Our family took a vacation for spring break in April 2012 to Hawaiian Islands. We took Norwegian Cruise lines (Pride of America) that cruises to all the 4 big islands (Oahu, Maui, Big Island and Kauai). I am writing this blog after the cruise sitting in Honolulu airport in a garden of tropical plants under trees with sun shining down. Oh oh …. It started to drizzle now .. I am continuing to write, hoping the drizzle will fade away..
This is our first trip to Hawaii and it was a great way to see all the islands. We flew into Honolulu one day earlier than cruise start date. The day we landed we visited Pearl Harbor & USS Arizona memorial. If you are interested in USS Bowfin and USS Missouri, it takes minimum of 3 hrs. If you are visiting only USS Arizona memorial, allow for an hour to hour and half . Reserve the tickets ahead during holidays and weekend. Then we drove to Waikiki and checked into hotel. We walked around the beach in Waikiki and rested for the night. Next morning, we woke up early and drove to Hanauma Bay. Reached there by 8.00 AM. Plenty of parking .Rented snorkel gear and went snorkeling in the bay. It is a marine life preserve and you can see lots and lots of fish. It is my first time snorkeling. Great experience. I recommend going to this place for its beauty even though you are not into snorkeling. If you like to snorkel , don’t miss this place. We went back to the hotel, showered and drove back to airport to return the car and then checked in at the Cruise ship terminal to on board “Pride of America” . First day at Hawaii was awesome. I love the climate here. It drizzles and then sunshine and then drizzles. I am getting the hang of the weather here.
Once we are onboard the ship, we were so hungry, we had a bite to eat and then went to explore the cruise ship. We saw welcome on-board show where they described all the shore excursions and little bit of each island we will be visiting. Went back to the room and rested. Next day we got off the island of Maui( Valley Isle) . We rented a car here and drove around to a beach and saw the oldest banyan tress in Lahani . Beautiful place with beaches and restaurants. Jay did not want to go whale watching, so we went to see tropical plantations. On our way to tropical plantations, we stopped on the way to get some sugar cane juice and taste some local fruits. The tropical plantations were wonderful. On the ride, they show how to husk a coconut and you get to eat the great fruit which is very fresh. Jay ( my son) got to see most of these tropical plants for the first time and it amazed him on how many mangoes grow on one tree. After the plantation ride we went to Iao Valley where you can hike a little bit to see Iao Needle. This place was used as lookout for warriors when they were fighting. It is the highest point where they can see the bay and the valley . That ended our first day on Maui. We went back to the cruise ship and watched a show and had dinner and went to bed early as we have an early start next day.
The next day we went on Haleakala sunrise and biking down the volcano tour. We left the ship at 3.00 AM in the morning and the Mountain Riders tour bus picked us up and drove the top of Haleakala crater to see the sunrise. It is the most beautiful sunrise I have ever seen. It was pretty quick/short show. Bright red sun rising from the ocean, above the mountains. What a show the sun has put up that day. We were lucky to see the sunrise as there were no clouds. It was very windy and cold up there. Bundle up if you go there for sunrise any season you go. After the sun rise, the tour company took us past the visitor center to start the bike ride down the volcanic crater. It was 28 mile ride down the crater- all downhill and all the way to the beach. In between the ride we stopped for some pictures and breakfast . The guide narrated the history of the crater and Maui’s sugar plantation history. While we were biking down we saw a sugar plantation being burned to harvest the sugar cane. When we saw that, we thought that a Volcano was erupting. Guide told us not to worry , it is only a sugar plantation. The ride took us down the Haleakala mountain , into the town and past some horse ranches , sugar plantations and to the beach. Dress in layers for this trip as you pass through 4 seasons ( windy, freezing on the top, rain on the way, little cold like spring time and then hot as in summer as you get to the beach). This is the most expensive tour I have done on this vacation. Mountain riders are the only tour company that has 28 mile bike ride , other companies have 17 miles or so …. After the ride, we relaxed at the beach for some time and then headed back to the cruise ship. Had lunch and took rest for the rest of the afternoon. In the evening, we had dinner and saw a show on the cruise ship and played some games ( checkers, ping-pong ) and rested for the night.
Next day our stop was Hilo on the Big Island. We rented a car and visited Volcanoes National Park to see Kilauea volcano. It was a long drive. Once we are at the lookout, we can see the fire pit as well as Mauna Loa mountain which is the tallest mountain in the world. After that we hiked the crater rim trail to get to the lava tube and walked through the lava tube.
Later we drove on chain or craters road to see the sea arch. We drove almost to the sea level. When we were 2 miles away, Jay’s ear started to hurt because of drop of elevation, so we drove back up. We went to the Halemaumau Carter trail and hiked down to the crater and walked on the crater. You can see some cinder cones on the crater floor. The hike up is little hard. Go only if you have enough time. The trail loop is 4 miles and it takes 2-3 hrs. It is good hike and got a different perspective on how big the crater is when you go down there. Then we drove back to the ship as we had to onboard by 5:30 PM .
Next day our stop was Kona on Big Island. Kona is beautiful. We had to use tender boats to get to the pier as the water is shallow near the shore. Shallow waters means snorkeling….. Yaah ! Once on the pier , there is a small town on the pier and some beaches in walk able distance. We went parasailing with UFO parasailing tour company. On our ride to the sea for parasailing, we saw a pod of dolphins swimming next to our boat. Then Jay and myself went on 1000 ft high parasail with a free fall. It was an amazing experience, high up on the ocean and you can see all of Kona coast line. After that, we took a shuttle to turtle beach (20 mins drive ) and spend the rest of the afternoon at the beach snorkeling and looking for green sea turtles. The tide was very high by the time we went. Jay and Lakshman(my husband) saw a few . I did not see. We saw a lot of fish. As this is not a preserve, locals were catching fish .I felt very sorry for the fish. They were so beautiful with bright colors. They should preserve this location for turtles and fish and make it a tourist attraction. It is a great location with picnic tables, grass, sand and shallow waters to snorkel or go into high waves for surfing. After that we came back to the pier and went to local farmer’s market to taste some local fruit and buy some gifts. Great location. Had some Hawaiian shave ice and ate the best banana ever – locally grown apple banana . It is so sweet . Some papaya and mango. After that we headed back to the ship . Once on the ship learned how to make Kukui nut lei and went for a hula dance class . Then relaxed for some time and went to see a show and had dinner.
The next day we stopped on the Kauai, the garden Isle. We planned to do zip line here, but did not have enough time to do it. We drove to the north shore of the island to Kee Bay the north most point on the island where you can drive. On the way we stopped to see Wailua and Opaeka’a waterfalls . We hiked to the waterfalls down a beaten path. Beautiful locations and so serene. The way to Kee beach is so beautiful with trees all around and one lane bridges to cross. At this beach you can snorkel, but we decided to go to the beach which is accessible only through a 2 mile hike ( this trail if continued will lead to Na Pali coast -11 miles ) . We hiked almost a mile and then we returned as we did not have enough water. It is a treacherous hike the first 1 mile over the rocks, then it is little bit even. The trail maps show that it is the same terrain throughout the trail all the way to waterfalls (4 miles hike). Next time I am in Kauai, I want to do this hike. Then on our way back we stopped at Queens bath in Princeville. This setting must have been in many movies. Great secluded location with multiple waterfalls falling in into small ponds one below the other. Then the path led to the beach where the high tides, formed some big tide pools and the water is so clear , you can see all the fish without snorkeling , just standing there. We also saw 3-4 green sea turtles swimming in the ocean along with the tides. Spend some time watching few locals diving from the cliffs of the rocks there and drove back. On our way back we stopped at Po’ipu beach to see sprouting horn where the tides push the water through a hole and it sounds like a horn( like the blow hole in Ensenada) . We went back to the ship. Once on ship, learned ribbon lei making and saw a hula dance show . Had dinner and went o bed.
Final day on the garden Isle , we started off early in the morning and drove to Waimea Canyon ( Grand Canyon of the Pacific ). Very windy road. Great views of the canyon. Then on our way back we stopped at black sand beach . We had only few hours on the island that day , so needed to return the car and head back to the ship. As the ship sailed from Kauai, we passed by the Na Pali ( means Cliffs in Hawaiian) coast. One of the beautiful sights I have ever seen . So remote and pristine and jaw dropping.
You might have seen this setting in movies like King Kong , Perfect holiday… The Cruise director narrated the history of Na Pali coast. The trail to this coast is very rough (11 miles) and you need to carry water and food.
That was the final day on the cruise. Next day we headed back to Honolulu and headed back home. I felt the cruise is worth it if you want to see all the islands. Next time if I go to Hawaii islands, I will go to Kauai.
Sunday, August 19, 2012
Saturday, November 26, 2011
East Coast Trip -2011 Summer
New York, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Washington D.C. trip –summer 2011 (East Coast)
We planned for a 9 day trip to east coast in summer to cover 4 places. I will break down our visit by each place, so if you are visiting 1 of the places, it will be helpful for you.
New York (3 days) - Summer 2011
If you only have 3 days to visit New York , here are some must see places and itinerary that you can leverage if you want to see New York at your own pace and not going on a guided bus tour /package bus tour
Then we went to see Liberty Bell. It was amazing how there was 1 inch crack in the bell and read through the different displays on where the bell was and a movie on how the crack formed on the bell and restoration process. Then we went for our allocated time to visit Capitol. The guide was very knowledgeable and walked us though the Capitol where declaration was signed and decisions were made. After that we went for late lunch. We wanted to visit National Constitution Center, but did not have time. If you do have time, plan for 2 hrs at National Constitution Center which has lot of interactive displays on our constitution for all ages. Plan for 1 whole to see all 3 must places listed above with enough time to eat and rest in between.
Hershey Chocolate Factory & town Pennsylvania (1 day)
We stayed at Super8 hotel. It is 15-20 mins drive to Hershey factory, but good price and few restaurants around the hotel. All kids would love this trip.
We reached early to Hershey Chocolate factory and we took a package deal of 5 events - Really Big 3-D Show, Chocolate Tasting Adventure, The Trolley Works, Create Your Own Candy Bar, and The Great American Chocolate Tour. First, we went to the Really Big 3-D Show. It was a funny show telling how chocolate tastes really good. After the show, we went to the chocolate tasting adventure. We tasted 5 different types of Hershey chocolates mostly they were all great but with different ingredients. I learned a lot about chocolate, how to enjoy the taste of chocolate and what chocolates are good for health etc. After the tasting we went on 45 min trolley Works ride. The rise takes you around Hershey town and shows how Mr. Hershey created the town and what he builds. The guide and the driver are really funny with different costumes. After the Trolley Works we went for our 1 PM chocolate candy bar making. It was really fun that you could design your candy bar and have it made for you. You could even make the cover of your candy bar box. It was fun. After that making we went on the Great American Chocolate Tour. The tour was more of like a ride, not a lecture. The ride showed us how the chocolate bars and candy are made. It was a history ride (this is a free ride). If you don’t want to spend a lot of money, you can take the free Great American Chocolate tour and take the trolley works tour (12$/adult).
