Christmas at Tahoe

We spent Christmas at Tahoe with a bunch of friends. We rented a very nice house in the Tahoe Keys resort area. The plan was to hang out, cook, go on the mountain and generally relax. And we did exactly that. The menu varied from Chhole to Omelets to Mexican food. We went to the Heavenly mountain, skied for some time. The kids had a great time too! We ate at a great restaurant in Sacramento called Bombay Grill and headed back home. Renting a Ford Explorer helped of course!

Thanksgiving in Kauai

This was our fourth trip to Hawaii, to the fourth island. We rented a 2 bedroom house near Poipu Beach. Poipu has two nice beaches, Brenecke's and Poipu beach. We went there multiple times. Adi enjoyed a lot at Poipu beach which has shallow water and very gentle waves. We also took him to the Kauai Plantation Railway that takes you along the tropical Kauai Plantation and on the way allows for pig feeding. Adi enjoyed feeding the pigs and said to them "Eat your food, else you will all go to the bathroom!". We drove across the entire island, first going west to Waimea Canyon, followed by east to Princeville and Hanalei. Anu cooked great meals at home. On the flip side, I lost my swimming goggles to one of the waves.

On the activity side, I went Ziplining with Kauai Backcountry which was an exhilarating experience. I also went on helicopter tour of Kauai with Safari helicopters. The tour went through all the interesting and inaccessible spots of Kauai, covering rainforests, innumerable waterfalls and the beaches. I got a great view as I had a window seat. I also went snorkeling at Poipu beach which has a nice coral reef. Overall, it was a wonderful trip!

Trip to India

Quick trip to India to meet parents and sister. Traveled by Cathay Pacific for the first time, and it turned out to be pretty good.

Summer 2010 activities

We took Adi to Happy Hollow Zoo, Six Flags in Vallejo and San Francisco Zoo. He thoroughly enjoyed all three of them. The Zoo was closed in Happy Hollow, but the petting zoo was open. Six Flags in Vallejo has a zoo area, and really great rides. I would highly recommend it for both kids and adults. San Francisco Zoo is very impressive, the lion, rhino, giraffe were all sights to see. I went on a Google trip to Santa Cruz and that was great as well. The regular barbecue and rides of course.

Monterey bay aquarium and cherry picking

On two weekends, we took our in laws to Monterey Bay aquarium and next week to cherry picking in Brentwood. Adi really enjoyed the different types of fish in Monterey. The cherries we picked were also really sweet, and the drive from Brentwood was nice too.

Universal Studios and Seaworld

We took our in-laws to the classic west coast trip to LA and SD. We rented a Kia Sedona and it was spacious since there were only six of us including Adi. On the first day, we went to Universal studios. The new ride I checked out was the simpsons ride and I was pretty impressed. We did the other regular rides and Adi and in-laws had great fun. In the evening, we went to Santa Monica beach and got a couple of names hand-drawn by a local artist, "Aditya" and "Welcome". Next day we went to SeaWorld and were a bit disappointed to find that the dolphin show was not playing. But we had fun with the other rides. On our way back, we stopped at an Indian restaurant on I-5 for lunch; we would never have expected that! All in all, a fun trip.

Battling a snowstorm in Kirkwood

Raj and I decided to go skiing for a day in Kirkwood. And what a day we choose! It was very stormy which made for pretty white-wash skiing conditions. The snow was fluffy so that was good but visibility was poor. It was fun all the same. I also saw some really adventurous guys doing pond skimming on that day. That was really fun to watch, as was the snowstorm itself from a nice rustic restaurant at the base. On the way back, we saw a couple of movies and were home in no time.

Big Island

Our trips to Hawaii have always been exciting, and we always end up getting some unexpected perks. This time, I booked a ticket on Alaska Airlines' inaugural flight going from San Jose to Kona. At the airport, just outside the gate, they greeted us with breakfast and cultural Hawaiian programs. We were given fancy memento bags and had games on the flight. Before we realized, we were in Kona, which is a big thing to say considering we had a 2-yr old with us. I won one of the games and got two tickets to the Luau at Royal Kona Resort. Good start, I thought!

Day 1:
The hotel was really nice, and we had an ocean view room. We stayed at the Outrigger Keauhou Beach Resort. We went up to the beach to see green sea turtles coming up to the coast. The beach was a bit rocky, was great for snorkeling but not kid friendly. In the evening, we went for our the Luau. I cant say I fancied the food considering that we are vegetarians, but the show was great. Adi was mesmerized by the dancers. The setting was beautiful, on the beach and watching the sunset.

Day 2:
Kona coffee is famous, so we decided to visit Greenwell farms, one of the most famous industrial coffee plants in Kona. They showed us how coffee is made from the two seeds in the fruit of the coffee plant. The process is pretty interesting; they dry the beans, peel two layers and ship the green bean and it is roasted at the destination. Next, we headed up north to the Kohala coast to Hapuna beach. It was beautiful with blue waters and a gentle slope and Adi absolutely loved it. We stayed in the water for a couple of hours before heading back.

Day 3:
We headed up to the Hawaii volcanoes national park. The drive was absolutely beautiful, with landscape and weather changing every 30-40 miles. We went up to the steam vents, saw the lava tubes and the large craters in the national park. On the way back, we stopped at Punaluu beach which has black sand on the beach, thanks to the volcanic landscape. We cooked lunch at the beach, ate and headed back. We made a quick stop at the Magic Sands beach where I took Adi in the water again but he got scared by the big waves. Anu and Adi rested on the beach, while I relaxed in the water for some time.

Day 4:
With a short trip coming to an end, we headed back to the airport. Adi really enjoyed the small open Kona airport where all the plans were in clear view. We upgraded to first class for a 100 bucks each, our first experience north of coach. We got really good service for the upgrade, so we were smiling on our way back.

Tahoe trip with my team

We went to Tahoe on a company trip to Squaw valley. It was beautiful as always. We stayed at the Resort at Squaw which has a chair lift to the mountain which was very convenient. We rented our gear and headed up the lift. In the evening, we had a nice pizza dinner followed by a game of poker. This was followed by another day of skiing before we headed back. Fun trip!

The India Trip

This time we had a month long trip to India. We went to Assam to visit my maternal grandparents. We had great fun visiting Kaziranga National Park where we saw Rhinos and Elephants. Adi loved the elephant ride in the elephant festival. Our cousins took us to a nice resort where we ate their signature Crispy Chilly Baby Corn followed by a trip to Rhino park. We also had fun flying Kingfisher which had much better food than Korean Air which we took while coming to India.

Later, I went to Surat and met up with relatives as also with friends in Mumbai. And as always, I ate at all of my favorite joints. Priti took me to this new Sandwich place in Goregaon which turned out to be a branch of our favorite Sandwich joint in Santa Cruz. I also attended the Hridayesh festival including a morning flute concert at 6:15 am (thats right!) by Pt Hariprasad Chaurasia. It was unreal!! With Dad, I went to a relative's farmhouse close to Virar and had fun. We also went to the Brijreshwari temple.

On a free morning, I went to school and ate at our mess hall after 15 years. Although the school has changed a lot, the taste of channa and garlic chutney were the same, with kids scampering to get the garlic chutney. I guess some things never change!

Anu went to Mahabaleshwar, Pune and Ahmednagar and had a good time too. Adi enjoyed every bit of each trip he made! At the end though, Adi fell on edge of a table and had 3 stitches causing us to delay our return by 3 days... oh well!