A Beautiful World

I have heard about Sausalito several times from my coworkers as an excellent place to visit. So I finally for a chance to visit this area. Although its a short distance from Fremont, but it can take some time to reach depending on the traffic in SFO. We reached Sausalito about 2pm after driving through very slow moving traffic around Golden Gate. Immediately after parking, we searched for a place for lunch. This place is known for fine eateries and we finally settled for an Italian place. Got a seat outside the restaurant and enjoyed the lunch with a view of the bay. Once luch was done, we crossed the road and found Bill Dan busy balancing the rocks . This was extraordinary work. Bill Dan Balancing Rocks We walked along the oceanfront and it did got little chilly. Always carry a jacket whenever in SFO or anywhere nearby :). Busy bridgeway blvd. View from the Sausalito Ferry Terminal. We did visit several art galleries in the downtown. All in all, it was fun and...

Although the forecast for the weekend showed a cloudy/rainy weather but it all cleared up on Sunday. So we decided to take a trip to Point Reyes which is just one and half are drive from Bay Area. As it was a spur of the moment decision, we could leave by 11am only. We reached Bear Valley Visitor Center  around 1pm via San Rafael. We took a break for lunch and picked up the park's map. Next stop was Drake's beach where bus shuttles were taking folks to Lighthouse and Chimney Rock point.  It seems this arrangement is for the winter (during Whale migration season). Drakes beach is good 20 miles from Bear Valley visitor center. Paid $10 for the tickets (2 adults, kids ticket was free). We had to wait some 40 mins as there was a long queue. Shuttle service was fast enough and we could get 3rd shuttle after getting in the queue. From the bus, we got to see lot of cows (apparently this place is known for butter) and deer. Our first stop was Lighthouse drop-off point. From here,...

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Previous : Day 1 - Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Park Day 2  of road trip . The weather had greatly improved since yesterday (and will stay nice throughout the trip). From Ridgecrest, Furnace Creek visitor center was about 2 hours drive. We started around 7am from the hotel via CA-178. After few miles past Ridgecrest, the whole surroundings seemed other planetary. There was absolutely no traffic and whole area was left for us to enjoy :) Came across a town in the middle of nowhere (Seales Valley) which had a huge mineral factory. After crossing the town, we came across a turn and were totally blown away by the valley that lay below us. So got out of the car and took some pictures. Here is one of those: Somewhere along the road, I felt that I read a sign of road being closed. This put some doubt in my mind but I ignored it and continued. But as we were about to enter the park (about 10-12 miles before hitting CA-190...BAM, ROAD CLOSED! Talk about roadtrips being unp...

Day 1  of Road trip . We started early (at 6AM) from our home in Fremont. The weather for Kings Canyon was showing as partially cloudy. Along the way, we hit a dense fog which continued for several miles (I thought this is how its gonna be in the park) but it disappeared quite quickly. We had breakfast at McDonald's on the way and reached Kings Canyon Park around 10:30AM. We directly went to the Grant Grove village visitor center and picked up the park guide/map. After that, we were on to our first point which was to General Grant Tree . After parking the car, we took the 0.3m long trail going through amazing Sequoias. Have you walked through a tree? You can do it on this trail. We Walked through this huge tree which must have fallen long back. After spending about 45 mins on this trail, we took highway towards King Canyon Lodge to experience the park from different view points. The road after Kings Canyon Lodge was closed during winter season. Here is view from Junction...

This trip was planned for Thanksgiving week in Nov 2013. We had thought of visiting the following places in a circle (I usually try to have a nice circle with each destination about 2/3 hours away from each other). CA, AZ, CO Roadtrip Circle Starting / Ending (point A / O in the map) - Fremont CA B - Kings Canyon National Park C - Sequoia National Park D - Death Valley National Park E - Grand Canyon National Park - North Rim F - Antelope Canyon / Slot Canyon G - Monument Valley, Navajo Tribal Park H - Mesa Verde National Park I - Canyon De Chelly National Monument J - Petrified Forest National Park K - Sedona AZ L - Saguaro National Park M - Scottsdale AZ N - Joshua Tree National Park I had done some research about the places through TripAdvisor and had initially planned to start on Friday (Nov 22) and reach near Joshua Tree. But the weather pattern during the week meant that I reverse the circle (which turned out to be a wonderful decision). Tip#1 : Keep...

Trip Schedule: Day 1: Fremont to Redwoods National Park (o/n - Eureka, CA) Day 2: Redwoods National Park (o/n - North Bend, OR) Day 3: Oregon Coast (Dunes, Devils Churn, Cannon Beach and other spots) till Forks WA Day 4: Olympic National Park (o/n - Seattle) Day 5: Seattle Day 6: North Cascades National Park (o/n - Seattle) Day 7: Mount Rainier National Park (o/n - Portland) Day 8: Portland, OR (o/n - Eugene, OR) Day 9: Crater Lake (o/n - Yreka, CA) Day 10: Lassen Volcanic National Park

Trip Schedule: Day 1 : LA to SFO via Pacific Highway 1 (CA-1) Day 2 : San Francisco Day 3: Yosemite National Park Day 4: Yosemite, Mono Lake Day 5: Las Vegas Day 6: Grand Canyon National Park (South Rim) Day 7: Grand Canyon Day 8/9: Las Vegas Day 10: LA