My first trip to a third country!

Besides the country in which I was born and the one where I live, I had never stepped out beyond the airport lounges of any third country until last month when I set my feet on the Canadian soil in its Victoria city in British Columbia. The journey was very short, a 3 hour ferry ride operated by Victoria Clipper and so was the trip - less than 48 hours long!

We reached Victoria before noon on a beautiful sunny Saturday and set off on a bus ride to the famous Butchart gardens. The guide on our bus gave some interesting facts about the city, which unfortunately didn't interest us a whole lot! And so I know why I don't remember any of those! The gardens are huge and beautiful, it is in fact a collection of several smaller gardens like rose garden, Japanese garden, Italian garden, sunken garden and many others. Before we toured these gardens and got engrossed in photography and posing, we got some coffee and ice-cream, though we had lunch just about an hour earlier before we hopped onto the bus! We laughed at the obvious thought, expressed our dislike for the non Starbucks coffee and laughed again and ate all the ice-cream and then toured the gardens.

The city is a small pretty tourist destination! The Fairmont Empress hotel and parliamentary buildings are the pride of the downtown. An afternoon hight tea at the Fairmont Empress is one of Victoria’s grandest traditions, but we are not tea-lovers and so we are among the less than a percent of people(my guess!) who did not experience this tradition in their Victoria trip! We walked through the small downtown, capturing the city in its touristy busy, and picturesque look! We also walked though its Chinatown that has flamboyant gold tiles and red pillars at its entrance and we enjoyed a delicious Asian meal. The Fan Tan Alley in Chinatown is the narrowest lane in Canada (only 0.9 metres wide), which is a much hyped place to see than what really looks like a narrow crack between 2 red-brick buildings!

The trip was a milestone in my life since I visited a new country! And we left Victoria with some great memories of a scenic, beautiful and relaxing weekend.

A tale of 2 cities!

Last couple of weekends were spent in San Jose(again this year!) and Seattle respectively! Though Seattle happens to be my home-city, this weekend did not fit the just-another-weekend in Seattle category!

Another San Jose visit was planned without any hesitation by a huge fan of the God of music - A R Rahman - a fan who has always dreamt of hearing the maestro live! But when the weekend came, our excitement was dampened by the postponement of the concert. The trip still remains amongst the memorable ones for it will be remembered by the times we cherished with friends. After a long, long, tiring drive to the Bay area, I will not be exaggerating if I say that my spirit for the trip was regained just at the sight of my friends when we reached there. From there onwards, there was no looking back! We started with a grand lunch, followed by a barbecue party at Half Moon Bay later in the day. The beach, the beautiful sunset, the talks, the jokes, the pranks, the food, and the drive through the dense fog were all the pieces of a "dream evening" collage! Some of us were engrossed in food, others in the talks, one of us was busy capturing these moments in his lenses, and some of us gave memorable poses for his collection! Even nature couldn't stop itself from portraying one of the best sunset pictures in front of our eyes!

The next day in the Bay area was spent visiting friends and family and catching up on all the latest and greatest happenings in everyone's lives! A post dinner session of desserts and more talks with certain not-to-be-named Indian television shows in the backdrop and a successful attempt at a "Hum saath saath hain" snap was quite an unusual but memorable time from the trip!

No sooner had we gotten over the hangover of this trip than the long weekend followed and this time a couple of friends from Bay area felt like teasing the Seattle sun but the sun hid behind the clouds for most of the time! The weekend began with a soccer game that happened while I was still dreaming, and then a drive to Mount Rainier that I distinctly remember since I was driving :) Snow fights, in fact snow war along the Nisqualy Vista trail interspersed with posing for our cameraman was not easy for me, especially since I was the sole warrior defending the Northwest side, but nevertheless was full of thrill and chills !!! In the peace time, Mount Rainier showed its true colors and left us marveling at its majestic look all over again! I wouldn't be doing justice to what we saw, and so let the pictures convey here. Our next day seemed to fly by with a drive to the Alki beach, Readhook brewery, Canam pizza and a certain not-to-be-named Indian movie with Independence day fireworks show seen from our deck!

My eventful but no suspense filled story of the 2 cites ends. If you are still there, you wouldn't mind a happy note that its mid July and finally the sun is enjoying outside daily while we are enjoying as well!

Its all good at the Hood!

On a May weekend, 2010 I set off on my fourth trip to the Portland neighborhood in Oregon state. Each trip has been special in its own way and this time the significance of the weekend dates in our lives and having the family together to celebrate the days made it very special.

Multnomah Falls

Our trip started early in the morning at 5.30 am when we all set out on our 3 hour drive. Watching the sun come up and brighten up the day and listening to Hindi songs we haven't heard in ages made our destination arrive much faster than we realized. We stopped for breakfast at the Original Pancake House for some pancakes of course :) Then we headed to the Woodburn shopping mall for doing what I love to do the most! Lucky me.. to get to start the vacation with loads of shopping bags! Then we headed for some Italian lunch followed by the drive along the Columbia River Gorge Scenic Highway. The view of the gorge is as always so mesmerizing. The drive along the winding highway road with gorgeous waterfalls at regular intervals is amongst the best scenic drives that I have ever done. We stopped at the Shepherd Dell, Wakheena and Latourell waterfalls after which we reached the tall and beautiful Multnomah falls. Each waterfall is unique in its course and sound and beauty and you cant help but fall in love with this form of nature's gift! We then headed to our hotel located on the shoreline of Columbia River. The panoramic view of the flowing river and bridge across it from our hotel room was just more icing on the cake :)

The next morning started with a grand breakfast at our hotel. I have to mention this because not many hotels serve hot breakfast at their restaurant with unmatched ambiance and river view like this one. We then set off on our drive to Mount Hood! The Hood started peeping through the other mountains and the uneven terrain in the first 30 mins of our drive and ever since offered some breathtaking views all along the drive. We stopped at several vista points on the way intending to capture the Hood in all its different looks! When we finally reached Timberline Lodge at the base of the Hood, we were surrounded by the pure serene white bed of snow. Geared in our warm snow jackets, gloves and scarfs we took the Magic Mile ski lift ride to reach closer to the Hoods summit. That ride is just a gateway to a view like God's own handcrafted scene. We played in the snow, and tried to capture every moment spent there in our lens and in our memories. We had been to this same point a couple of times before, but each visit only reiterates the humbling feelings in our hearts in the midst of these magnificent natural wonders.

The Hood was the pinnacle point of our trip by all literal and emotional means and the memories of each of our visit to the Hood will always be very dear to us! As always - "Its all good at the Hood".