An airplane away to autumn..

Have been meaning to write about this trip of ours for days now. I mean it is more than 2 months already! But as you do see, I had other things on my mind, mainly the BTFYA series (the incidents I had to write about all happened during this time, so well, you have nothing to complain about as you were getting more than enough posts from me :-D). But I haven't been able to get to the trip post at all and I am glad to get to this, believe me. Now this post is going to be a treat because for the first time on my blog, I'm putting up videos of my own :).

You know that fall is my favourite season and we usually have had trips just to see the colours. We always have wanted to head to the North-east US since the time we heard that fall colours are really impressive there. Finally the time for that arrived this year :). We actually planned the trip towards the end of October where we were getting a great deal on flight tickets and we would be able to stay there for 4 days. But later we found out that fall colours would peak somewhere in the second week of October there, so well, our "plan" didn't make any sense. So we actually booked tickets for 2nd weekend of October. Sadly this meant that our flights were timed in a way that technically we were able to be there only for 2 days. Plus we weren't getting a direct flight from Cincinnati (as per our earlier "plan"), but a 1-stop flight, that too from Dayton :(. But we had no choice :(.

And so on 10th October 2009, we left Lexington around 9:30 AM and drove north to Dayton. We had to catch a flight to Detroit at about 12:30 PM and from there to Boston, Massachusetts. I had packed Snugli's lunch and we picked up something for us to eat on the way. Again, I was worried about how Snugli would handle the flight, but she mostly slept through one and was pretty okay on the other, so it wasn't as big a deal as I thought it'd be. The cold hit us as soon as we landed in Boston and due to day-light savings end, the sun sets much sooner, so it was already dark when we landed there at about 6PM. We planned to drive to Manchester, North Hampshire which was about an hour away and planned to settle there for the night.

One thing we thought of half-outsourcing this time was Snugli's food. We did book hotel rooms with microwaves just like the Seattle trip, but this time we wanted to introduce her to outside food, if not the bland American food, atleast that available in Indian restaurants. So we planned it to be microwaved rice (curd rice with boiled veggies that I had packed and carried from home) in the noons and outside food in the nights. Since she is okay with a cheerios (a type of cereal) and bread, breakfast was fine and we bought fruits and biscuits for snack time :).So on the way to Manchester, we stopped at an Indian restaurant and fed ourselves and her some rotis and curd rice. The rice is a bit harder in the restaurants (not as soft as she is used to), but if requested, they heat it up and it may come to some type of mashable form :).

Next morning we set off on our Fall colour viewing drive to the White Mountains in the northern regions of North Hampshire. The drive was beautiful, as you can see ;-) (mute the player before you start off, since Sri is shouting something to Snugli :-D).

Our first stop was the Cannon mountain aerial tramway, just because we thought that the view from up should be pretty good :).




Here's the actual tramway:




When we arrived at the top, we found out that it was freezing! it was 2 degrees below 0 degree Celsius. Thankfully, Snugli was covered from head to foot, but we couldn't say the same for ourselves :-p.





We thought we should be able to trek for 1/2 a mile to an observation tower and back, but on the way Snugli got very quiet (probably because she was getting cold) and so Sri went back to the warm restaurant (the entry point for the tramway at the top), while I made a solo trek to the tower.




The view was pretty good all around, but sadly I can't say the same about the colours. The hike was pretty exerting and once I was back at the restaurant, we agreed that the colours weren't really as good as we expected them to be (atleast from here). Well, we were at the top, so we had to take the photos right? ;-).




After getting down the tramway, our plan was to drive on a scenic highway to see the colours all around the place. The drive was wonderful..




Its not that the colours were any different from the Smoky mountain ones, but these were more extensive. There were more stretches of colours together. So it was enjoyable. We made a couple of stops, but couldn't really stop at many others we wanted to, since the scenic highway became a two-lane road after a certain point and hence traffic literally stopped at a couple of places.







So we actually lost out on a rail ride on the mountains and a couple of waterfalls that I wanted to see. Oh well, that was it for the day.

Next morning, our plan was to drive through Boston and head to a bay south of Boston to do a whale-watching cruise. We had thought that if possible, we'll catch a quick break at the downtown Boston too. But on the way there, we found another place which was just half an hour away - Glouchester, Massachusetts hosting one of these type of cruises. So we headed there instead. The small town had a lovely bay..




