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 .

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

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.

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.