Alaska Trip

[I decided to split this into multiple blogs to avoid overwhelming the reader with one long one. Let me know if you like or dislike this format.]

August 15, 2009

We flew to Anchorage, AK from San Francisco (SFO) via Alaska airlines. The flight was at 7:50pm and we left the home around 5:20pm. The traffic on 101-N was stalled due to some accident and we were worried whether we will be able to make it. Fortunately, the accident was only couple of miles ahead of us and we reached Anza parking at 6pm. We boarded the shuttle and within few minutes we were at the terminal. We were asked to board early due to anticipated delay (30 mins) due to strong head wind. The flight took off few minutes early and it landed Anchorage around 11:40pm. On the flight, I was able to catchup with couple of blogs that I planned to write a week ago. We picked the car (HHR) from the rental center and reached hotel around 12:30 in the morning.

August 16, 2009

Please see Talkeetna Blog.

August 17, 2009

Please see Anchorage Blog.

August 18, 2009

Please see Seward Blog.

August 19, 2009

Please see Anchorage Blog.

August 20, 2009

We landed in SFO at 8am, picked up our bags and took the shuttle to Anza parking. We picked our car and reached home around 9:30am. We all were tired due to short sleep on the flight, but we had a nice time in this trip. It's always great to be back home though.

Click on the links for trip planner and album.

Tips:

• I contemplated a lot on whether to take Cruise or Flight to Alaska. There are pros and cons with both. Cruise trips are pretty longer (minimum: 7 days). Also, I thought that to get a hang of cruise I can go on a shorter (3 day) trip. During the trip I realized whether we will be able to cover lot of inland places/activities if we have taken the cruise. Check that out before planning to take cruise. Cruise should be relaxing and fun too. No doubts. But if you have only few days then flight is also good.
• Anza parking - I am impressed with the customer service and the price at Anza long term parking. Shuttles are frequent and they pick and drop you off near the car; no need to carry heavy luggages around. If you plan to park there, check out for coupon at their website.
• Alaska airlines doesn't charge if you check in your car seat or stroller. If you are planning to take car seat, you can check in. So, you have one less carry on to worry about.
• Cops (traffic patrol) are strict and more vigilant in Alaska. They hide on the ramps on most of the highways. You might wonder "why the hell did I drive fast?" even after noticing this on Day 1. Well, driving is one of my passion ;-).
• "Great Alaskan TourSaver Coupon" is your money saver for this trip. This coupon book offers around 130 "Buy one, Get one FREE" coupons. My colleague recommended this and I highly recommend if you are planning to take flight seeing, day cruises, etc. It saved us around $600 during this trip. The cost of this book is $100, but you can get the used one in eBay or craigslist. If so, please make sure that the coupon for the trip you are planning to go are not used. If you want to use the coupon, I would recommend to book the trip in advance. There are some restrictions, but I didn't see that as a drawback.
• If you are like us, who cook and pack food during the trip, then Safeway is your friend. Safeway chain is known as "Carrs." I believe Safeway bought this chain.
• If you are keen to see Northern lights (Aurora Borealis), then you need to visit Alaska in Winter. Alternative would be to watch the slideshow in Discovery Theater or search for "northern lights aurora borealis" at Google images.
• I would recommend taking Motor Coach during onward and Train (Coastal Classic) on your return journey to/from Seward to Anchorage. Reasons: Train journey takes 4.5 hours whereas bus journey takes less than 3 hours, so you don't need to get up early in the morning. It gives a flavor of both train and bus journey. If you travel in a group, then you could replace bus journey with your vehicle, which should take you approximately 2 hours (non stop). One group can take onward journey in train and other can take the return journey.
• Starting 2009, car rentals are offered in Denali National Park where you can drive around on your own. I learned on 3rd day about this. Otherwise, I would have checked that out.
• Though we didn't encounter any mosquitoes during this trip, I read it some where to be prepared. It's better safe than sorry.
• August month is prone to rain or showers. We were fortunate during this trip, but something to keep in mind.