We, especially Snugli, had a nice time walking around. We did go to a beach, but the water was brrrrrrrrrr-cold, so simply came back :).




I had lots of worries about the cruise as such. First, the water was pretty cold and hence the wind would be very chilly in the middle of the Atlantic ocean :-p. Second we just had our lunch and didn't know how Snugli would react to a boat trip in the swells of the sea right after lunch. There were restrooms on the boat, but it'd be difficult to handle her in there, since there were no changing tables as such. Also once we were on the way, there was no way to get off for 4-odd hours (that was the length of the cruise). But well, no sea sickness happened and we (make that Sri) were able to manage her pretty well.

The whale watching happens in the gulf of Maine which is supposedly a whale conservatory (fishing is controlled and absolutely no whaling is allowed) and there are lots of whales spotted there usually in summer to fall. The guide on the boat was a whale researcher and so were some of the crew members, so there was a loads of information that we got from the guide as such. The whales usually habit the gulf during summertime to feed and later migrate south in winter to breed. Since they don't feed at all in the winter, they literally guLum tons of fish during their stay in the Gulf of Maine.

And the whales, wow! That was hands down one of the best experiences of my life. They were soooo cool, literally and whimsically :). When we got the tickets, they had this statement saying that if there was so whale-sighting then they'd give us replacement tickets for some other time. So Sri kept saying that they'd probably show us one from far and then their obligation would be over ;-). But we encountered a group of 3 whales right away.




This was a group of 3 female whales, one named "Salt" - one of the earliest named whales, another named "Cardhu" and yet another, the guide couldn't recognize. They are named according to markings on their tail fin (and some other markings on their bodies) and each whale's tail fin is unique. They were quite fascinating to watch, blowing water through the blow holes and splashing their tail fins, obviously used to the people watching them. One even put its head out of the water to say Hello, which the guide assured us, was pretty rare :).




The way we kept the whales in sight was also pretty fascinating. The whales would stay around us for quite sometime (8-10 min) then plunge down into the depths of the ocean with spectacular dives. We would be unable to see them for around 5-10 min, but we would be on the lookout for them. Then they'd pop out of the water quite far away from the boat. Then the boat would speed up to catch up with them and slow down and cruise along with them :).




The sheer size of these creatures was mind-boggling. I mean if they chose to do something about the pestering boat around them, it'd be a piece of cake for them ;-). And its worth mentioning how less we know about these creatures. It seems all our studies are based on the time they spend above water (which makes up only about 10% of their lifetime) and no wonder, scientists still don't have concrete evidence of many of the gestures and sounds that the whales make (they do have theories).

After the 3 whales with whom we spent a long time, we got to see around 3 more individual whales, one of whom was named "Bat", again a female whale whose spectacular dive down I was able to capture in my camera :).




Meanwhile, Snugli loved the whales. I was hellbent on taking the photos, while Sri was carrying her around. When we pointed to the whales and asked her what it was she said "Bhale" (she didn't know the "va" sound :-D). Later for a couple of weeks she'd recall that we went on a boat and saw whales :-D. She saw them for quite sometime but later her afternoon nap caught up with her and she fell asleep in Sri's arms. We had good seating arrangements, so we were able to place her comfortably where we sat.

And that was about it. She slept almost until we got back to the shore and we just had a quick dinner at an Indian restaurant and retired for the night. We had an early morning 4AM flight from Boston to Detroit and then caught a late morning one to Dayton and had lunch at Cincinnati. I surprised myself on the 4AM flight, since I slept right through it (I have always watched the flight take-off and land in every flight I had been in until then and this was the first time I didn't :-O). In fact all of us slept right through it :-D.

The 2-day trip just didn't seem enough. I wish we could have been there for a couple more. We didn't get to see Boston at all and I wanted to visit the MIT campus atleast from outside :(. Also later we found out that the colours in Vermont are even better :-\. So maybe there is a next time ;-) :-D. But the best part as I said in my earlier post, was Snugli's potty training. She surprised me by asking to go to the restroom every single time when we were outside. She hardly used 1-2 diapers per day and it was totally thrilling. Well, you know what happened when we got back :-p. But right now she's almost back to that same level - she asks to go a couple of times per day and we take her the other times, so we are down to 1 or 2 diapers per day :).

