Footloose on the Freeway

Chennai to Mumbai - road trip!

2011-03-31T14:57:00.003-04:00

"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.

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!

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!

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!

Star Trails at Cherry springs state park

2010-10-11T19:55:00.016-04:00

After my crazy first attempt 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 Valley Forge National park. After some googling, I found out about Cherry Springs state park, which claimed to be 'gold rated' for dark skies 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.

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 8pm, 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 New Jersey. 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!

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.

Moon and a lone tree

One of the astronomy observatories in the morning

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 saturday evening around 7pm, 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!

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 11pm. We would have spent a few more hours only if the weather was not getting unbearable cold. Here are some pictures!

Star trails captured by exposing the camera for 22 minutes

Milky Way

Star trails captured by exposing the camera for 12 minutes

Star trails captured by exposing the camera for 30 minutes

Arun and Eric on the way to the park

For any photographer looking for tips on star trail photography, here is some technical info from my experience:

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.

Frankfurt and Amterdam - quick taste of Europe in 4 days - part II

2010-09-17T17:43:00.016-04:00

Part I here

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?!

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.

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!

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!).

Madoram

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.

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?!

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'!

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

Four of us waiting at Koln station

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.

Whoever said Europe's train network rocks, here, get it from me 'Europe train network sucks!'

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!:

Frankfurt and Amsterdam – a quick taste of Europe in 4 days - part I

2010-09-09T23:53:00.017-04:00

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.

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.

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.

This time, I was able to appreciate more than a few things in the city, the best part being the architecture.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!)

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!

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.

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.

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.

The story of day 2 at Amsterdam and the funny ICE train experience on our return journey here.

Gettysburg Battlefield!

2010-08-30T19:21:00.016-04:00

I did a solo trip to Gettysburg National park 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 national park guiderecommended 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 Cyclorama in the visitor center, I skipped them too!

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. 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?!

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 Canon 7D 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.

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).

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.

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.

Overall, Gettysburg is a great place if you are either a history buff or a photo enthusiast. For others, it might be a slight toss up!

Perseverence

2010-08-27T10:34:00.004-04:00

It 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.

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.

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.

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!

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 :)

Desi Saga!

2010-04-28T18:54:00.011-04:00

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.

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!

The gang at ECR

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.

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:

Tirupati Temple Pond

Tirupati Ghat Road (HDR)

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:

Apartment Makeover

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 (Amar). 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:

Lighthouse at Mahabalipuram

One of the temples at Mahabalipuram

Sunset at Mahabalipuram

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.

Overall, just like every single trip to India, it was one hell of a trip!

Cuyahoga and Erie - a weekend in slow motion...

2010-02-19T10:20:00.039-05:00

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.

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.

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 Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Rail. 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.

Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Rail

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 Brandywine Falls. 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?!

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.

Brandywine Falls, on the extreme right

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 George Carrol House. 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.

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.

Icicles adorning the window

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.

Land Lighthouse, Erie, PA

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!

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.

Presque Isle North Pierhead

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.

People snowboarding down a sand dune

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 our coffee and sandwiches.

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.

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.

The only bear we spotted on this trip, he even let me hug him

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 prefer our jam-packed itineraries that leave us happily exhausted in the end.

SNOW! SNOW! SNOW! And then some...

2010-02-10T17:32:00.009-05:00

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...

From a snowy trail run

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!

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. I simply cannot resist the temptation to step into the soft white pillows on my balcony (and jumping around to keep from freezing). Even the tree that peers over the railing, once lush and green, seems reluctant to shake off the crystals that frost it.

Tree outside the balcony, while the snow storm rages on

I even enjoyed slushing around in the snow as Arun and I shoveled to get his buried car out...

Half shoveled parking space

..to drive 10 slippery miles and go here:

Soldier's Hut at Valley Forge National Park, PA

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.

Looking the storm in the eye!

Taking a walk in the dying storm

Finally I could not let such a golden opportunity to do this pass by:

Making a Snow Angel!

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!

President's day solicits visit to Ohio!

2010-02-05T10:34:00.007-05:00

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.

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?!).

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.

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.

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!

January Travels

2010-01-31T19:52:00.024-05:00

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. 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.

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.

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.

Chinese Scholar Garden with frozen lake running through it

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.

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.

Baltimore Skyline - shot from Baltimore Inner Harbor

Baltimore Skyline - one more

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.

We drove down to Virginia for the night to stay close to Great Falls National Park, 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.

Capitol Columns - columns that once adorned the East face of the US Capitol, now at The National Arboretum

Capitol Columns - a different perspective

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.

Bonsai on display

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.

Great Falls at sunset

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.

Kayaker ruling the waters

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:

Lincoln Memorial

Washington Monument

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...

Smoky Mountains to close 2009

2009-12-30T09:08:00.020-05:00

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.

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!

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?

An indoor amusement park standing on its head we found in Pigeon Forge, TN

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.

Swetha, Kavitha and Arun at the Abrams Falls trail head

Abrams Falls

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.

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.

Swetha and Kavitha at Gatlinburg,TN

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.

Waiting for sunrise

First rays of the day, we were actually standing above the cloud cover

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.

A minor letdown before the actual Rainbow Falls

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.

Rainbow Falls

Last stretch of the trail before Rainbow Falls

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.

Squirrel relishing a midday snack

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.

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.

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.

Snowed down Blue Ridge Parkway, spot the road if you can!

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!

Havasu Hike (Part II) - A night, a beast and the hike back

2009-12-23T19:49:00.016-05:00

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...

Read about 26 & 27 November here.

28 November
It's 4am in the morning. Arun and I are fast asleep, warm and cozy 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.

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 come morning. 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 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.

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. Here's one of the great shots Arun got.

Mooney Falls

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.

Havasu Falls - Front View

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 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.

100-footer Falls

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.

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.

29 & 30 November
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.

Sunset Crater, Arizona

Wukaki Remains, Arizona

Giant Cactus on Apache Trail, Arizona

Do watch out for our post on the Smokies trip which will round off 2009 for this blog. Merry Christmas everyone!

Havasu Hike (Part I ) - The hike down

2009-12-14T12:15:00.027-05:00

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.

Upto 25 November
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...

26 November - Thanksgiving
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.

27 November - Hike down
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.

Switchbacks

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.

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.

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.

New Navajo Falls

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.

Havasu Falls from the top

Havasu Falls

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, 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.

What's camping without a little adventure?! Our tryst with the beast - coming soon in Part II...

Havasu Falls Hike - Grand Canyon Region

2009-11-03T15:03:00.002-05:00

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.

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.

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).

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.

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!

(Back) With the Photographer!

2009-10-14T20:09:00.008-04:00

The title of this post is borrowed (shamelessly) from Stephen Leacock. But the experience recorded here bears a sharp contrast to the trauma Leacock goes through in his hilarious short story.

I'm back on the East Coast! Naturally, Arun and I wasted no time before beginning to travel together again. Even as 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! Burning red, sunset orange, yellow turning to brown and splotches of green, even pink at times. We loved it as we sped through mile after variegated mile.

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.

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 and their dogs to clear away after taking their gazillion group photographs. Many of them with the camera flash on, in broad daylight.

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.

Watch out for the travelogue from our Vermont and New Hampshire trip this upcoming weekend.

Fall colors turn into waterfalls!

2009-10-01T03:16:00.010-04:00

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.

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.

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.

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.

Factory Falls

Fulmer Falls (Top view)

Fulmer Falls (Bottom view)

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:

Raymondskill Falls (upper falls)

It made me wonder how many such beautiful scenes Nature offers that we miss to see.

We then continued to the Middle falls, which is 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.

Raymondskill Falls (Middle falls)

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!

Ciao, till the next travelogue!

Happy Birthday Arun!

2009-09-29T02:50:00.005-04:00

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...

Happy Birthday Arun!

Museum of Natural history, one more!

2009-08-23T23:58:00.004-04:00

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 Explore.

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).

Guess I got lucky! :)

View the above photo on Black and my other Explore photos here.

Kavitha- still afloat and flippant

2009-08-18T14:19:00.013-04:00

Hello everyone and a special thanks to Alan Smithee 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.

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 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.

These days I read for nearly 4-6 hours a day- news, blogs, 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 http://thembasaga.blogspot.com. Grace me with a visit or even a comment when you are in the mood for some banality.

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.

So that's how life unfolds on the West Coast. More soon...

Yosemite National Park, at its driest!

2009-08-13T11:51:00.005-04:00

This was one of the photographs taken in March'09 at Yosemite National park, California during ourcross country road trip. 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.

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!

View On Black

From Flickr.