There is also Hershey theme park with huge rollercoaster’s and other rides. We spend a lot of time at the chocolate factory, did not have enough time to go to the theme park. Depending on the age of the kids, you can decide to spend as much as needed at one of the places. Plan for a whole day here, if you intend to go to both the factory and the theme park.
Washington D.C (3 days)
It is highly recommended that you need to plan way ahead to visit Washington and visit the places you want to visit. For White House visit, plan at least 6 months ahead. Write to your senator to arrange for a white house tour. The rest of the tours can be booked online within 4-6 weeks advance planning. I highly recommend reserving your tours online.
Day-1 We stayed at Best Western in Arlington. They have shuttle service to metro and metro gets you to D.C. downtown in 15-20 mins. If you have car, drive is only 10 or 15 mins. Since I did not reserve some of the tours online, I went early morning to stand in lines to get tickets for Bureau of Engraving and Printing and Washington Monument. Our first stop was Capitol Hill.
We went on the guided tour. After the tour, we went to see the US Capitol Museum. At the museum, there was a digital and virtual tour of the US Capitol. It was all very fun and interesting. After lunch, we went to the Supreme Court which is now a separate building close to Capitol Hill. They have lectures (talk about what the chief justices do etc…) in one of the court rooms. It is very grand and as we were talking to few guards and receptionist there, they explained the history of the Supreme Court. It has a spiral stair case where the steps are into the wall and it does not have any railing support. Next stop - Bureau of Engraving and Printing. This is the other side of capitol Mall. We got to see the printing of $ bills and also a little history about printing and ink. Lastly, we saw the Washington Monument. We took the elevator up to the 500 ft point of the Monument. It was a great view of White House, the Jefferson Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, and the US Capitol on each side of the monument. You should not miss this view.
We planned for a 9 day trip to east coast in summer to cover 4 places. I will break down our visit by each place, so if you are visiting 1 of the places, it will be helpful for you.
New York (3 days) - Summer 2011
If you only have 3 days to visit New York , here are some must see places and itinerary that you can leverage if you want to see New York at your own pace and not going on a guided bus tour /package bus tour
Day1 - We arrived at JFK airport early morning and took the subway to hotel (Days Inn) in upper West Side. This hotel is very accessible to subway -2 blocks walking and lot of restaurants and fast food chains around in case you come back to hotel and still hungry. Great location and great prices too. That was our first time using subway in New York City and it was not hard to find which subway train to take where. The map was easy to understand. I don’t usually use public transportation in California, so if I can do it in New York City you can do. It is fun to be on subway and observe New Yorkers as they go on with their daily lives. From the hotel, we walked few blocks to central park on 92nd street and spend some time in central park walking, eating and strolling through the park and relaxing on the big rocks. It is a beautiful park. Must spend some time at this place. Great place to relax. Then we came out of the park at 86th street and caught a subway train to Times Square. 
We walked through time square looking in all directions to take in the view. Awesome! Awesome! We then started to relate the places to what we see on TV on New Year’s Eve. We went into different shops in Times Square. We had lunch at one of the Italian Pizza places in Times Square and met up with my school friends and families at Bryant Park. After few hours with my friends, we walked few blocks from Bryant Park to see Empire State building. We took a package deal out Empire state building for the 3D show and to lift ticket to get to the top of the building. The 3D show is not that great. I recommend buying the tickets to the top of the Empire state building online and save few bucks and also wait time to buy tickets there. We went to the very top of the Empire State building, level 98. It was an amazing view of New York City from Empire State
Building. It lights up in the night with different themes every night. We did not have enough time to cover Rock Feller Center, but if you do have time visit Rock Feller too. You don’t need to go up at Rock Feller if you have gone up Empire State Building for the view.
Day 2 – We decided to spend some time at New York’s best Museums & Financial District and Brooklyn Bridge. We went to Metropolitan Museum of Art. It was a 15 min walk from hotel through central park. It is a must see 
museum with arts from different cultures around the world for contemporary to modern art, photography, glass art etc. I bought tickets online. If you don’t have a lot of time to spend at the museum, take 1 hr museum highlights tour, it is worth it. You need minimum of 4-5 hrs to cover the museum on your own. We took the tour and spend another 1-2 hrs on our own going back to the galleries that we liked on the tour. We had lunch on our way to United Nations. The tours are booked way in advance. If you are interested to see what happens inside United Nations building, book the tour online. We could not get a tour as all tours are booked. If you haven’t booked online, if you come in early at 8.00 AM, you may get a time for tour that day. We walked around the open gallery in UN for some time and walked to Grand Central station. Grand Central is Grand! My son started to compare it to Madagascar movie.
We took the subway to Financial District. We walked through Wall Street, the only road in New
York made of bricks we took some pictures of trinity church, NYSE and the charging bull outside bowling Lawn. This bull & Bowling Lawn were used in the movie “Sorcerer’s Apprentice.” We sat at Bowling Lawn for some time and walked along the coast seeing Brooklyn Bridge all the way. By the time we reached the starting point of Brooklyn Bridge we were so tired, so we did not walk across the bridge. Recommend taking subway to the starting point of Brooklyn Bridge, if you plan to walk across the bridge.
We took subway to Times Square, as we wanted to see the place during night time with all the lights and have a great dinner. If you are into Broadway shows, catch a show in Times Square.
museum with arts from different cultures around the world for contemporary to modern art, photography, glass art etc. I bought tickets online. If you don’t have a lot of time to spend at the museum, take 1 hr museum highlights tour, it is worth it. You need minimum of 4-5 hrs to cover the museum on your own. We took the tour and spend another 1-2 hrs on our own going back to the galleries that we liked on the tour. We had lunch on our way to United Nations. The tours are booked way in advance. If you are interested to see what happens inside United Nations building, book the tour online. We could not get a tour as all tours are booked. If you haven’t booked online, if you come in early at 8.00 AM, you may get a time for tour that day. We walked around the open gallery in UN for some time and walked to Grand Central station. Grand Central is Grand! My son started to compare it to Madagascar movie.We took the subway to Financial District. We walked through Wall Street, the only road in New
York made of bricks we took some pictures of trinity church, NYSE and the charging bull outside bowling Lawn. This bull & Bowling Lawn were used in the movie “Sorcerer’s Apprentice.” We sat at Bowling Lawn for some time and walked along the coast seeing Brooklyn Bridge all the way. By the time we reached the starting point of Brooklyn Bridge we were so tired, so we did not walk across the bridge. Recommend taking subway to the starting point of Brooklyn Bridge, if you plan to walk across the bridge.We took subway to Times Square, as we wanted to see the place during night time with all the lights and have a great dinner. If you are into Broadway shows, catch a show in Times Square.
Day 3 – We cannot leave New York without seeing Statute of Liberty & Ellis Island. I did not plan ahead, so I could not get Statue of Liberty Pedestal tickets online. One of my friends told me that at New Jersey port; usually you get the Pedestal tickets, so we went to New Jersey Port to take the Statue Cruises to Statue of Liberty and Ellis Islands. It is worth it. Pedestal ticket gives you access to SOL muse
um and you can climb up to the Pedestal of the statute. IF you want to go up to the Crown, plan ahead as those tickets get sold out 6 months in advance. On Ellis Island there was a museum about how foreigners immigrated to America for a new & better life. We watched a 30-minute movie about immigration and take a tour where the guide explains what happened during those times. I participated in one of the scenes as an interviewer of the immigrants and it was fun. Then we went to Liberty Island, we saw the museum and climbed 156 steps to the pedestal. It was a great view from the pedestal. We could see the entire New York City skyline. It was a breathtaking view. After we got down, we ate pizza for lunch. We then boarded our cruise back to New Jersey’s port. Allocate a least 4 hrs for this trip. We spend almost 6 hrs on both islands combined.
Philadelphia (1 day)
We took a bus from China town (NY) to Philadelphia. It is only 12$/person round trip. We first went to visitor’s center and took a time slot for guided tour of our first capitol where declaration of independence was signed. We spend some time seeing all the displays in visitor center and there is a movie at Visitor center about Philadelphia when it was declared as first capitol of this country.
um and you can climb up to the Pedestal of the statute. IF you want to go up to the Crown, plan ahead as those tickets get sold out 6 months in advance. On Ellis Island there was a museum about how foreigners immigrated to America for a new & better life. We watched a 30-minute movie about immigration and take a tour where the guide explains what happened during those times. I participated in one of the scenes as an interviewer of the immigrants and it was fun. Then we went to Liberty Island, we saw the museum and climbed 156 steps to the pedestal. It was a great view from the pedestal. We could see the entire New York City skyline. It was a breathtaking view. After we got down, we ate pizza for lunch. We then boarded our cruise back to New Jersey’s port. Allocate a least 4 hrs for this trip. We spend almost 6 hrs on both islands combined.Philadelphia (1 day)
We took a bus from China town (NY) to Philadelphia. It is only 12$/person round trip. We first went to visitor’s center and took a time slot for guided tour of our first capitol where declaration of independence was signed. We spend some time seeing all the displays in visitor center and there is a movie at Visitor center about Philadelphia when it was declared as first capitol of this country.
Then we went to see Liberty Bell. It was amazing how there was 1 inch crack in the bell and read through the different displays on where the bell was and a movie on how the crack formed on the bell and restoration process. Then we went for our allocated time to visit Capitol. The guide was very knowledgeable and walked us though the Capitol where declaration was signed and decisions were made. After that we went for late lunch. We wanted to visit National Constitution Center, but did not have time. If you do have time, plan for 2 hrs at National Constitution Center which has lot of interactive displays on our constitution for all ages. Plan for 1 whole to see all 3 must places listed above with enough time to eat and rest in between.Hershey Chocolate Factory & town Pennsylvania (1 day)
We stayed at Super8 hotel. It is 15-20 mins drive to Hershey factory, but good price and few restaurants around the hotel. All kids would love this trip.
