFeoZvjDG2lYok9oXVaVtl7XxK9PGW6Bkog34-3j9_69fftipcz_8bP3g/s320/Mahabs+sunset1.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5465338040429845138" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; ">Sunset at Mahabalipuram</span></div></span><br /></div><div>Though the Volcanic ash over Europe tried to extend my vacation, it could not do better than delaying my return by a day. Have to give it to Jet Airways for re-arranging a flight thru Athens to get to the US. </div><div><br /></div><div><i>Overall, just like every single trip to India, it was one hell of a trip!</i></div>Arun Sundarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18219885089043197381noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5268554291957555806.post-64057709248105021742010-02-19T10:20:00.039-05:002010-02-20T00:22:11.357-05:00Cuyahoga and Erie - a weekend in slow motion...<span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">I cannot believe it's been almost a week since our last trip. Time seriously flies and I don't know where. That is a topic to be pondered later. For now, here's an account of our uncommonly relaxed weekend trip.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">Last Friday Arun and I took off on a 6 hour drive to Cuyahoga, Ohio. Thanks to evening rush hour, it took us an hour in crawling traffic just to get out of city limits. We passed the time by copiously cursing the New York-bound folks who clogged the roads, and derived much sadistic pleasure from not allowing drivers to switch into our lane in front of us. We were finally on the freeway and reached Akron, Ohio, where we were to stay the night, at 1am. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">On this trip, I managed to coax Arun into not planning any 7am starts to the days. Can you believe that?! Alright, who am I kidding? It was snowing continuously and there was nothing to photograph until the sun decided to show. It's a victory nevertheless. Anyway, the first item on Saturday's agenda was a ride on the <a href="http://www.cvsr.com/">Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Rail</a>. The train was almost full despite the crappy weather. It was a 3 hour round trip that took us through the entire valley. I think the vast expanse of the valley was more evident thanks to the barren trees and miles of snow. There wasn't much color, but the untouched snow was so sparkly and pristine! The conductor told us that he spotted animals from time to time. All we spotted were animal tracks and some lame deer. Nevertheless, I have always loved train rides. This train was a such a cheerful sight, with its bright yellow engine and shiny metal and red carriages.</span><br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgriDrwerVurkmlhTN7kqiOglX4UWU_2WXQ82jmhobBMcw9nb_p0IIV3YSIowgXaB_w1dDym0NI-O2yq-Q03Yf4cyjX9XMMoElhGjV_TGjzIsqByCJbVj_Z3tNNmSR5ZKVlnVy2j42sXC8/s1600-h/Cuyahoga+Train.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 321px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgriDrwerVurkmlhTN7kqiOglX4UWU_2WXQ82jmhobBMcw9nb_p0IIV3YSIowgXaB_w1dDym0NI-O2yq-Q03Yf4cyjX9XMMoElhGjV_TGjzIsqByCJbVj_Z3tNNmSR5ZKVlnVy2j42sXC8/s400/Cuyahoga+Train.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5440009033313081442" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:78%;" >Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Rail</span><br /></span></div><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">After the train ride we grabbed a quick bite for lunch at a local deli, and then drove to Cuyahoga Valley National Park to check out </span><a style="font-family: georgia;" href="http://www.nps.gov/cuva/historyculture/brandywine-falls.htm">Brandywine Falls</a><span style="font-family:georgia;">. At the trail head it said it was a short 1/2 mile hike to the falls. What it didn't say was that the entire trail was covered in about a foot of powder snow. Thankfully the trail was open. The snow was awesome, it felt like walking on loose face powder, without all the skidding. There were a few flights of stares which looked treacherous, but we managed just fine because we had our hiking boots on. Midway we found a branch of the trail closed, but that was the one that led us to the best spot to view the falls. So we jumped the barrier and went anyway. After 3 steep(ish) flights of stairs we reached the vista point. In a couple of minutes we found that two more groups had followed our lead. So much for rules, eh?!</span></span><div><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">We'd seen frozen rivers and frozen lakes before. This time we got to see a frozen waterfall. It was a beautiful and very different sight to see a water body that usually has such force, silently frozen in place.</span><br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqdlLLDOvVpvkyyjdtCEm71jwjE_hDCOJISjnfxqlbPkQ85nqluSZs5WSeRyyrMUTIPIWpqZxwKCHyVCNN8swsCVinTAZ0Lu78gg341UCe1WCqQbFGR-7BVIvN3xWVn_ruVuaGZ-TpY2w/s1600-h/IMG_8120.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqdlLLDOvVpvkyyjdtCEm71jwjE_hDCOJISjnfxqlbPkQ85nqluSZs5WSeRyyrMUTIPIWpqZxwKCHyVCNN8swsCVinTAZ0Lu78gg341UCe1WCqQbFGR-7BVIvN3xWVn_ruVuaGZ-TpY2w/s400/IMG_8120.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5440170852711992482" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:78%;" >Brandywine Falls, on the extreme right</span><br /></span></div></div><div><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">Next, we drove a couple of hours to get to Erie, Pennsylvania for the night. Erie is supposed to be the fourth largest city in the state, but hardly feels so with its cozy streets, and parks every few blocks and its classic architecture. When we were looking for lodging options in Erie we stumbled upon the <a href="http://www.georgecarrollhouse.com/">George Carrol House</a>. It is a house constructed in 1872, now converted into a bed and breakfast. It had a classic atmosphere with modern amenities and was squeaky clean. The innkeeper Christine lives in the same house and was the sweetest person ever. I'm glad we selected this place over the regular hotels.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">We usually are on the road so much that, more often than not, we end up having dinner at a Subway or some Pizza place in a service exit on the freeway. This time we got into Erie pretty early in the evening. So we went to one of the local restaurants for dinner. It was called Pufferbelly and was one of those old fashioned places with really high ceilings, dim lighting and antiques adorning the walls and surfaces. After loading up on some great Italian fare, we decided it was too snowy and too windy to walk around. So we warmed up in front of the faithful LCD TV for the night. Arun also got some awesome shots of the foot long icicles hanging from the roof, just outside our window. </span><br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjilVZdfaMFrhaWwr7khvZwRTIlt_7x4VkZ9_BK3ChQ9HKHqsMLyZDc9N1q2lA1_kSbN4EzI8dFeYWD460Ltxi3G9EOwfgOrelVTX2mMil5lWiLrmnQ8c16j-WFzED2GixlzNhKsxNdlVc/s1600-h/Isicles.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjilVZdfaMFrhaWwr7khvZwRTIlt_7x4VkZ9_BK3ChQ9HKHqsMLyZDc9N1q2lA1_kSbN4EzI8dFeYWD460Ltxi3G9EOwfgOrelVTX2mMil5lWiLrmnQ8c16j-WFzED2GixlzNhKsxNdlVc/s400/Isicles.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5440178191588177554" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:78%;" >Icicles adorning the window</span><br /></span></div><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">Sunday was a day of lighthouses. The first one, Land Lighthouse, was actually within a residential property. I wonder how encroached the residents would feel on a warm summer day when their front yard is flooded with tourists and kids and dogs.<br /><br /></span></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbMNUqIn93py-zt5gIaYrQzafitBO40vpZTJPB3Bst5qG0yqPzMdNNbPA4EooNkF-PyRpZlwAAjx65J-AfaAirFlcgbURelpeoMijOuLge1IjXH7ePf61-e6e_Fs7lea0nbyAWMMBTLzA/s1600-h/Erie+lighthouse11.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbMNUqIn93py-zt5gIaYrQzafitBO40vpZTJPB3Bst5qG0yqPzMdNNbPA4EooNkF-PyRpZlwAAjx65J-AfaAirFlcgbURelpeoMijOuLge1IjXH7ePf61-e6e_Fs7lea0nbyAWMMBTLzA/s400/Erie+lighthouse11.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5440178032949109538" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:78%;" >Land Lighthouse, Erie, PA</span></span><span style="font-size:78%;"><br /></span></span></div><br /><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >The next two lighthouses we visited in Erie were nothing great. So we drove to Presque Isle, an island which is a part of the city. The island was really beautiful with rows of pretty houses and shops. Lake Erie was completely frozen. We joined a few people who were carefully trudging into the lake, testing for thin ice before every step they took. We weren't sure we wanted to drown that day (pssst, Arun can't swim you know), so we didn't venture too far. There were also people who had come to the island to ski, and some crazy others who were para-sailing!</span><br /><br /><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >The last lighthouse for the day was the Presque Isle North Pierhead. There was a narrow walkway leading up to it. The water on either side was frozen and covered in snow, so you had to be really careful to ensure you stayed on the walkway. Arun risked his life and got this shot.</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:78%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwEqveHsrxDVKMMgPyA70qh0ajyPu1aRuEQlJta3Z4X8EuFi6ehxgksfxsbwH12T3GYcBNb0VWtxeTpJFnuJlle_9c75tqE7VA4k47IKxbASu0Kx9A_WFAFDgrWZWY8Mek3ScSYxilRXE/s1600-h/Presque+Isle.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwEqveHsrxDVKMMgPyA70qh0ajyPu1aRuEQlJta3Z4X8EuFi6ehxgksfxsbwH12T3GYcBNb0VWtxeTpJFnuJlle_9c75tqE7VA4k47IKxbASu0Kx9A_WFAFDgrWZWY8Mek3ScSYxilRXE/s400/Presque+Isle.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5440009027598677170" border="0" /></a></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:78%;" >Presque Isle North Pierhead</span><br /></span></div><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">Near this lighthouse there was a tall sand dune, now covered completely in snow. Give it to the Americans to make a sport out of it. There was a group of people there taking turns to crawl up the dune on all fours and slide down on a snowboard. It was super fun to watch and made me wish I had a snow board too.<br /><br /><center><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB8M36r7KKpbLxJBscy7Ok1FWAnscrb8Dfm_83HpcYVJvYuzJvY6h-NmvdRV7jW71Rx_y_wC-Fy4uOF8YJhQeaLLt370YwK7R43hQluX4qxPrqbtgmwHoDhc37kWU-M1L1k8CAcmc16tg/s1600-h/IMG_8159.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 175px; height: 118px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB8M36r7KKpbLxJBscy7Ok1FWAnscrb8Dfm_83HpcYVJvYuzJvY6h-NmvdRV7jW71Rx_y_wC-Fy4uOF8YJhQeaLLt370YwK7R43hQluX4qxPrqbtgmwHoDhc37kWU-M1L1k8CAcmc16tg/s200/IMG_8159.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5440186119256428402" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZBjjKUNRQPQQ9bYEJhcmxgVmSw_ARCeCDTOibj-Z0rl-un7w99SyMnyk1nQb9d5bv0SnNd6mbEHEUCwdFsKH_94yD0L6Xnd-YhUQyq2mced90q9ZZ8z-D6MVHeoN6AB82cssEK7pxH1Q/s1600-h/IMG_8168.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 175px; height: 118px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZBjjKUNRQPQQ9bYEJhcmxgVmSw_ARCeCDTOibj-Z0rl-un7w99SyMnyk1nQb9d5bv0SnNd6mbEHEUCwdFsKH_94yD0L6Xnd-YhUQyq2mced90q9ZZ8z-D6MVHeoN6AB82cssEK7pxH1Q/s200/IMG_8168.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5440186113938653266" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnMbonx-27qMFlg5yE5ZJ7TMHZKzrcij72lVU8eCNOUfmPktVx3iYImdP8rzfYJzWsktLwTtonTgnjWI0ra6fAU2mHOZ0qWc2T9Zv_aROj6EFDTHcgvjAUD41xm_tre68DCD4g-2_X3Bk/s1600-h/IMG_8173.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 175px; height: 118px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnMbonx-27qMFlg5yE5ZJ7TMHZKzrcij72lVU8eCNOUfmPktVx3iYImdP8rzfYJzWsktLwTtonTgnjWI0ra6fAU2mHOZ0qWc2T9Zv_aROj6EFDTHcgvjAUD41xm_tre68DCD4g-2_X3Bk/s200/IMG_8173.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5440186106272778226" border="0" /></a></center></span></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:78%;" ><span style="font-family:georgia;">People snowboarding down a sand dune</span></span><br /></div><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"><br />On the way out of the island we stopped at a cafe called Sunset Cafe for a late lunch. We arrived there just in time for a live performance by a guy who played the guitar, sang and played the harmonica, all at once. His singing wasn't too shoddy either. So we lounged around listening to him for a while over </span>our coffee and sandwiches.<br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">Dinner that night was at another old world restaurant called Serafini's. We were forced to do Italian again because most places were fully booked for Valentine's day or closed for the Winter. We are not complaining because the restaurant had some great food and decor. Arun ate nearly a pound of chocolate cake, which made his evening and watching that sinful sight made mine. