Yosemite - Early Spring 2007

Somnath and I made our fourth trip to Yosemite this year(24-25th Mar 2007). What was different this time? Timing for one - this is the first time we have seen Yosemite in spring with lush green meadows, wildflowers dotting the hills and by the roadside and blossoming trees everywhere. The fire warning was 'Low' compared to the 'High' that we have seen on previous trips...that says it all.

We also had bhaia(Chanchal-Somnath's younger bro) with us on this trip. Needless to say we are very happy to have another enthusiastic person on our outings who has been bitten by the travel bug :)

Link to pictures - http://www.tabblo.com/studio/stories/shared/15239/gfh7pcqmk43s96v

Highlights of the trip - climbing up the rocks to reach the Yosemite falls and getting drenched by its spray of water, trees with pink blossoms and not a single green leaf, violet/yellow/orange wildflowers lining the roads, walk to mirror lake(which turned out to be a dampener compared to the Maroon Bells lake that we had seen on our trip to Denver) and eating roasted peanuts patiently shelled by bhaia in the car :)

To Dos for the next time - Glacier point was closed since the roads were still covered with snow, biking in Yosemite and early morning hike.

Chiang Mai Dec 18th, 2023 - A walk through a paradise of flowers, an immersive Thai culinary journey and the Sunday Night Market

We had a wonderful buffet breakfast at The Grand Napat and were ready to start the day. Somnath had booked a half day Thai cooking class and a van pickup from our hotel at 3pm. That meant we had the morning and early afternoon for sight-seeing. I had read about the beautiful flower gardens in Mueang Kaeo, Chiang Mai and even though the main flower season is in February, there were a couple of farms that still had flowers. What is the big deal with the Flower farms? The entry fee includes different props like wide brimmed hats, colorful umbrellas, baskets with artificial flowers and a couple of other things. The fields also have additional props that can be used while posing like a white piano, a swing, an English Red Telephone Booth! We saw many ladies dressed in beautiful dresses and lots of patient husbands with their best cameras clicking thousands of pictures. It is a photographer's as well as model's paradise. It was really tough to choose which farm to go to. Some revi...

Thailand Trip Dec 2022 - Seattle to Bangkok via Seoul and how we got to Chiang Mai (logistics, logistics and nothing more)

With the pandemic subsiding and armed with the confidence of being vaccinated with the Bivalent booster, we decided to resume our global adventures. Our criteria for December vacation were that it had to be easily accessible for Maa and Baba to fly in from Kolkata, it had to be a warm sunny place and the cuisine had to be suitable for Indian palates. Thailand with its proximity to Kolkata (3.5hr flight) and flavorful cuisine seemed to be an ideal destination. We flew from Seattle to Bangkok via Seoul on Korean airlines flight operated by Delta from Seattle to Incheon. The flight was longer than Seattle to Dubai that we are used to and unlike Emirates, the meal portion was extremely small. We were super hungry and wondering how to survive the flight when we discovered the sandwiches/chips/cookies that were kept in the galley at the very end of the airplane. We landed at Incheon and discovered it to be a Bidet paradise with all restrooms equipped with bidets! Yes, it matters if you ...

Ride the Hiawatha scenic rail to trail

Kids were in the Missoula Fireclassic meet for the Juneteenth long weekend. On Monday, 6/19, on our way back from Missoula to Seattle, we decided to do the scenic Hiawatha Bike ride. It is an all downhill 15mile ride through 10 tunnels and 7 sky high trestles. It absolutely falls into the do-at least-once-in-your-lifetime buckets. History of the Hiawatha scenic rail can be found at Route of the Hiawatha (Official Website) > Area Information > History (ridethehiawatha.com) . In short, the Milwaukee Road railroad company in Chicago decided to expand west to take advantage of the expanding West Coast markets and Pacific Rim Trade. Construction started in 1907 and intercontinental freight services started on July 4, 1909 with passenger service starting 6 days later. The last train west of Butte passed through in 1980 and after that the line was abandoned. Throughout the trail, historical information is displayed. The "Route of the Hiawatha" is most famous for the long St....

Priya & Somnath - A place to save our memories

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