We reached early to Hershey Chocolate factory and we took a package deal of 5 events - Really Big 3-D Show, Chocolate Tasting Adventure, The Trolley Works, Create Your Own Candy Bar, and The Great American Chocolate Tour. First, we went to the Really Big 3-D Show. It was a funny show telling how chocolate tastes really good. After the show, we went to the chocolate tasting adventure. We tasted 5 different types of Hershey chocolates mostly they were all great but with different ingredients. I learned a lot about chocolate, how to enjoy the taste of chocolate and what chocolates are good for health etc. After the tasting we went on 45 min trolley Works ride. The rise takes you around Hershey town and shows how Mr. Hershey created the town and what he builds. The guide and the driver are really funny with different costumes. After the Trolley Works we went for our 1 PM chocolate candy bar making. It was really fun that you could design your candy bar and have it made for you. You could even make the cover of your candy bar box. It was fun. After that making we went on the Great American Chocolate Tour. The tour was more of like a ride, not a lecture. The ride showed us how the chocolate bars and candy are made. It was a history ride (this is a free ride). If you don’t want to spend a lot of money, you can take the free Great American Chocolate tour and take the trolley works tour (12$/adult).There is also Hershey theme park with huge rollercoaster’s and other rides. We spend a lot of time at the chocolate factory, did not have enough time to go to the theme park. Depending on the age of the kids, you can decide to spend as much as needed at one of the places. Plan for a whole day here, if you intend to go to both the factory and the theme park.
Washington D.C (3 days)
It is highly recommended that you need to plan way ahead to visit Washington and visit the places you want to visit. For White House visit, plan at least 6 months ahead. Write to your senator to arrange for a white house tour. The rest of the tours can be booked online within 4-6 weeks advance planning. I highly recommend reserving your tours online.
Day-1 We stayed at Best Western in Arlington. They have shuttle service to metro and metro gets you to D.C. downtown in 15-20 mins. If you have car, drive is only 10 or 15 mins. Since I did not reserve some of the tours online, I went early morning to stand in lines to get tickets for Bureau of Engraving and Printing and Washington Monument. Our first stop was Capitol Hill.
We went on the guided tour. After the tour, we went to see the US Capitol Museum. At the museum, there was a digital and virtual tour of the US Capitol. It was all very fun and interesting. After lunch, we went to the Supreme Court which is now a separate building close to Capitol Hill. They have lectures (talk about what the chief justices do etc…) in one of the court rooms. It is very grand and as we were talking to few guards and receptionist there, they explained the history of the Supreme Court. It has a spiral stair case where the steps are into the wall and it does not have any railing support. Next stop - Bureau of Engraving and Printing. This is the other side of capitol Mall. We got to see the printing of $ bills and also a little history about printing and ink. Lastly, we saw the Washington Monument. We took the elevator up to the 500 ft point of the Monument. It was a great view of White House, the Jefferson Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, and the US Capitol on each side of the monument. You should not miss this view.Day-2
Today we planned to visit White house and National Air Space Museum. We did not have tickets to White house guided tour, so we visited White House Visitor Center for a virtual tour of the White House.
There is a movie about how the white house looked from inside and what the rooms are used for. Also there are few guided ranger programs (fun ones) that take the little ones and you around the white house outdoor areas. From there we walked a few blocks to see White house from outside. It was very hot and sweaty, so we walked to where we can see the white house and did not go further closer to the white house. We were lucky to see the president come to the White House in his limo. Then we drove to National Air and Space Museum. As we did not have a lot of time to see the museum, we took a tour of the whole museum. It was supposed to be a one-and-a-half tour, but it ended up to be almost three hours! We were surprised that it was almost three hours instead of the original time. Our tour guide told us the history of aircraft from beginning to the present day. After lunch kids saw IMAX 3-D film called “LEGENDS OF FLIGHTS”. It was awesome! The movie described how airplanes were made by Boeing. It is a museum to visit if you are interested in aviation history and you need at least 1/2 day to go through the museum in detail. After a long day, we went back to hotel and swam in the pool for some time and relaxed.
Today we planned to visit White house and National Air Space Museum. We did not have tickets to White house guided tour, so we visited White House Visitor Center for a virtual tour of the White House.
There is a movie about how the white house looked from inside and what the rooms are used for. Also there are few guided ranger programs (fun ones) that take the little ones and you around the white house outdoor areas. From there we walked a few blocks to see White house from outside. It was very hot and sweaty, so we walked to where we can see the white house and did not go further closer to the white house. We were lucky to see the president come to the White House in his limo. Then we drove to National Air and Space Museum. As we did not have a lot of time to see the museum, we took a tour of the whole museum. It was supposed to be a one-and-a-half tour, but it ended up to be almost three hours! We were surprised that it was almost three hours instead of the original time. Our tour guide told us the history of aircraft from beginning to the present day. After lunch kids saw IMAX 3-D film called “LEGENDS OF FLIGHTS”. It was awesome! The movie described how airplanes were made by Boeing. It is a museum to visit if you are interested in aviation history and you need at least 1/2 day to go through the museum in detail. After a long day, we went back to hotel and swam in the pool for some time and relaxed.Day-3
Last day at Washington and there is lot more to cover. We know we have to come back again to see the rest of the places. Few we wanted to cover today are National Archives Museum, Spy Museum, Natural Museum of History and Monuments. First we visited National archives museum. We did not have timed entry tickets, so we waited at the entrance at 8.00 AM, doors open at 9.00 AM and we were able to get in and see the original Bill of Rights, Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution without any wait time. The writing had faded over 200 years and very hard to read and I got goose bumps seeing the original documents and in the dome where the documents are there are paintings of our fore fathers and there is a clue hidden in the paintings. It was fun trying to find the answer, not going to give it away here. You have to visit to find out for yourselves. Then we went to the Museum of Natural History. It was ok, did not spend a lot of time at the museum. Walked through the different eras of evolution. Spend some time in gems section where they had the hope diamond worth 54.12 karats and amazed at different crystals and their colors. After lunch Jay (my son) wanted to see International Spy Museum. You need to pay to visit this museum as it is not part of Smithsonian museums. If you are interested in this museum, buy timed entry tickets online. We waited in line for 30 mins to get tickets and 30 mins in line to get into the museum. In the museum you had a spy challenge. You were supposed to be an undercover with a whole another identity. If you could complete the challenge you got a prize. They also have 007 car with all gadgets on display too. The spy stuff from cold war era to modern era and who the spy industry has evolved. IT will take 4-5 hrs in the museum. This museum is not for little ones below 7 or even 10, IT is very crowded and not enough space for all those people. From the museum,
we took taxi to see Lincoln memorial. Lincoln statue is huge when you see it that close. He is 60 feet tall sitting in his chair. You could see the Washington Monument and the reflecting pool, it was a great view. There is ranger lecture on Lincoln memorial and what happened there at 6.00 PM. As we did not want to wait for an hr, we left. There is cell phone guided tour and you can hear it at your own pace. Then we walked through the reflection pool to veteran’s memorial and spend some time sitting there until our ride arrived.
Last day at Washington and there is lot more to cover. We know we have to come back again to see the rest of the places. Few we wanted to cover today are National Archives Museum, Spy Museum, Natural Museum of History and Monuments. First we visited National archives museum. We did not have timed entry tickets, so we waited at the entrance at 8.00 AM, doors open at 9.00 AM and we were able to get in and see the original Bill of Rights, Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution without any wait time. The writing had faded over 200 years and very hard to read and I got goose bumps seeing the original documents and in the dome where the documents are there are paintings of our fore fathers and there is a clue hidden in the paintings. It was fun trying to find the answer, not going to give it away here. You have to visit to find out for yourselves. Then we went to the Museum of Natural History. It was ok, did not spend a lot of time at the museum. Walked through the different eras of evolution. Spend some time in gems section where they had the hope diamond worth 54.12 karats and amazed at different crystals and their colors. After lunch Jay (my son) wanted to see International Spy Museum. You need to pay to visit this museum as it is not part of Smithsonian museums. If you are interested in this museum, buy timed entry tickets online. We waited in line for 30 mins to get tickets and 30 mins in line to get into the museum. In the museum you had a spy challenge. You were supposed to be an undercover with a whole another identity. If you could complete the challenge you got a prize. They also have 007 car with all gadgets on display too. The spy stuff from cold war era to modern era and who the spy industry has evolved. IT will take 4-5 hrs in the museum. This museum is not for little ones below 7 or even 10, IT is very crowded and not enough space for all those people. From the museum,
we took taxi to see Lincoln memorial. Lincoln statue is huge when you see it that close. He is 60 feet tall sitting in his chair. You could see the Washington Monument and the reflecting pool, it was a great view. There is ranger lecture on Lincoln memorial and what happened there at 6.00 PM. As we did not want to wait for an hr, we left. There is cell phone guided tour and you can hear it at your own pace. Then we walked through the reflection pool to veteran’s memorial and spend some time sitting there until our ride arrived.Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Palm Springs trip May 2011
5/27/11
We drove to Los Angeles the previous day from San Jose and stayed at Days inn. On 27th we drove all the way from LA to Palm Springs which took about two hours, so we arrived there around noon. On our way we stopped at the visitor center to get information & maps. We drove to Best Western Resort at Palm Dessert to check in early if possible. We were allowed to check-in early. Great Resort – Swimming pool, tennis courts and great breakfast. We had our lunch at Panda Express and during lunch we decided to go to Joshua Tree national Park for the rest of the day. It was pretty hot.
We drove almost 83 miles to get to Joshua Tree National Park. It was worth the drive. On our way to went through the windmill farm. It was very windy. When my husband opened the car door to take a picture the wind was so strong it felt like the car door opened wide and flew away. Don’t try to do that …
We drove to Los Angeles the previous day from San Jose and stayed at Days inn. On 27th we drove all the way from LA to Palm Springs which took about two hours, so we arrived there around noon. On our way we stopped at the visitor center to get information & maps. We drove to Best Western Resort at Palm Dessert to check in early if possible. We were allowed to check-in early. Great Resort – Swimming pool, tennis courts and great breakfast. We had our lunch at Panda Express and during lunch we decided to go to Joshua Tree national Park for the rest of the day. It was pretty hot.
We drove almost 83 miles to get to Joshua Tree National Park. It was worth the drive. On our way to went through the windmill farm. It was very windy. When my husband opened the car door to take a picture the wind was so strong it felt like the car door opened wide and flew away. Don’t try to do that …
We got to the Joshua Tree National park visitor center and found out what were the best places to visit inside the park. There camp grounds are pretty full for Memorial Day weekend. There are lots of places to see inside the park. We climbed up few rocks at arch stone and had fun . The shape of the rock is really an arch and it is huge. The park is full of Joshua trees. It is amazing as you are driving, the view of so many Joshua trees in a arid climate make you wonder if you are in desert. It is amazing how these trees grow with such little or no rainfall. The biggest attraction was Keys View.