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">We had planned to hike in a couple of famous Pennsylvania state parks on Monday. It's a pity to admit that we had to abort the plan, as even the entrance to both of them were inaccessible. "No winter maintenance" said the large welcoming sign. Hmmph, where do our tax dollars go? Job creation anybody? After taking a couple of silly pictures we set out for home and were back by 7pm, 6-7 hours earlier than the norm.</span><br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVgWwfkVeVCAzoQon5eEVraWh33awWkiPQ35cpQxNlBu7Ww1jWR8ITSgfyHZGueyC_iV-ysk3pTkFkE2qqpJsS626TPII6Mxj2fVb1JXwRPpCkI_Ja3PB-l7ROG6ByQ7TfU_ZMsHriWJQ/s1600-h/Bear+Hug.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVgWwfkVeVCAzoQon5eEVraWh33awWkiPQ35cpQxNlBu7Ww1jWR8ITSgfyHZGueyC_iV-ysk3pTkFkE2qqpJsS626TPII6Mxj2fVb1JXwRPpCkI_Ja3PB-l7ROG6ByQ7TfU_ZMsHriWJQ/s400/Bear+Hug.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5440009133650217490" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:78%;" >The only bear we spotted on this trip</span><span style="font-size:78%;">, </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:78%;" >he even let me hug him</span><br /></span></div><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">That was our chilled out weekend trip! It's weird, but as much as we enjoyed this one-off laid back travel experience, Arun and I are sure now that we actually </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" >prefer</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> our jam-packed itineraries that leave us happily exhausted in the end.</span></span></div>Kavithahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00820299129749053242noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5268554291957555806.post-8969931084835869502010-02-10T17:32:00.009-05:002010-02-10T19:39:15.868-05:00SNOW! SNOW! SNOW! And then some...<span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >It's official. I LOVE the snow and the cold! As someone who grew up by the sea in the boiling cauldron called Madras, I was amazed at how easily I adapt to the cold. I went through my first winter here with no gloves or hat without so much as a sneeze. I relished walking the 20 blocks to school and back in the freezing weather. The crunch of the snow beneath my feet, the bite of the chill on my ears, steaming coffee cupped in my hands, I loved them all. It's my third East Coast winter and the love affair continues...<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilgQEbvuWS2gCygiL4WIxT82JCZpW49vHtpxnGi1P-O5va8xxc6aq77BlrlHRoOBkKt_fy9ti_f5ObQZ9ScAzZEEoPF-9WutpxzBMeAkvmnOMHeozMsNUfcAxl05QQCs3KFhkibneR8AM/s1600-h/IMG_0014.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 212px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilgQEbvuWS2gCygiL4WIxT82JCZpW49vHtpxnGi1P-O5va8xxc6aq77BlrlHRoOBkKt_fy9ti_f5ObQZ9ScAzZEEoPF-9WutpxzBMeAkvmnOMHeozMsNUfcAxl05QQCs3KFhkibneR8AM/s320/IMG_0014.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5436753181878146034" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:78%;" >From a snowy trail run</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">As much as I was lamenting not getting out enough in the cold this winter, I completely capitalized on the blizzards the North East has been hit with in the last fortnight. We got 27 inches of snow last week and another 24 inches today. It's really coming down even as I write this! There are gusty winds at 20-30mph, the freeways are closed, airports are shut down. Some of the popular names going around are Snopocalypse, Snomageddon, SnoOMG!<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />However I find that snow, much like rain, really captures my imagination. There is a very serene beauty in the miles of sheer white blanket, with the essential road threading through it and the occasional car dotting it. <span><span style=""><span style="">I simply cannot resist the temptation to step into the soft white pillows on my balcony (and jumping around to keep from freezing). Even t</span></span></span>he tree that peers over the railing, once lush and green, seems reluctant to shake off<span style=""> the crystals that frost it.<br /><br /></span></div></div></span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" > </span><div style="text-align: center;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcStCtMefl6xfWreX6MTbamSadQvOKC9VPeltLTaHPrCjaI1csAawQH2R8C-K4eyGGBUn85v_7JLxStI4BFQXvNkVPL2st8Q582dWvpMbsUvV669frGNO-kBb-diw3T38_sVlIbfoYpBo/s1600-h/IMG_1130.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 179px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcStCtMefl6xfWreX6MTbamSadQvOKC9VPeltLTaHPrCjaI1csAawQH2R8C-K4eyGGBUn85v_7JLxStI4BFQXvNkVPL2st8Q582dWvpMbsUvV669frGNO-kBb-diw3T38_sVlIbfoYpBo/s320/IMG_1130.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5436756690125411986" border="0" /></a></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:78%;" >Tree outside the balcony, while the snow storm rages on</span><br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="">I even enjoyed slushing around in the snow as Arun and I shoveled to get </span>his buried car out...<br /><br /></span></div></div><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" > </span><div style="text-align: center;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1a6OS8OpnStJZTv1zGoYhmbtgXPQaPEVnLfb2vNSuK7V0LMhaB4BcMISi2tKOq8QPb51cfofxXVMrXrtAxH5Dk-H0XXM9fyFSg-2T9-z9M4zI_9Rayp-qFXhQQDALsWKs-1bRPbxW0vQ/s1600-h/IMG_0003.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1a6OS8OpnStJZTv1zGoYhmbtgXPQaPEVnLfb2vNSuK7V0LMhaB4BcMISi2tKOq8QPb51cfofxXVMrXrtAxH5Dk-H0XXM9fyFSg-2T9-z9M4zI_9Rayp-qFXhQQDALsWKs-1bRPbxW0vQ/s320/IMG_0003.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5436759596271946210" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:78%;" >Half shoveled parking space</span></span> </div><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><br />..to drive 10 slippery miles and go here:<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ0OMVwAW19ibBBBREjYP-4v5j4iy89GnWkTcArwl__ydP2uUdo8OxtLsj1DdPLYL89y05-qylw28NswdYx0fE5HcBfsLseHH7QzoX5XbSvSd6nVuqv9X5Ts8CfvEue5-DkYH26ExiVdI/s1600-h/Valley+Forge-+Winter+2009.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 232px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ0OMVwAW19ibBBBREjYP-4v5j4iy89GnWkTcArwl__ydP2uUdo8OxtLsj1DdPLYL89y05-qylw28NswdYx0fE5HcBfsLseHH7QzoX5XbSvSd6nVuqv9X5Ts8CfvEue5-DkYH26ExiVdI/s320/Valley+Forge-+Winter+2009.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5436761416291982530" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:78%;" >Soldier's Hut at Valley Forge National Park, PA</span><br /></span><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br />Lastly I've never been out in a snow storm before. And the first time I did it I ensured there was a lot to write home about. Here are some pictures that made my mom want to send me some of her hot Rasam to keep warm.<br /></span></div></div><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx8PaQYgKxvTSg8NwmV62xWssPEltW7njS7jvfRRl7eP1qSRBw2K054o4wxKq14RXAAe-yzuL0hQDf8YdCAWl5-mOfI7-G8Nfd5JP6UtRzA8mxMXkzP2SXcUsOnSwNW9s-2sRedVvFPjo/s1600-h/IMG_1148.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 179px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx8PaQYgKxvTSg8NwmV62xWssPEltW7njS7jvfRRl7eP1qSRBw2K054o4wxKq14RXAAe-yzuL0hQDf8YdCAWl5-mOfI7-G8Nfd5JP6UtRzA8mxMXkzP2SXcUsOnSwNW9s-2sRedVvFPjo/s320/IMG_1148.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5436762808364188738" border="0" /></a></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:78%;" >Looking the storm in the eye!</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></div><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0beosAabMmJJSiBzZkj0b-epEzeytiA15VJwI7UWjqp6acDlA1dAZNTUTGpStLlf28pm_lLmxzjaREzgECLirp-o4bRjYqMGbV-Sx4FxPc4-MqVqnxllM5fqRScnl2xZ0deIResGDNWQ/s1600-h/IMG_0023.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0beosAabMmJJSiBzZkj0b-epEzeytiA15VJwI7UWjqp6acDlA1dAZNTUTGpStLlf28pm_lLmxzjaREzgECLirp-o4bRjYqMGbV-Sx4FxPc4-MqVqnxllM5fqRScnl2xZ0deIResGDNWQ/s320/IMG_0023.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5436762806216652786" border="0" /></a></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:78%;" >Taking a walk in the dying storm</span><br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Finally I could not let such a golden opportunity to do this pass by:<br /></span><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></div></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dyOa41Uv6kcOWpFPLfyNOcUaWLFyvt398xdg71EWg-x5swn_yZq3A403cyu5AzWAIfbFu2FZjLII86uuGRoZg' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></span><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:78%;"><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Making a Snow Angel!</span></span><br /></div><br />So it's been one helluva a winter folks. Hope you enjoyed reading about all the craziness. We'll be back with more after this weekend, from Erie this time. Ciao!Kavithahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00820299129749053242noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5268554291957555806.post-54409143931358584162010-02-05T10:34:00.007-05:002010-02-05T16:03:31.784-05:00President's day solicits visit to Ohio!We can't believe we are running out of places to visit in the East coast already. Wait, let me rephrase - we are running out of famous places to visit in the East Coast already. So, we started scouting around the web to find places that could be interesting within driving distance. There is, of course no scarcity for remote places in this country, most of them quite beautiful in their own way.<br /><br />After a little bit of googling, we have decided to do a road trip to Cuyahoga National park in Ohio (about 6 hours drive from Philadelphia) for the upcoming President's day weekenF. In the park, there are a number of hiking trails, a scenic railway, and a couple of waterfalls (which could very well be nothing but falling icicles now, but hey, who cares?!).<br /><br />The plan is to spend a day at the National park and then drive to Presque Isle (which translates to 'almost an island' in French) in Pennsylvania. There is a state park, cruise rides, shopping district and what not? We have booked a mansion/hotel to spend a couple of nights there. And then on the way back, we'll visit one of the state parks in the Pennsylvania Wilds.<br /><br />If I sit back and think, my visit to this country started off as a 'short-term work assignment' for 3 weeks, back in 2004. It has transformed into an almost 5 year stay making me learn a thing or two about this country and myself in the due course. Having visited more than 30 states, I still feel there is a lot to explore in this country, or for that matter, any place one lives in. The smallest, the most remote, less visited, less popular - all kinds of places have their own unique style and beauty.<br /><br /><em>Any time I step out of my doorstep, a whole new experience always seem to greet me! I'm sure any avid traveler would agree with me!</em>Arun Sundarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18219885089043197381noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5268554291957555806.post-76312579303291182702010-01-31T19:52:00.024-05:002010-02-01T09:47:41.397-05:00January Travels<span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><span style="">January was not a great month of travel for us. Work, weather and weary weekends were the culprits that kept us from making our customary weekend long trips. So I decided to write one describing our collective travels this month.</span> <span style="">Arun and I spent New Year eve at home with old friends, Wii, wine and home-cooked food. It was fun, albeit uncharacteristic of us to give up a long weekend and stay home.<br /><br />The following week, I had to be in California for a few days. So I packed my running shoes and made good use of the balmy weather (well, in comparison) by getting a few runs in. It was almost nostalgic to do my old routes once again. I also made a trip to San Francisco to meet up with some friends. Nothing much in the way of travel though.</span><br /><br />Around the middle of the month, it struck us that we'd not gone any place new since Christmas. No! We couldn't possibly let the winter go by without getting out there and braving the chill. You'll know if you've read our posts from last winter. So on an impulse we decided to visit the Botanical Gardens at Staten Island in New York. For some reason it didn't occur to us that we can see most of the same barren trees from the balcony at home. Here's one of the few good views we managed to see at the Chinese Scholar Garden.<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiRLLGdeuFUa-JmqLOfttcSnxFgigmZO9zsfZ6np87tHm-iM-IUuE8Fd8HwAYFIg4PQPaIDn57ac_LNIX-dDwms2xSmZxZLU4vwiVAzbCJNq3SKJeuepuLQp3op0aYpPphNbjCBATobwE/s1600-h/4280113199_980ed6acb5_b.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiRLLGdeuFUa-JmqLOfttcSnxFgigmZO9zsfZ6np87tHm-iM-IUuE8Fd8HwAYFIg4PQPaIDn57ac_LNIX-dDwms2xSmZxZLU4vwiVAzbCJNq3SKJeuepuLQp3op0aYpPphNbjCBATobwE/s320/4280113199_980ed6acb5_b.