Ostrich - Museum of Natural History, New York!

2009-08-08T12:32:00.002-04:00

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.

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!

View On Black

New York and the African Elephants!

2009-07-30T14:29:00.005-04:00

View On Black

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.

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.

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 :)

New York and the landmarks!

2009-07-27T21:39:00.000-04:00

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.

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.

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.

Trains!

2009-07-26T14:41:00.008-04:00

She says "One who watches trains never grows up" He says "One who watches trains never grows old!"

I guess its true for model trains too! :)

*Pictures taken at Northlandz Model railroad museum, New Jersey.

What I do when I'm bored..

2009-07-24T11:31:00.008-04:00

This is a Ferrari car (yup, a toy) I got at Walmart for $1.99. Photographed atop my dining table.

Nice Ride, eh?! :)

Off to Switzerland...

2009-07-13T12:03:00.011-04:00

...is what I thought I'd say this past friday. Perhaps I would have said I'm off to Switzerland....err...of America. I was planning to visit a small city upstate called 'Jim Thorpe' this weekend with my parents. And should I tell anybody how good Americans are in marketing?! In the early 20th century, the town once used to be the second most visited tourist destination in the US, trailing behind the one and only 'Niagara falls'. Hence they called it 'Switzerland of US'.

The town and the surroundings does not deserve to be called Switzerland (not that I have visited Switzerland yet, but I for sure know the hype!). It's a small town with old-fashioned, traditional atmosphere, picturesque scenery and breathtaking mountains! They have a 16-mile scenic railroad, which winds thru the mountains along the Lehigh river, where a lot of white water rafting activities take place.

We boarded the train (that has been running from 1920) as a bear mascot greeted and waved at us. For the next 1 hour, we treated our eyes with the spectacular moutains and the gorges of Lehigh Gorge state park. For some strange reason, I felt a) the trip could have been longer and b) the trains could have been slower. Nevertheless we definitely had a good time.

I then drove to one of the places I have been yearning to go for a long time now - Boulder field at Hickory run state park. I once visited this area with Amar but it was too late (dusk) then and the weather was bad - it snowed like hell. This time, the 3.5 mile dirt road drive wasn't all that bad.

Imagine a wide river stream, with no water but just boulders. That is boulder field. The place seemed to be a true relic of the past. This area, declared as aNational Natural Landmark, has remained relatively unchanged for more than 20,000 years. Because of its flatness and absence of vegetation, the Boulder Field appears striking. Photographs do no justice to this place.

Our next stop was Hawk falls, which was a 1-mile hike down the hills, just off the highway. It was once again worth the hike, as the falls was fantastic and the weather was perfectly conducive for photography. I tried my new 0.9D filter and am extremely pleased with it! There were some monkeys in human forms trying to dive into the water to impress their bikini-clad girl friends. Other than that, the place was awesome. Some pictures here.

Side View of the falls from one of the rocks:

One more wide angle view:

Thats pretty much about one of my recently liked trips. Signing off till my next travelogue. Ciao!

Blue Blue and more Blue at the Baltimore Aquarium

2009-06-05T17:10:00.015-04:00

Hola from the Bay Area! My parents have gone away on a whirlwind tour of the South-West. They will be visiting LA, Vegas, San Diego and Grand Canyon over the next few days. My uncle who has taken them categorically decided I don't deserve to see those places again after my recent Cross Country trip. Meanwhile Arun is planning on more travel in the Philadelphia area this weekend. So I figured this is my last chance to squeeze in a post on our trip to the National Aquarium at Baltimore last weekend.

We planned on spending an entire day at the Aquarium. In hindsight, after seeing what a bunch of animal and photography lovers Arun's and my families are made up of, I'm surprised we finished in a day. My dad and Arun spent what felt like hours at each viewing station chasing every shiny elusive fish with their cameras. Arun's dad went bonkers shooting videos of everything in sight with his beloved handycam. I wandered around wide eyed- an entranced child in that blue paradise. The mothers, being absolute mothers, tried in vain to keep everyone together while oohing and aahing at the colorful creatures. It was two happy families!

The guys who built the aquarium have thought of everything. From the dim photography-friendly lighting in the different galleries to the eerie music in the Jellyfish exhibit, the attention to detail was really impressive. They even projected on a wall a real time image and description of the exact fish swimming at any moment under the bridge we were standing. The shows were pretty good too. The dolphin show, albeit not as entertaining as the one in Sea World, had the mammals doing some cool tricks. The parents really enjoyed the 4D show.Of course we didn't tell them beforehand about the phantom snakes that slithered through their legs or the giant whale that spat on them from the screen. They laughed, still tickled, for a full 15 minutes after the show.

Tired parents at the end of the day

The "Jellies Invasion" Exhibit wins hands down as the highlight of the aquarium visit. It is amazing that creatures as pretty as those orange parachutes silently floating down, those tender exquisite lacelike mushrooms, such wispy fragile looking things actually pose a dangerous threat in the ocean. Arun loved the riot of colors they created against the bright blue water. Here are some pictures of the jellies to round off the post.

Do visit the aquarium if you happen to be in the area.

The Champion Parents - The East Coast in 15 days

2009-05-31T21:50:00.041-04:00

Graduation, sight seeing in Philadelphia, Luray Caverns in Virginia and Skyline Drive through Shenandoah National Park, Washington DC, 1000 Islands, Niagara Falls, Letchworth State Park, Corning Glass Museum, New York City, Baltimore Aquarium, New Jersey... All in just 2 weeks. Whew!!! That was my parents' itinerary from 17th - 31st May. Add to it social visits in Philadelphia, New Jersey and New York.

Be it 6 hour long drives, eating pizza, subs and Mexican food or walking entire days, my parents surprised me by being complete champs. I expected to search for Indian restaurants wherever I went and was prepared to use taxis to commute within cities. But their adaptability and enthusiasm to try new things and see new places was amazing. It was a pleasure to show them around, almost like traveling with people of my age. And as you can see, we covered quite a bit on the east coast in the last couple of weeks.

Here are some pictures from various places...

Philadelphia Duck tour & Giant LCD Screen in the Comcast building - Philadelphia

Lake of Dreams & Saracen's Tent - Luray Caverns, Virginia

Washington Monument - Washington DC

Botanic Garden - Washington DC

Corning Glass Museum - New York

Museum of Natural History, Statue of Liberty, Charging Bull - New York City

I figured the best time to show my parents around is when I'm still unemployed and don't have a job and bosses to worry about. Kudos to them for putting up with my crazy travel schedule! I'm off to California today for two months of my mom's home cooked food. And oh! Wish me luck for my impending job search *snicker*...

See post below: Niagara and 1000 Islands with Arun's family and mine

Coming up: Blog post and pictures for Baltimore Aquarium.

Trip to Niagara Falls and 1000 islands!

2009-05-31T14:14:00.032-04:00

Last weekend, Kavitha and I did what a perfect desi would do as one of the first things when parents visit them in this country. Drive to Niagara falls. I can say for sure, that it has become more of a ritual for desis and still remains an unsolved mystery for many firangs.

But I did not want the visit to include just the falls, so sneaked 1000 islands into the itinerary. I was attempting to make the trip as different as I could. (Anybody who has visited Niagara for more than 5 times would understand what I'm talking about!). We set off on a Friday evening, the plan being to reach 1000 islands and rest for the night in a much-hyped completely furnished riverside cottage house.

We had no idea that a)it will not be a cottage house or b)it will not be on the riverside, until we reached the place at 1.30am. We were told by the vacation home company that they would leave the lights on and place the keys on the living room table, if we reach late. The only thing that was lit in the absolute dark campground was a caravan. We looked around and having no option, I stepped into the caravan, opened the door and switched on the lights. I shocked myself at the amazing sight!

The insides of the caravan looked exceedingly well furnished and the key was on the living room table, as told. I invited the other folks to join, only for them to be suprised and excited! Kavitha and I had our moments of laughter, as only we knew what we'd planned for and how it had all ended up! Everyone seemed extremely happy and it was one hell of a night!

Kavitha and I spent the next half hour outside in the cold attempting to take a night shot of the Caravan and also a long-pending picture of star-trails. I was not entirely unhappy with what it finally turned out to be.

Night photograph of the Caravan and the star trails

The next day had equally exciting moments, but on water instead of land. We rented a Pontoon boat and set off into the waters. Yours truly being an experienced boat driver (having rented a Pontoon boat once before, I can't call myself a Captain yet!), started the boat engine and within 10 metres of slow-sailing near the dock, we heard people shouting and waving at us. We looked around, only to find that I had been inadvertently dragging one of the fishing nets by the boat engine.