It was a place where you could see the entire desert and where the San Andreas Fault line goes through the desert and Salton sea all the way to Mexican border if there is no haze. It was an amazing view. From there we went on a trial called Lost Horse Mine trail . The map showed it is a 2 mile hike to the mine. We thought it would take 1 hr to the mine and 1 hr back. As we hiked for 45 mins,, we could not see the mine in sight. There are no trail signs , so we did not know if we were lost on lost horse mine trail and I was running out of water, so we turned back. Make sure you have enough water when you hiking on these trials on the park . We then drove to Barker Dam visitor point and took the interpretive trail which told the history of how the people there got water long time back, plants that grew there and how they were used by native Indians. By the time we finished it was like 7:00 pm and we were very tired. It is a great place to see a different landscape. We ate at Mc Donald at Palm Springs and drove back to the hotel for the night. 5/28/11
Today we went to the most popular attraction of Palm Springs, Aerial Tramway. We left the hotel around 8:30am and took a 30 minute drive to the San Jacinto Mountain. By the time we got to the parking lot we were at 1,700ft above sea level. There is shuttle bus from parking area to the entrance and there we were 2,500ft above sea level. There were two trams – each in opposite direction going up the mountain. When you get the tickets, they give you the time of the boarding. We waited for 30 mins before we were able to board. Go early in the morning at 8.00 AM, there is no wait time. It is a 10 minute ride to the top. It was an awesome ride The tram floor moves 360 degrees. By the time we got to the top of the mountain, we were like 6,000 feet above sea level. The view was spectacular. You could see the entire valley and the desert. At the top of the mountain there were trails to go on. We decided to go on two trails there, which are the nature trail and the desert view trail. I recommend these trails for visitors. We ate lunch up there during the hike. The views on the dessert view trail are awesome. Take lots of water. Watched for some birds along the river there. 
If you want to go on high intensity trails, you need to check-in at the ranger station and take a permit. There great camping grounds up there and they also need permits.
We hiked back to the tram station and went up to the observatory deck and there is a history about the valley along with the views. The reason why Coachella Valley doesn’t get rain is because the clouds that come from the Pacific Ocean aren’t able to pass these mountains ( these mountains raised due to San Andreas fault ) and dump all the rain on the mountain By the time we got back down it was 4:00 pm. We then decided to go shopping in Palm Springs downtown on Palm Canyons Drive. We ate dates ice cream and guava ice cream - very unique flavors. We went to Rancho Mirage “The River” - P.F. Changs for dinner. It was a really good Chinese restaurant.
5/29/11
We decided to visit the Sea below the sea level - Salton Sea. A sea like no other. We left early morning and it is an hour drive to the sea from Palm Dessert. You can drive up to the beach. The beach smells dead fish. There where so many dead fish lying ashore because of sudden drop in temperature of the sea this winter. At the museum you can view and learn the history on how Salton Sea was formed. The Sea dried up as Hoover dam was build and Colorado river dried up before it reached Salton Sea. Then there was overflow from near by lands and floods from other rivers that again flooded the water to Salton Sea as it is the lowest level – lower than sea level. The water in Salton Sea evaporated and left the salt behind making the water more saltier. The sea is about 47 feet deep today. 
From there we went to some Mud Volcanoes. The geo thermal activity under the earth’s crust is pushing the mud out and creating mud Volcanoes at Niland. There a electric company there where electricity is made from geo thermal activity .. We also saw the Salvation Mountain. It was a mountain with paint all over it and told how one man in 1870’s dedicated his art as a monument to his 
god. By the time we finished we were 83 miles away from Palm Springs. We drove all the way back to Palm Springs and ate lunch.After lunch we went to a Thousand Palms, which is a city north of Palm Springs. Over there are big giant fan palms that took years to grow. Thousand Palms park is San Andreas fault. There is oasis formed in the middle of dessert because of the water from underground coming out of the fractures of San Andreas fault. We took the trail to Maclean Pond, It is round trip of 1 hr .
We walked on the San Andreas Fault Line to get the pond. The pond was clear and amazing to see it in middle of dessert . It was amazing in two ways. Walking on the San Andreas Fault Line and seeing giant palms above you. It was a good nature trail hike though. 
The park closes at 6.00 PM sharp .. After that we met with some friends from LA and chatted for couple of hours and then went back to hotel.. We ate at Applebee’s that night and slept for the night. Palm Springs was a really great adventure and vacation. Thursday, July 15, 2010
Yosemite trip
June 25th 2010
To sum up Yosemite in one sentence - Great hiking trails, biking trails, horse riding, and beautiful waterfalls, picture perfect, star filled sky with mountains all around you. I cannot describe in words. There is something to do for everyone (Adventurer, Lay back and relax, fun)
We went to Yosemite along with our neighbors. It is 4 hrs drive from San Jose . We reached Yosemite around 9.30 PM on Friday. By the time we carried all our stuff from the car to the tent in Curry village and got settled it was 10:30 PM and we went to bed for a good night rest. Recommend reaching their before it gets dark , so you can take your time to settle in and have dinner at Curry Village pavilion. Curry Village tents have very basic amenities – Towels, beds and blankets. All food and toiletries need to be stored in bear boxes outside the tent. No eating or drinking allowed in the tent. I should say they designed the village very well hidden away in all those trees. Except that the tents are too close each other they are perfect for Yosemite trip. We had shared bath rooms.
Mist Trail - Vernal falls
Next day, bright and early we explored around the curry village on our bikes, had breakfast and saw a show on Yosemite natural wonders and history by the rangers at the curry village pavilion. Once our friends woke up, we got ready to go for a hike to Vernal falls. We took a shuttle from curry village to Vernal falls trail head. It is a beautiful hike all the way to Bridge. Once we reached the bridge, it is amazing to hear the power of water flowing under the bridge from Vernal falls. You can see Vernal falls from the bridge. We took some rest at the bridge and started to go up the mist trail. I have read in books and heard from my friends at work that you will get wet on this trail. So I was prepared with poncho’s for kids and did not expect to get totally drenched. Depending on which time to go to Yosemite the mist intensity varies. End of spring, beginning summer the water falls are full and expect to be totally drenched.
There is an alternate route to get to Vernal falls through John Muir trail , but you miss the view of the falls all the way and it is longer route. I loved to go up the mist trail. After certain point on the trail, you need to climb up the steps. They are sometimes slippery – watch out. By the time we reached to the top of the Vernal falls even though all wet, it is totally worth it. The first thought on my mind when I reached the top is - Is this how heaven looks like? It is so wonderful . Water falls from Nevada falls ( one level above Vernal falls) , Emerald lake, flow of water, beaches , Of course the Vernal falls. We spend some time eating lunch. Please pack your lunch and snacks for this hike. Totally it took us 5-6 hrs to the complete hike with pit stops, lunch breaks and fun at the water. It is a total of 4 hrs hike( one way through mist trail and the other way through john Muir trail) if you hike without stopping. On our way back we took John Muir trail to come back. You can choose to go to Nevada falls if you are interested from here. This trail has lot of switch backs and very long trail compared to mist trail. Horses are allowed on John Muir trail, so you will see lot of horse poop on the trail and it stings too. If I do this trail again, I will go and come back on mist trail only.
Once we reached the village, I really needed to clean up. Had a nice shower and then headed out for dinner on our bikes. We went to Yosemite village, unfortunately the deli there is closed as we went late. So we had Pizza for dinner and brought the leftovers for tomorrow’s lunch. Very exhausted.. Ate Ice cream for dessert at Curry village pavilion and played few board games and slept.
Taft Point hike - Glacier point - Yosemite falls
The next day, our friends slept in. So we went to venture on our own. We woke up and left early. We visited Bridal Veil falls. The trail is only 0.5 miles. Easy hike. Recommended for families with small kids.
From there we started to go to glacier point. On the way we stopped to admire the tunnel view of Yosemite. Splendid. Words cannot describe it. Then we headed to Taft point and fissures hike. This is on your way to Glacier point. Parking is very limited, so parked on the side of the road. This hike takes you through the forest, meadow to the edge of the mountain. It is not a strenuous hike. The final climb at Taft point is little work and it is not a long distance. The fissures in the rock are so deep that you can see the valley below you.
The view from Taft point is a bird’s eye view of Yosemite. There is a overhanging rock at Taft point. If you stand on it you are standing on a hanging rock nothing but air under it. You have to experience it , cannot describe the feeling. We had the cold pizza we packed yesterday for lunch at Taft point and went back on the trail. At the beginning of the trail you will find marble stone that was deposited many many years ago. I heard that this is the only place in Yosemite you will find marble stone.
Once we reached the trail head, we debated if we should go on Centennial dome hike. I was up for it. Jay ( My son) was so tired, so we skipped it and headed to glacier point. Glacier point is a visitor spot. It is overcrowded and we made few circles before we got parking here. Recommend going here after 3.00 PM , you will find parking easily. They have a snack shop and water available here. From glacier point you can see all the wonderful places of Yosemite ( ¼ of the park ) – Yosemite falls, Vernal falls, Bridal Veil falls, Half dome , Curry village, Yosemite village, mirror lake etc.. After took in the nature and its beauty we went to see the archeology center which describes how Yosemite was formed and how it looked from ice age to now. Great history. On our way back, we made a stop at snack shop. It was very hot that day. We had water and water all the way that day. From glacier point we headed back to curry village. You can also hike back from Glacier point to curry village. It is a 4 mike trail. ( did not attempt it, but heard it is beautiful trail). We took our bikes and biked to Yosemite falls.
The biking trails are great in the valley. You can go anywhere in the valley on your bikes. If you are flying in , they rent bikes at curry village pavilion.
We parked our bikes there and hiked to see the Yosemite falls . This is a easy hike. Yosemite falls has lower and upper falls. Upper falls is a long hike. Then we headed back to the village, showered and had dinner at curry village pavilion. We had burgers and fries for dinner. After dinner Jay, his friend Adi and I went biking to Yosemite village and came back. Lots and lots to do even in night. The other adults saw a movie where they showed the fire fall in 1964 and why it was stopped etc.. Then we played gestures game for couple of times and went to bed. There are lot of mosquitoes in the valley. Get lot of mosquito repellents.
Horse back riding and mirror lake
Next morning Jay and Adi went horseback riding ( half day trip) . I made the reservations ahead of time. Recommended to make reservations ahead of time for 2 hr rides as those fill up fast. While my husband dropped the boys, I packed up and was ready to go exploring a little bit more. Once Lakshman is back, Lakshman and I took our bikes and went to mirror lake. You can bike all the way to mirror lake on the trail. Then we were trying to find half dome and other shadows in the mirror lake. You can see the shadows very clearly in the lake. Then we hiked trail around the lake to see the rock slide. This trail will lead to the stables. We went 2 miles on the trail and headed back as we need to pack and leave by 11.00 AM . Mirror lake is now becoming a mirror meadow as more rock slide comes down every spring . Take great pictures when you are there as it may not last for long.