Seward, AK

August 18, 2009

Today we got up early in the morning (around 5am). The plan was to take motor coach (bus) to Seward, take a day cruise (Renown tours) and return back by train. I dropped Vidhya and Kirti at the Egan center in downtown Anchorage and I parked the car near the train station. Train station was not far, so I walked back (around 10 mins) to Egan center. We were 20+ mins early. We boarded the coach and started sharp at 7am to Seward. Driver was quite informative and he kept all of us engaged throughout the journey. We took a short break on the way and reached Seward around 10 in the morning. We collected the cruise and lunch tickets and went to national park visitor center to get more information.

At 11:30am we boarded the cruise. But, we had to wait for a while due to train delay. We, except Vidhya, had our lunch and the sea was rough. The ride was bumpy and felt the gravitational push from the stomach. I told Vidhya not to eat and sat on back of the boat outside to overcome the nausea. It felt quite good, but when I went in to take care of Kirti after she threw up the chain reaction began :-(. Vidhya heeded my advice and escaped :-). Kirti fell asleep and I was awake till we saw the Holgate glacier. The glacier view was fabolous; we also watched the ice blocks broke from glacier and fell into ocean. After that I too fell asleep for sometime. During the cruise trip we spotted couple of humpback whales and other sealife. By the time boat reached the dock, Kirti and myself were fully recovered. Btw, Kirti testified as a Junior Ranger for finding all the hidden animals in the workbook. She also got a batch and a certificate.

We boarded the train to Anchorage at 6pm. Train took us through the Alaskan wilderness. It was a feast to our eyes. We had our dinner in the train itself. Though it took approximately 4.5 hours to reach Anchorage, the trip was well worth the time. We spotted moose, bald eagles, hanging glaciers, streams, waterfalls et al. We reached Anchorage around 10:30am and went to hotel.

Anchorage, AK

August 17, 2009

First, we went to Discovery Theater in downtown and watched "Aurora," the slideshow about northern lights. We took some snaps in the park nearby and headed to Alaska Zoo. Kirti loved the Zoo; I think 3+ is the right age for Zoo or Zoo-like places. We had our lunch there and went to Sled dog show. The show was good, but the dogs didn't look healthy though. Except for that botheration, we liked the show. We also had a chance to hold the puppies on hand. Kirti was initially scared, but later she enjoyed patting the puppy.

We decided to drive south on the Seward highway to Alaska Wildlife Conservation center (AWCC). It was one of the best scenic drives I ever did. The views were gorgeous. We took few breaks to take some pictures. Kirti had a nice nap till we reached the AWCC. We saw Plains bisons, Moose, Elk, Brown bear, Black bear, Wood bisons, etc there. We had an opportunity to feed the elves and saw (brown) bears playing with each other. We all enjoyed the AWCC visit. Then we went to Alyeska Resort and took the tram to reach the top. It was drizzling at that time and the views were OK. We spent 30 mins there and headed back. We had our dinner at Girdwood and headed back to hotel. The view of sunset on our way back was really nice. On the way, cop stopped me for speeding. He let me go with just warning. Lucky me!

August 19, 2009

It was last day of our trip and we decided to take it easy as our flight was at 1:45am the next day. We checked out the hotel around 10:30am. We took some photos near the visitor center & train station and went to Ulu factory. Then we headed to Wild Berry Theater to see the Reindeer and a movie. We were the only ones for that show, so we had the whole theater for ourself (private viewing). After our lunch, we checked out the Chocolate factory, which housed the world's largest chocolate waterfall. Later, we went to Earthquake park and took a 30 min stroll. Then we went to H2Oasis, an indoor water park. Kirti and I had fun in the indoor park. Given the entrance fee, I wish it had more rides. Kirti was too tired and slept even before we put her on the car seat.