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5433098615404111874" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:78%;" >Chinese Scholar Garden with frozen lake running through it</span><br /></span></div><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><br />To make up for the otherwise disastrous trip, on our way back we stopped at New Jersey to meet a friend. We literally dragged him out of his house with less than an hour's notice. After eating a thousand calories worth of chaat, we watched the latest Jackie Chan movie, The Spy Next Door. Nothing to write home about this one, but a funny movie nevertheless.<br /><br />If you are are still reading, you are probably thinking "What losers?!" That's what we thought too. So the following weekend we took off to the Washington DC area to do some real traveling. We left on Friday afternoon and drove to Baltimore, which is only about two hours away. We were there right in time for the city to light up and Arun got some great shots of the skyline.<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIYzYfiOvKGsvvMSrpXFuKPN8dyz5ox8BgtN6pklcMCkR5cfoZpKLYJUtXolZls1Do1LL9EmYGIZxdh6Pk-rOgJB19xf4C_0LPmJqRPYZfciRGBs-GLOz7LMVkp-kd02PXpNTn8sSUWbE/s1600-h/4320226557_a443a3cd5b_b.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIYzYfiOvKGsvvMSrpXFuKPN8dyz5ox8BgtN6pklcMCkR5cfoZpKLYJUtXolZls1Do1LL9EmYGIZxdh6Pk-rOgJB19xf4C_0LPmJqRPYZfciRGBs-GLOz7LMVkp-kd02PXpNTn8sSUWbE/s320/4320226557_a443a3cd5b_b.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5433099073594571842" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:78%;" >Baltimore Skyline - shot from Baltimore Inner Harbor</span><br /></span></div><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia2oHVub2BT3cynA7EWNOW3lZo5EzwpucdomA9MsHlXtgbURuWjNTZlFCwhhpojddPaYlcRmknP7vsuajpzyoEHPH_QoUND_2zgv__KyK7ZD3TapT5vOyiYgbp1bUkjRy2PobfQ5v8vZc/s1600-h/4302079555_877be4be10_b.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia2oHVub2BT3cynA7EWNOW3lZo5EzwpucdomA9MsHlXtgbURuWjNTZlFCwhhpojddPaYlcRmknP7vsuajpzyoEHPH_QoUND_2zgv__KyK7ZD3TapT5vOyiYgbp1bUkjRy2PobfQ5v8vZc/s320/4302079555_877be4be10_b.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5433099004584676962" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:78%;" >Baltimore Skyline - one more</span><br /></span></div><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><br /><span style="">By the time he was done taking pictures from across the Patapsco river, we were both freezing from the wind. Baltimore's Inner Harbor, the place where we took these pictures from, is lined with restaurants. So we hurried into UNO Grill and warmed up with some awesome Chicago style deep dish pizza.</span> <span style=""><br /><br />We drove down to Virginia for the night to stay close to </span><a href="http://www.nps.gov/grfa/index.htm">Great Falls National Park</a>, which was the first destination we'd planned for the following day. But come morning, the sun was out and shining brighter than it should have been. Trust me, Arun was not pleased. Sun is a big no-no for waterfall photography. Did you know that? The sun definitely didn't on that day. So we changed plans and decided to spend the morning at The National Arboretum, just outside Washington DC, while we waited for the sun to go down. This visit completely redeemed us from our Botanical Garden debacle I described earlier. You can see for yourself from Arun's pictures.<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2XWsIWgetPuHbMZq-XFb-nkqFWuQ-yGUjrFPMT6VGc57XHhbiqAPt6CMSGReRbTs5pVMCrYDjI0IcQvhHePVkCVHUGZI6DTLVib_8mGXY5uwbPOiqvXgknb2wSjMv7wny0N9K4Knf5RE/s1600-h/Capitol+Columns6.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2XWsIWgetPuHbMZq-XFb-nkqFWuQ-yGUjrFPMT6VGc57XHhbiqAPt6CMSGReRbTs5pVMCrYDjI0IcQvhHePVkCVHUGZI6DTLVib_8mGXY5uwbPOiqvXgknb2wSjMv7wny0N9K4Knf5RE/s320/Capitol+Columns6.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5433099857149621650" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:78%;" >Capitol Columns - columns that once adorned the East face of the US Capitol, now at The National Arboretum</span><br /></span></div><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMpBp2yYY7xlah4jXvKPNs_XkX1YExQozuWnhLoOB7pcLbQyuEy47_o7rsg76i6zJHu6EfIbYcqpniynwCfgLcPdCmZ7O0pMH54VO39rEv1rkjKIDY5FBUUQwm7TZMbIlryS2ErcmxmUA/s1600-h/4304459179_01ab0ba242_b.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMpBp2yYY7xlah4jXvKPNs_XkX1YExQozuWnhLoOB7pcLbQyuEy47_o7rsg76i6zJHu6EfIbYcqpniynwCfgLcPdCmZ7O0pMH54VO39rEv1rkjKIDY5FBUUQwm7TZMbIlryS2ErcmxmUA/s320/4304459179_01ab0ba242_b.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5433099388014680642" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:78%;" >Capitol Columns - a different perspective</span><br /></span></div><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><br /></span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >There was a greenhouse with a Bonsai Garden which was fabulous. We got to see Bonsai that had been in training for over 400 years. The miniature creations of large oaks, pines and maples seemed fascinatingly impossible.</span> <span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCSqrCEgBfT3057afzF0J66S4A5ZhWxP0f5vDHJdxmJojEFWxRW2kfgjdQI4TxEXN9rzFTKDlaeL1dCVlY5k5RuLMcbLXLr1b78z77iILqOCH7n-l6WDW7ljBUDiiONpGrn8C_DtJeOs8/s1600-h/Bonsai.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCSqrCEgBfT3057afzF0J66S4A5ZhWxP0f5vDHJdxmJojEFWxRW2kfgjdQI4TxEXN9rzFTKDlaeL1dCVlY5k5RuLMcbLXLr1b78z77iILqOCH7n-l6WDW7ljBUDiiONpGrn8C_DtJeOs8/s320/Bonsai.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5433100374869069426" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:78%;" >Bonsai on display</span><br /></span></div><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><br />Later in the day we drove to Great Falls National Park in Virginia. It has three small waterfalls (couldn't figure out why they are "Great") cascading down one after the other. We did a short hike to the various vista points. The day being slightly warm, there were throngs of people at the park. I had a great time playing with all the dogs while Arun battled with his camera to get this shot.<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEith6F8ihagKOIYvh7rt7xHESLjXfSwu-shKmHUTXZhZLIpIcICq4wUBuc9Ru8LTX2n8avO5-ZhchfoXSMNCZPFChL-obXmACqWFW0frY9LMjryrAKx_8Kg-GWxkAeIz9uCAXSpwhfQCCI/s1600-h/Great+Falls1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 219px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEith6F8ihagKOIYvh7rt7xHESLjXfSwu-shKmHUTXZhZLIpIcICq4wUBuc9Ru8LTX2n8avO5-ZhchfoXSMNCZPFChL-obXmACqWFW0frY9LMjryrAKx_8Kg-GWxkAeIz9uCAXSpwhfQCCI/s320/Great+Falls1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5433100817632690626" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:78%;" >Great Falls</span><span style="font-size:78%;"> </span></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:78%;" >at sunset</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></div><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><br /><span style="">Those were rough waters and hence popular with experienced kayakers. We didn't know this until someone asked us if we'd caught sight of any. We hadn't, not yet at least. But we got lucky. Half an hour later we saw a guy row upstream in his bright red kayak. It was so cool to see him expertly paddle around in the surf, as the current rocked him and splashed icy water all over him. Brrrrr! He really seemed to know what he was doing, judging by the gasps he received from his sizable audience.</span><br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDRAL93t_a7B_U4-Z5Og9uhQ1VGGN3UCKrbZxsD4QB8fl3j6idOMn_gmkNjVWDhY6dqtOMXl_CIBiT50KPkpv42vyO5wUbX1DA81Bj0VHPs54kwKiaN2joHv-6VGfhGsceL-IU2SDq4wo/s1600-h/kayak12.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 203px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDRAL93t_a7B_U4-Z5Og9uhQ1VGGN3UCKrbZxsD4QB8fl3j6idOMn_gmkNjVWDhY6dqtOMXl_CIBiT50KPkpv42vyO5wUbX1DA81Bj0VHPs54kwKiaN2joHv-6VGfhGsceL-IU2SDq4wo/s320/kayak12.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5433101680411226898" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:78%;" >Kayaker ruling the waters</span><br /></span></div><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><br />We ended our trip by going back to the nation's capital. Arun took pictures of Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial from either side of the Reflecting Pool. Here they are:<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHLzNz77UX03WTzilyWamhZzLBLeXuAsqgbQcb4Kd7pB3j14lo9Ix6yHkOgU7oPFMAJwTe7_Ve8swZnuuOkQ8woaOY5d8tbV-zmcS8tZNb3ShQ5L5u9Zgc1RL80A8sALpj9EdpAFMLbWQ/s1600-h/IMG_8054.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHLzNz77UX03WTzilyWamhZzLBLeXuAsqgbQcb4Kd7pB3j14lo9Ix6yHkOgU7oPFMAJwTe7_Ve8swZnuuOkQ8woaOY5d8tbV-zmcS8tZNb3ShQ5L5u9Zgc1RL80A8sALpj9EdpAFMLbWQ/s320/IMG_8054.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5433111359869810706" border="0" /></a></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:78%;" >Lincoln Memorial</span><br /></span></div><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3cq9IF6DAJmx8R0ADN_9P6Peu9931vjinsR1BRfdb7eELgMpnLNpCWjAHqnWhnrmA7XW2VAHO4dFv0eZTJM7c3XpR8Ds5NVPGttnkfjg027QQ-KaxK9r3Sp2rgue7zew5yw5Hsw5cL0Y/s1600-h/IMG_8049.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3cq9IF6DAJmx8R0ADN_9P6Peu9931vjinsR1BRfdb7eELgMpnLNpCWjAHqnWhnrmA7XW2VAHO4dFv0eZTJM7c3XpR8Ds5NVPGttnkfjg027QQ-KaxK9r3Sp2rgue7zew5yw5Hsw5cL0Y/s320/IMG_8049.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5433110679649666226" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:78%;" >Washington Monument</span><br /></span></div><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><br />So that was a quick hash of our low key January. February should be good, for there's a long weekend coming up! Until our next jaunt... </span>Kavithahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00820299129749053242noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5268554291957555806.post-7201761250011861872009-12-30T09:08:00.020-05:002009-12-30T18:59:28.137-05:00Smoky Mountains to close 2009<span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">After burning an unspeakable hole in our pockets all year through various unjustifiable indulgences, travel and others, Arun and I were victim to a rather unfamiliar bout of financial prudence as we neared the end of 2009. Let's just call it our last ditch attempt to earn some Karma points with the money Gods. I don't have to tell you about the astronomical cost of flying during Christmas. Add to that the tiny detail that we didn't decide where we were going until a week before our trip. But we are not ones to pass up on a vacation! Naturally we picked a quick 10 hour drive to the Smoky Mountains, despite numerous warnings and scares about the terrible cold weather from well meaning friends. To add to the fun, we roped in Swetha, an unsuspecting, cold weather-averse friend of mine from high school who I've not met in 10 years.</span> <span style="font-family:georgia;"><br /><br />Come Christmas eve, we printed up a few trail maps, donned our hiking shoes, gassed up Arun's car and set off to Tennessee. We sped down the freeways for 10 straight hours, heeding nothing but hunger and the urge to pee. Swetha and I productively used the time to catch up on old friends and swapped important life stories. I suspect I heard Arun snore a couple of times even when he was at the wheel. Yappity Yappity girls!</span> <span style="font-family:georgia;"><br /><br />Cut to Pigeon Forge, a town at the foothills of the Smokies. We were instantly surrounded by festive green and red lights. The roads were lined with blue lights made to look like falling snowflakes. Sale banners and dinner specials and party announcements hung from every lamp post and building front. Christmas it was indeed! But of course, the lights were all that were on. Pretty much everything was closed and we had to eat breakfast food at iHOP for dinner. So what's new, eh?</span> <span style="font-family:georgia;"><br /><br /></span></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLzyP9nFP-j94xkE9uhneYN7DTew_phLDReNYKQGmJjnRhHY6PM3jRUm0Ci6v8LntZOdDqdiDQZso_v3SGYa1QVxGgeJIMLSga3wAvD1ip5NwgsRfUXlWSATwGoAOxwSnjElvdszV2KQw/s1600-h/Wonderworld.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLzyP9nFP-j94xkE9uhneYN7DTew_phLDReNYKQGmJjnRhHY6PM3jRUm0Ci6v8LntZOdDqdiDQZso_v3SGYa1QVxGgeJIMLSga3wAvD1ip5NwgsRfUXlWSATwGoAOxwSnjElvdszV2KQw/s320/Wonderworld.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5421177316929368066" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">An indoor amusement park standing on its head we found in Pigeon Forge, TN</span></span><br /></span></div><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"><br />The next morning we drove to a place called Cades Cove at the West end of the Smokies to hike the Abrams Falls Trail. The temperature was a balmy 45 deg F and the sun was out too. It was an easy 2.5 miles each way with the trail constantly going up and down with no steep climbs. We reached the falls in an hour and were surprised to find we had it all to ourselves. So we used a rock as a makeshift picnic table and ate sandwiches and candy bars. Arun jumped around from rock to rock taking pictures. But even his wizardry with the camera could not make Abrams Falls look any more interesting than the muddy cascade it was.