We picked up the boys from stables and then off we are on our way back. On our way back I was disappointed that I did not see a bear in Yosemite. Then as we heading to the entrance , we saw a bear in the meadow taking a nap. I was so thrilled.
I will be back to Yosemite to hike the half dome. That is my goal .
To sum up Yosemite in one sentence - Great hiking trails, biking trails, horse riding, and beautiful waterfalls, picture perfect, star filled sky with mountains all around you. I cannot describe in words. There is something to do for everyone (Adventurer, Lay back and relax, fun)
We went to Yosemite along with our neighbors. It is 4 hrs drive from San Jose . We reached Yosemite around 9.30 PM on Friday. By the time we carried all our stuff from the car to the tent in Curry village and got settled it was 10:30 PM and we went to bed for a good night rest. Recommend reaching their before it gets dark , so you can take your time to settle in and have dinner at Curry Village pavilion. Curry Village tents have very basic amenities – Towels, beds and blankets. All food and toiletries need to be stored in bear boxes outside the tent. No eating or drinking allowed in the tent. I should say they designed the village very well hidden away in all those trees. Except that the tents are too close each other they are perfect for Yosemite trip. We had shared bath rooms.
Mist Trail - Vernal falls
Next day, bright and early we explored around the curry village on our bikes, had breakfast and saw a show on Yosemite natural wonders and history by the rangers at the curry village pavilion. Once our friends woke up, we got ready to go for a hike to Vernal falls. We took a shuttle from curry village to Vernal falls trail head. It is a beautiful hike all the way to Bridge. Once we reached the bridge, it is amazing to hear the power of water flowing under the bridge from Vernal falls. You can see Vernal falls from the bridge. We took some rest at the bridge and started to go up the mist trail. I have read in books and heard from my friends at work that you will get wet on this trail. So I was prepared with poncho’s for kids and did not expect to get totally drenched. Depending on which time to go to Yosemite the mist intensity varies. End of spring, beginning summer the water falls are full and expect to be totally drenched.
There is an alternate route to get to Vernal falls through John Muir trail , but you miss the view of the falls all the way and it is longer route. I loved to go up the mist trail. After certain point on the trail, you need to climb up the steps. They are sometimes slippery – watch out. By the time we reached to the top of the Vernal falls even though all wet, it is totally worth it. The first thought on my mind when I reached the top is - Is this how heaven looks like? It is so wonderful . Water falls from Nevada falls ( one level above Vernal falls) , Emerald lake, flow of water, beaches , Of course the Vernal falls. We spend some time eating lunch. Please pack your lunch and snacks for this hike. Totally it took us 5-6 hrs to the complete hike with pit stops, lunch breaks and fun at the water. It is a total of 4 hrs hike( one way through mist trail and the other way through john Muir trail) if you hike without stopping. On our way back we took John Muir trail to come back. You can choose to go to Nevada falls if you are interested from here. This trail has lot of switch backs and very long trail compared to mist trail. Horses are allowed on John Muir trail, so you will see lot of horse poop on the trail and it stings too. If I do this trail again, I will go and come back on mist trail only.Once we reached the village, I really needed to clean up. Had a nice shower and then headed out for dinner on our bikes. We went to Yosemite village, unfortunately the deli there is closed as we went late. So we had Pizza for dinner and brought the leftovers for tomorrow’s lunch. Very exhausted.. Ate Ice cream for dessert at Curry village pavilion and played few board games and slept.
Taft Point hike - Glacier point - Yosemite falls
The next day, our friends slept in. So we went to venture on our own. We woke up and left early. We visited Bridal Veil falls. The trail is only 0.5 miles. Easy hike. Recommended for families with small kids.
From there we started to go to glacier point. On the way we stopped to admire the tunnel view of Yosemite. Splendid. Words cannot describe it. Then we headed to Taft point and fissures hike. This is on your way to Glacier point. Parking is very limited, so parked on the side of the road. This hike takes you through the forest, meadow to the edge of the mountain. It is not a strenuous hike. The final climb at Taft point is little work and it is not a long distance. The fissures in the rock are so deep that you can see the valley below you.
The view from Taft point is a bird’s eye view of Yosemite. There is a overhanging rock at Taft point. If you stand on it you are standing on a hanging rock nothing but air under it. You have to experience it , cannot describe the feeling. We had the cold pizza we packed yesterday for lunch at Taft point and went back on the trail. At the beginning of the trail you will find marble stone that was deposited many many years ago. I heard that this is the only place in Yosemite you will find marble stone.Once we reached the trail head, we debated if we should go on Centennial dome hike. I was up for it. Jay ( My son) was so tired, so we skipped it and headed to glacier point. Glacier point is a visitor spot. It is overcrowded and we made few circles before we got parking here. Recommend going here after 3.00 PM , you will find parking easily. They have a snack shop and water available here. From glacier point you can see all the wonderful places of Yosemite ( ¼ of the park ) – Yosemite falls, Vernal falls, Bridal Veil falls, Half dome , Curry village, Yosemite village, mirror lake etc.. After took in the nature and its beauty we went to see the archeology center which describes how Yosemite was formed and how it looked from ice age to now. Great history. On our way back, we made a stop at snack shop. It was very hot that day. We had water and water all the way that day. From glacier point we headed back to curry village. You can also hike back from Glacier point to curry village. It is a 4 mike trail. ( did not attempt it, but heard it is beautiful trail). We took our bikes and biked to Yosemite falls.
The biking trails are great in the valley. You can go anywhere in the valley on your bikes. If you are flying in , they rent bikes at curry village pavilion.We parked our bikes there and hiked to see the Yosemite falls . This is a easy hike. Yosemite falls has lower and upper falls. Upper falls is a long hike. Then we headed back to the village, showered and had dinner at curry village pavilion. We had burgers and fries for dinner. After dinner Jay, his friend Adi and I went biking to Yosemite village and came back. Lots and lots to do even in night. The other adults saw a movie where they showed the fire fall in 1964 and why it was stopped etc.. Then we played gestures game for couple of times and went to bed. There are lot of mosquitoes in the valley. Get lot of mosquito repellents.
Horse back riding and mirror lake
Next morning Jay and Adi went horseback riding ( half day trip) . I made the reservations ahead of time. Recommended to make reservations ahead of time for 2 hr rides as those fill up fast. While my husband dropped the boys, I packed up and was ready to go exploring a little bit more. Once Lakshman is back, Lakshman and I took our bikes and went to mirror lake. You can bike all the way to mirror lake on the trail. Then we were trying to find half dome and other shadows in the mirror lake. You can see the shadows very clearly in the lake. Then we hiked trail around the lake to see the rock slide. This trail will lead to the stables. We went 2 miles on the trail and headed back as we need to pack and leave by 11.00 AM . Mirror lake is now becoming a mirror meadow as more rock slide comes down every spring . Take great pictures when you are there as it may not last for long.
We picked up the boys from stables and then off we are on our way back. On our way back I was disappointed that I did not see a bear in Yosemite. Then as we heading to the entrance , we saw a bear in the meadow taking a nap. I was so thrilled.
I will be back to Yosemite to hike the half dome. That is my goal .
Monday, July 12, 2010
Gold Country,CA trip
July 5th 2010
Interested in Cave Adventures Gold Mine tours , Gold Panning , Zip lining and Rock Climbing…. California gold country is a perfect place for it .
Last few years we heard a lot about gold country , but did not get a chance to go and experience the wonders of this beautiful place. I have a 13 year old and now he understands the history of California and Gold Rush era, we wanted to take a trip to gold country. The location of the caves is around 21/2 to 3 hrs drive from bay area.
Black Chasm
On our trip we planned to visit 3 caves and 1 gold mine. Our first stop was Black Chasm cavern in Volcano city . You can enter this cavern on a guided tour only. Compared to other caverns we visited this is comparatively new. All the caves we visited are active caves( Formations are still growing). You are not allowed to touch the formations in any of the caves we visited as the oil on our fingers will stick to the formations and the water will run over them and the formations will no longer grow.
Our guide explained that helictites are very rare, only appearing in about ten percent of the caves found in the U.S. and most of these caves only have two or three examples. She led us into the Landmark Room, where hundreds, perhaps thousands, of stunning helictites grew out of the walls. One, shaped remarkably like a dragon, is the cavern's mascot, Mushu. It is the helictites growing from the walls of the cave that made this cave a landmark. It has the standard underground fare of stalactites, stalagmites, and flowstones, and from the platforms you can see down through holes in the floor to lower caverns, unexplored by any but the guides and scientists who study the cavern. Through one, a clear blue lake is visible, home to the cavern's only living creatures, eyeless, clear shrimp that have adapted to the lightless environment
Another pretty interesting fact about this cave is that they wanted to film the Matrix trilogy inside this cave, but they weren't allowed because the cave is still active and they did not want these formations to be disturbed. The environment is very delicate. Matrix movie team did come in to sketch and model the interior so the underground city of Zion is partially modeled after this cave.
The tour is around 45-50 mins long. The guide is very knowledgeable. There is a tour every 1 hour. The temperature inside the cave is 56 degrees year around. No jackets are needed in summer or winter. No food or water allowed on the tour. The reason water is not allowed is if anything spills in the cave, it will change the balance of oxygen in the cave. The fact I learned is that the atomic mass of the oxygen molecule in the air and water in the cave is O18 ( 8 protons and 10 neutrons) while the one we breathe and in our water is O16 ( 8 neutrons and 8 protons). Very popular cave and lots of people visit this cavern. Once you come out of the cave, you smell the trees which did not before you entered the cave. Outside the cavern, Kids can spend time gem mining and gold panning. It is fun activity for kids trying to find precious stones in sand bags ( which you purchase at the gift store)
After having lunch at the picnic tables we headed to Sutter gold mine in Sutter Creek.
Sutter Gold Mine
Sutter Gold Mine is a modern hard rock mine located on historic Highway 49 just north of Sutter Creek, south of Amador City at the site of several historic mines. These include the Lincoln Mine from which Leland Stanford made his fortune enabling him to be the founder of Stanford University and to partner in financing the Central Pacific Railroad. Although originally developed for gold extraction in the late 1980s, the mine is now open exclusively for one hour underground tours deep into the heart of the Mother lode.
