Two factors caused this trip to happen:
1. Adi's daycare was closed on June 12 for staff development day
2. It had been a couple of years since we visited Seattle, and our friends out there
We flew on June 11 with free tickets thanks to frequent flyer miles. The flight was delayed for a couple of hours, and instead of reaching at 10 pm, we reached around 12 midnight. After all the renting and collecting baggage, we reached Vivek's place at 2 am. I had thought Adi would follow his regular schedule of sleeping at 9 pm, but he was all excited at 2 am to see new people and would not go to sleep, until we did at 3 am.
Next day we went to Snoqualmie falls. The falls had plenty of water and was fun to b We spent the evening at Kirkland waterfront and waverly beach park with Arpit, and headed to their home thereafter. Adi had an adrenaline rush seeing new people and had a lot of fun. Watching Ariv and Adi play with each other was also interesting.
On June 13, we went to Discovery Park. We packed a bunch of food and played frisbee and did some hoops. Adi and Ariv enjoyed the tot lots. In the night, we chatted and played Modern Art till around 4 am.
It was time to fly back on June 14, but we had lunch with a Gaurav and bunch of our juniors at Inchin Bamboo Garden. It was a fun trip and good to meet up with friends and Adi thoroughly enjoyed every bit of it.
Showing posts with label Kalmady. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kalmady. Show all posts
6.15.2009
7.06.2007
Seattle.. yet again.
I visited Seattle after 3 years to meet my NCSU roomies and school buddies. The group came around full circle with our better halves! I always like to goto Seattle for its scenic beauty. Anu likes cloudy skies(spoiled by the California sunshine I think) and I love the greenery.
The inbound flight was late. We spent a bunch of time playing UNO at the airport. We were flying in on a Thursday to make the most of the trip. Both Arpit and Vivek came to pick us up at the airport. The next day, I worked from the Seattle office and we met up for dinner in the evening at Inchin's bamboo garden. Its the best Indian Chinese I have experienced in the USA with all the dishes catering very well to the Indian palate. Kalmady joined us for dinner, coffee and the San Juan trip. Ravi met us for dinner too.
On Saturday, we went to San Juan Island from Anacortes by ferry. The whale watching trip was a lot of fun. I enjoyed it more for the rain and sea than watching the actual whales. The return was eventful. Arpit's car had a problem that it wouldnt open up. Meanwhile Anu and Shweta taught the owner of an Espresso coffee shop how to make Pav Bhaji. Finally AAA helped us out and we were on our way back.
We met a bunch of old friends from VJTI on Sunday, just reliving the nostalgic days. Quite a population of VJTI'ites, NCSU alumni and HMPS alumni is in Seattle. We stayed at Arpit's house which is really well decorated/furnished/painted.
Arpit, Komal, Vivek, Reshma and Kalmady were at the airport to say goodbye. Now thats what I call royal treatment.
The inbound flight was late. We spent a bunch of time playing UNO at the airport. We were flying in on a Thursday to make the most of the trip. Both Arpit and Vivek came to pick us up at the airport. The next day, I worked from the Seattle office and we met up for dinner in the evening at Inchin's bamboo garden. Its the best Indian Chinese I have experienced in the USA with all the dishes catering very well to the Indian palate. Kalmady joined us for dinner, coffee and the San Juan trip. Ravi met us for dinner too.
On Saturday, we went to San Juan Island from Anacortes by ferry. The whale watching trip was a lot of fun. I enjoyed it more for the rain and sea than watching the actual whales. The return was eventful. Arpit's car had a problem that it wouldnt open up. Meanwhile Anu and Shweta taught the owner of an Espresso coffee shop how to make Pav Bhaji. Finally AAA helped us out and we were on our way back.
We met a bunch of old friends from VJTI on Sunday, just reliving the nostalgic days. Quite a population of VJTI'ites, NCSU alumni and HMPS alumni is in Seattle. We stayed at Arpit's house which is really well decorated/furnished/painted.
Arpit, Komal, Vivek, Reshma and Kalmady were at the airport to say goodbye. Now thats what I call royal treatment.
5.30.2006
Memorial Day weekend to Alaska
This has been the most adventurous trip of my life yet. This seemingly crazy idea of going Alaska was mooted by me, but it ended up being way more than expected.