<br /><br /></span></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit4a249vKGwust2gg9xN9FnEVkSh65PdmtTGAaCufB6Tet4T4lcxlz4lzO0tqz2rullf7FQ8ekYzhGuvGBjAxyHEtxyKsdjJ8Bgntz9ayE9MbxvhDoVJGgNj_j4AjtG95dwjVL8xokAn4/s1600-h/All+3.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit4a249vKGwust2gg9xN9FnEVkSh65PdmtTGAaCufB6Tet4T4lcxlz4lzO0tqz2rullf7FQ8ekYzhGuvGBjAxyHEtxyKsdjJ8Bgntz9ayE9MbxvhDoVJGgNj_j4AjtG95dwjVL8xokAn4/s320/All+3.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5421177730971175170" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Swetha, Kavitha and Arun at the Abrams Falls trail head</span></span><br /></span></div><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"><br /></span></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO0C0t2LkYhLNpA-XGZty_8eGVyMAxOhcvSi82LATBZQRKG4ca8KKiV1LrF3lttBinQuaDhyphenhyphenmCf0APxLrB84QoKXcNvp57Ak99xhNxLxoGDWU1q_AoZiURsinsL7g7AgDZtLpNB1YTK_4/s1600-h/Abrams+Falls.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO0C0t2LkYhLNpA-XGZty_8eGVyMAxOhcvSi82LATBZQRKG4ca8KKiV1LrF3lttBinQuaDhyphenhyphenmCf0APxLrB84QoKXcNvp57Ak99xhNxLxoGDWU1q_AoZiURsinsL7g7AgDZtLpNB1YTK_4/s320/Abrams+Falls.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5421177724782763010" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Abrams Falls</span></span><br /></span></div><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"><br />On our way back we met hordes of hikers on their way to the falls. Boy! Were we glad to escape all those kids. Pepped up by our snack, we did the hike back in 40 minutes. We even caught some deer and turkey along the road in Cades Cove. </span> <span style="font-family:georgia;"><br /><br />An hour and a half later we got into Gatlinburg, another Tennessee town bordering the Smokies. By then the world had woken up and descended upon the streets with a vengeance. It was like a carnival, people walking around with food and soda in their hands, music playing from every store and dazzling signs inviting us to partake in the festivities.<br /><br /></span></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmYSZLtYzb1FF8sS5199ezRwVcw80azxKYvoFTkYZUON-vPLvRZUMolgNl0Zv7wbjXA0D2VZJZqlxbuMWC4x58MIjD73Z4LPCRkymE4LYK0r4u7-Jlzd_k98csDRuxxz-dWCgDVFB7K6o/s1600-h/2009-12+Gatlinburg.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmYSZLtYzb1FF8sS5199ezRwVcw80azxKYvoFTkYZUON-vPLvRZUMolgNl0Zv7wbjXA0D2VZJZqlxbuMWC4x58MIjD73Z4LPCRkymE4LYK0r4u7-Jlzd_k98csDRuxxz-dWCgDVFB7K6o/s320/2009-12+Gatlinburg.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5421067852879816498" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Swetha and Kavitha at Gatlinburg,TN</span></span><br /><br /></span></div><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">We dumped the car and walked on the packed streets to find a quaint old fashioned restaurant, replete with stone walls and fire places. After lunch we inched our way out of Gatlinburg and drove up the mountains hoping that the road to Clingman's Dome, the highest point in the Smokies will be open. It was snowed down and closed. So much for our optimism. Instead we discovered Newfound Gap, which offered brilliant views and resolved to come back for sunrise the next morning. We did. And here are some of the pictures. All the shivering and looking like shriveled up Turkeys at 5000 ft paid off I guess.<br /><br /></span></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvScE1wCr98ia9Y7ciWYVciCVf3npwG-XdOYG4tFta1CMiYygp4e4_WTg2Ccqez1vyneD_wY3ixo731-ZAJMI4i2Y0J295yVefUay07Vf3YBpkY4yBo-jDLmb35kgVYy_HbE_8dTVglJY/s1600-h/Sunrise+2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvScE1wCr98ia9Y7ciWYVciCVf3npwG-XdOYG4tFta1CMiYygp4e4_WTg2Ccqez1vyneD_wY3ixo731-ZAJMI4i2Y0J295yVefUay07Vf3YBpkY4yBo-jDLmb35kgVYy_HbE_8dTVglJY/s320/Sunrise+2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5421178296598851154" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Waiting for sunrise</span></span><br /><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF_O_MoqtqCCuJq-8QwX2llZ8W-szUUy4SH-OHB92hIgGKR3sSP1yyf1qcYxMcJQTKu7M5V4x5XN9ZEcUSQuzx6K69eFDSPC-xtCWtoXiIwtQX_V3GI241ltclfN8_pK8uoS8fuaV-Uh4/s1600-h/Sunrise1.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF_O_MoqtqCCuJq-8QwX2llZ8W-szUUy4SH-OHB92hIgGKR3sSP1yyf1qcYxMcJQTKu7M5V4x5XN9ZEcUSQuzx6K69eFDSPC-xtCWtoXiIwtQX_V3GI241ltclfN8_pK8uoS8fuaV-Uh4/s320/Sunrise1.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5421178292978105010" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">First rays of the day, we were actually standing above the cloud cover</span></span><br /></span></div><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"><br />We thawed with an indulgent breakfast and coffee at Gatlinburg before we drove to the trail head to hike the Rainbow Falls Trail. We'd read that this hike was more challenging with a 2.8 mile steep uphill climb of 1500 feet to reach the falls. The trail was beautiful, the creek flowing along the trail almost the entire distance, with numerous creek crossings on narrow wooden footbridges with handrails. An hour or so into the hike, we were looking down proudly at all the elevation we had gained and guessing that we should reach in 30 more minutes. This is when we met a middle aged couple on their way back. They popped our bubble saying we were only half way there and it was going to get slower because the rest of the trail had a lot of ice. The real adventure started when we hit the ice. It was slippery as hell and my being extra paranoid about such surfaces, didn't help one bit. We labored on gingerly, slipping and sliding over the ice until we reached these falls. </span><br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHKrqF8Juw5oBweS9V_HbU4ZaGgGN4UtpvfwvIyVsxD0CuukjJmMP6Mbd0wb-dl5PUeoT4cIZvbj-NOTiPLU8hD6Sg-T7wifItyY8X7Yn34hadvvHwC8TynpADeFU8oiogoFRE8_ATKjw/s1600-h/Trickle.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHKrqF8Juw5oBweS9V_HbU4ZaGgGN4UtpvfwvIyVsxD0CuukjJmMP6Mbd0wb-dl5PUeoT4cIZvbj-NOTiPLU8hD6Sg-T7wifItyY8X7Yn34hadvvHwC8TynpADeFU8oiogoFRE8_ATKjw/s320/Trickle.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5421180286835988402" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">A minor letdown before the actual Rainbow Falls</span><br /><br /></span></div><span style="font-size:100%;">We felt rather shortchanged when we saw this trickle of water. "Did we hike all the distance for this measly thing?", we contemplated silently to ourselves. We saw that the trail which continued for 4 more miles to reach the peak of Mt. LeConte was completely covered in ice and wondered if the Rainbow Falls actually lay further ahead. Our suspicion was indeed confirmed by a couple of hikers returning from the actual falls. One of them even slipped and fell on his butt to give us a preview of the rest of the trail. So we moved on, holding hands this time to keep each other from falling, for as the elevation increased there were even longer stretches of ice. 20 more minutes of skating freestyle brought us to these waterfalls which made even the idea of the hike back seem worth it.<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU_l6LeK5yis4n27eFB1I87EMcw4xGsLLApuC_sBwsousQCQaY82GBDGNTeBQUuo8vMpnYRxfT9epMTZVwB7aNy-TemQNte8BLKTFkigvW6vykT9GcDpMnKzz9Sn74L488okyDim5LrFY/s1600-h/2009-12+Rainbow+Falls.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 213px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU_l6LeK5yis4n27eFB1I87EMcw4xGsLLApuC_sBwsousQCQaY82GBDGNTeBQUuo8vMpnYRxfT9epMTZVwB7aNy-TemQNte8BLKTFkigvW6vykT9GcDpMnKzz9Sn74L488okyDim5LrFY/s320/2009-12+Rainbow+Falls.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5421066352751632034" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Rainbow Falls</span></span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdSySr2hvR7bsmrdwArNQmn6frvFuXW3QNjhyphenhyphenhFB1suW3Ywf2sIpOeOeVORV8SqOUjrf0zND_xs09PO_RNJkbRGyFEKIkncyWRLhLYa5mWz6NNSoGkBFWxN5JFni-wfIj6tiyRZWmD0Gc/s1600-h/Icy+Trail.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdSySr2hvR7bsmrdwArNQmn6frvFuXW3QNjhyphenhyphenhFB1suW3Ywf2sIpOeOeVORV8SqOUjrf0zND_xs09PO_RNJkbRGyFEKIkncyWRLhLYa5mWz6NNSoGkBFWxN5JFni-wfIj6tiyRZWmD0Gc/s320/Icy+Trail.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5421179589663419362" border="0" /></a></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Last stretch of the trail before Rainbow Falls</span><br /><br /></span></div><span style="font-size:100%;"> <span style="font-family:georgia;">The creek narrows suddenly below the falls, causing a heavy spray which yields a rainbow effect. We could not see it however, because the day was very cloudy. Instead we got squirrels that were not scared of humans and pranced around a foot away from us, demanding food.</span> <span style="font-family:georgia;"><br /><br /></span></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHfRpv7WIDea5N7bLL0eHFTspPB6XKptYU5okX5Wm6XMd2Zq52XaTOuFM65AKJN4dJGMpEmuljhZ5zP2dev1IWmTs-wk1TjwrMMAwz0TOLtSGWGncYfduRhUvq2IhC1T-dqGK9DNgyFwU/s1600-h/Squirrel1.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 229px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHfRpv7WIDea5N7bLL0eHFTspPB6XKptYU5okX5Wm6XMd2Zq52XaTOuFM65AKJN4dJGMpEmuljhZ5zP2dev1IWmTs-wk1TjwrMMAwz0TOLtSGWGncYfduRhUvq2IhC1T-dqGK9DNgyFwU/s320/Squirrel1.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5421180291431360386" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Squirrel relishing a midday snack</span></span><br /></span></div><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"><br />It was 2.45pm by the time we hiked back to our car. We had promised to meet a bunch of Arun's friends from college at a place called Cherokee in North Carolina at 3pm. There was no way we could make the time, for we had more than an hour's drive away and we still had to grab lunch. When we managed to catch them on the phone, thanks to hopeless AT&T service in the mountains, it turned out that they were late too. We should have known considering whose friends they are. So we stopped for a delicious Mexican lunch at a local restaurant before heading to Cherokee.</span> <span style="font-family:georgia;"><br /><br />Much of that evening went away in banter and catching up with Arun's friends Reshmi,Vishu and their spouses. They had a 3 hour drive ahead of them, so they left at around 8pm. Too tired to venture out for dinner, we ordered pizza and ate it while watching Shrek 2. </span> <span style="font-family:georgia;"><br /><br />We began our drive back home pretty early on Sunday. But our feet were itching for some action to break the monotony of the drive. So we decided to take a detour through a scenic highway called Blue Ridge Parkway which promised wonderful views of the Blue Ridge Mountains. After taking a 30 mile detour and navigating through remote rural roads, we were extremely excited to find Blue Ridge Parkway. There it was right in front of us, like a shiny temptress in white. Yes! It was completely covered with snow. But there was no sign saying it was closed and there was a single car track leading into it. That spark of hope was enough for us. We took the plunge and drove the reluctant car into the snow, careful not to veer away from what seemed like the road. Only to find a sign saying the road was closed, hidden a quarter of a mile away from the entrance. Here's what the place looked like. Don't blame us for trying.</span><br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWwYkTctMFLtLjNGP4hNgL2cuvI0b9wh1w5i-ZKcWWwu5qE9cM70WYyr06Z1U2pvp5wVKeP5spclRbBkjj5cH1K5_xwIBSN1Dpe2W3SIR_z7wvy3H5zPwBBtRVTewR_TtKe3qNH3LtqlA/s1600-h/Blue+Ridge.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWwYkTctMFLtLjNGP4hNgL2cuvI0b9wh1w5i-ZKcWWwu5qE9cM70WYyr06Z1U2pvp5wVKeP5spclRbBkjj5cH1K5_xwIBSN1Dpe2W3SIR_z7wvy3H5zPwBBtRVTewR_TtKe3qNH3LtqlA/s320/Blue+Ridge.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5421180295530481714" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Snowed down Blue Ridge Parkway, spot the road if you can!</span><br /></span></div><span style="font-size:100%;"><br />That wraps up the trip! Here were are, back in Philly. And here's 2009, coming to an end. Looking back, it's been a wonderful year of travel. Arun and I have etched our myriad memories in this blog which has become as much a part of our journeys as maps, hotels and cars. We want to thank all you lovely readers for egging us on with our crazy plans and for enduring and encouraging our uber-long posts. Here's to 2010! We hope it holds even more travel, photography and writing. Happy New Year everyone!<br /></span>Kavithahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00820299129749053242noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5268554291957555806.post-35423053358936193562009-12-23T19:49:00.016-05:002009-12-24T01:00:02.237-05:00Havasu Hike (Part II) - A night, a beast and the hike back<span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >Sometimes you cannot help succumbing to the sheer joy of procrastination. I promise I have absolutely no nobler reason for waiting so long to write this post. Now that we are getting ready for our hiking trip to the Smoky Mountains for Christmas, this is my last chance to tell the world boastful tales of our bravery and smartness. So here we go... <span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br />Read about </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">26 & 27 November</span> <a href="http://footlooseonthefreeway.blogspot.com/2009/12/havasu-hike-part-i-hike-down.html">here</a>.