Thats it about the trip. Before I say Au revoir, let me leave you with one of my standard road humour photos taken inbetween Dayton and Cincinnati..




Everyone needs more roads I say! Even the roads :-D.

KY to WV to VA and back :).

Some people called it Blogger's block. I call it laziness. No matter what name you give it, it means I haven't been updating my blog as frequently as I regularly do. Well, no excuses, after all this blog is mine and this is how I am :-D.

I have a backlog of posts to complete including a tag, but first I have to finish a post on the trip we took for memorial day long weekend. We had been to a couple of places in West Virginia and Virginia states. The total drive was something like 20 hours (don't be horrified, it includes the trip to and fro + roaming around :-D). As usual, here's the sketch of the drive we took :).




26th May 2007:

After humming and hawing on whether to actually take the trip or not, we finally left Lexington at around 11:30 AM on Saturday. Well, we didn't have many places to cover and even if we couldn't go to a place it was our wish and will anyways :-D. Sri drove for 3 hours to reach Beckley in West Virginia where we had decided to halt for the night. On the way, it was a bit cloudy, so it was nice to see light and shadow patterns on the roads :). I really love it when I get to see these :).




After checking in to the hotel, we drove to a place called Bluestone State park which is home to the Bluestone Lake. The road to the place was long and winding (ghat section), but the place was worth it :).




The lake was beautiful, very calm and soothing :). There were lots of people who had brought their own boats and were enjoying rides. We had a nice time walking around and taking photos :).




While leaving we also stopped at the bluestone dam. The bluestone lake is kind of a reservoir and the dam is what makes the lake :).




The opposite side of the road was a huggge wall of red stone..




Then we went back on the topsy-turvy road to the hotel to retire for the day.

27th May 2007:

Sunday very early morning (I got up at 5:30 AM!!), we had breakfast and started driving towards Richmond, Virginia. I drove for the first 2 hours on high mountainous roads. Very scenic roads with lots of greenery :). Later Sri took over and drove for the next 2 hours. Meanwhile we stopped at a scenic view point. Wow, what weather, what scene, what mountains!




We reached Richmond by about 11AM. Our main purpose of visiting this place was the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden. Its been more than 2 years since I saw a botanical garden (Pamplemousses botanical garden in Mauritius :-D) and I haven't seen one in the US at all in all the places we have been to. This one sounded interesting enough to plan a trip around it :-D.

After paying a fee for the entry, we were let in. They had lots of plants and the garden is pretty big. The best is the hugggggge greenhouse in the center (though the Lalbagh, Bangalore one is probably bigger ;-) :-D).




They also had a couple of beautiful modern art fountains which certainly contributed to the beauty of the plants surrounding them :).




Next we headed to the interior of the greenhouse. Inside were a wide variety of plants and flowers..




I don't even know the names to some exotic flowers :).




There were varieties of colourful orchids...




..., Cactus flowers (a more lasting and colourful kind of the Brahma Kamala we have in India)..




..., Gardenias, Lillies and loads of other flowering plants :).

As most gardens usually do, they had an exclusive garden for roses :).




There were pink roses..




..., red, yellow and peach ones (whose photos I'll not be putting up here just to save space and effort :-D).

After enjoying the rose garden, we went for a stroll around the garden. Had a good time walking around the small lake..




We stopped at a couple of other places which had ponds with lillies and lotuses :).




Overall the garden was wonderful. But we finished seeing it in about 2 hours, well maybe we missed a few nooks and corners. Since our plan was to be there for the whole day, we needed to come up with some other place for the noon..

After lunch at an Indian restaurant (food was so-so), we had some rest in our hotel and then left on a 2 hour drive to a place called Virginia Beach. Sri drove, but due to some circular roads which led to some confusion, we ended up driving for an extra hour :(.

We reached our destination, the First Landing State Park, only at about 7 PM in the evening. The park has its name due to the fact that it was the first place where members of the Virginia Company landed. It lies at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay which goes on to join the Atlantic Ocean. Yup, that meant a beach :-D.

We had a gala strolling around, sitting on the sands on the beach. It was a really lovely sight with a sunset, lots of pelicans and the beach all-in-one :).