Who the hell would expect a fishing net there? We had to wait for help. One of the rental company folks arrived in a smaller boat, disentangled the net. We started all over again, this time with no problems. We spent the next 3 hours in the water,enjoying the sights of the numerous islands around. Everytime a big boat or a ship passed us, the waves made our boat rock big time. Everyone tried their hands in the wheel and overall, it was quite an experience in itself!.

We then visited one of the state parks in the area and spent the evening watching the splendid sunset. After a sumptuous dinner at an Italian restaurant and a super-filling ice cream, we headed back to the caravan, where we played a few interesting games of poker and hit the bed, knowing we have a big day at Niagara the next day.

Niagara falls, for some reason has become desis' paradise. 9 out of 10 people I saw were desis. I could have counted the stars in the sky a little more easily. The place was absolutely crowded for Memorial Day weekend. For the much-acclaimed 'Maid of the Mist' ferry, we had to wait a whopping 1 hour in the queue at a scorching 90 degrees. Completely drained, we entertained ourselves by playing interesting self-invented games such as 'Spot the tambrahm in the line' and "Count the H4's in the line", etc. The parents, of course, were impressed by the grandeur of the falls and the excitement of the boat ride!

We spent the rest of the day roaming around the falls area and dining at one of the 'worse than spit-worthy' Indian restuarants. Late evening was good, as the weather became nicer and there was fireworks to celebrate Memorial Day!

Memorial day Fireworks, Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls- overlook

The parents and us

Overall, it was three days well spent and left us with the satisfaction of surprising our parents with the coziness of a caravan, adrnelin rush in the rough waters and the wonderful sight of the gushing waters of Niagara Falls!

Ciao, till the next trip travel update!

Pinnacle...

2009-05-18T01:31:00.016-04:00

I had one of the best feelings of my life as I stepped into the stands of Franklin Field stadium this afternoon. With trumpets and drumrolls playing, Kavitha marched into the field. Along with her were about 800 of the smartest men and women. It is not a feat everybody in this world gets to achieve.

After having fought through some rigorous admission process to get into the school, after having swam through 2 tough years of unforgettable academia and after having gained a multitude of experiences that one might not get anywhere else in the world, Kavitha must have been exhilarated on receiving the Wharton MBA degree today.

The half a day ceremony was indeed a grand finale. The 4 hour long ceremony did not seem long enough to the graduates nor the relatives/friends. The chilly winds did not seem to bother the enthusiastic guests, who were waiting for their happy moments with cameras in hands and anxiety in their eyes. Of course the pride of having their loved one walk through the podium to collect the degree from one of the top prestigious institutions must be inexplicable.

It was quite an experience for me too. Considering me and our friendship, I hardly take any moment to express much to Kavitha. But I gotta tell in this post that I honestly felt very proud of her today.

Yes, Kavitha is officially an MBA now! Congrats to her for a well deserved effort and good luck for a great future!

P.S: No matter whether she is a student or an MBA grad or a boring workaholic (who knows?!), our travel stories will continue for sure!

Finger Lakes - Mission Waterfalls!

2009-05-12T00:33:00.038-04:00

Spring season, New camera, Free weekend, Conducive weather, Right company: the best possible thing one could do on earth is to drive to upstate New york and take pictures of waterfalls. We did exactly that.

After brooding over the loss of my previous camera for exactly 27 hours, I ordered my new camera. I got it shipped mid of last week and immediately jotted down plans to visit Finger lakes region of New York state. Kavitha did all the planning and this time, one of my very good friends and a photo enthusiast, Amar joined us from Boston. This weekend trip was one hell of a mix of adventure, excitement, angst and also a few 'near-death' experiences.

Our first destination being Filmore Glen State Park, we started with heightened enthusiasm. Surprisingly and more shockingly, some of their trails were still closed for Winter (surprising because their websites said nothing about it and shocking because it's gonna be summer very soon). We took pictures of the only waterfalls that was accessible (by crossing the 'DO NOT CROSS' fencewires). The waterfalls was good, but the downside was some women who were sun-bathing on the rocks. We had to make sure they were not in the frame (not that they seemed to care, but we somehow did not want to include bikini-clad women in nature photography. Maybe some other time!).

Our next destination was Carpenter falls, which involved an 'Open to all, mildly difficult and extremely hazardous' hiking trail to reach the falls (so said the welcome sign board). After parking our car on the roadside parking area, we set off on the hike which in the beginning seemed very easy. In a few minutes, we saw the falls but the place was not favourable to set our tripods nor the view was too good. So, after a short contemplation, we decided to climb down what looked like a steep slide, with rolling stones and slippery rocks.

Kavitha had sneakers which had the smoothest of the soles (I found it hard to believe it must had sole buttons once upon a time. There were absolutely no signs!). Nevertheless, she decided to stay atop letting myself and Amar climb down.

With bags and tripod, I should say it was not easiest of the hikes. We strategically invented routes, took assistance from tree roots, twigs, rocks, even firm mud and finally reached the stream. The view was good. But not too good. We knew we had to cross the stream to get a better view. So we did. The water was almost at freezing temperature and we somehow managed to use the dead logs and rocks to cross the stream. The view was much better.

Carpenter Falls

There we were, in one of the most untamed lands, setting our tripods, clicking away pictures to glory. Myself and Amar liked it very much. Rain Gods, not so much. In a few minutes, it started drizzling.

We instantly knew we were not in the right place to fight rain and started packing. By the time we crossed the stream, it started raining big time. We still had the steep slope to climb. With not much of flowing water in the slopes, I managed to reach the top using the support of tree branches, roots and rocks. With the enthusiasm of reaching the top, I started running towards the parking area, when I realised Amar was not with me. I looked back, only to find him struggling to climb up the slippery mud trail with two hands and two legs.

Amar was using his tripod as a holding stick, smartly locking it on a tree root preventing him to slide down further. I held a tree stem tight with one hand and lend my other hands slowly. It was one movie-climax moment when our hands touched (would have been better with slow-motion and background music!) and I helped him to lift himself slowly, yet steadily.

The rain was pouring by then. We walked to the car drenching wet, to find Kavitha listening to music in the cozy confines of the Prius. In sign-language, she told me that I looked like a wet goat. Awesome. The rain stopped in about 20 mins. We strolled around, dried ourselves and continued the drive.

Next day was not as adventurous, but more beautiful nevertheless. We drove to Letchworth state park, which in my opinion had some of the largest waterfalls I have everseen (only next to Niagara). We did a mild hike along the river stream, took satisfying pictures and spent about 3 hours there.

Letchworth State Park - Inspiration Point

Letchworth Lower Falls

Letchworth Small falls

Our next stop was Taughannock falls and we reached on time before dusk. Amar felt (and insisted that we agree) that it's the most beautiful waterfall in the whole world. After taking pictures of the falls from one of the vista points, we hiked a mile down to see the falls upclose. I had to agree with Amar at that point - it was a fantastic waterfall.

Taughannock Falls, as seen from Vista point

An hour and a few pictures later, we left the place, stopped for coffee at a gas station and drove away on our respective ways.

I just could not forget the jubilance of being in that 'high-five moment' with Amar after we ompleted the hike at Carpenter falls!

Wide Angle picture taken by Amar

There is indeed nothing better in this world than traveling!

P.S: More photos at www.flickr.com/photos/arunsundar

Philadelphia- a lasting bond forged

2009-05-06T14:05:00.008-04:00

Philadelphia has been home for the past 2 years. It has cradled my dreams and despair. It has seen my joy and my tears. It bears the roots of my lifelong friendships. Now as I spend my last couple of weeks here, it warrants some reminiscence for sure.

I can walk center city with my eyes closed. I know the obscure little streets, the tiny cafes, every half decent restaurant, even the names of buildings I've never stepped into. I know the faces of all the drivers of the Route 21 bus. They wink and tease me that I've been playing hooky from school if I don't show up for a few days. I feel a fuzzy familiarity even with the R6 train I ride every time I visit Arun.

It seems like it was just yesterday that I did the Rocky run up the stairs of Philadelphia Museum of Art. Only yesterday did I explore the quaint little shops of South Street. And gazed dreamily at the beautifully lit boats at Penn's Landing. And got lost looking for Sabrina's- a great restaurant in Philly's Italian Market. And legged it for hours, fascinated by the museums and other historical landmarks. Only yesterday...

