Sweet Seattle Trip

The trip started when we (Myself and friend Vishwa) landed in Seattle-Tacoma Intl airport at 8:45 AM on Saturday. Our friend Mansoor picked us up from airport and we left for breakfast to Krispy Kreme in downtown. On our way there we tumbled across QWEST field, the home of Seattle Seahawks, took some pics and then had our donut breakfast. After that we left to Ballard Locks, enjoyed a beautitful ocean view with ice capped mountains in the background during the drive and reached there. It was a nice experience watching the boats and yachts move between two lakes that flow at different levels and also learned a bit about the Salmon fish.

From there we left to Pike Market place, roamed around looking at the stalls and had our lunch there. At around 2:30, we left to Snoqualmie falls. The falls gave us a very relaxing experience with mist falling on us. After vernal falls in Yosemite this was my next experience with mist, thoroughly enjoyed it. After a short refreshing break at home, we went to Space Needle and enjoyed an awesome view of brightly lighted downtown.

The first thing you will notice in Seattle is that people really love dogs, I mean really! Next morning at Alki beach, we saw a lot of dogs and people jogging around in bright sunshine. There we had a nice pic with the miniature version of Statue of Liberty, that was fun. Then we headed to the Olympic Sculptor Park, it was decent with some good sculptures. For lunch we had Indian food at Pabla restaurant near Pike Market place and then had a Carmel Machiato at the first ever Starbucks. EMP & SFM (Experience Music Project & Science Fiction Museum) was fun and enjoyable. We rocked a lot there and the stacked up guitars on display is quite attractive.

The worst part is that Seattle is all closed by just 5:00 PM on Sunday (along with being quite windy and chilly during our stay). So, we could do nothing else. After taking some rest at home, had a decent dinner at Inchin Bamboo (an IndoChinese restaurant) and watched a movie at Gold Class theater, an expensive but luxurious experience.....pure indulgence. The one that I didn't have for a long time.

Overall I had a Seattle is sunny and beautiful experience and also realized that I'm missing the entirely awesome experience of American living by staying in Sunnyvale. Damn!

Christmas Long Weekend

I spent my Christmas long weekend with my aunt and family in LA (Los Angeles, CA) and it was fun. This is how it all started. I booked a 6:30 AM flight on Dec 25 as I will get to spend an entire day in LA. Other than the reason I mentioned, her, the ticked would cost me only $40. Believe me, its true. How did I get that price? Simple, the ticket itself was worth $130 and I bought a $100 coupon on Craigslist for $10. Thanks United.

Luckily, I mean l.u.c.k.i.l.y I was able to get one of my friends to drop me in the SJC airport at 5:00 AM. Thanks Pradeep. After reaching the LAX airport, I took a metro Green Line train to reach Norwalk station and my Aunt picked me up there. In my metro journey, I've met Sri, Amudha and Pallavi who were on a trip to visit LA and Vegas. Surprisingly they were my friend Mansoor's colleagues in TCS. In case Mansoor decided to travel with them, which he cancelled because of his own mistake, we would have had a surprise, meeting each other in a metro.

As soon I reached my Aunt's place in Cerritos, CA, I've got my Christmas gift. A really nice Banana Republic T-shirt. I wore it on my existing T-shirt to keep myself warm as it was cold in LA. My Aunt had a potluck at her place that afternoon and I got to enjoy all the good food (Idli, Upma, Pulihora, Pav Bhaji, Sandwiches, Sambhar, etc.,). After having lunch, we watched Spurs defeat Miami and Lakers beat Celtics two very exciting matches. In the evening we had a chat with Anil Annam and family, he was talking and we were listening most of the time :). After having dinner I gave my Xmas gifts. A Nivea shaving accessories set for my uncle (babbai), of the 4 items in the kit, I have donated two to the airport officials :(, a 'Preferred Stock' perfume set for Kartik, my older cousin and Rubik's cube for Deepak.