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">28 November</span><br />It's 4am in the morning. Arun and I are fast asleep, warm and cozy </span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >within our sleeping bags, numerous layers of clothes and 2 pairs of socks each. I suddenly heard something creeping by the side of our tent. I listened closer thinking it might just be leaves rustling in the wind. The rustle turned to footsteps slowly beginning to circle the tent. By now even the last trace of grogginess had gone from my head. I woke Arun up, quietly, lest the thing outside gets scared of movement within the tent. It turned out that Arun was awake and listening too. We quickly signaled to each other not to talk and grabbed the flashlight we had handily placed by our heads. At that precise moment the creature outside struck my side of the tent with its paw. Our hearts jumped and both of us felt a crazy adrenaline rush and we spoke in whispers as to what to do. We quickly waved the flashlight across the tent a couple of times. The animal outside must have gotten scared of the light. It silently slunk away. Arun and I burst out laughing in relief and excitement. We were more intent on discussing what animal it could have been rather than worrying about what it could have done. It could have been a hedgehog or a small boar. Nothing larger than a fox, we decided.<br /><br />We were so excited that an animal actually struck our tent that we could not go back to sleep for over an hour. Finally we decided that we had to put the episode behind us and go to sleep, for we had to hike back out 10 miles </span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >come morning</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >. Just when we drifting back to sleep, Thud!!! Something fell on top of our tent. We realized that it had to be the bag of food we'd tied on a tree branch above us. We thought the animal had come back for revenge after all and waited for it to approach the tent, regretting not tying the food higher and further away from our tent. But there was nothing except </span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >silence. We opened the inner wall of the tent and stealthily peered out through the mesh the served as a window. Much to our relief, we found that the bag had ripped and fallen down due to the wind and weight of the food. No animal this time. Much laughter and banter followed ensuring we didn't sleep again that night.<br /><br />We had decided not to hike back with our 30 pound backpacks, one of our wiser decisions really. So we handed them over to a native of Supai village who would take it back to the trail head on a pack horse. We improvised a knapsack out of the bag holding one of our sleeping bags, tossed our remaining food and water in it and set off on a mile-long hike to Mooney Falls. The hike was mostly flat except for the last bit where we had to scramble along the cliff face a little to get to the place from which we could face the falls from the front. We got a brilliant top view of the falls, more pristine blue waters, more breathtaking panoramic views. We had read that people could die trying to get to the bottom of the 200ft high Mooney Falls where one needs to climb down an iron ladder and go through a cave. We decided we'd like to live and ate candy bars instead before we hiked back to the campsite. </span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >Here's one of the great shots Arun got.<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPVTeEfufrCF7EynhPx2yku_FNk3AxxlTRQLri1h0YvHqvCT4mwIxdWW28abtOmDeR044Uim89jUdeq9_PSuncza2w4lT7Perl1gHSZONrbJ6V-KW4W9W9i9ierGT7EFLQ-7Zh4E9JX0A/s1600-h/Mooney.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPVTeEfufrCF7EynhPx2yku_FNk3AxxlTRQLri1h0YvHqvCT4mwIxdWW28abtOmDeR044Uim89jUdeq9_PSuncza2w4lT7Perl1gHSZONrbJ6V-KW4W9W9i9ierGT7EFLQ-7Zh4E9JX0A/s320/Mooney.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5418664913028794306" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">Mooney Falls</span><br /></span></div><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><br />At this point Arun was feeling rather desolate about not capturing the front view of Havasu Falls. So we stopped at Havasu on our way back. Arun, being Arun, jumped on rocks and tread some water and performed varied acrobatics for about an hour until he got this picture.<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguqGcbsD3-dxrJ53I9QiWpQDIytcT4nY0WKZtJuLCWVzH1xyZ4ZsgBNngLsuCY9hs4_bFGDvEes6Q_t8saGrfuc3CdQx2zegunGgDxRKgY3G9u2N8tNgndZqtoVGCQZzcvIl_88vhhWjI/s1600-h/Havasu.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 245px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguqGcbsD3-dxrJ53I9QiWpQDIytcT4nY0WKZtJuLCWVzH1xyZ4ZsgBNngLsuCY9hs4_bFGDvEes6Q_t8saGrfuc3CdQx2zegunGgDxRKgY3G9u2N8tNgndZqtoVGCQZzcvIl_88vhhWjI/s320/Havasu.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5418664909288549858" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;">Havasu Falls - Front View</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></div><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><br />We then stopped at Supai Village 2 miles down the way to get some lunch. The Indians surprised us with one of the best veggie burgers we've had in this country. After stuffing our faces in the name of getting the essential carbs we continued the hike, not heeding our sore muscles and </span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" > trying hard not to think about the 8 long miles that lay ahead. We made a quick detour to the 100-footer falls which we missed during our hike down because it was kind of hidden away from the main trial.<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_qLdbC22xbVeLQt3GjYBuk6RBm5m0HDe4Zud0zngKG7K1Zw_CrEZUEG2lpFw-3k2RNf9yudXIcUT7mnAx5ehD3V8sRiLO8i5JlNdQefokQR8QGuoMdoR9WcTDuyLyTVrdtUGpbdFblm8/s1600-h/100+footer.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_qLdbC22xbVeLQt3GjYBuk6RBm5m0HDe4Zud0zngKG7K1Zw_CrEZUEG2lpFw-3k2RNf9yudXIcUT7mnAx5ehD3V8sRiLO8i5JlNdQefokQR8QGuoMdoR9WcTDuyLyTVrdtUGpbdFblm8/s320/100+footer.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5418674431308817810" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">100-footer Falls</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></div><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><br />By the time we left the 100-footer we had about 7 miles to go and only 3 hours of daylight left. The canyon can be whole different place in the night and it is easy to lose one's way. We did not savor the idea of hiking in the night. So we hurried, stopping only when our legs threatened to go on strike if we didn't. When we were taking one of our reluctant breaks and guessing that we had 4 more miles left to go, the Indian returning after dropping off our bags greeted us on the way and shouted "2 more miles!". We could not believe our ears. Were we really that fast? Was it the absent backpacks? Nevertheless, this news gave us renewed energy and we practically hopped and skipped the next mile till the last mile of switchbacks were in sight.<br /><br />We squinted in disbelief when we caught sight of a couple approaching us. It was almost 4pm and they were barely beginning their hike. Apparently they had lost their way and driven around all day to get to the trail head. We told them a little bit about the trail, warned them about hiking in the night, sincerely wished them luck and moved on. We hope they made it to the camp safely. The switchbacks that took us 20 minutes on our way down took more than an hour to climb. We ran to our car at the trail head, psyched that we had hiked 20 miles in 2 days. This was our first time doing such a long hike and camping in the US. It is one of best trips we've done so far. And it only left us wanting more.<br /></span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">29 & 30 November</span><br />Oh yes, our trip didn't end with the hike. Normal people would be too tired to do anything more. But we don't claim to be normal at all. We explored a little more of the Flagstaff and Phoenix areas over the next 2 days. In the interest of not boring our dwindling reader base with details, here are the most interesting pictures. Wikipedia to the rescue if you insist on knowing more.<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihNdQlb53fnbxD2m57Tlm8y3jM6UsUju4zg2YgtM1EPF_zdNoKyrB7ax2PikGyE96o7RA6XU-3x-VJKhtuDcLUJy1LaC2xYTA_t7xilqoLHy47PJ1LUHtnChlYIxrkw-itmLV_WODac0w/s1600-h/Sunset+Crater.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 216px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihNdQlb53fnbxD2m57Tlm8y3jM6UsUju4zg2YgtM1EPF_zdNoKyrB7ax2PikGyE96o7RA6XU-3x-VJKhtuDcLUJy1LaC2xYTA_t7xilqoLHy47PJ1LUHtnChlYIxrkw-itmLV_WODac0w/s320/Sunset+Crater.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5418664906666086658" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" >Sunset Crater, Arizona</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGukfw4ZWJSmQUOvLh_UZKH5WAiQN73U04K9OaLUJfcSq1J1QyYw9NgphKilo8RdAmKk5COg4c46LhajoFTnLE7skcLivbc11XAMCooahYYYR_klqalVMUTnK85m1qDJHwOr0ZbycyWVc/s1600-h/Wukaki.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGukfw4ZWJSmQUOvLh_UZKH5WAiQN73U04K9OaLUJfcSq1J1QyYw9NgphKilo8RdAmKk5COg4c46LhajoFTnLE7skcLivbc11XAMCooahYYYR_klqalVMUTnK85m1qDJHwOr0ZbycyWVc/s320/Wukaki.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5418664901396683954" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" >Wukaki Remains, Arizona</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaJnBwh5pF24cb5LVmqJ4UWJkIqKz96BWJ9WoWtqC9lXuAtBo6Tc2nYXenl5vVstIqAnymjguORwi7OIs3TtW4WqFVbIycFVHFOir9JtftxBj3SOUtklX0G9VIj6VVERTkZ-MMgW8Cvdk/s1600-h/Apache.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaJnBwh5pF24cb5LVmqJ4UWJkIqKz96BWJ9WoWtqC9lXuAtBo6Tc2nYXenl5vVstIqAnymjguORwi7OIs3TtW4WqFVbIycFVHFOir9JtftxBj3SOUtklX0G9VIj6VVERTkZ-MMgW8Cvdk/s320/Apache.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5418664894438941874" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">Giant Cactus on Apache Trail, Arizona</span><br /><br /></span></span></div><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >Do watch out for our post on the Smokies trip which will round off 2009 for this blog. </span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >Merry Christmas everyone!<br /></span>Kavithahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00820299129749053242noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5268554291957555806.post-36102077206055085382009-12-14T12:15:00.027-05:002009-12-14T19:59:33.669-05:00Havasu Hike (Part I ) - The hike down<p>Arun and I hiked the Havasu Canyon for Thanksgiving weekend this year. It was 10 miles one way. We camped the night there. So we carried a tent, sleeping bags, food, water and everything else we needed. Because it was our first time backpacking, we (micro)planned, bought gear and packed for almost a month leading up to the trip. Here's a day by day account of the trip.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">Upto 25 November</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><br /></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">Countless visits to numerous stores and hours spent online before we bought backpacks, a tent, sleeping bags, hiking shoes, water bladders, a Swiss knife and a zillion other things. Lists made, blogs read, hours of obsessing over details and you know the drill...</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><br /><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">26 November - Thanksgiving</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">We flew into Phoenix. Alternately one could fly into Vegas or Flagstaff. We kind of knew that Arizona goes to sleep at sundown, but nothing had prepared us for the deserted streets and the miles of shut stores and restaurants we encountered. The locals we spoke to told us it was worse because it was Thanksgiving day. And we had planned to buy food for the hike in Phoenix because we couldn't fly with it. So after a hopeless search for open stores, we bought chocolates, energy bars, bread, cheese and anything else we could find at a gas station's convenience store. We were almost reconciled to the idea of bananas and ice cream for dinner when we spotted a TGIF with the "Open till 2am" sign on. It was a sight for sore eyes and more so for growling stomachs. After fueling up on pasta and fajitas and delicious red velvet cake, we hit the road for Flagstaff where we stayed the night before the hike.