Moreover there are several bridges across the bay which actually at some mid point become tunnels undersea! I have seen this in New York before, but you can't really make out the "going under the river part" from a train. Here we were traveling in our SUV across one of the bridges, so we were able to see the tunnel going down :).

Anyways we drove back to Richmond and reached our hotel at around 10:30 PM in the night. And so the day ended..

28th May 2007:

Monday morning (again pretty early, got up around 6:30 AM) after breakfast, we started driving back. I took the wheel for the first 2 hours and then Sri drove for another 2 to reach Beckley again. We had lunch of subs and pizza and stopped at a place called Twin Falls State Resort Park.

We walked a bit to see the Marsh Fork falls.




There were no people around at all, so it was very calm, cool with only the forest sounds :). The falls was a bit scanty, so we could actually walk over :).







After this, we walked about a mile to see if we could reach the second falls which is known as the Black Fork Falls. But the trail didn't have any distances marked and we didn't really know how long it was. Since we had another 3 hours drive ahead of us, we decided to skip that and return :).

Again I took over and drove for about 1.5 hours and Sri drove rest of the way :). We reached Lexington at around 7 PM after encountering a long traffic jam :-p. And so another trip came to an end :).

As usual here's your moment of zen:




Hehehehe. Sharkey and Farmers are 2 different places in Kentucky :). I found "Sharkey Farmers" really funny as it could mean farmers who look like sharks or farmers who grow sharks :-D. We also encountered the same Hurricane, WV that we had seen in our North Carolina Trip. There were loads of other weird named places - "Gum Springs" and "Mossy" in West Virginia, "Crows" and "Croaker" in Virginia, but sadly I was driving when I saw these, so no snaps :(. Well, it would have probably made for a new post altogether :-D. Maybe some other time ;-).

Also looks like no McDonald's representative took my suggestion :-p. Alas!! I saw 100s of "McDonald's Next Exit" boards along the way :-p ;-) :-D.

Emerald Coast Parasailing yeah! :-D

Yet another road-trip, yet another travelogue, yet another adventure. I can see my life as a series of travelogues and adventures :-D. Hey I am not complaining, not at all! On the contrary, thats exactly how I want it to be :). Before I get all teary-eyed (:-p), let me start off with a bit of history. We had the Easter long weekend coming up, and didn't really know where to go. You don't get good airline deals over long weekends, so well, that wasn't really an option. Last year we had been to Washington, D.C for the Cherry blossom festival, and Sri suggested going there again, but I wasn't in the mood at all. I wanted to go somewhere south and the lady of the house somehow always manages to get her wish ;-).

And so, after much humming and hawing, Pensacola, Florida turned out to be the place we'd go to. We'd move on from there to Destin, Florida. The weekend would be a bit cold there too, but staring at beaches is wayyyyy better than being cold sitting at home staring at nothing (yeah the cold has returned to Lexington in the form of a cold wave and my plants are withering again :( :-p). Here's the trip sketch :).





5th April 2007:

Since Friday was a holiday, we started off driving at about 6 PM on Thurday evening. I drove the first shift of 2 hours (yeah for me!!) and was really surprised. I mean, I thought it'd be diffcult, but it turns out city driving is more strenuous. In freeway, if traffic is less, all you have to do is switch on the cruise button and only worry about the steering :-D. I put on the new RD burman duets CD that I had burnt and enjoyed driving immensely. Sri took over from me later and though we did stop at an Indian restaurant ("Taste of India") for dinner at Nashville, TN (the spicy dinner took its toll later ;-) :-D), he drove through to our stop for the day at Cullman, AL. Meanwhile, we did gain an hour due to timezone change :).


6th April 2007:

Friday morning, I took the wheel again for a 2.5 hours drive and later Sri took over again. We had lunch on the way and reached Pensacola, FL around after 2PM in the noon. The first order of the day was to visit the National Museum of Naval Aviation there.




Compared to the huggggggggge National Museum of United States Air Force we had visited in Dayton, Ohio, this seemed a bit small. But still it had a pretty good collection.




There was a conference going on in the museum, so it was nice to see the naval officers/sailors stand in attention while the National anthem was sung :). But the best part was that there were some aircrafts with their hoods open, so we could actually see the cockpits of some of the fighter planes and even climb on to one :-D.