Day 1: We went north of Anchorage to Matanuska Glacier. Hiked the glacier with normal shoes and came back to Anchorage. It was like walking on a huge ice landscape. We kept climbing until we reached a stage where we would just slip down trying to climb. Going up was much easier than coming down and at a point, the only was to come down given our shoes was to slide down (my ass and hands still hurt...)
Day 2: We headed south on Seward Highway to a hike of Exit Glacier. We were told we couldn't reach the top and we didn't. But we went far enough to see wonderful views of the glacier, and again reached a point where going up was very difficult and coming down was impossible short of sliding. I did try sliding down on one of the stretches with a gentler slope and realized that we made a good decision to stop where we did. The best part abt Alaska at this time was that the sun is out 19 hours. So we decided to do some sailing (kudos to Anu for finding the place). I had anticipated that I would be on a sailboat for the first time in my life, but I did not know that I would also drive the sailboat (yeah, we are talking tacks and jibes here!!!). The owner Greg was more than happy to let us go hands on on his sailboat, which had the head sail, the middle and the tail. Gaurav pulled up the sails and I did some steering (both with Greg's help of course). After a few tacks and a jibe, it was Gaurav's turn to steer. This was totally unexpected and hence quite wonderful.
Day 3: We went to Alyeska resort on the third day. We took the tram to the peak of the mountain, and boy, what a view. In the evening, we went to Anchorage to watch two movies. First one was the Alaska experience movie. It is one of the best movies I have ever seen. The shots taken by a helicopter in flight arount Mt McKinley and along the Alaska pipeline will make you giddy. Next, we saw the movie about Northern Lights, it was just a slide show. An absolute anticlimax compared to the earlier show.
Day 1: We went north of Anchorage to Matanuska Glacier. Hiked the glacier with normal shoes and came back to Anchorage. It was like walking on a huge ice landscape. We kept climbing until we reached a stage where we would just slip down trying to climb. Going up was much easier than coming down and at a point, the only was to come down given our shoes was to slide down (my ass and hands still hurt...)
Day 2: We headed south on Seward Highway to a hike of Exit Glacier. We were told we couldn't reach the top and we didn't. But we went far enough to see wonderful views of the glacier, and again reached a point where going up was very difficult and coming down was impossible short of sliding. I did try sliding down on one of the stretches with a gentler slope and realized that we made a good decision to stop where we did. The best part abt Alaska at this time was that the sun is out 19 hours. So we decided to do some sailing (kudos to Anu for finding the place). I had anticipated that I would be on a sailboat for the first time in my life, but I did not know that I would also drive the sailboat (yeah, we are talking tacks and jibes here!!!). The owner Greg was more than happy to let us go hands on on his sailboat, which had the head sail, the middle and the tail. Gaurav pulled up the sails and I did some steering (both with Greg's help of course). After a few tacks and a jibe, it was Gaurav's turn to steer. This was totally unexpected and hence quite wonderful.
Day 3: We went to Alyeska resort on the third day. We took the tram to the peak of the mountain, and boy, what a view. In the evening, we went to Anchorage to watch two movies. First one was the Alaska experience movie. It is one of the best movies I have ever seen. The shots taken by a helicopter in flight arount Mt McKinley and along the Alaska pipeline will make you giddy. Next, we saw the movie about Northern Lights, it was just a slide show. An absolute anticlimax compared to the earlier show.
5.28.2004
Seattle, Mt Rainier- May 2004
We went to Mt Rainier, and ate at a nice cabin just below base camp. Its pretty beautiful out there. We also went to the Kirkland waterfront, and its pretty neat too. I just love the greenery in Seattle (reminds me of North Carolina), which is not to be found here. That said, I hate the speed limits, and the need to follow them :). I did not experience any rain, so I can't complain about that.
7.04.2003
Gatlinburg - July 4, 2003 trip
Gatlinburg, WW rafting on Nantahala river. I went for the double-duck with Kalmady on the Nantahala.
12.24.2002
Rajmachi - Dec 2002
Test of endurance, with Kalmady, sushant, lashmi and other juniors. Memorable, but in a different way, although I must admit it was a nightmare for some in the group.
2.10.2001
9.10.2000
Bhimashankar - Monsoon 2000
Climb was memorable; one of the best I have seen. Rain forest (it was raining).
Some risky bends..
Some risky bends..
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