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><br /><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">27 November - Hike down</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><br /></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">The trail head at Hualapai Hilltop was a 4 hour drive from Flagstaff. So we left after breakfast at around 8am. Thanks to the liberal speed limits, we began our hike at 11.30am. As we were about to begin we met a group of four guys (and their dog Sammy) with whom we would cross paths numerous times during our hike down. The hike started with a mile of switchbacks or hairpin bends rapidly descending 1000 ft into the canyon. 200ft into the hike we had to take off our jackets despite the cool sub-40 deg temperature, for we were literally melting under our 30 pound backpacks. The descent was done in 25mins and we had 9 miles of a fairly flat hike ahead of us. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4weD1b4-MDKvcQ6kOWZ73PHz_ENqvXZXIykq_N3pzw19RfMdPsLSd1dV1AC9yil4HoTuEavu4AxjuXeExUIILxCVMfPQbvkelM3n8HVaVQPKIVxKohfV5-aklzg7I4F7CmYFYNMsyYwU/s1600-h/IMG_0936.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4weD1b4-MDKvcQ6kOWZ73PHz_ENqvXZXIykq_N3pzw19RfMdPsLSd1dV1AC9yil4HoTuEavu4AxjuXeExUIILxCVMfPQbvkelM3n8HVaVQPKIVxKohfV5-aklzg7I4F7CmYFYNMsyYwU/s320/IMG_0936.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5415257080048800338" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">Switchbacks</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOOV8lonH4CUImJIwo2PryJSmUG9W0GxXOQSDwYPMwrcxJDXGTz9H_G0ZdI2aKi5TvalrUUQZYsUcPQV8qT5G6g0Hfh6F6AHgOkJ9zyqOjG6svWGs2BuveeDMtKEwIrL5AMtP8HFewOv0/s1600-h/IMG_0913.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOOV8lonH4CUImJIwo2PryJSmUG9W0GxXOQSDwYPMwrcxJDXGTz9H_G0ZdI2aKi5TvalrUUQZYsUcPQV8qT5G6g0Hfh6F6AHgOkJ9zyqOjG6svWGs2BuveeDMtKEwIrL5AMtP8HFewOv0/s320/IMG_0913.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5415257080680855858" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoNTCXFkjI6NZPQWSwHBorQGVEeSehx79d7RSeCt0uO2zEFvneuSIs4Z9hBK8lzGpWFR2LycXvVTdbdJIeri4IC4z1IJ1G63yKkg45T8suwUFy08LhcTG4S9lDZe_15ENkjsezysoia0s/s1600-h/IMG_0912.JPG" style="text-decoration: none;"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoNTCXFkjI6NZPQWSwHBorQGVEeSehx79d7RSeCt0uO2zEFvneuSIs4Z9hBK8lzGpWFR2LycXvVTdbdJIeri4IC4z1IJ1G63yKkg45T8suwUFy08LhcTG4S9lDZe_15ENkjsezysoia0s/s320/IMG_0912.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5415257072881654546" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><br /></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">Although both of us have been to the Grand Canyon before, the constant change in terrain within the canyon was something we did not suspect based on our view from the top. The switchbacks were carved out on the rock face had a white sandy surface. Deeper into the canyon we walked along miles of what must have once been a riverbed, now just gravel, lined with large hard rock at times and with dry bushes and cacti at others. The constant presence of the towering canyon walls on either side had a humbling effect on us. Every now and then we would see lush green plants, some even had traces of fall colors. We walked past small caves and partially enclosed hollows in which our voices suddenly echoed.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><br /><br /></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">The silence was hard to miss and probably one of our favorite aspects of the hike. Apart from a couple of trains of pack horses and the occasional group of hikers making their way back to civilization, the whoosh of the wind and a bird's rare twitter were all that punctuated the silence that reigned the canyon. We hiked for 4 hours, talking about this and that, lapsing into our respective brooding worlds and stopping only to eat (we discovered that after 3 miles with a 30 pound backpack, even a cold Subway sandwich will taste like heaven!) or drink water before we reached Supai village, a tribal Indian settlement, where we stopped for coffee, a bite to eat and to pay the camping fee.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><br /><br /></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">By then our feet were nearly dead and refused to walk the last 2 miles to the campground. We trudged along, cranky and complaining, when we came to the first of the 4 waterfalls. Our misery began to fade. Arun grabbed his camera and ran down 50ft to get a better view. I spent the time listening to a couple of women who did the hike every year tell me that these falls had not existed before the flash flood of August 2008. I was amazed at the terrifying force of water, the same fluid we have managed to domesticate, even abuse, in every way we can. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><br /><br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1CNfHFOJL7Iepsju2BTua1RabQIAlEHyLTScJL9UBS9Hae0mEgTrHW4ZMgU8qB4LyooeS_dVwd2M0OigRtWNe8M1pruoQyTxZ7YDMCAb_vfMpCV1l5pE2VnJ10Cotw7qy4UW3IUBWgW4/s1600-h/New+Navajo.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1CNfHFOJL7Iepsju2BTua1RabQIAlEHyLTScJL9UBS9Hae0mEgTrHW4ZMgU8qB4LyooeS_dVwd2M0OigRtWNe8M1pruoQyTxZ7YDMCAb_vfMpCV1l5pE2VnJ10Cotw7qy4UW3IUBWgW4/s320/New+Navajo.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5415256328282345394" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">New Navajo Falls</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><br /></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">We then walked on, the roar of water getting louder all the while. We were suddenly looking at Havasu Falls. This is when we realized this hike was worth every sore muscle, our screaming joints and whining shoulders. We stood in the spray, astonished by the sheer blue of the water, drinking in the idyllic setting. It was like nothing we'd ever seen before.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgm_dMktPEIsc3foH6xUBkzPUc1yPHviRP-Ivd6ECIe2Li3qV6sQDdUHE6hiZNstTtAMQct3WfZ_I93v2mXFcrZh7FYfG-qPv40OXURjqa1EQsB9rdr2UcvoGm2kvYVnN2sUN8nE-qjkw/s1600-h/4151504219_ed78915290_b.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 226px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgm_dMktPEIsc3foH6xUBkzPUc1yPHviRP-Ivd6ECIe2Li3qV6sQDdUHE6hiZNstTtAMQct3WfZ_I93v2mXFcrZh7FYfG-qPv40OXURjqa1EQsB9rdr2UcvoGm2kvYVnN2sUN8nE-qjkw/s320/4151504219_ed78915290_b.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5415255000492600306" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">Havasu Falls from the top</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHu7YWLMPg5lRTXvj7J49jjVs6b8eRok-Y0yqoJERUiD-rdrnsVpAm-JEBB616mvXow2ZCxF3R9LeVN8dxYUKIZYHdHPmyMFkGFZ0Y__N0_TcGfRemhY5pY-UAJ_dYPbSef-sxM_V2RYs/s1600-h/4163729459_25cffd2216_b.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 213px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHu7YWLMPg5lRTXvj7J49jjVs6b8eRok-Y0yqoJERUiD-rdrnsVpAm-JEBB616mvXow2ZCxF3R9LeVN8dxYUKIZYHdHPmyMFkGFZ0Y__N0_TcGfRemhY5pY-UAJ_dYPbSef-sxM_V2RYs/s320/4163729459_25cffd2216_b.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5415255254982124786" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">Havasu Falls</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><br /></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">By the time we set up camp and cleaned up it was dark although it was just 6.30pm. So we set up the picnic table and had a candlelight dinner of cheese and peanut butter jelly sandwiches</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">, Oreo cookies and chocolates for dessert. By then the temperature had dropped well below 30 deg. So we layered up, got into our tent and talked a little about how great the hike had been before we fell asleep to the lullaby of the creek running by the side of our tent.<br /><br />What's camping without a little adventure?! Our tryst with the beast - coming soon in Part II...</span></p>Kavithahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00820299129749053242noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5268554291957555806.post-18793114462003055142009-11-03T15:03:00.002-05:002009-11-03T15:26:15.401-05:00Havasu Falls Hike - Grand Canyon Region<p> This has been on my radar for quite some time now. And finally, thanks to the perfect company (who else?!), we have decided to do this hike during the thanksgiving holidays. Havasu Falls is located on the Havasupai Indian Reservation, in a remote canyon offshoot of the Grand Canyon. Havasu falls does not belong to the US National park service, it is managed by the Havasupai tribe. The hike to Havasu falls is about 10 miles one way in the Grand canyon region. </p><p>Though there are Helicopters and Mules to aid people to reach the falls, we have decided to hike down the trail. After all the hike seems like the main highlight of the trip and we did not want to miss it. There are a total of three waterfalls (Havasu, Mooney and Beaver) in the village, all of them being completely turquoise (google for images till I bring back some pictures! ha!). Being a huge admirer of waterfalls, I decided 'Havasu trail' against the more famous 'Bright Angel trail' at Grand Canyon national park and had to almost force Kavitha into this. But I have promised her that we'll do the 'Bright Angel' hike soon in the future. </p><p>We have booked flights to Phoenix and a hotel for that night at Flagstaff. The next day, our plan is to drive to Hualapai hilltop and then hike down to the village. Since we want to experience the nature in a way that we haven't done before, we've decided to camp for the night at the tribal village. We'll try to visit Havasu Falls (about 1.5 miles from the campground) that evening and come back to the camp for the night. Plan for the next morning is to visit Mooney and Beaver Falls (about a 3 mile hike) and spend a few hours there. By afternoon, we should be on our return hike to Hualapai hilltop (we have the option of taking the Helicopter on our way back in case we become tired). </p><p>Itinerary for the next 2 days is open at this stage, though I have two books on Arizona sight-seeing from the local library lying on my bed-side table and a google window almost always open. Red rock jeep tours, Apache trail, Grand canyon (north rim), other National parks or a rodeo show look like potential candidates, but we are yet to finalize our plans. </p><p>And this is gonna be my first 5-day backpacking trip! Packing clothes, tents, sleeping bag and my camera equipment into one hiking backpack seems like a challenge to begin with. But I'm sure the whole trip will be a fun-filled experience in itself. I'm so looking forward to it!<br /></p>Arun Sundarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18219885089043197381noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5268554291957555806.post-9191101757466271952009-10-14T20:09:00.008-04:002009-10-14T21:53:24.943-04:00(Back) With the Photographer!<span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >The title of this post is borrowed (shamelessly) from <a href="http://ronevry.com/Leacock_Stories.html">Stephen Leacock</a>. But the experience recorded here bears a sharp contrast to the trauma Leacock goes through in his hilarious short story.<br /><br />I'm back on the East Coast! Naturally, Arun and I wasted no time before beginning to travel together again. Even as </span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >we drove out of the airport, we got busy discussing must-visit places to catch Fall colors. After 4 long months of living on different coasts, we were both extremely excited as we decided to hike the 4 mile Falls Trail in Ricketts Glen State Park, 2 hours North of Philadelphia. The drive up there was a riot of colors in itself. Every bend in the road held a new hue, surprises galore for the eye! </span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >Burning red</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >, sunset orange, </span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >yellow turning to brown </span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >and splotches of green, even pink at times. We loved it as we sped through mile after variegated mile.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br />We got there a little after noon and we set off on the hike. Within minutes we came to the first of the 22 water falls that dotted the trail. And the photographer took over. I stood there watching Arun go crazy with his camera and tripod, trying his damnedest to fit everything- the cascading falls, the shiny rocks and the bursting color, into his camera's display. We spent 15-30 minutes at each Waterfall. I must admit it was well worth it, going by some of the pictures he managed to click.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvnJwWhsjRT9EAhtWGHCg6Idxj66uguvJFO2YkAQUNAIYgnxht9WfWS3KayiOjs6L_bMa63IIqYC6SghnqOsWIpsKNT3qBBuAy7RQJqv1w9MeyYPXgi3TszslGvczNvZU_StIUDfm2DuQ/s1600-h/3999148455_55cb906899.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvnJwWhsjRT9EAhtWGHCg6Idxj66uguvJFO2YkAQUNAIYgnxht9WfWS3KayiOjs6L_bMa63IIqYC6SghnqOsWIpsKNT3qBBuAy7RQJqv1w9MeyYPXgi3TszslGvczNvZU_StIUDfm2DuQ/s320/3999148455_55cb906899.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5392636360044785714" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX_YfEg4H8Pii92mfAezm36HXF0w47lcxIAMej0o94kJfR9VgMQ_R3xd3QyIOtK752HKYmcCrSN8EhVCQOE6IofqDxy_7KwTFrJz39piV4f0TvmrCg3xLB8qLPBztiFjyC8kOGWfkuCkg/s1600-h/4006410001_c75f7c8f88.