Next morning, we went to check out after Xmas sale to Cerritos mall. Even though it took some time to find parking, it was not at all crowded compared to San Jose malls. This is the best part, the trip will be remembered forever. Deepak found a coat jacket worth $175 being placed on $20 hangers. None of us (me, pinni and Kartik) believed it and we've decided to get the price checked on the machine and it indeed said it was $20. Pinni still didn't believe and got Kartik to check the price again and then all of us were amazed. We took 4 out of the 5 available jackets and that made our day. It's still unbelievable that we got amazing Material London coat jackets for $20 each. In the evening we played some tennis and had dinner at Sweeti Thai.

Next day, we went to checkout UCLA campus (Kartik studies there) on my request and we spent the morning over there. From there, they dropped me at airport and I reached San Jose by 5:30PM. I took Cal train to my home and to my surprise, the ticket costed me $4 (freaking expensive), the ticket for the metro in LAX was just $1.25.

On Sunday, I went to office, worked for sometime and in the evening I met Kasi. Kasi was my friend in Auburn. Me, Kasi and Kalyan had dinner at a Thai place in Sunnyvale downtown and thats the end of long weekend. It was a good long weekend, spent time with family, got some work done, met a friend and now I am writing this post :)

Memorial Day Long Weekend (May 24-26)

We have the Toastmasters International sessions in the office every Tuesday during the lunch hour. I attend them regularly although I've given just one speech. The date was Tuesday May 27th, the day after long weekend. As usual, I was attending Toastmasters and during the Table Topics session the topic provided by the Table Topics master was that 'What do you think will be an ideal long weekend?' That table topics question got me thinking about my ideal long weekend.

I've started thinking about that question and recollected my Memorial Day long weekend. It began on Friday night when Sista, a senior in Auburn, came to San Jose. He was staying with Suresh, another senior in Auburn. Sista arrived at 9:30PM and I couldn't wait to meet him. I've found out Suresh's address immediately and met them that night around 10:00 PM. I've spent chatting with them till 12:00 AM.

After that I came home and asked my friends about their plan for Saturday, they said that they have planned to go to Napa Valley. I've convinced them to change their plans and come to San Luis Reservoir along with me. I've already planned to go to that place as my aunt (pinni), unlce (babbai) and cousins were coming there. By convincing my friends I've made sure that all of us will have a good time :)

On Saturday morning, at around 9:30, five of us (me, Kalyan, Siva, Sujana and Vinay) left in two different cars. I've met my aunt and family at San Luis Reservoir Creek, the place they were planning to do camping, after almost one year. From there, I took my cousins and left to Pacheco State Park which was around 10 miles way back from that place to do some hiking. The surroundings were beautifulllll...it was all covered with hay. We hiked almost 5 miles and took some good pictures along the way. At the end of the hike, my cousins were almost sick of looking at hay.

After the hike, we went to several vista points and enjoyed the view of San Luis Reservoir from different angles. In the evening all my friends left to Sunnyvale and I've spent some time with my aunt's family in the evening at campground and we all came back to Sunnyvale at around 10:15 PM.

On Sunday, I've spent time with my Auburn friends Sista, Paruchuri, Suresh, Vamsi, Ramraj and Kalyan. Also Sista and Vamsi's better halves Sindhu and Sneha were also present. We all went to 17 Mile Drive at Pebble beach, CA and had a heck of a time there. All the time we were cracking jokes and having fun. We also made sure that Paruchuri had good photo shoot for his future planning :). We were all together till 12:00 AM next day, then said good bye to each other and parted our ways. It was a really memorable day.

I've got up early Monday morning and spent some time with my aunt's family and they left to LA around 10:30 AM. I ate my breakfast and then had a good sleep till 1:00 PM. At that time my friend called me up for lunch. I went to my friend's place had lunch and just spent the rest of my day relaxing.

After recollecting the whole long weekend, I thought that this is the best way for me to spend a long weekend, spend one day with relatives, other with friends and just chill on the final day.

So, all of you do think about your ideal way to spend a long weekend and relish doing it.