The Sutter Gold Mine tour focused on educating people about life inside a mine, the safety issues involved, and what the earth looks like so far underground. At the beginning of the tour we are given hard hats to wear. The guide counted everyone and “tagged them in” by placing a metal tag over a number so everyone will be accounted for at the end of the tour. We boarded a bus buggy shuttle, used in real mines which carried us to the entrance of the mine. The entrance is cut into the rocky hillside, framed by a metal gate and metal pipes. You can hear lot of loud noises, which is the ventilation fan. Beyond the first 30 feet, the mine is pitch black. The buggy went through the tunnel down the mineshaft, and on the way we saw few mining equipment exhibits. After traveling 1,850 feet down, we entered safety chamber. The safety chamber is made of green rock which is very strong. The guide explained map of the Motherlode, how the safety chamber works, how the mine used to be blasted and what the 49er’s used to drill and how it was in those days with candles and Chisel to drill through the mine. Next, we walked through the “comet zone,” where gold-bearing quartz was extracted. Then climbed up few stairs and went through a tunnel to see more mining displays depicting mining activity and see the drills that are used to extract ore. We saw a gold spec on the walls of the mine and the guide taught us how to distinguish real gold from fool’s gold. Then we came to the shuttle and out of the mine shaft. It was a great experience and I was thinking how did they work in those pitch dark places with a just a candle. Once we are out of the mine and accounted for, Jay ( my son) wanted to do gold panning. It took us approx. 45 mins to finish that activity and yes, he did find some gold. Then we went to see a movie in the gold mine theatre about gold rush and how 49er’s came to California and what happened to Sutter. ( 30 mins ) Very interesting.
We heard that this mine may be back into production next year, once they have the surface plant build. At this point not sure if the tours will continue after the mine becomes operational. Kennedy gold mine is another place if you want to see what happens on the surface after that rock is lifted from the mine.
We stayed at Days Inn in Sutter creek that night and next morning headed to California caverns in Mountain Ranch( 30 miles from Sutter Creek).
California Caverns (Highly recommended)
This is the largest cavern I have ever seen. This cavern has 13 rooms that are open for walking tour and lot others are being explored by scientists and guides. This cavern also has mammoth adventure tour where you really get to venture to rooms which are not visible through walking tour by crawling through spaces and sliding the muddy slopes. The adventure tour is 2-3 hr tour. On our walking tour I saw a group of 2 doing the cave adventure tour and it looked to very fun. My husband and son are claustrophobic, so I did not have company to do that adventure. Next time I will go with someone who is not claustrophobic to do that adventure. They also have 4+ hour middle earth tour and it is reported to be one of the most extreme caving adventures in the US. If you are not afraid of tight spaces and not worried about getting all muddy and wet , this will be a great adventure.
We went on the guided walking tour. It is a 1 hr tour. When we went, we are the only ones on the tour , so we got a personal tour of the cave and the guide was very patient explaining and answering all our questions and stopping for more time in places where we went waah! Aah! Stalactites, stalagmites in the cave are splendid. Each room in the cave is used by the Mohawk Indians for different purposes. AS the temperature of the cave is 56 degrees year around, they used to use the cave to escape from heat or severe winter. Each room is used for different purpose – Church ( bishop room), Weddings ( Bridal room ) , gathering s etc.. This cave is well preserved the guide even turns off the lights once the tour is over in a certain room to avoid development of mold near the light. The cave floor is still the same as it was when found, no steps or anything like that. It is muddy and wet. The water level in the cave gets pretty high. They were pumping the water out when we visited. We saw a lake and passed around it. It is crystal clear. Clearer than mirror lake in Yosemite. Blue in color. Beautiful. After going through some of the rooms that miners and the cave city Indians explored, the guide took us through a narrow passage way to a new room called Jungle room. This room was discovered recently, so it is not destroyed by the miner and the formations are beautiful . This room is called Jungle room and it is huge and lot of formations. We saw a formation that looked like Buddha, A Medium sized dragon, temple. Your imagination runs wild here. If you see the cave upside down by bending down and seeing through your legs, you see it like the city Atlantis
This is one cave I recommend to everyone. Great time in the cave and definitely try the cave expedition if you are not claustrophobic. Great experience.
They also allow you to camp at this location overnight if you buy at a minimum the walking tour tickets.
Moaning Cavern ( Vallecito) and Zip lining (Great fun)
Moaning cavern is a vertical cave. It has a 3 ft wide hole (natural hole) which is the entrance to the cave and you rappel down into the hole and then to 165 ft down into the main room of the cavern. This cavern can hold statue of liberty ( that is how big it is ) . They also have 3 hr challenging cave adventure tour, if you are an adventurer. If you don’t want to Rappel down the hole, the other way to get into the cave is through a spiral stair case down 165 ft. The cave itself is not as beautiful as California caverns , but it is different view – vertical cave Vs. horizontal cave . This cave has huge stalactites and flow stones. There is lot of iron deposit in the rock in this cave and the stalactites are brown in color near the spiral stair way.
Moaning Cavern is a limestone cave in the heart of Gold Country. It was discovered in modern times by gold miners in 1851, but has long been known as a geological feature by prehistoric people. It's name comes from the moaning sound made by the water dripping into small holes at the bottom of the "chocolate waterfall" flowstone formation, causing a drumming sound, which echoed off the walls and be carried to the natural entrance of the cavern by the wind.
People were attracted to the cavern by the moaning noise and often fell in, creating the nicely preserved bone pile at the bottom of the cavern. They did find bones of an 13 year old Asian girl 15000 years ago. You can see the bone pile once you reach the bottom of the cave. These bones are preserved due to acidic nature of the water in the cave
The other fun part is on the top of the moaning caverns – Zip line. The zip line is between 2 mountains with valley in between. Jay and I went on it couple of times. The third time you can go super style ( fly like a bird). That looked so much fun. Jay did that the 3rd time. I went only 2 times. It was awesome. The cost is 39$ first time and 24 $ thereafter. You get a zip card and you come back any time and it is 24$. If there is no wait time, it takes 30 mins to do 1 run. They take you up the mountain in a 4x4 and once you land on the other side, you get ride back or you can hike back through the nature trail. The best time is early morning before 10.00AM. No wait time and the wind is with you, so you get good speed. As you go into afternoon , the wind will be blowing against you and will not be that fun. ( For 3 runs, it took us 3 hrs) .
They also have climbing tower, if you are interested in rock climbing or want to try out for first time ( 5$)
If you are an adventurer, this cave has a lot of activities for you to spend the day.
On our way back, we wanted to explore Jamestown, but did not have time. I heard Jamestown has gold exploring tours where you go to a river and pan for gold like the 49ers did. If you plan for gold country trip, please check out Jamestown packages offered.
For more details on caves and mines to plan your trip visit www.caveandmineadventures.com
Interested in Cave Adventures Gold Mine tours , Gold Panning , Zip lining and Rock Climbing…. California gold country is a perfect place for it .
Last few years we heard a lot about gold country , but did not get a chance to go and experience the wonders of this beautiful place. I have a 13 year old and now he understands the history of California and Gold Rush era, we wanted to take a trip to gold country. The location of the caves is around 21/2 to 3 hrs drive from bay area.
Black Chasm
On our trip we planned to visit 3 caves and 1 gold mine. Our first stop was Black Chasm cavern in Volcano city . You can enter this cavern on a guided tour only. Compared to other caverns we visited this is comparatively new. All the caves we visited are active caves( Formations are still growing). You are not allowed to touch the formations in any of the caves we visited as the oil on our fingers will stick to the formations and the water will run over them and the formations will no longer grow. Our guide explained that helictites are very rare, only appearing in about ten percent of the caves found in the U.S. and most of these caves only have two or three examples. She led us into the Landmark Room, where hundreds, perhaps thousands, of stunning helictites grew out of the walls. One, shaped remarkably like a dragon, is the cavern's mascot, Mushu. It is the helictites growing from the walls of the cave that made this cave a landmark. It has the standard underground fare of stalactites, stalagmites, and flowstones, and from the platforms you can see down through holes in the floor to lower caverns, unexplored by any but the guides and scientists who study the cavern. Through one, a clear blue lake is visible, home to the cavern's only living creatures, eyeless, clear shrimp that have adapted to the lightless environment
Another pretty interesting fact about this cave is that they wanted to film the Matrix trilogy inside this cave, but they weren't allowed because the cave is still active and they did not want these formations to be disturbed. The environment is very delicate. Matrix movie team did come in to sketch and model the interior so the underground city of Zion is partially modeled after this cave.
The tour is around 45-50 mins long. The guide is very knowledgeable. There is a tour every 1 hour. The temperature inside the cave is 56 degrees year around. No jackets are needed in summer or winter. No food or water allowed on the tour. The reason water is not allowed is if anything spills in the cave, it will change the balance of oxygen in the cave. The fact I learned is that the atomic mass of the oxygen molecule in the air and water in the cave is O18 ( 8 protons and 10 neutrons) while the one we breathe and in our water is O16 ( 8 neutrons and 8 protons). Very popular cave and lots of people visit this cavern. Once you come out of the cave, you smell the trees which did not before you entered the cave. Outside the cavern, Kids can spend time gem mining and gold panning. It is fun activity for kids trying to find precious stones in sand bags ( which you purchase at the gift store)
After having lunch at the picnic tables we headed to Sutter gold mine in Sutter Creek.
Sutter Gold Mine
Sutter Gold Mine is a modern hard rock mine located on historic Highway 49 just north of Sutter Creek, south of Amador City at the site of several historic mines. These include the Lincoln Mine from which Leland Stanford made his fortune enabling him to be the founder of Stanford University and to partner in financing the Central Pacific Railroad. Although originally developed for gold extraction in the late 1980s, the mine is now open exclusively for one hour underground tours deep into the heart of the Mother lode.The Sutter Gold Mine tour focused on educating people about life inside a mine, the safety issues involved, and what the earth looks like so far underground. At the beginning of the tour we are given hard hats to wear. The guide counted everyone and “tagged them in” by placing a metal tag over a number so everyone will be accounted for at the end of the tour. We boarded a bus buggy shuttle, used in real mines which carried us to the entrance of the mine. The entrance is cut into the rocky hillside, framed by a metal gate and metal pipes. You can hear lot of loud noises, which is the ventilation fan. Beyond the first 30 feet, the mine is pitch black. The buggy went through the tunnel down the mineshaft, and on the way we saw few mining equipment exhibits. After traveling 1,850 feet down, we entered safety chamber. The safety chamber is made of green rock which is very strong. The guide explained map of the Motherlode, how the safety chamber works, how the mine used to be blasted and what the 49er’s used to drill and how it was in those days with candles and Chisel to drill through the mine. Next, we walked through the “comet zone,” where gold-bearing quartz was extracted. Then climbed up few stairs and went through a tunnel to see more mining displays depicting mining activity and see the drills that are used to extract ore. We saw a gold spec on the walls of the mine and the guide taught us how to distinguish real gold from fool’s gold. Then we came to the shuttle and out of the mine shaft. It was a great experience and I was thinking how did they work in those pitch dark places with a just a candle. Once we are out of the mine and accounted for, Jay ( my son) wanted to do gold panning. It took us approx. 45 mins to finish that activity and yes, he did find some gold. Then we went to see a movie in the gold mine theatre about gold rush and how 49er’s came to California and what happened to Sutter. ( 30 mins ) Very interesting.