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX_YfEg4H8Pii92mfAezm36HXF0w47lcxIAMej0o94kJfR9VgMQ_R3xd3QyIOtK752HKYmcCrSN8EhVCQOE6IofqDxy_7KwTFrJz39piV4f0TvmrCg3xLB8qLPBztiFjyC8kOGWfkuCkg/s320/4006410001_c75f7c8f88.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5392636818547429218" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGdhMkixUZQ1nW3fMdSZ73s84-RJD-MdUZyUug2B3Y6pz6SV5thciqsqhkPuUFso3c1PuFB0h5dfENm_B4hAyNOFapNM1L88Yxk-0cO1HVBYSgNO2kBm2o1DdaMxXG6wRF3uJnMT_yp_g/s1600-h/4012221309_33c74129e0.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 245px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGdhMkixUZQ1nW3fMdSZ73s84-RJD-MdUZyUug2B3Y6pz6SV5thciqsqhkPuUFso3c1PuFB0h5dfENm_B4hAyNOFapNM1L88Yxk-0cO1HVBYSgNO2kBm2o1DdaMxXG6wRF3uJnMT_yp_g/s320/4012221309_33c74129e0.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5392637050076005170" border="0" /></a><br />The flip side is that we took over 4 hours to do the 4 mile hike. The overcast sky did not prevent people from arriving at the trail in large numbers. It was the first time we've ever hiked in a line, behind unknown people. Maybe everyone trusts weather.com when it predicts no rain, even more than they fear the hanging gray clouds. Maybe everyone wanted to get their share of Fall colors before the trees go bald. Whatever be the case, in hindsight, it was a great idea to pack cheese sandwiches and fruits, which we ate sitting at the foot of Ganoga Falls, the tallest one on the trail. Carrying the food gave us the luxury of lingering around at every stop, waiting for the throngs of people </span><span style="font-size:100%;">and their dogs t</span><span style="font-size:100%;">o clear away after taking their gazillion group photographs. Many of them with the camera flash on, in broad daylight.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqaCoNDNkI853x6Fgt88PSmuGsXOdF2sXcYEFnuc6_xkAkS3_82l4kgOjXlfTT13mnzkYaU1OJYXhGHnLmDTPu3q-wfMOXLzzMJUfErjAz5a_Cy4M_puMmAhAGZsXaS7DMFfnfBjzROJ4/s1600-h/4002665156_ae0b53e079.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 223px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqaCoNDNkI853x6Fgt88PSmuGsXOdF2sXcYEFnuc6_xkAkS3_82l4kgOjXlfTT13mnzkYaU1OJYXhGHnLmDTPu3q-wfMOXLzzMJUfErjAz5a_Cy4M_puMmAhAGZsXaS7DMFfnfBjzROJ4/s320/4002665156_ae0b53e079.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5392636611222966050" border="0" /></a><br /><br />We walked the last mile back to the car totally satisfied, playfully trying to trip each other while it sank in that this was only the first of many such trips to come. This blog will see a lot more action from now on.<br /><br />Watch out for the travelogue from our Vermont and New Hampshire trip this upcoming weekend.<br /><br /></span>Kavithahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00820299129749053242noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5268554291957555806.post-6708595291833548552009-10-01T03:16:00.010-04:002009-10-01T03:35:27.518-04:00Fall colors turn into waterfalls!<p style="text-align: justify;margin-bottom: 0in; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Having just a week left for the parents to leave the country, I wanted them to experience the 'fall foliage' that Autumn season offers in this part of the country. We drove to Delaware water gap area in Pennsylvania last weekend. The day was gloomy from the get-go, after some initial contemplations, I decided to go on the trip anyways. It was drizzling all through-out with sporadic spells of rain, but the rain Gods showed mercy a few times in the day and we made full use of it.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;margin-bottom: 0in; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I had planned to visit a few of the allegedly 'most beautiful, yet less frequented' waterfalls in Pennsylvania. Our first destination was a town called Dingmans Ferry in Delaware water gap recreational area). Google suggested that there are quite a few waterfalls in the area and I thought I'll start by visiting the Visitor center and then chart my plans there-after. But my hunt for the visitor center wasn't hugely successful. In the address google maps suggested, was an old house with a huge garage. That can't be the visitor center, I said to myself.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;margin-bottom: 0in; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I saw a local guy trying to take his car out and I enquired him about the waterfalls in the area. With his expert guidance, I started with George w. Child state park which boasted multiple miles of hikes with some pretty decent waterfalls. There was a nice boardwalk in most places too.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;margin-bottom: 0in; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">We did about a mile hike and saw Factory falls and Fulmer falls. Factory falls, in my opinion is one of the most beautiful falls I have ever seen. With its multiple branches, the falls was certainly a beauty to watch. Fulmer falls was huge and hosted a very natural unperturbed setting to itself. We viewed Fulmer falls, once from the top and then from the bottom as well.</span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3jNtdynVj1J9OMIkN1C4plByZyBkdEsuXncHGCKDzW81kUUpdevKPGHZBDYBu8sclNAGIixZOgP4D6Tx1CWoSyt-IRzmUmUaq7vS5gG6UqpIIxGjW86VbSQLu0L2ODOssVqgHsUW3Pws/s1600-h/3960245317_c282a1b983_o.jpg"><img style="text-align: justify;display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px; " src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3jNtdynVj1J9OMIkN1C4plByZyBkdEsuXncHGCKDzW81kUUpdevKPGHZBDYBu8sclNAGIixZOgP4D6Tx1CWoSyt-IRzmUmUaq7vS5gG6UqpIIxGjW86VbSQLu0L2ODOssVqgHsUW3Pws/s320/3960245317_c282a1b983_o.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5387527371585450466" /></a><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: normal; "><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Factory Falls</span></span></b></span></div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLIkuWpN09JQMr4ARF8dUdp3C-6oygJJmk_x4JVvIva6oVNHrZCFIVysJj9nQcueQOx2xPeRyYZ1yyktkZOcCP474AlH54oTyHqUgwZ4f3e-TA_qeANffrca2RhUsdtXCf1y8xNHUoHSo/s1600-h/3970412783_957c479f46_o.jpg"><img style="text-align: justify;display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 226px; " src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLIkuWpN09JQMr4ARF8dUdp3C-6oygJJmk_x4JVvIva6oVNHrZCFIVysJj9nQcueQOx2xPeRyYZ1yyktkZOcCP474AlH54oTyHqUgwZ4f3e-TA_qeANffrca2RhUsdtXCf1y8xNHUoHSo/s320/3970412783_957c479f46_o.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5387527630857277362" /></a><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre; "><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: normal; "><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Fulmer Falls (Top view)</span></span></b></span></div></span><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></b></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg3CSSqjdprDpTL64VfKcgONzhjpyU3kXUYX42HNAs05cdArWyB2NVajwc5IsmMQy5Mexre0PwfR6xdqJTYBQ8QdIDInp8BXlyXD6CLCzMXDznqNYfP9H_uRsdKG5YWRvnwUwAG3U7KqA/s1600-h/IMG_607411.jpg"><img style="text-align: justify;display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 213px; " src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg3CSSqjdprDpTL64VfKcgONzhjpyU3kXUYX42HNAs05cdArWyB2NVajwc5IsmMQy5Mexre0PwfR6xdqJTYBQ8QdIDInp8BXlyXD6CLCzMXDznqNYfP9H_uRsdKG5YWRvnwUwAG3U7KqA/s320/IMG_607411.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5387528200079423970" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-weight: bold; "><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Fulmer Falls (Bottom view)</span></span></div></span><p style="text-align: justify;margin-bottom: 0in; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">After lunch, we went to Raymondskill falls, which was about 10 miles drive from the Child's park. Raymondskill falls is also a mile hike off the highway. The information board mentioned about the upper, middle and a lower falls. In a few minutes, we were on our hike. The upper falls seemed small, wide and very normal-looking, until I took a long exposure photograph. In my first shot, I saw a nice looking circle formed by the foam off the falls. I quickly increased my exposure, made some quick settings changes and took the below picture, where the circle is clearly seen:</span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAGKt4FvSILbiynofGpkWqPLifpYEkfDDYDvd8XjXSusVCVq4xDzk-NuVOd2cbeke2CZnyZJOMikGterqXGcaQahoAWosLb4UvM246AyaxcpH3uyLSdHwVbTXErd218Rcib0xouF8vSvE/s1600-h/3963284930_331d7d924c_b.jpg"><img style="text-align: justify;display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 175px; " src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAGKt4FvSILbiynofGpkWqPLifpYEkfDDYDvd8XjXSusVCVq4xDzk-NuVOd2cbeke2CZnyZJOMikGterqXGcaQahoAWosLb4UvM246AyaxcpH3uyLSdHwVbTXErd218Rcib0xouF8vSvE/s320/3963284930_331d7d924c_b.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5387528599287992898" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-weight: bold; "><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Raymondskill Falls (upper falls)</span></span></div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><p style="text-align: justify;margin-bottom: 0in; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">It made me wonder how many such beautiful scenes Nature offers that we miss to see.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;margin-bottom: 0in; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">We then continued to the Middle falls</span></span><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, which i</span></span></span></span><span style="color:#000000;"><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">s the tallest waterfall in the state, and only 4 feet shorter than Niagara falls. The rain got a little stronger and the falls itself, continuously sprayed so much of water in the area, making it very difficult to take one good picture. I had to soft-wipe my camera lens almost once every shot, let alone attempting to change lenses.</span></span></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><span style="color:#000000;"><span><span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZJIl6XANCe2Pr4Z9PGqs3qo4KODvAKU78_FoeJZF0TbPJcXM60mYkxTqeShOH-ZUk3yY0kgspVMU4NnV1yGRJxnGQQ5KkK-iOoPlR7Kujz4a-3D7AQSIXi7Prs15dJnmDkElGGTPu5Rc/s1600-h/IMG_6093.JPG"><img style="text-align: justify;display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; width: 214px; height: 320px; " src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZJIl6XANCe2Pr4Z9PGqs3qo4KODvAKU78_FoeJZF0TbPJcXM60mYkxTqeShOH-ZUk3yY0kgspVMU4NnV1yGRJxnGQQ5KkK-iOoPlR7Kujz4a-3D7AQSIXi7Prs15dJnmDkElGGTPu5Rc/s320/IMG_6093.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5387529226723209618" /></a></span></span></span></p> <p style="text-align: center;margin-bottom: 0in; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-weight: bold; "><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Raymondskill Falls (Middle falls)</span></span></span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;margin-bottom: 0in; "><span style="color:#000000;"><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Though the original intent of the trip was to see the Autumn color changes, I ended up concentrating on waterfalls more than than the fall colors. But my parents showed some real spirit, hiking enthusiastically and exhibiting utmost patience (every time I setup my tripod and take my own sweet time to click pictures). It was a day well spent. They enjoyed the trip and so did I!</span></span></span></span></span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;margin-bottom: 0in; "><span style="color:#000000;"><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Ciao, till the next travelogue!</span></span></span></span></span></p> </div>Arun Sundarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18219885089043197381noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5268554291957555806.post-8827098907606245952009-09-29T02:50:00.005-04:002009-09-29T04:15:19.834-04:00Happy Birthday Arun!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr0xhH8Wi6BMqGngRXm97VZsrBysxmWAE4N57qcBTUqRMo-E32WiL0D1ME19gi5dHHiSIGILxAXQWhufNGtELQX9kpGFsQ0eRbgPPaRWzomGhpKVgGqFIjNpU-Sp8Zn2IXSoJqOEJxTAI/s1600-h/Collage+1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr0xhH8Wi6BMqGngRXm97VZsrBysxmWAE4N57qcBTUqRMo-E32WiL0D1ME19gi5dHHiSIGILxAXQWhufNGtELQX9kpGFsQ0eRbgPPaRWzomGhpKVgGqFIjNpU-Sp8Zn2IXSoJqOEJxTAI/s400/Collage+1.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5386796231454727186" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Birthdays are about toasts and presents, cakes and balloons, smiles and celebration. Here's to Arun for transforming my frowns to smiles, unfailingly every time. I wish I was there to spend Arun's special day with him...<br /></span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Happy Birthday Arun!</span></span></div>Kavithahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00820299129749053242noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5268554291957555806.post-47273170864768556972009-08-23T23:58:00.004-04:002009-08-24T00:14:50.846-04:00Museum of Natural history, one more!