The story before the trip: Weighing out our options on winter travel, we picked out Channel Islands as a top possibility. Now, if you were following our blog for a while, you will be smart enough not to believe what I just wrote. The truth remains that we have visited every place we know & Channel Islands seemed a better option than yet another drive down to LA. Channel islands on wiki Close to the California mainland, yet worlds apart, Channel Islands National Park encompasses five remarkable islands (Anacapa, Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, San Miguel, and Santa Barbara) and their ocean [View Full Entry]

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When: 17th & 18th October 2009 Where: Plumas County, Northern Sierras Highlight: Awesome Autumn Mileage: 660 mi Unfortunately fall is not celebrated in CA as much as in New England. California has a canopy of Evergreen trees. However there seem to be pockets of places where fall actually happens. So, we have to make do with whatever we can see. Eastern Sierra is a popular spot(a 7 hr drive from home). It is with some research I actually discovered this place in the Northern Sierra(Sierra Nevada mountains). It is not very far from home, but this place does not advertise itself [View Full Entry]

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When: 26th September Where: Treasure Island, San Francisco What: San Francisco International Dragon boat Festival For once, everything fell into place & we left home at leisure by 6.30am to reach Treasure Island by 8.00am. Here's a little something on Treasure Island. We had enough time to even stop for breakfast at Noah's. That's definitely something Finding a parking spot in Treasure Island(though there were free shuttles from Powell & China town) was extremely important for us as we were carrying food for little S. We also wanted to watch a little bit of the race without that much crowd as [View Full Entry]

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When: Labor day weekend :: 5th Sep - 7th Sep Where: The lakes at Mammoth :: Devils postpile in the Eastern Sierras :: Ancient bristle cone forest in the White mountains Dreaming of visiting the place we'd always wanted to visit, we set out early saturday morning. The place is a good 7 hr drive from where we call home. Our so-far-trust-worthy cell phone alarm failed & we woke up 1 hr late to leave 1.5 hrs later. So much for a good & early start Nevertheless, we were not to be disheartened. Half way along, I remember reading a sign, [View Full Entry]

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5th July Mission: Stanley Park. This was our only non-rainy day! We had planned to rent bikes to go around the Seawall. Again, the Visitor center was not loaded with information. But we picked up a couple of maps. We wanted to go to Spokes, but found this place Stanley park Bike rentals(Georgia & Denman)just opposite to it offering competitive rates. They offer free parking, but we had already parked our car in Stanley Park. Ganesh rode a mountain bike, but I preferred a Schwinn ladies bicycle. Oh! how comfortable she was! Our first stop was the train ride for the [View Full Entry]

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When: 2nd July - 8th July 2009 Where: Whistler & Vancouver I would gladly add this trip into the "unplanned & chaotic" trip category. Initially a road trip(from CA to Vancouver & back) turned into a fly-road trip at the last minute. And I am so glad it did. Early morning flights are crazy, specially when you have to wake up at 2.30 am. Tagging a baby along, home food was a must. So were the baggages. But I would say, we were a little smarter this time than most others, courtesy- Air Travel! 2nd July Little S is awake at [View Full Entry]

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When:13-14th June 2009 What: Two hikes from THE book Where: Northern Sierras Initially, I thought that once we complete all 'possible' hikes from the bible, I will be done. But no! The better half brought a couple of other books from the library. So, I am in it for the rest of my life. And I am glad it is so. We had been contemplating the possibility of visiting this area for a while now. Reason: the famous Feather falls. When you follow a waterfall guide, you want to cover as many waterfalls as you can. The city of Chico, not [View Full Entry]

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When: Memorial Weekend, 23rd - 25th May 2009 Where: experience a tinge of the drive, the waterfalls & the hiker's paradise in Shasta country The Shasta area is abundant in everything; Rivers, waterfalls, thousand miles of trails, snow, mountains, scenic drives, boating, caverns...you can go on & on. But the highlight is the one and only Mt.Shasta. Everytime I look at it, it is like I have never seen it before. It is so fresh, massive, beautiful & inspiring, all at the same time. This trip got us closer, a better place to view this mighty mountain. More about this mountain [View Full Entry]

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We had heard a lot about these falls. So much that it would be a shame to have missed it this year. Ganesh had to tick it off his list & I badly wanted him to do so(else, he is behind my back until he gets it done). We hoped to wake up real early as it was a some distance from home. But personal work kept us from sleeping early the previous night. Result: We woke up late. Apparently, Ganesh had done his homework & when I asked him, "Where are we going?" he replied, "Cataract Falls". I was like, [View Full Entry]

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The imminent rains have actually postponed this trip week by week. The blossoms have been dodging visitors like us for quite sometime now. Though the website informed that the blossoms are in full bloom last week of February, it rained last week. So, Saturday probably was the first 'sunny' day. The part where it became 'really' sunny is a different issue altogether though. We had briefly passed via Fresno on our way to Sequoia National Park some 3+ years ago on our maiden camping trip. So, I had practically forgotten the proximity of Fresno to The High Sierras. It was simply [View Full Entry]

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