We heard that this mine may be back into production next year, once they have the surface plant build. At this point not sure if the tours will continue after the mine becomes operational. Kennedy gold mine is another place if you want to see what happens on the surface after that rock is lifted from the mine.
We stayed at Days Inn in Sutter creek that night and next morning headed to California caverns in Mountain Ranch( 30 miles from Sutter Creek).
California Caverns (Highly recommended)
This is the largest cavern I have ever seen. This cavern has 13 rooms that are open for walking tour and lot others are being explored by scientists and guides. This cavern also has mammoth adventure tour where you really get to venture to rooms which are not visible through walking tour by crawling through spaces and sliding the muddy slopes. The adventure tour is 2-3 hr tour. On our walking tour I saw a group of 2 doing the cave adventure tour and it looked to very fun. My husband and son are claustrophobic, so I did not have company to do that adventure. Next time I will go with someone who is not claustrophobic to do that adventure. They also have 4+ hour middle earth tour and it is reported to be one of the most extreme caving adventures in the US. If you are not afraid of tight spaces and not worried about getting all muddy and wet , this will be a great adventure.We went on the guided walking tour. It is a 1 hr tour. When we went, we are the only ones on the tour , so we got a personal tour of the cave and the guide was very patient explaining and answering all our questions and stopping for more time in places where we went waah! Aah! Stalactites, stalagmites in the cave are splendid. Each room in the cave is used by the Mohawk Indians for different purposes. AS the temperature of the cave is 56 degrees year around, they used to use the cave to escape from heat or severe winter. Each room is used for different purpose – Church ( bishop room), Weddings ( Bridal room ) , gathering s etc.. This cave is well preserved the guide even turns off the lights once the tour is over in a certain room to avoid development of mold near the light. The cave floor is still the same as it was when found, no steps or anything like that. It is muddy and wet. The water level in the cave gets pretty high. They were pumping the water out when we visited. We saw a lake and passed around it. It is crystal clear. Clearer than mirror lake in Yosemite. Blue in color. Beautiful. After going through some of the rooms that miners and the cave city Indians explored, the guide took us through a narrow passage way to a new room called Jungle room. This room was discovered recently, so it is not destroyed by the miner and the formations are beautiful . This room is called Jungle room and it is huge and lot of formations. We saw a formation that looked like Buddha, A Medium sized dragon, temple. Your imagination runs wild here. If you see the cave upside down by bending down and seeing through your legs, you see it like the city Atlantis
This is one cave I recommend to everyone. Great time in the cave and definitely try the cave expedition if you are not claustrophobic. Great experience.
They also allow you to camp at this location overnight if you buy at a minimum the walking tour tickets.
Moaning Cavern ( Vallecito) and Zip lining (Great fun)
Moaning cavern is a vertical cave. It has a 3 ft wide hole (natural hole) which is the entrance to the cave and you rappel down into the hole and then to 165 ft down into the main room of the cavern. This cavern can hold statue of liberty ( that is how big it is ) . They also have 3 hr challenging cave adventure tour, if you are an adventurer. If you don’t want to Rappel down the hole, the other way to get into the cave is through a spiral stair case down 165 ft. The cave itself is not as beautiful as California caverns , but it is different view – vertical cave Vs. horizontal cave . This cave has huge stalactites and flow stones. There is lot of iron deposit in the rock in this cave and the stalactites are brown in color near the spiral stair way. Moaning Cavern is a limestone cave in the heart of Gold Country. It was discovered in modern times by gold miners in 1851, but has long been known as a geological feature by prehistoric people. It's name comes from the moaning sound made by the water dripping into small holes at the bottom of the "chocolate waterfall" flowstone formation, causing a drumming sound, which echoed off the walls and be carried to the natural entrance of the cavern by the wind.
People were attracted to the cavern by the moaning noise and often fell in, creating the nicely preserved bone pile at the bottom of the cavern. They did find bones of an 13 year old Asian girl 15000 years ago. You can see the bone pile once you reach the bottom of the cave. These bones are preserved due to acidic nature of the water in the cave
The other fun part is on the top of the moaning caverns – Zip line. The zip line is between 2 mountains with valley in between. Jay and I went on it couple of times. The third time you can go super style ( fly like a bird). That looked so much fun. Jay did that the 3rd time. I went only 2 times. It was awesome. The cost is 39$ first time and 24 $ thereafter. You get a zip card and you come back any time and it is 24$. If there is no wait time, it takes 30 mins to do 1 run. They take you up the mountain in a 4x4 and once you land on the other side, you get ride back or you can hike back through the nature trail. The best time is early morning before 10.00AM. No wait time and the wind is with you, so you get good speed. As you go into afternoon , the wind will be blowing against you and will not be that fun. ( For 3 runs, it took us 3 hrs) . They also have climbing tower, if you are interested in rock climbing or want to try out for first time ( 5$)
If you are an adventurer, this cave has a lot of activities for you to spend the day.
On our way back, we wanted to explore Jamestown, but did not have time. I heard Jamestown has gold exploring tours where you go to a river and pan for gold like the 49ers did. If you plan for gold country trip, please check out Jamestown packages offered.
For more details on caves and mines to plan your trip visit www.caveandmineadventures.com
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Beijing,China
I went to Beijing for business trip for 5 days. Stayed at Park Hyatt in Chaoyang District, Beijing. This hotel is closer to my work. The lobby is on 63rd floor. To check-in to have to go up the elevator and then take another elevator to go down to your room. The view from the 63rd floor was spectacular. They have a bar and lounge on 64th floor with great views. It has great spa as well. If you stay here you should try their message. It is a little expensive, but worth it. Landed in Beijing on Saturday March 13th. I have only Sunday for sightseeing, So booked full day tour at the hotel to see Forbidden City, Tiananmen square and Great wall of China. If you have time, you can split the tour into 2 half day tours. They also have tours to summer palace . The tour costs 550 RMB ( 87 USD)
On Sunday morning it started to snow. As I did not have a choice of another day, I decided to go on the tour in the snow. The tour guide picked me up at the hotel lobby at 8.00 AM. There were 9 others on the tour bus. The tour guide’s name in Leo and he can speak English fluently. If you cannot speak Chinese or don’t have a friend who can speak Chinese with you, then take a tour . Other wise it is very hard to communicate in English in China .
First stop was Forbidden city . The tour guide said that if we start from the front (Tiananmen gate ) and come to back gate of forbidden city, we will come across lot of people and we may not be able to see well. So we started our tour of forbidden city from the back wall of the city - Gate of Divine Might (Shenwumen) . The Forbidden City, called Gu Gong in Chinese, was the imperial palace during the Ming and Qing dynasties. This is in the middle of the city and if you see Beijing map today, you will see that that city is build around this palace and rectangles around rectangles. They four or five rings ( like ring roads in Delhi, India). The guide showed us a line that runs through the middle of the forbidden city and the same line runs throughout Beijing. Even the bird’s nest( for Olympics) was constructed on the same line. Forbidden city is rectangular in shape, it is the world's largest palace complex and covers 74 hectares. Surrounded by a six meter deep moat and a ten meter high wall are 9,999 rooms. The emperor had around 3000 wifes The gate of divine faces Jingshan Park. The distance between these two gates is 960 meters, while the distance between the gates in the east and west walls is 750 meters. There are unique and delicately structured towers on each of the four corners of the curtain wall. These afford views over both the palace and the city outside. The gates are huge and very strong. As we entered the back side of the city, We walked through the inner court where the royal family lived. Then we came towards the outer court where the Emperor met with his loyals and ruled the nation. Until 1924 when the last emperor of China was driven from the Inner Court, fourteen emperors of the Ming dynasty and ten emperors of the Qing dynasty had reigned here.
At the north end of the Tiananmen Square is Tiananmen Tower. Initially built in 1417 during the Ming Dynasty (1368 A.D.- 1644 A.D.), the Square is the front door of the Forbidden City.
We got on the tour bus and went to silk factory. Here they show you how silk is made from silk worms and how silk quilts are made. I was so impressed, I got 2 silk quilts. They are very light , but will keep you very warm in winter and cool in summer. No washing required. They also have a market, where they sell all sorts of things in silk. As the quilts, pillow covers, bed sheets etc.. are government certified, who can fee assured it is good silk. Then we got back on the bus and it took 45 mins to get to Jade query near Ming’s Tomb.
You can see people working on jade to make very intricate detailed structures. I never knew Jade came in other colors than green – Red, White, black. At the entrance they tell you how to identify real Jade from glass, I did not pay much attention, I was so mesmerized by the detailed structures and I was admiring them . We had lunch at the quarry and then headed to the great wall in heavy snow.
Even though it was snowing, I was very excited to see the great wall. Tried to climb up the great wall in the snow and went few blocks up . It became very slippery , so came down very slowly . It took 35 mins to come down. It is very grand and breath taking to see huge mountains around you and imagine how they build such huge wall from east to west. I am not sure if the legend is true that people who died when building the wall are buried in the wall. Anyways, now I can strike one must see place from my list . After that we went back to the hotel and I was so exhausted from the walking in snow, took a quick shower and met one of my colleague and we went to dinner to the shopping mall under china world trade center.
Next day after work, went to silk market for shopping with my friend . It is very hard to figure out what to pick, so many choices to pick from . Looked for some hand bags and my friend helped bargain in Chinese. Then we went to this local market place which is open until 2.00 AM in the morning and had really great fish dish very traditionally cooked.
That is my short trip to China. I would like to go back again to see Shanghai and other places and great wall again in summer time or spring time. The best time to visit China is June-July.
On Sunday morning it started to snow. As I did not have a choice of another day, I decided to go on the tour in the snow. The tour guide picked me up at the hotel lobby at 8.00 AM. There were 9 others on the tour bus. The tour guide’s name in Leo and he can speak English fluently. If you cannot speak Chinese or don’t have a friend who can speak Chinese with you, then take a tour . Other wise it is very hard to communicate in English in China .