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEX04gLozWk822gmi3aJOkh76TZIAC8b1m_zfiG0XCeM2XR0TiaVogb6JJREN3hEG0Z_6iVUHulVUkj7i6npQSF4x0zmG4F7sghxVbvIcYpnFmlKZ6D72MS6SQNwnuW8Tm96bX6pzrF2I/s1600-h/3834920863_59f7e36585_b.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5373374989600046706" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 270px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEX04gLozWk822gmi3aJOkh76TZIAC8b1m_zfiG0XCeM2XR0TiaVogb6JJREN3hEG0Z_6iVUHulVUkj7i6npQSF4x0zmG4F7sghxVbvIcYpnFmlKZ6D72MS6SQNwnuW8Tm96bX6pzrF2I/s400/3834920863_59f7e36585_b.jpg" border="0" /></a> This is one of the other pictures, I shot during my visit to Museum of Natural history, New York. Being one of the photos I posted onto Flickr with least expectations, I was pleasantly suprised this morning when I found out that this one made it to <a href="http://www.flickr.com/explore/">Explore</a>.<br /><br />Explore is a Flickr feature with the intent of showing people "some of the so-called most awesome photos on Flickr." Photos seem to be automatically selected by computer according to a secret algorithm called Interestingness! Explore includes a small sampling of all of the photos on Flickr (currently at 500 per day or about 0.005% of the daily upload volume). <br /><br />Guess I got lucky! :)<br /><br /><a href="http://bighugelabs.com/onblack.php?id=3834920863&size=large" rel="nofollow">View the above photo on Black</a> and my other Explore photos <a href="http://bighugelabs.com/dna.php#explore">here</a>.Arun Sundarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18219885089043197381noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5268554291957555806.post-769410916225475992009-08-18T14:19:00.013-04:002009-08-18T15:43:50.522-04:00Kavitha- still afloat and flippant<span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">Hello everyone and a special thanks to </span><a style="font-family: georgia; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);" href="http://www.blogger.com/profile/03421286928212470470">Alan Smithee</a><span style="font-family:georgia;"> for (uncharacteristically) noticing my prolonged absence. In unimportant updates, my parents left a couple of weeks ago. I suffered from severe trauma and denial at being suddenly deprived of my mother's delicious rasam, the heavenly aromas of which tickled my nostrils awake every morning. I never thought I will see light again. But I survived the cold turkey. And I figured it was high time this blog saw a post with more than two lines of writing. Especially given that it is beginning to look like an evil twin of Arun's flickr page.<br /><br />With still no job in the offing, no mom, dad or grandfather to humor my dysfunctional rants and no stash of green to support my customary decadence, I am constantly at a loss for things to do. I must tell you, twenty four hours is a long time! I have renewed respect for homemakers. So I've been going on at least one hike every week (well, almost). I also run everyday. I bought dumbbells yesterday to put to test an ambitious weight training regime I've planned. All in </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">anticipation of that dashing young man who is bound to walk into my life. He has to sooner or later, don't you think? I just hope he's not flabby.<br /><br />These days I read for nearly 4-6 hours a day- news, </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">blogs, </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">economics, books... It feels like my college days when I used to skip classes to finish a book. Since I didn't want to taint this lovely travel blog with my hackneyed world view, I've been putting my pen to work at <span style="font-weight: bold;"><a style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);" href="http://thembasaga.blogspot.com/">http://thembasaga.blogspot.com</a>.</span> Grace me with a visit or even a comment when you are in the mood for some banality.<br /><br />In between all these delightful activities that do not put food on the table, I manage to squeeze in a couple of hours to apply for jobs which hopefully will put food on the table and give me back my decadence. I also spend an hour or two offering a shoulder and an ear to my unemployed brethren. And of course I talk to Arun 14 times a day.<br /><br />So that's how life unfolds on the West Coast. More soon...<br /></span></span>Kavithahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00820299129749053242noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5268554291957555806.post-64785415336744213722009-08-13T11:51:00.005-04:002009-09-01T13:37:56.425-04:00Yosemite National Park, at its driest!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHHjsGQO3RjCLN2jnqoaM8FohyphenhyphensZA-BAWlsUCjTl0HnbMHGXoRUWBeWo64zmKn97CABGXR91cvq-EujSY3GO_tzYtBOkwI85GycRoyG91-mCyQdjQ3Dte9fZcG3pZ_mey7HuES2JQzn7U/s1600-h/3801230008_19cb8f39da_o.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5369477714220709666" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHHjsGQO3RjCLN2jnqoaM8FohyphenhyphensZA-BAWlsUCjTl0HnbMHGXoRUWBeWo64zmKn97CABGXR91cvq-EujSY3GO_tzYtBOkwI85GycRoyG91-mCyQdjQ3Dte9fZcG3pZ_mey7HuES2JQzn7U/s400/3801230008_19cb8f39da_o.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div>This was one of the photographs taken in March'09 at Yosemite National park, California during our<a href="http://footlooseonthefreeway.blogspot.com/search/label/Cross%20Country">cross country road trip</a>. We did not have enough time for a hike to the falls then, but nevertheless I thought this was a great view of both the falls (upper and lower falls) from this point. </div><div></div><div>I would have certainly been happier to see this place in the colors of Fall or the beauty of Spring, but this dry side of Yosemite was a charm in itself!</div><div><br /><a href="http://bighugelabs.com/onblack.php?id=3801230008" rel="nofollow">View On Black</a></div><div></div><br /><div>From <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/arunsundar/3801230008/">Flickr</a>.</div>Arun Sundarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18219885089043197381noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5268554291957555806.post-84721407067352295522009-08-08T12:32:00.002-04:002009-08-08T12:35:32.514-04:00Ostrich - Museum of Natural History, New York!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHqUiiLaSP3Q-uno4JDJajYmxqGu9kpeHtHbMLQuWiJZFbWhcfLHgJs8stp_KUrspkJ4YJLE7lT-McDT5Nuco3DHdNp8cpMGGqDl57B6lM5HLF019YJiM6kudFjwF0kUwZsD8EP6zxlpM/s1600-h/Ostrich+-+museum.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHqUiiLaSP3Q-uno4JDJajYmxqGu9kpeHtHbMLQuWiJZFbWhcfLHgJs8stp_KUrspkJ4YJLE7lT-McDT5Nuco3DHdNp8cpMGGqDl57B6lM5HLF019YJiM6kudFjwF0kUwZsD8EP6zxlpM/s400/Ostrich+-+museum.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5367632266729753218" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(34, 34, 34); white-space: pre-wrap; font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The scene re-created here takes place in the Kidong Valley, about fifty miles west of Nairobi, Kenya. The male ostrich, protective of its family, reacts with alarm, its neck outstretched, its mouth open because the family is threatened by warthogs. </span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;font-size:100%;color:#222222;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(34, 34, 34); white-space: pre-wrap; font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The best feature of Museum of Natural history, New York is the way they recreate real scenes from natural forests, in just a small indoor exhibit. The reality of the scene is simply astonishing! It gives one a feeling of being there in the scene in person. Fascinating I should say! </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;font-size:100%;color:#222222;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(34, 34, 34); white-space: pre-wrap; font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://bighugelabs.com/onblack.php?id=3781287367" rel="nofollow">View On Black</a></span></span></div>Arun Sundarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18219885089043197381noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5268554291957555806.post-81998979896006693252009-07-30T14:29:00.005-04:002009-07-30T14:39:13.739-04:00New York and the African Elephants!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz5Vq_ISHyX0Kk8JUMldSpOVgTaVFQwpJX_iRCw3UTZxBO4WjZl9depSq9_xiW0WSYeRXgLBFEnrOCKpO5VRlnHLDd26szzbZ3N5O4XFBpjL-_lEfEB1ztXjRvydiTdaonQm6N2MDocH4/s1600-h/3758519709_a0ffe0288b_o.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5364322529416959042" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 242px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz5Vq_ISHyX0Kk8JUMldSpOVgTaVFQwpJX_iRCw3UTZxBO4WjZl9depSq9_xiW0WSYeRXgLBFEnrOCKpO5VRlnHLDd26szzbZ3N5O4XFBpjL-_lEfEB1ztXjRvydiTdaonQm6N2MDocH4/s400/3758519709_a0ffe0288b_o.jpg" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://bighugelabs.com/onblack.php?id=3758519709&size=large" rel="nofollow">View On Black</a><br /><br />This is the hallway of African Mammals exhibit at American Museum of Natural history, New york. During my previous visits, I always have found this place a little dark, with many moving people, lack of space or in general non-conducive for photography.<br /><br />This time, as I was walking down the Mezzanine floor, an idea struck and I used my 10-20mm lens and the wall (as a tripod substitute) to take this photograph.<br /><br />I didn't bother to do any post-processing to remove the moving people (creating ghost images), as I thought of course humans are part of Natural history and they deserve to be part of the museum. lol :)Arun Sundarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18219885089043197381noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5268554291957555806.post-42671446282910820722009-07-27T21:39:00.000-04:002009-07-27T21:40:03.589-04:00New York and the landmarks!<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; "><div style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 3px; padding-right: 3px; padding-bottom: 3px; padding-left: 3px; width: auto; font: normal normal normal 100%/normal Georgia, serif; text-align: left; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); white-space: pre-wrap; font-family:arial;font-size:12px;"><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">I went to NYC last weekend after quite a few months. Too much nostalgia. This time I visited with parents so behaved like a perfect tourist. Whats a visit to NYC without a Brooklyn bridge picture?! This is a signature shot of one of my favorite places in the city.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnJWqVehw_NNu08BtT8O97j10isZ8AeNlzFj3neg9TMsP8t_ZyrS890eL3Ccck6H-e1CLixkgEEo3botVhmdXkvnpffpFQG-OiDV9zIUnwj8MCHJf7beZ8JmeYwrhsv5i4Ysc2_Es2NaM/s1600-h/3738030822_ae4c8884d5_o.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnJWqVehw_NNu08BtT8O97j10isZ8AeNlzFj3neg9TMsP8t_ZyrS890eL3Ccck6H-e1CLixkgEEo3botVhmdXkvnpffpFQG-OiDV9zIUnwj8MCHJf7beZ8JmeYwrhsv5i4Ysc2_Es2NaM/s400/3738030822_ae4c8884d5_o.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5362227945530374978" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px; " /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Wide angle view of Brooklyn bridge and manhattan bridge. I always wanted to take this picture covering both the bridges and this time I did, thanks to my 10-20mm lens.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6kjoby6vvaPdM9SotFN7kWdNFEN3Z9-QLsfYzS5RapW-uxCu8HxQmMJ8feim2DCT2hQnuBffS1fZv0jC0kjroe-MalLqwlt7Pz8xrjpir9dTt7t5lbsA5IrUYOhgG94p-gAxsXGVG348/s1600-h/3737237927_dced977d53_o.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6kjoby6vvaPdM9SotFN7kWdNFEN3Z9-QLsfYzS5RapW-uxCu8HxQmMJ8feim2DCT2hQnuBffS1fZv0jC0kjroe-MalLqwlt7Pz8xrjpir9dTt7t5lbsA5IrUYOhgG94p-gAxsXGVG348/s400/3737237927_dced977d53_o.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5362228122406493042" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px; " /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">I have always felt Manhattan bridge does not get the deserved attention because of its hugely famous neighbor (Brooklyn bridge). I think Manhattan bridge has its own charm, not to forget the train line passing thru this bridge! For some reason, this steel structure has been one of my favourites. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPiMDj8Q0S1Y8eiFnUBK6KaD-z9DIij27Ly78T_BXxAXWqSuslXPv4JEb1uhzqcUZXrrjXsPCX_frA-N8VExsjEMGp85mTpi083_upnHv31ac_QLmyybjIkyRxeV-6Ar6y2GyxHmDaTHw/s1600-h/3751631771_b494592302_o.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPiMDj8Q0S1Y8eiFnUBK6KaD-z9DIij27Ly78T_BXxAXWqSuslXPv4JEb1uhzqcUZXrrjXsPCX_frA-N8VExsjEMGp85mTpi083_upnHv31ac_QLmyybjIkyRxeV-6Ar6y2GyxHmDaTHw/s400/3751631771_b494592302_o.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5362228285203329682" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px; " /></a></div></span>Arun Sundarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18219885089043197381noreply@blogger.com0