For sure I will miss Philadelphia, the rather old and yawning city where I started my life in the US. But being a Wharton student is like living in a whole different world snuck away in its archaic veins. Where else can I do the famous Walnut Walk of Wharton- a nightlong pub crawl with 800 incredibly smart people wearing lingerie below the waist and business attire above the waist, without being taken for a lunatic? Will there ever be another Little Pete's and its delicious omelets at 3am after yet another wild Wharton party, with half my class waiting in line to get in? Can I even dream of 40 of my friends cramped together to celebrate my birthday at Rum Bar again? Oh how I will miss Walnut Bridge Cafe, my trusted caffeine haven before my dreadful 9am classes?! And the adorable couple that runs the cafe? Goodbye Schuylkill waterfront, goodbye Rittenhouse Square, goodbye MBA cafe, goodbye Huntsman Hall-my home away from home...

Trips, Tragedy, Trauma

2009-04-30T12:20:00.005-04:00

I have a vague memory of the other author of this blog promising to write this post. That was two weeks ago. Now we can't let this blog die, can we? Nor can we make much of Arun's promises. Until last week Arun at least contributed photographs to every post. Now after his car was shockingly broken into and his camera cruelly snatched away, Arun has no photos to share and is suffering from severe withdrawal. And he will be so until he burns a gaping hole through his pocket with a bigger, more decadent, hyper advanced camera. Until then he will be spending most of his waking hours researching his new "wife to be".

We've been keeping up our weekend exploits amidst two more hectic weeks. We watched four movies 17 Again, State of Play, The Soloist and Earth. Earth is a must watch! I wish they played it in iMax instead of Monsters vs. Aliens.

And of course we made the most of the fortuitous streak of good weather. The Sunday before last we went to Cape May in New Jersey and took the Ferry to Cape Henlopen in Delaware. The ferry which is more public transport than tourist fare was full of tourists and locals enjoying an afternoon at sea on the gorgeous bright day. The sun went in and out of the clouds. The two hours were delightfully slow as the boat cut through the gently rolling waters. We then drove back home from Delaware, rounding off a deservedly fun weekend.

Last weekend we went to Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square about 30 miles from Philadelphia. The place had over a 1000 acres of gardens. We walked the Flower Garden Walk bordering gardens and lakes and fountains. There were tulips in full bloom. Red, White, Yellow, Pink, a rainbow of tulips. Arun lay prostrate, twisted himself lay into weird shapes on the ground and stood on tip toe. All to get a few pictures. And great pictures they were. Unfortunately, Arun and I will be the only persons to see them. For after we got our fill of flowers at the garden, we went to the movies at King of Prussia mall. After the show we came to a car with a broken window and glass strewn all around. Both our backpacks were gone. With them went Arun's camera. Little hope remains of its retreival.

We scrapped our Sunday plans and spent most of the day watching movies on TV while guarding Arun's car. We even gave up watching Earth on the weekend it was released. Unprecedented!

So that's the story so far. More next week...

So what has the duo been up to?

2009-04-12T10:31:00.014-04:00

A lazy Sunday greeting to our blogger buddies! We've been rather tardy writing about our recent wanderings, random as they may be. After our sinfully lazy and indulgent weekend a fortnight ago (Alan Smithee: No hyperlink! We are all about pleasing our esteemed readerfolk...), an uninvited storm ravaged our lives. Arun had to work. A lot and hard that too. Unbelievable, I know! One would think he's beyond such lowly exertions. He found a way out though. He promptly fell ill and played the sympathy card. This should shed a more enlightening perspective on his recent blog post about his hospital visit(Alan Smithee: Forgive me, I had to). And of course, he passed the virus to me too. At least I turned out to be a better fighter and escaped being pricked in the ear.

And I realized, not without a startle, that I had to turn in cases and projects and the like if I had any hopes of graduating next month. And it is rather crucial that I graduate. Rosy as it might seem, Wharton is anything but affordable a place to wait and watch as the world goes upside down. Chuckle! Which reminds me, I will be in sunny California all of June. As a good dutiful daughter, I intend to be with my parents who will be visiting me for graduation. The truth is the rich uncles refused to pay my rent. So I will leave the East Coast with a heavy heart and an undying promise to return.

Now that the illnesses and work and studies have blown over, life is back to its normal fun avtar. So I hunkered down and got to blogging.

Last weekend we went to Washington DC on Saturday to be amongst the sea of people who went there for the Cherry Blossom Festival. Soft, white, feathery blossoms. Most lilted merrily on the branches, others flew around wispily in the whimsical breeze. Thousands of blossoms. Thousands of people. Here are a few pictures of the sights...

Cherry Blossoms and Washington Monument in the backkground

Arlington Cemetry

Amphitheater in Arlington Cemetry

The weather on Sunday was gorgeous. We are not ones to pass up on such chance pleasures. So we woke up at noon, dressed and drove to Point Pleasant Beach in New Jersey. We walked on the beach watching a bunch of children having a ball in the wet sand. Fooled by the warmish sand, I went into the water and came running back to be readily mocked by our hero. We threw darts at balloons and won fragile looking monkey soft toys. They are stuck to the back of Arun's car these days and have really taken to the spot. Our day at the beach came to a fitting end as we wheezed and whewed, struggling to finish massive 3-scoop ice creams.

Over the last week we also managed to watch Adventureland and Observe & Report, go to the Bridgewater temple to ensure I'm still in good (albeit, still unemployed) standing with God *snicker*. This weekend has been a little quiet, due to the rain that kept us indoors yesterday and a looming exam that has tied me down today. We did manage to take a stroll down the Schulkyll River waterfront yesterday when the skies cleared up a bit.

So that's a quick replay of the last two weeks. It's back to the books now.

Aaaah!

2009-03-30T21:16:00.011-04:00

Vetha Kozhambu, Cauliflower poriyal, Tomato Rice with cucumber raita, Strong Kaapi, 12 straight hours of sleep a day...

Mild showers, Spring flowers, leisurely driving with our windows down...

Bowling, hours of iPhone games, 3 movies, 3 popcorns, laughing till our stomaches ached...

There is only one word to describe last weekend... Decadence!

PS: Arun and I really impressed each other with our culinary skills. And of course our respective abilities to laze around.

PPS: Don't be fooled by the inactivity on this blog. We actually drove to Boston the weekend before last to visit friends. Arun bailed on writing and blamed it on the flu!

Cross Country - Good things must end too...

2009-03-16T23:34:00.016-04:00

Day 10 - 15 March

Before we knew it, our sinful trip was drawing to an end. It was the last day already. We wanted to rewind time, or freeze it, at least slow it down. We were up bright and early to take my uncle's 2 year old daughter to the Monterey Bay aquarium. It was like watching two excited kids. My cousin could not stop exclaiming "Fish! Duck! Froggie!" in her adorable baby talk. Arun went crazy, trying to move faster than the fish to catch them on camera. My uncle and aunt must have been glad seeing how much saner their toddler was in comparison. I got to touch starfish and watch penguins with my nose pressed to the glass. So I guess ALL the kids had a happy time after all!

After a few hours at the aquarium, we did the 17 mile drive along the Pacific coast. We didn't stop much because we were already cutting it really close to catch our flight back to Philly. But the sea was inviting and the people sauntering around on the beach made us really jealous.

Arun drove like a true Californian at 95-100 mph to get us home quickly. Thankfully we were all packed and ready. So we just swung by home, picked up one more car and rushed to the airport.

Soon we were on a tiny aircraft on our way to LA where we had a 3 hour layover. Of course we didn't book our tickets early enough to get a direct flight. But we didn't mind the layover one bit. We reminisced and relived and talked and talked some more about the past 10 days. Time flew by and we were whisked into the red-eye bound to Philadelphia. We vaguely remembered the flight taking off and whining something about how terrible it was that we had to go to school and work in the morning. The next thing we knew was the wheels touching the ground in Philadelphia Airport. Boy! Were we tired? We both went our ways, in utter disbelief that the road trip we endlessly anticipated, the road trip we tirelessly obsessed about was actually over.

So applause please. For... We did it!!!

PS: And we did it without getting pulled over even once by a cop *smug*

Cross Country - Lake Tahoe, Ice Ice Baby!

2009-03-16T23:32:00.010-04:00

Day 09 - 14 March

Lake Tahoe was the only part of our trip that was uncertain until the very last moment because we were always a little behind schedule. When we were faced with the choice of getting to the Bay Area on Friday night or visiting Tahoe and reaching sometime on Saturday evening we naturally chose the latter. Again, good judgment there! *snicker*

The drive to Tahoe was distracting, to say the least. It's not always that you get to see deep blue water and sandy beaches on one side and snowy slopes on the other. We drove up from Carson City to Kings City in Tahoe.

On the way up we stopped to chat with some locals who had a great big Golden Retriever. He was a really well groomed dog. I spent the longest time petting him and playing football (or noseball) with him. He was such a darling. Even Arun was tempted into touching his coat and playing with him. I might have almost convinced him about the pleasures of having a dog at home.