First stop was Forbidden city . The tour guide said that if we start from the front (Tiananmen gate ) and come to back gate of forbidden city, we will come across lot of people and we may not be able to see well. So we started our tour of forbidden city from the back wall of the city - Gate of Divine Might (Shenwumen) . The Forbidden City, called Gu Gong in Chinese, was the imperial palace during the Ming and Qing dynasties. This is in the middle of the city and if you see Beijing map today, you will see that that city is build around this palace and rectangles around rectangles. They four or five rings ( like ring roads in Delhi, India). The guide showed us a line that runs through the middle of the forbidden city and the same line runs throughout Beijing. Even the bird’s nest( for Olympics) was constructed on the same line. Forbidden city is rectangular in shape, it is the world's largest palace complex and covers 74 hectares. Surrounded by a six meter deep moat and a ten meter high wall are 9,999 rooms. The emperor had around 3000 wifes The gate of divine faces Jingshan Park. The distance between these two gates is 960 meters, while the distance between the gates in the east and west walls is 750 meters. There are unique and delicately structured towers on each of the four corners of the curtain wall. These afford views over both the palace and the city outside. The gates are huge and very strong. As we entered the back side of the city, We walked through the inner court where the royal family lived. Then we came towards the outer court where the Emperor met with his loyals and ruled the nation. Until 1924 when the last emperor of China was driven from the Inner Court, fourteen emperors of the Ming dynasty and ten emperors of the Qing dynasty had reigned here. 
At the north end of the Tiananmen Square is Tiananmen Tower. Initially built in 1417 during the Ming Dynasty (1368 A.D.- 1644 A.D.), the Square is the front door of the Forbidden City. We got on the tour bus and went to silk factory. Here they show you how silk is made from silk worms and how silk quilts are made. I was so impressed, I got 2 silk quilts. They are very light , but will keep you very warm in winter and cool in summer. No washing required. They also have a market, where they sell all sorts of things in silk. As the quilts, pillow covers, bed sheets etc.. are government certified, who can fee assured it is good silk. Then we got back on the bus and it took 45 mins to get to Jade query near Ming’s Tomb.
You can see people working on jade to make very intricate detailed structures. I never knew Jade came in other colors than green – Red, White, black. At the entrance they tell you how to identify real Jade from glass, I did not pay much attention, I was so mesmerized by the detailed structures and I was admiring them . We had lunch at the quarry and then headed to the great wall in heavy snow. 
Even though it was snowing, I was very excited to see the great wall. Tried to climb up the great wall in the snow and went few blocks up . It became very slippery , so came down very slowly . It took 35 mins to come down. It is very grand and breath taking to see huge mountains around you and imagine how they build such huge wall from east to west. I am not sure if the legend is true that people who died when building the wall are buried in the wall. Anyways, now I can strike one must see place from my list . After that we went back to the hotel and I was so exhausted from the walking in snow, took a quick shower and met one of my colleague and we went to dinner to the shopping mall under china world trade center. Next day after work, went to silk market for shopping with my friend . It is very hard to figure out what to pick, so many choices to pick from . Looked for some hand bags and my friend helped bargain in Chinese. Then we went to this local market place which is open until 2.00 AM in the morning and had really great fish dish very traditionally cooked.
That is my short trip to China. I would like to go back again to see Shanghai and other places and great wall again in summer time or spring time. The best time to visit China is June-July.
First cruise trip - Ensenada, Baja California
For our first cruise trip we wanted it to be short , so we decided to go to Ensenada on carnival paradise for 3 days cruise. We packed our Jeep and drove to long Beach California from San Jose. It is a 6 ½ hr drive from San Jose . We stopped for lunch of the way. Reached long beach at 2:30 PM . The parking at the cruise terminal is 15$ /day . After we parked the car, we took our language and went to check in. There was a long line at checkin. Even though we printed out our fun pass online, we had to stand in the line. I highly recommend completing your fun pass online ,so the checkin is done quickly. Once we checked in, got on the ship put the luggage in the room and went to explore the ship. My son Jay has already mapped out what each deck has, so he was our guide as we explored the ship. Day1
We had a small snack as we waited for the ship to sail. It sailed exactly at 5:30 PM . Jay has already left us and went to his C-Circle group( for age groups 12-14) where they have a welcome board party. So after me and my husband(Lakshman) hung out on the deck for some time until the ship sailed into the sea, we head back to our room on main deck with ocean view, unpacked and got ready for dinner. We haven’t booked any tours for next day. So we spend some time thinking what to do and finally reserved blow hole and Ensenada city tour at 9:30 AM for next day. Once Jay is back, we headed for dinner. We made late reservation for dinner , So we headed there at 8:15. Dinner was awesome. We had a great waitress Ratu. When I was not able to decide what to eat for dessert, she brought me all desserts in one plate, so I can taste each of them. Also at dinner , they had music at the end and the waiters danced at the table. They invited guests to join them. Ratu was insistent that I join , So I danced to a number I never heard before following Ratu’s moves. It was fun. Immediately after dinner, Jay left to join his c-cirle fun . So Lakshman and I explored few more clubs- rex club had karaoke and it was awfully wonderful. Then we headed back to room as we were tired for the day. Our room steward is Angel. He is very friendly and he has cleaning up the room and putting everything in place the minute we left the room . I loved the towel animal (rabbit) he made that day and left it on the bed.
Day2
Day2 was day on shore at Ensenada . We woke up bright and early and we got ready to be out by 8:45 for the tour. We saw a paper slip by the door and it said they canceled the 9:00 tour and combined it with 11:30 tour as they could not find a guide for 9:00 tour. Since we were anyway ready, we thought we will head out and explore ourselves. On the way out Angel gave us some pointers and I researched a little bit about Ensenada city map. So we walked from the terminal to downtown shopping center. It is only 15 min walk from the terminal or you can take a shuttle. You have to wait for the shuttle to be full for the shuttle to move. We reached downtown by 9:15 , the shops were not open yet . so we hung out and around 1 by 1 shops started to open. We went in and out of the shops just window shopping as I know I will be going to flea market at blow hole later. When window shopping, the shop keepers are willing to bargain to get their first sale. Did not buy anything yet. Saw some great paintings (art studio ) ,stained glass factory and lot of hammocks, salsa bowls, wind chimes etc etc … We had to head back by 10:45 and eat something before we go on the tour as the tour is is 4 hrs . So we headed back quickly ate a little bit on the ship and headed to the terminal for the tour.
It was a big bus and tour guide was able to speak English and not very fluent. Sometime it was hard to understand the accent. As were going to blowhole, there was a vehicle with army men and guns that passed just in front of the bus. The guide explained that in Mexico all boy 18 and up need to enroll in Navy and they need to come for training every Saturday for 1 year . Once they complete the training they get scholarships etc. So almost all of them enroll, unless they draw a white ball at the time of enrollment from a basket of balls, they are exempt from training and they still qualify for scholarship. The tour bus drive was 50 mins . The bay in Ensenada is like a horse shoe. The blowhole is on the other side of the horse shoe from the ship docked. The guide showed us some maquiladora’s ( where the material enters duty free and the finished good is exported back immediately – mostly for US companies- Nike , etc..) . Also Ensenada is exporter of agricultural items . The export organic items to Trader Joes. Saw some organic plantations. Also on the way guide showed us where some of US retires live. Very modern houses and access to beach. On that beach they can dig a hole and have hot springs. That is cool !!! After 50 min drive we reached the blow hole. There are only 3 of these in the world. Here the blow hole is called La Bufadora meaning snore of a bull. La Bufadora is considered to be the second largest marine geyser in the world (the largest is located at Makapuu Point in Oahu, Hawaii). After we got off the bus, we walked through the flea market to reach the blow hole. Until we went there, I did not understand why it is called snore of a bull. When the water is gushing in, you can hear the snore of a bull and then you see a huge water spout. The water can go up to 60 ft and once I got completely wet. After sometime we left Jay there as he wanted to take pictures and observe what is happening and went shopping at the flea market. Here you can really bargain. AS I already did window shopping at downtown ,I know the prices and brought some windchimes, clackers for Jay , Aztec calendar (palster of Paris) – huge one. I really liked it . Lakshman went to pick up Jay and we went back to the bus. You get only 1 hr at the flea market and that is not enough at all. There were some sea shells (huge ones) I wanted to buy , but did not have time to bargain. Went back to the city and this time the tour is Riviera del Pacífico (cultural center) of Ensenada. This was a old Casino in 1930 when Hollywood celebrities used to come here where there were no Casino’s in US. In 1980 they remodeled and opened up as cultural center to preserve Baja California history. It had beautiful paintings on the roof. The wood was got from India at that time. When we went back to the bus, we found out Aztec calendar rolled over and it broke. ( we left in the bus when we went for the tour and it broke) After that tour, Lakshman and I dropped off at downtown , did a little more shopping and headed back to the ship. Jay is back at his C-circle. This night is formal dinner night. So we got refreshed and went for dinner. As it was just me and Lakshman , we went to Normandie Theatre and played a Bingo game, caught xtreme country show and Adult comedy show that night . The comedy show was ok. I did not like xtreme contry show that much
Day 3
Day 3 is onboard the ship . We reserved for behind the fun tour. This tour takes you to all those areas of the ship only a crew is allowed to . Jay and I met the guide at the library and we got our behind the fun pass and off we were to the tour. We went to the cooking area and met the Chief chef and they showed us what is being cooked and how they manage 2000 passengers for dinner and so quick service, then we went to the laundry room , waste disposal room , the most interesting the engine room and engine control room . Then we went through the crew cabins and went to the front tip of the ship . the big Titanic spot (forward of the ship) . It was interesting to stand at that tip. Jay was scared. Then we went to see the captain at the bridge. The first officer explained how they use GPS for navigation and they still manually trace the location . We had a picture with the captain and then we headed down to backstage of the dance show and the back stage manager explained how they do the pyrotechnics and setting change etc. That was one tour for us to remember. I totally recommend this tour . This tour is available for passengers 13 years and above. After the tour Jay was back at C-circle. He loved to be at C-Circle all the time. I went shopping for some time as I did not know where Lakshman was, Did some window shopping and finally bought some sea glass. Lakshman and I went for lunch after that. Then we looked at the pictures from formal dinner night and decided to get some of them. Saw game of love in the theatre. It was funny . there was a couple who was married for 50 years and the husband was hilarious , he could give all funny answers . Relaxed for a while in the room and met Jay at 5.00 PM . Jay and myself spend some time in Jacuzzi as the water in swimming pool is sea water and it is cold. After that we played mini golf on the top deck and then went for dinner as we wanted to catch the dance show- shout at 8:45 . After dinner Jay went to see the shout show with his friends in c-circle. Lakshman and I saw shout show and then we also caught the comedy show and then went back to room and packed up and went to sleep. Jay was coming back to room every day at 1.00 AM in the night. Day 4
Next day we got up early and eat breakfast at Paris restaurant and then started to disembark.. Hint- if you want to check out early, take your luggage with you . We wanted to cover universal studios on Monday so we took our luggage with us. We were able to complete the whole process including customs check within 30 mins. Very impressive.
Myself and Jay loved the cruise . I put on 4 pounds on the trip, but that is ok. Jay had a blast . He said that it was his best vacation ever. So we will try a longer cruise next time.
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