The enclosure is pretty small and there are 1000s of gadgets! It was lots of fun :).

After being there for an hour or so, we set off driving to Destin. Destin is hardly an hour away from Pensacola and the Gulf of Mexico is the coastline to both these places. The whole coast is called the Emerald Coast, I am guessing its because of the green colour of the sea :). While driving, first we encountered a beautiful bridge connecting Pensacola to a place called Gulf Breeze :).





The following snap was taken while we were driving over the bridge :).




Later there was another bridge near Destin and here's the view from the bridge:




The Emerald coast has many apartments, mostly owned by (obviously) rich people who also own powerful speedboats. So its a common sight to see speedboats on the sea everywhere :).

After reaching the hotel and resting for a while, we turned back to a place where there were still backwaters from the sea and where a few people were kitesurfing (this term I found after some research on google :-D). The water was freezing (as I mentioned earlier, though the temperature was pretty nice there, the wind chill was high and hence it felt cold), so we just sat on the white sands for a while and watched the kitesurfers :).




It was fun watching them maneuver the kites in the wind. What was shocking was that sometimes the wind was powerful enough to make the surfers fly. Since they were falling onto the water, it was ok. But it was still shocking to say the least..

I also clicked away a couple of more shots of the back waters (as expected :-D).




Soon it was sunset time and we went to one of the beaches facing the Gulf of Mexico in hope of a chance that we'll glimpse a sunset. But sadly, all the beaches facing Gulf of Mexico, face south, so the sunset was a bit unsatisfactory. Well, the beaches certainly weren't :-D.




The green sea and the white sand made a pretty wonderful combination. I have seen a lots of beaches, but most of the time the water has kinda been muddy. So this was a really enjoyable and a very pretty sight :). Anyways, after strolling around in the beach for sometime, we headed back to have dinner at an Italian restaurant (no Indian restaurants at all in the region :-p) and retired for the day :).


7th April 2007:

The next morning, we woke up a bit late, had breakfast and headed to a Gilligan's watersports :). Our intention (well, more like my intention :-D), was to go para-sailing. But we were worried that we may get wet and this was a major factor as the water was freezing :-p.

But the people there assured us that we'd be getting off the boat and later land on the boat, so there would be no water involved (except that the boat went on water ofcourse :-p). Also we were told that high up the temperatures were further cold and it would be better to wear some jackets/sweaters :).

We had an hour's time to get prepared, so we went back to the hotel and dressed in considerably warm wear, we headed back. Once we were there, we had to wait for quite sometime as there were people coming in and they usually prefer to head out in a full boat. Meanwhile we saw the life jackets being prepared..





This boat carried us all the way forth and back :). You can also notice the parachute (green and white) all wrapped up.




We had paid for double parasailing which means the 2 of us go parasailing together and there were 4 more couples who joined us on the boat (1 young couple, 2 girls, one 5-membered family in which an young boy refused to go parasailing but joined us on the boat, while the dad went with one of the daughters and the mom with another :-D). The boat went slowly at first (in an area with restricted speed, so as to not create any waves for the people who were kayaking) and as soon as it reached the sea it started going in its maximum speed :-D.

After reaching an optimum point at the sea, one of the guys (there were 2 of them) got the parachute ready for the actual parasailing :).




Before that we were already given life jackets and we already had harnesses tied around to our waists. The first couple to go was the young couple. Their harnesses were bound to the parachute and like a kite the parachute was reeled out. The boat sped to push the parachute higher. Our guide told us that it'd go upto 600 feet and later would be stabilized around 350-400 feet in the air. The ride would last for upto 12 minutes. As soon as they came back, it was our turn. We handed out the camera to the guide and were tied to the parachute ourselves..




The first instance when you are reeled out of the boat and your feet leave the boat is scary because thats when you are trusting the parachute to hold your weight :-D!




From then on its all fun :-D.




As you go higher...




Higher...




Higher...




And more higher until you are stabilized.





And just like the functioning of a kite, if the chute starts coming down, the boat speeds up for the parachute to regain the height :).