The dog's owners directed us to a snowmobile rental store that offered a 2 hour self guided tour. We jumped at the proposition, albeit slightly expensive. We are all about bolstering the economy, as always. The snowmobile ride was nothing like we expected. Years of driving motorcycles in India did not help one bit. First of all, this machine need not be balanced. It runs on wide chainlike structures. Secondly, it is a little too heavy to topple over. It was too heavy for me though. I kept driving it up the slopes on the side of the trail and just could not steer it. Arun, with all his power, managed to tame it and off we went bouncing up and down the slopes. We followed a trail of bright pink ribbons tied to branches and tree trunks along the way. The patches of blue lake between the trees became tiny specks as went deeper into the hills. We made many stops to click some fun pictures.

We had the hills to ourselves except for a couple with a child who we met on the way. So we made complete fools of ourselves. We played cricket with snowballs using the helmet as a bat. We hit sixers and threw wide balls. It brought back fond memories of street cricket, it was like a quick flashback of our childhood. We had a snow fight and a contest to see who can hurl snowballs the farthest. We played till we got snow all over ourselves and were totally out of breath, before we completed the rest of the trail. It was fun speeding at 50mph on a snowmobile with a mind of its own.

The snowmobile did not sate us. We tried to rent a motorboat and go into the lake. Unfortunately, although the river was not frozen, it was too cold for boating and all the rentals were closed. So we drove down to the bottom of the hills to get a closer view of the lake and the beaches. The view of the lake was a little too obstructed, so the drive down was nice but not too fruitful for Arun.

We then drove towards San Jose where my uncle lives, our final stop. We were to meet him for dinner and spend the night at his place. We had thus far only heard of the informal 80 mph speed limit of the Californian freeways. I'm glad I caught a bit of the action. I was pelting at 85-90 mph to keep up with the flow of traffic. East Coast cops urgently need an upgrade! Arun sat by my side with his heart in his mouth as I shifted in and out of lanes. I thoroughly enjoyed the adrenalin rush. And of course I miraculously got us to my uncle's place in one piece.

Cross Country - Yosemite, we lose ourselves all over again

2009-03-16T17:11:00.024-04:00

Day 8 - 13 March

Green, blue, white... We felt like we were traipsing through a painting as we drove to Yosemite. The blue skies contrasted the young green grass and bunches of clouds formed shadows that only enhanced the shades around us. Are we glad we deferred this drive to morning?! This is us at our best judgment. The roads meandered gently through carpets of green on either side. The drive was full of little surprises. A pretty house atop a hillock here, a fleeting snow covered mountain there, flocks of Spring birds flapping past, a soft breeze, dewsdrops melting in the morning sun... This is undoubtedly the most beautiful part of our trip. It brought such unbearable joy to the deprived East Coast eye. We spent about 5 hours inside the park taking a disproportionately large number of pictures. Every vista point had irresistible views to offer. Every creek tantalized us with its shiny reflections. We stopped for lunch at a place called Iron Door Salon. It was a quaint little place with a unique decor. The interior was all dark wood with stuffed animal heads mounted on the walls. The ceiling was really interesting, it had thousands of dollar bills tacked on to it. Apparently, one needs to drive a tack into a dollar bill, roll it around a quarter and toss it at the ceiling. If the person manages to tack the bill to the ceiling then he/she gets invited to the "Dollar Party" that happens in May every year. The restaurant has been doing this for the past 16 years. Arun took sweeping shots of the place with his newest toy, his $400 wide angle lens.We first visited Bridal Veil Falls. The water flowed like a sheet of milk from hundreds of feet above. To reward us for the all the hardship we underwent to reach the place, there, right in front of us was a crisp cheerful rainbow. And it stayed for the entire hour we spent there. We had to drag ourselves away from the falls to ensure that we saw the rest of the place before dark.

Our next stop was at Yosemite Falls at the bottom of the valley. These falls were bigger but at a longer distance away. We waited there until sundown and got some great twilight pictures of the entire scene- the falls, the mountains and the acres of trees and grass around.

This place is Paradise on Earth. We're really tempted to visit again in the summer to find out what magic resides in the parts closed for winter.

Cross Country - The Adventure comes AFTER Death Valley

2009-03-16T15:30:00.051-04:00

Day 7 - 12 March

Death Valley, true to its name, was fairly successful in convincing us that we could be left there to die. Fortunately we did not go there when the temperature touches its annual high of over 100 deg F. The terrain was just miles and miles of rock and sand, both of which radiate heat to make the place the burning hell it is. We drove for hours through the mindnumbingly dry roads. There were points in time when the visibility ahead was more than 5 miles. We stopped to take pictures of undisturbed sand dunes. It was fun walking up and down the dunes, reminded us of walking on Elliot's Beach in Chennai.We finally reached Badwater which is the lowest point in the Western Hemisphere. It was just a large basin with boards describing how the place came to be. We were rather unimpressed until we realized that we were standing 282ft below sea level. The sea level was marked on a hill in front of us. It was only when we saw it that we felt kind of dwarfed.

We planned to do the Artist's Drive next. But luck had it that there had been an "incident" there (as the cop put it) exactly when we entered the drive. So we had to turn and head out.

We had little idea of what the night had in store for us. We had meticulously planned our route from Death Valley to Yosemite. Or so we thought. After driving for about 8 hours, at half past midnight we reached the Tioga Pass entrance to Yosemite to find it closed for the season until May. You would think we would have checked this beforehand. We did know that large areas of the park are closed this time of the year but had no idea that we could enter only from the Northwest. Another testimony to how badly we can slack. But then again, what good is a cross country trip without some adventure?!

We were stuck in no man's land with no mobile signal and the GPS refusing to show us the only other alternate route which was to drive up North, all around the park to the West entrance. The GPS was all help though- "Turn around when possible", it bleated faithfully at 2 minute intervals. All the hotels en route were full for the night. So we stopped at a hotel parking lot, stole the wi-fi signal and figured out the alternate route, saved it on our laptop and started driving again. We were determined to get the 4 hour detour out of the way the same night. Ambitious, eh? We did not go unpunished. One of the roads on the alternate route was also closed and we were left randomly driving around in the dead of the night with a rapidly depleting tank of gas. Fortunately we came across a restricted area manned by a cop. He gave us the exact route to take with landmarks as specific as a Starbucks store, a high school, gas stations etc. etc. He was such a champ!

We drove on, yapping away to keep each other awake. Suddenly we noticed that the landscape around was breathtakingly beautiful with lush green meadows and moonlight shining off the ice capped mountains in the background. We didn't want to miss this delightful drive in our tired stupor. Just then we entered Nevada and a casino invited us in with its bright big "Rooms Available" sign. It was 2.30am. In 15 minutes we were checked in, washed up and snoring away, merrily dreaming of the scenic drive awaiting us the next morning.

A little anticlimactic, but WHEW... really!

Cross Country - Sin City, all the way...

2009-03-14T05:21:00.018-04:00

Day 6 - 11 March

You would think two people, Engineers that too, would plan a 10 day cross country trip to the T, maximizing efficiency and coverage. Hell No! A couple of slackers, we are. We like to say we go with the flow though. We did "plan" to go to the Grand Canyon Skywalk on the West Rim today. What we did not do was find out if it was worth its hype and more importantly how to get there. We started driving fresh and early and thought and thought about a good way to do the skywalk and still have plenty of time left in Vegas. We finally decided the Skywalk was not worth it ($120 saved right there!) and drove straight to Vegas through Hoover dam.

When we were planning our stay in Vegas, I insisted on Hard Rock Hotel - firstly because I'm a fan of the all-rock decor, secondly because I missed staying in Hard Rock in Bali, thirdly because I make it a point to visit Hard Rock Cafe in every city I go to, if there is one (cheap thrill!). Arun really had no say. But even he agrees now, it was a great choice. We loved the feel of the hotel and the service.

The best part of our night in Vegas was "O", the Cirque du Soleil show at Bellagio. The show was true to its promise "Where all the world is water and the stage is all the world." The show had such high artistic class and our respective interests in photography and theater made us notice very different things. Arun could not help being impressed by the lighting effects, the timing and other photographic aspects of the show. My attention naturally gravitated to the script, the abstract depiction, the props and other theatrical elements.

