Sep 24 - 07 After visiting the colorful desert dunes and mountains of Death Valley, I headed towards Yosemite national park. Passed the towns of Lone Pine, Big Pine, Bishop, Independence. Drive on Route 395 is beautiful. On one side you have desert mountain range and on the other the Eastern Sierras. Mount Whitney, tallest peak in the lower 48 lies on this range. It was cool and cloudy that day. The peaks of Sierra range were covered with some snow which made the scenery more majestic. The photographs however didnt turn out good. Something to do with today's digital cameras when shooting in low sunlight in cloudy conditions. Night photos are even worse. I stayed overnight in Mammoth Lakes. Visited the June Lake area and saw the Tufa structures in the Mono Lake. This area ... read more

I headed from San Diego to Death Valley on the 2nd leg of my California trip. Drove on 15N for some hrs and then took an exit for route 127. The road was all wet and I came to know that it had been raining hard that day in the desert. Route 127 was flooded in many places and driving was a little dangerous. The white Mustang Convertible that I was driving got splashed with muddy water all over. Encountered very little traffic on this road. I finally made it to the Death Valley Junction on the east side of the Death Valley park. Stayed at an old opera house which has a hotel also. At rate of $50 a night it was cheap but everything was ancient about this place. It is in the middle ... read more

I did a solo trip to 4 Hawaiian Islands around end of May 2007. I spend 3 days each in the Big Island, Maui, Kauai and last day in Oahu. It was a great experience even though I was traveling alone. It is a long flight from east coast to Honolulu. 10 hrs at least. The landing at Honolulu gave a glimpse of what I was about to see for the next 10 days. Blue, turquoise water. Something you don’t see in Virginia Beach or Chesapeake Bay or those NJ beaches. THE BIG ISLAND After spending the first night at Honolulu, I took off next morning to Kona at the Big Island. The landing at Kona reveals to you the volcanic nature of the island. I saw the air strip surrounded by mud colored rocks with ... read more