It was a thrill from the time it started to the end. Its literally like swinging on a swing in the sky :-D. It was really cold up there, but it was not scary in any way. Unlike bungee jumping, there's no free fall at all. Also, even if something happens to the chute, and you fall into the sea, you have life-jackets and so its still safe :). Well, it was really a cool experience. I felt like I was floating and flying in the sky to my heart's content. The boat we got off from, looked like a toy boat from way up there. Plus the view of the emerald coast was fabulous. I almost wished I had another small camera to capture the sights from up there..

After about more than 10 minutes of cruising in the skies (:-D), which included some wavering of the parachute due to high winds + boat direction changes), we were slowly reeled back in.




Again, they reel you in to the deck of the boat and you need to stand up to land on the boat safely. Then your harnesses are removed and you are safe to go back to your seats. It was wonderful, but I did feel very cold and kind of dizzy after landing on the boat (maybe because I was "swept" off my feet :-D). Well, Sri was totally fine for a guy who didn't even want to go parasailing :-p. Basically, we both enjoyed it a lot and we were even speculating that it'd be worth repeating if we can go back to the Emerald coast during summer when it'd not be so cold :). There were actually a few other things we missed because of the cold - dolphin tours, swimming in the sea and maybe even scuba-diving :-D.

We were on the speed boat for quite a long time after that since we needed to wait for other couples to finish their turn. Meanwhile the camera was back in my hands and I clicked away :-D.




Notice how green the water is. There were even pelicans/seagulls and cranes in the water which made a very lovely sight :). After about total 2 hours in the sea, we returned back to the docks and headed to the hotel for recovery, rest and later some lunch in a Tacobell :).

After lunch, we decided to take a scenic highway from Destin towards Panama city. But well, the "scenic" factor was missing as the place was covered with condos and huge apartment buildings (yup rich people :-D). We did stop at a beach for sometime and I was amazed again at the transparency of the water!




Even the waves were transparent!




Notice the shades of green :). Absolutely fascinating! Still the water was not that cold, so were able to dip our feets into it and stroll along for a while.

We decided to head back to another so-called scenic road known as Gulf National seashore in between Destin and Pensacola and started driving. The Gulf seashore starts at Navarre beach and ends at Gulf breeze. This is the bridge that goes to Navarre beach.




Look at how tall the apartment buldings are. Sri wondered how they could construct such buildings when this area is prone to so many hurricanes (New Orleans is only 3 hours away + it seems Katrina hit this area also pretty badly).




The sidewalks in the picture above are not covered with snow but the white sands :). It looks so much like snow that its amazing!

Sadly, our drive got cut short as the road was closed at some point (the reason was that the sand had spread to the road due to winds and they hadn't cleared it up yet). We did stop at another beach for another lovely view though :).





All in all a beautiful journey. We headed back and my mini-golf loving eyes soon caught one on the way back and we both played mini-golf there for sometime :). The settings were beautiful and we had loads of fun. Once Sri even hit his golf ball into a pond and lost it (we had to share mine after that particular disaster :-D).




We later went on to some nurseries to look at a couple of Jasmine plants. I even bought 4 lovely ones (sadly, its been too cold in Lexington and 2 of them are rotting, I only hope they are able to make it :( :-\). And so ended the day..


8th April 2007:

The next day, we woke up pretty early, had breakfast in an IHOP (I had never eaten in one before, the breakfast of strawberry pancakes and omelette with capsicums, onions and tomatoes was wonderful) and set off driving back. The total drive would be 10 hours + we'd lose one hour due to Timezone change. Sri took the first shift of 2 hours until we reached the main freeway and later I drove for 2 hours. We stopped for veggie burgers at Burger King and again Sri took over. This time he drove for 2.5 hours and later again I drove for 2.5 more hours. We both were pretty strained and tired when we reached home, but the trip was worth it. Moreover it was wayyyyyy better that Sri driving alone :-D. I always would feel guilty when he had to drive all the time and this time I felt that there was some contribution from my side too and so was glad :).

So alls well that ends well :-D. And here's your moment of zen :-D.




This was taken while we were driving towards Florida. Looks like a price list, doesn't it? A garland for $8 and a mobile for $112 :-D. In fact, Garland and Mobile are both places in Alabama :). There were a couple more places - "Evergreen" (which reminded me of Dev Anand, the evergreen hero), Castleberry (what a weird combination :-p) etc. But too much of anything (even if it is humour) is not good :-D. So thats it folks, goodbye and have a great day :).