The artists wove magic as they swam and pranced and flaunted their acrobatics atop a stage that was water one moment and unexpectedly turned into a dark jungle the next. The production screamed of creativity, discipline, passion and perfection achievable only through meticulous practice. Even the way the artists themselves cleared the stage between acts was replete with artistic thought. The curtain wildly flew up (literally) once at the beginning and softly floated down once at the end. This is the only time we've seen people sink and disappear underwater after clearing the stage. The orchestra and singers were par excellence, the crests and troughs in the score perfectly accentuated what met the eye, holding the audience in rapt attention. The show, a last minute impulse decision, turned out to be one of our best splurges ever.

I will not go into the details of walking around the strip into the wee hours. I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

Cross Country - Down the Valley, Atop the Canyon

2009-03-14T05:18:00.016-04:00

Day 5 - 10 March

The fifth day of our road trip has come and gone. We first drove from Farmington, New Mexico to Monument Valley. It was single jacket weather, just slightly chilly. It was amazing to see the terrain change from the snow covered ranges to large rough rocks. The road carved through the rock was like a roller coaster track, its steep inclines and sudden downslopes visible for miles. The shiny mirages were a welcome distraction on the otherwise soporific stretches of tarmac.

As we drove into Monument Valley, an attendant cheerfully informed us that the Valley Drive was a 2 hour loop on a mud road. It was one fun drive at inclines above 10% with stones rolling under the tires, not aided by the massive monument structures on either side urging us to hit the brakes in awe every hundred yards. The "monuments" are natural sandstone formations stretching hundreds of feet into the sky. Drenched in the midday sun, they glistened a beautiful red and gold. I would describe them as nature's challenge to the sculptors of the world.

The monuments, though already named as a Butte or a Mesa, are open to interpretation. Arun and I thought the Camel really looked more like a Tortoise with an unsually large shell. And the thumb could well pass for more obscene things. To each his own imagination!
Three hours and a gazillion pictures later we drove to the loop's exit to be firmly stopped by a large white dog. He demanded attention. And food, of course. Arun, as we all know, really likes animals. But only on TV screens and inside cages in zoos. So I clambered over him, to the driver's window and fed the dog almost an entire pack of Chips Ahoy! He was pretty good at catching the cookies in mid-air. The change of company was refreshing after four days of uninterrupted Arun.

We then drove to Grand Canyon. We first peered into its mysterious yawning depths from the Desert Viewpoint. We wanted to get to Hopi point on the other end of the South Rim which apparently was the best place to view the setting sun. We drove and we drove. At the severely reduced speed limit of 25-45mph, I'd rather say we walked and we crawled at snail's pace. The lenient speed limits, or the lack thereof, of the Midwest have thoroughly spoilt us. We finally reached a point from which we could take a shuttle to another point from which we could take another shuttle to Hopi Point. Utterly convoluted, yeah. The kind bus driver informed us that he could not take us to the second shuttle in time and suggested that we drive the first leg. We had 8 minutes to spare. Camera and tripod in hand, Arun and I made like felines and sprinted to the car and made good time to catch the last shuttle. After what seemed like an excruciatingly long time in the bus we made it to Hopi Point 3 minutes before sunset. We rapidly clicked away as the sun sank in a hurry.

We then turned around to catch the beautiful surprise awaiting us. A breathtaking full moon had risen and was waiting for its due wonderment from awestruck onlookers. Today the moon really stole the skies from the sun. We stood there watching the rabbit (according to me) and mother and child (according to Arun)- chimerical shadows of the moon's craters. For once we didn't argue. Atop the overwhelming canyon, red remnants of once sunlit skies, gorgeous white moon- a splendid end to another memorable day.

Cross Country - Zipping through the Midwest

2009-03-11T02:37:00.021-04:00

Day 4 - 09 March

Needless to say, Central America has comparitively drier terrain than either of the coasts. Hence we decided to spend the fourth day of our road-trip predominantly hotfooting past the Midwest and Central America. To meet our target of 600 miles for the day, we were thinking of setting off at around 9am. But we started driving around noon. Blame it on our "mutual trust" on each other to set the alarm.

We started driving through Kansas, mostly through miles of barren-land, dry enough to give one hallucinations while driving (hallucinations just like those one gets minutes before falling asleep). Yet, thanks to the nonstop chatting (No No I'm not calling Kavitha a chatterbox), even driving through Kansas was pretty exciting! What we did not know back then was that we were in for a much "cooler" experience once we reached Colorado.

The first sight of the snow-clad Mountain ranges around Colorado Springs was definitely a pretty sight.

About an hour later, we were driving through the same Mountains, which made us gape in wonder earlier. The drive through the mountains was an experience in itself. Kavitha did an amazing job driving, as the winding roads snaked through the mountain ranges. For about an hour, views around were increasingly magnificient, with the Colorado river flowing alongside the road and the cliffs shading us from the sun. I have to be honest - I was tempted to stop the car at every corner and take photographs.

Then came the best part. As Kavitha was driving through the mountain ranges and climbing the high mountains, what started as a mild snowfall quickly graduated into a blizzard of sorts. I took the wheel. We had to switch seats without getting off the car to avoid getting completely drenched. I drove for the next hour - carefully following a Honda Civic that consistently maintained a speed of 10-15 mph.

The roads were hazardously slippery and the visibility was less than 10 meters. It was quite an experience to drive through the mountains. I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge.

After getting back to ground level, we stopped for a sumptuous Chinese dinner. We are now about to hit the sack for a well deserved slumber. All in preparation for Monument Valley and Grand Canyon tomorrow!

Cross Country - St. Louis, A Surprise Package!

2009-03-09T14:19:00.017-04:00

Day 3 - 08 March

Thanks to a good 3 hour delay in Day 2's schedule and the want of proper sleep for the past 2 days (as in proper sleep, for a lazy ass who otherwise maintains a consistent 7 hours of sleep everyday!), we started Day 3 with a delay of 2 hours. The plan for the day was to play tourist at St. Louis and then drive about 600 miles to reach Kansas. As we were loading the car to leave, the rain Gods greeted us with a magnaminous downpour, wishing us good morning in their own style. Delayed start and then heavy rain - not a great way to start the day. Or so it seemed.

In a few minutes, as we approached downtown St. Louis, the clouds cleared and the blue sky smiled happily. So did we. The day turned out to be marvelous, the temperature touched low 70s, the wind was soothingly chilly and the sun shone brightly throughout. And yeah, some good pictures!

St. Louis is one of the very few cities in this country out of which I had the least expectations but it ended up pleasantly surprising me. The city was neat, nice & modern. Gateway Arch is certainly an architectural marvel and thanks to my new wide angle lens, I got some fulfilling pictures.

An hour of walking around near the waterfront and a great many pictures later, we treated ourselves to sumptuous pasta at Cecole's. The garlic bread definitely deserves a special mention- it was arguably the best I have ever had in my life!

Though our next mission of visiting the Basilica ended up without excitement (the Sunday service was in session and they do not allow tourists to take pictures at that time) the drive to get there and back was certainly not. Kavitha was driving that stretch. GPS once suggested, then screamed succesively to join a freeway, but there was no road to be found. Apparently, there was road construction work on Interstate 64 and so we could not find a way to enter the freeway nor to head West. Later, with the efficient help of Jesus, we found some local roads, alternate routes and lots of action before reaching I70 West heading towards Kansas city.

Before getting back on track, yours truly was sitting tight and maintained his cool, as our able driver skipped a STOP sign, got a little tensed, then jumped a red light, got more tensed and missed yielding to flowing traffic, got dangerously terrorized and almost hit the curb on the ramp. All these in about 5 minutes! I felt like a kid taking a roller-coaster ride for the first time with no warning beforehand. What the kid did not know is that the ride was going to be exciting, yet safe. As much as I'm attempting to ridicule Kavitha, I gotta give it to her, as she has driven an even 50% of the distance so far. Considering this is the second week she is driving in this country, that is quite a feat!

Now, as I type this, she is making 80 mph on I-70 passing vehicles with effortless ease and shifting lanes like a pro. Practice doth maketh a man perfect. Er... and woman too I guess.

Above: Kansas City skyline taken from the highway

PS: When Arun gets to ridicule my driving, it is only fair that I attack his writing. I obviously edited this post for class. And at this very moment am listening to profanity from him for doing so... Cringe! Cringe! - Kavitha

PPS: We thought we had forgottten nothing with our meticulous list making. We made up for it by forgetting our laptop charger at the hotel in St. Louis. So we had to buy a new charger from a Radio Shack at Colby and we're posting this from a Rest Area on I 70 which loudly announced it's wi-fi connection.

Cross Country - 1000 miles and racing ahead

2009-03-08T03:55:00.019-04:00

Day 2 - 07 March

Part I

Hola from Interstate 70! In way of interesting trivia (directly pulled from wikipedia), this highway is the oldest highway project in the US. It also boasts of being home to Eisenhower Tunnel which, at over 11000 ft, is the highest point on the US interstate network. However, we are giving the tunnel a pass on this trip. Maybe next time...

This morning we paid our dues to Lord Venkateshwara at the S.V Temple at Pittsburgh. I usually make my annual visit to the temple on my birthday every year to make my mother happy. This trip had a whole other ulterior motive- "Please get me a job. Oh Pretty please...". What else do you expect from a yet to be employed, potentially unemployable MBA student? Au contraire, Arun beats me hands down in the piousness realm. He's actually been to this temple 5 times already and has been to 5 other temples in the US. Even I didn't know of this devout little soul hiding in him. We felt like we were back home in Chennai, with all the colorful Indian clothes and the air full of Tamil and Telegu words.

Pittsburgh SV Temple

Part II

Hi again from Interstate 70! We took a detour to Purdue University to meet a friend of mine from undergrad. We got an express tour of Purdue. We saw a cursed tower under which students refuse to walk before exams. We saw the Purdue lions which spout out water that students anoint themselves with before exams. Talk about superstition!

Old university buildings have so much character indeed. It looked like it was going to rain, so Arun rather uncharacteristically didn't bother with his camera. After a delicious Mexican dinner at Don Pablo's we hit the road again and are on our way to St. Louis where we will halt tonight and walk around tomorrow. It's supposed to rain in the morning. We are hoping we can still go ahead with our plans.

The 3 hour drive so far has been really interesting and rather challenging. For about an hour after we left Purdue it rained cats and dogs. We had to take a two-way state highway with visibility of about 10 meters. I drove in the rain for half hour before the rain Gods came down on me with renewed vengeance. So I handed the wheel over to Superman here. But I must admit the adrenalin rush was kind of fun...

And the best part! As we write this, the trip meter clocked the 1000th mile. We're about 25% of the way there. Yippie!!!

Cross Country - And thus it begins...

2009-03-07T01:35:00.007-05:00

Day 1 - 06 March

Much to our disbelief,our road trip really is happening. Drumrolls, hoots and cheers!

We're writing this from the road about two hours away from Pittsburgh- our stop for tonight. We've rented a red SUV- a Toyota Rav 4. Given the 4000 miles we will be clocking over the next week, I guess it is a good thing to have a car that promises us good mileage. And of course, we were two hours behind schedule even before we started. Thanks to work, good deeds such as picking up a friend's stuff to transport to California (we are hoping all the good karma will tide us through the recession) and horrendous Philadelphia traffic.

Toyota Rav4

The past two days were full of envious curiousity from people who have always wanted to do a road trip, lots of good wishes from our friends and colleagues, words of kind advice, suggestions and caution from practically everyone we know.

It's been a long week for both of us with exams and work related crises and what not. But what the heck! The week is over, it's Friday and our road trip will not remain just one of our grand plans. That's all that matters in the end.

Our pulse races in excitement as the car cruises and careens on the road. We will rule the freeways!

Babies' Day Out!

2009-03-04T18:28:00.000-05:00

The past weekend took us to the Philadelphia Zoo. Yeah I said it right, two 26 year olds spent a day at the zoo where the only other lone adults were the elephants and the giraffes. And we got rather annoyed at the kids who kept running in front of the camera and scared away the animals that were otherwise posing for us.

The elusive rain refused to pour down and the maginficient peacocks refused to dance. We chased hyperactive monkeys for about a half hour trying to get one good shot, but all in vain. But the chance sight of two of them innocently hugging each other made it all worth the while. Of course we could not catch it on camera. Certian beauties of life cannot be framed indeed. But we did catch two tigers getting mushy.

There was one lioness that put on quite a show. A photographer had managed to lure her to the glass and made her go crazy with his antics. The way she was pawing and scratching at the glass, I'm sure all she wanted to do was break the glass and pounce right at him. Nevertheless, the crowd refused to leave and the lion reveled in all the attention.

The polar bear was the cherry on the cake. I like to think it was a "he" like all the teddy bears I owned. He had a toy, a large purple ball. He gambolled around with it ceaselessly. We watched him from above the water and underwater. His excitement was contagious. I so badly wanted to take the adorable darling home with me.

Here are some of Arun's other favorites...

PS: Watch out for our posts on our cross-country trip. Oh yeah! We really are leaving this Friday...!!!!

A weekend of random driving around

2009-02-24T14:05:00.001-05:00

People think I'm too ambitious and I have no real reason to deny it. But aspiring to do a road trip across the US when I've never driven before in this country (or anywhere else, at least not significantly) is hard core validation of high ambition, if not craziness. But what the hell! Of course, I'm crazy. So is Arun, for he actually trusted me with his car!

I have my road test coming up this week. So all of last weekend and yesterday, I spent most of my free time, or rather procrastinated studying for my midterms, behind the wheel under Arun's able (muttering under my breath: sometimes annoying) guidance. It was like learning how to dance. I had to learn hand-eye-foot-brain coordination. And also racing heart-clammy toes-sweating palms-grated teeth coordination among other things... Just exaggerating! I think I did fine. After all, doing 75mph can be pretty daunting when all you know is a past life where you had to show your deep reverence by driving slower than cud-chewing cows on the road. Jokes apart, Arun is a great teacher. He is unfazed no matter what I do or how dangerously close I am to the gigantic trucks cruising along the highway.

Our aimless wandering took us to Ricketts Glen State Park. The drive was fun and full of winding roads. But we picked the worst time of the year to go to a place where the main attractions are waterfalls. We made things even worse by reaching there in the evening when every trail was closed, some for the day, some for all of winter. Not for us those beautiful shimmering cascades, not for us the tingle of warm water flowing over dangling feet. It's almost as if we revel in the snow covered emptiness with no sight of human beings for miles. But at Ricketts Glen there were a few other brave souls outside wooden cottages lighting barbecue fires, warming up for what promised to be a freezing night.

There's something between us and sunsets. Just like in Valley Forge,we drove up to a clearing just in time to catch the setting sun. Arun got a few good shots. In reality the sun looked rather trembly, as if it was drunk and swaying. The picture looks like the sun underwater. Or like color slowly dispersing in a watercolor painting...

The clearing was actually a frozen lake under half a foot of snow. The undisturbed fresh powdery snow was a wonderful sight. It was fun to throw some of it at a protesting Arun. But once he scraped the snow to show me the ice beneath, I kept imagining scenarios where the ice gave way and I drowned. What a pity it would be to die such a premature death, that too by drowning (Ah! Chilling!), and when I'm so close to having my dream life after school...

It's great that we've stopped lazing weekends away. Maybe it has finally dawned on me that I simply have to move my ass if I have to see places here before I move halfway across the world.

Now that the cat is out of the bag... Ahem...

2009-02-20T15:05:00.000-05:00

Arun has been dying to write about our impending cross country trip for the past month. I've been stopping him from doing so because there were just too many obstacles that could potentially prevent us from making it happen. And then all you lovely readers would laugh at us.

The biggest problem was that I did not (and still don't) have a US driving license. We had a pretty bizarre top-down approach to this problem. Here's a peek into some of our conversations and obsessions about it.

Kavitha/Arun (we're still not sure who): Let's do a cross country trip.
Kavitha/Arun: Awesome! Let's do it.
Kavitha: Oh but I don't have a license in the US. (Nice discovery there, seriously)
Arun: But you do have an Indian driving license, don't you?
Kavitha: Oh yeah yeah, but no international permit (just a teeny weeny lame ass problem)
Arun: That sucks... Hmm... No problem, we still have more than a month, so let's just get you a US license.
Kavitha: Good plan!

I forage the internet for information and find that I need a year's validity on my immigration papers to be eligible for a license in Pennsylvania and in most other states. But I graduate in 3 months (Don't get me started on how much that sucks...). After a few sleepless nights and hours of obsessing, I discovered that my valid immigration status automatically gets extended if I apply for a permit to work in the US for a year after I graduate.

Arun: That's easy! Do it immediately...

Not so easy, as I discovered. I could not apply for it until I had not more than 3 months until graduation. And it was only January. Bummer. Bummer. Bummer. More sleepless nights. Then my luck turned around, deservedly so. It turned out that the 3 month rule was not really a 3 month rule ( I will spare you the minutiae of it). I could get my new papers from the school much earlier than I can actually start working. So I did that! Talk about paper work and rules and red tape... Anyway I got all the papers and stamps and approvals and letters and other paraphernalia prepared and finally got my learner's permit a couple of days ago.

Now the only thing left is the driving test. I hear I have to parallel park!!! So I could still technically fail the test. But then I do trust Arun to get my driving skills, including parallel parking, all sharpened up by next week. Don't I love tossing the ball into his court like that?!

So here's to a trip that we really hope we can pull off. Wish me luck... And will you remind me to drive on the right hand side please?

Cross Country : A road trip across America!

2009-02-20T13:21:00.001-05:00

A great philosopher once said "one's purpose of performing an activity in life is achieved to the full extent, only when one advertises it." I live by it and hence this blog.

Anyways, here's the reason for this post: After much deliberation and discussion, Kavitha and I have finally decided to do our long-awaited cross country road trip across USA. It wasn't an easy decision for two people with totally incompatible schedules.

Thankfully, Kavitha has her spring break in March and I am utilizing my yearly vacation, much earlier this year. Luckily, things actually seem to be slowly falling in place.

The plan is to start from Philadelphia and drive all the way through West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and California to reach San Francisco. We would be doing this drive in about 9 days, stopping and visiting places as we go.

We have set up the whole itinerary in such a way that our daily driving limit is about 10 hours. We have a one-way SUV rental from Hertz and we will fly to Philadelphia on the way back.

We have also decided to blog our experiences on this blog daily over the 10 days of our trip. Do follow us and be a part of our experience!

The more we plan the road trip, the more we read about other people's cross country experiences and the more we learn about each state, the more our enthusiasm rises on a crescendo.

And here is a map of our planned driving route:

Other trivia: I have downloaded Microsoft Streets and Trips, which I think, is one of the coolest software Microsoft has ever developed or probably ever will. Since we are planning to carry one of our laptops, the desktop version of the software should come in handy, as I trust neither AT&T nor my Jesus with the cellular internet in remote parts. We have my Kaiser with TomTom installed for GPS and directions.

Have you ever been in a situation where you can't wait even a minute longer to do something? I'm that excited right now!

P.S: By the way, that great philosopher at the beginning of this post is me...

Montauk and the Sunrise!

2009-02-17T19:04:00.000-05:00

The past weekend, being a long one, saw me do some unrealistic amount of driving, sleeping, eating and more sleeping. I had a blast on Saturday evening, attending Follies at Wharton, thanks to Kavitha. The show was nothing short of awesome and it was almost as good as Broadway. Like most other occasions, I was absolutely amazed by the creativity and the talent students in this country possess.

The show ended at 9pm. After grabbing a sandwich, I drove to New York City amidst mild snow to meet Amar, one of my other friends/travel-buddies/photo enthusiasts. After a short break for coffee, we started driving towards Montauk, the eastern most tip of New York state. It was about a 4 hour drive and one of the food stops we made became kind of interesting. It was about 3am and after exiting the freeway, we hesitantly slowed down at a couple of gas stations, to see if we could get something to munch, but we did not stop. Noticing all of this, a cop started following us out of suspicion and in a while, flashed his lights and pulled us over.

After initial pleasantries, he asked us if everything was ok. We told them we were looking for a 24-hour shop for a snack. Without answering, he asked where are we from. When I said Philadelphia, he lifted his eye brows and asked "What brings you here all the way from Philadelphia sir, that too at this time?". When I explained about our interest in photography and our plans to catch sunrise shots at Montauk, he must have decided we are crazy, not some gas-station thieves. He got my driver's license, ran some record checks and then let us go after giving us direction to a 24-hour 7-eleven in the neighborhood.

We then reached Montauk at about 5am and since the expected sunrise time was about 6.45am, we waited inside the cozy confines of my car. The temperature was about 25 deg F. At about 6am, the sky color at the horizon slowly changed to mild orange and we left the car and walked up to the shore. The next one hour was surreal. There was absolutely nothing that hindered our view of the horizon, as the sky became brighter and as the sun slowly rose. Every second was ethereal and made me realize the power of the sun like never before. But for the cold and the wind, it was undoubtedly a magical morning.

Here are some of the photos:

We then drove back and reached Philadelphia at about 4pm. I hardly knew what happened in the next 16 hours, as I went into an unstoppable sleep-streak from 5pm to 9am the following day. About 16 straight hours of heavenly sleep!

A weekend definitely well spent and I cherish every moment of it. Life is beautiful indeed!

Valley Forge National Park and other miscellany

2009-02-08T21:26:00.000-05:00

Yesterday Arun and I spent an unusually long time deliberating what to do. Then again, it wasn't really unusual because we hardly ever do anything before noon on weekends. Maybe we had too many options yesterday- back-to-back movies, Valley Forge National Park, Strawberry Mansion Bridge, Ricketts Glen State Park, shopping, lazing around, watching TV at our respective homes etc. We finally went to Valley Forge National Park, watched He's Just Not That Into You and Taken back-to-back and went shopping for a gorgeous black formal dress! I get to go on stage wearing it to introduce The Wharton Follies, the B-school's annual musical for which I am a Producer! I will let Arun write his customary one line reviews about the movies on his blog. In all, it was a Saturday(or half a Saturday technically) well-utilized.

I would describe Valley Forge as a beautiful silhouette. A silhouette it will be, if you go there at 5pm on a winter day when all the historical buildings in the park are closed and you are left to chase a rapidly setting sun and take pictures of lonesome dry trees. However, it was a beautiful day, much warmer than the past week. And the snow, yet to melt, covered the place in glittering white sheets.

The sun setting behind the National Memorial Arch. Picture: Arun (obviously...)

Lonesome tree. Picture: Arun of course

Sunset... Picture: Arun again!

The place is great to get uninterrupted views of sunset. There are vast expanses of plain land set against clear blue skies painted in shades of orange, red and pink for an hour or so before the sun goes down. Unfortunately, there are not many elevated points and the sun disappeared a little too fast for Arun to get as many good pictures as he would have liked. There was a resplendent full moon which kept weaving in and out of soft moving clouds. The light was not good enough for us to get a good picture with all the colors visible. But even Arun admitted that no picture could really capture the beauty in its entirety. It was a package deal- the moon, shining snow, twilight blue, Spring approaching!

In other attractions, we did catch sight of many white-tailed deer. Every time we stopped the car to get a close shot, the deer would nimbly prance away at the sound of the window being lowered. So we got many pictures of vacant grass (with a smiling deer that just dashed past) instead. Arun spotted a red fox too when I was busy examining a map.

We might go to Valley Forge once more to check out a couple of the hiking trails and to do some biking. Of course we've promised ourselves that we will get there earlier in the day when there is enough light to get good pictures. A second trip should be completely worth it, for I suspect that the place will be unrecognizable in Spring when the trees are in bloom again!

Arun and Me- A Brief History

2009-02-02T18:12:00.000-05:00

Arun and I met in cyberspace, modern pen pals if you will. Then we became friends. And then we became best friends. We sure do intend to remain so for a long long time.

We share a hometown, a mother tongue and a remarkably similar childhood. But we met when we were both 25 and what really struck us instantly was our mutual love for travel. It is no surprise that the first time we met we drove to New York to move me and my carload of stuff to the city for the summer of 2008. We spent our very first day together walking around NYC until 3am.

We both love movies. We typically watch at least two movies every week. Believe me, we've watched some really bad ones. We were even crazy enough to wait in a line that ran around an entire block in Times Square to watch Dark Knight in the dead of the night on opening day.

We both have an alarming disregard for money. We once drove to Pennsylvania Dutch Country, but a tad too late to catch sight of the Amish folk who disappear into their homes at sun-down. We instead spent an unspeakable amount of money impulse-shopping at the local mall.

Other perpetuators of our wanderlust and our friendship are the photographer in Arun and the writer in me. And I daresay we are converting each other. Yesterday, thanks to my new found obsession with figuring out photography, we spent three hours clicking pictures in merely two galleries in the massive Museum of Natural History in NYC. Thanks to Arun's predicament of having to avert my obstinate disapproval, these days he diligently checks his blogs, emails and even his text messages for spelling and grammar.

We have our differences too. I use my phone strictly to make and receive calls and the occasional photograph. He calls his iPhone "Jesus" and suffers from withdrawal in its absence. We have a permanently active argument about the relative merits of comfort and efficiency. He ridicules my "MBA-ness" for my quest for efficiency. I blame his laziness for his craving for comfort. He lectures me on cars and gadgets. I bore him with book-talk and drag him through finance geekdom.

The proximity to each other we enjoy today is short lived. We have about six more months together in the US. But we have what we believe is a lifetime of travel, decades of great photography and an endless list of places and things to write about. Thus this blog! A memoir of our travels (together and not). A record of our crazy plans, many will be jinxed never to happen, we hope that at least some will come true. So join us as we go footloose on the freeways of the world!