We took a long drive (1+ hrs) and went to Eagle River Valley, which is north of Anchorage. We took the Rodak Nature Trail. We spotted few salmons and again the view was amazing. Then we took a drive to Arctic Valley Road. This road was under military surveillance and notice read that the gate would be closed at 10pm. We hardly had 15 minutes, so we turned back after we got a glimpse of downtown Anchorage. We had our dinner at the Golf course and went to airport. I dropped Vidhya and Kirti at the terminal and returned the car. We had a smooth checkin and security process. Kirti was helpful during the security clearance and kept all of our things on the belt by herself. On seeing this the TSA officer gave her the "Junior Officer" sticker :-). It was surprising that they allowed travelers to take the cart through and beyond the security checkpoint. We killed time at airport by downloading the photos to laptop and a short walk before we boarded the flight.

Talkeetna, AK

August 16, 2009

Since I already booked Mt. McKinley flight seeing tour with glacier landing from Talkeetna for that evening, our plan was to spend the day in and around Talkeetna. On our way from Anchorage we took couple of breaks to capture the scenic view of mountains covered with fog and Mirror Lake. Next, we visited Thunderbird falls. It was approximately a mile hike from parking lot to the falls. After .75 mile we found that the trail to viewing platform was closed for construction. Bummer! However, couple of other visitors told that there is an alternate trail to the falls. The alternate path was slippery and muddy, but the falls view was good. Btw, the trail was greenish everywhere. It was quite scenic. We spent few minutes at the falls and headed back.

I thought river rafting (Talkeetna River Guides or TRG), on Talkeetna river would be fun. The rafting tour was at 2pm and when I punched the address on GPS, it showed arrival time as 2:10pm. I called TRG to check whether we can make for the 2pm trip, but they said that we got to be there by 1:45pm at least and it is pretty difficult. Though most of the vehicles were at speed limit, I decided to drive "little" fast. We didn't take any break and finally we reached TRG at 1:37pm :-). We initially thought we would skip our lunch, but we had plenty of time to have our lunch. Btw, I am not advocating to drive fast, but to leave few mins buffer for unforeseen events. River rafting was really nice and relaxing, especially after that drive. Kirti enjoyed it much more than us. She had a chance to row the raft as well. The guide was friendly and Kirti chatted a lot with her about the beavers, eagle, fish, etc. The whole activity took little more than 2 hours. We had couple more hours to explore Talkeetna and thought about horse riding. However, the minimum age was 7 years so we decided to spend some time on the river shore instead. Then, I meditated for few mins while Vidhya changed Kirti's muddy dress.

We picked up Pizza for Kirti on our way and reached Talkeetna airport around 6:30pm. There were ten of us including the pilot and the plane (little one) was full. We flew over the Denali National Park and it was absolutely scenic. We got a glimpse of Mt. McKinley and our plane landed on the glacier. That place was fantastic. We all got down to play with snow and take some pictures. All of a sudden the plane started sliding down the glacier and we all stood in a shock. The pilot acted swiftly by climbing the plane and steered it into the soft snow to stop it. Once the plane was under control, we all breathed. After few minutes we took off from the glacier and reached the airport. We had our dinner at the airport and headed back to hotel. We reached hotel around midnight.

The climate was pleasant that day and next 3 days. According to the weather forecast, it was supposed to shower all the days. We heard that rain was pouring on the previous day, but the

mother nature took care of us nicely.

How do I prepare a trip planner?

One of my friend asked how do I prepare a trip planner? That very question kindled my thought why not write a blurb about it. Though it is not rocket science, I thought of providing the steps I use to prepare a trip planner. I use Excel and then I upload it to Google docs. If you don't have Excel, use Google docs (spreadsheet) to create one. (Note: You have to spend quite sometime in identifying what places to visit from various other sites.)

Steps:

• Collect all the places in the Excel sheet. My recommendation is to use the official website, if available. In this step, you simply collect the list places and information about those. I use the following template (Click here for a sample template):
1. Name (attraction, place or event)
2. Priority - Must to see attractions have less priority
3. Cost - Adult and child. For child, I add age information as well
4. Address
5. Notes - Directions from official website, tour times, restrictions, phone number, URL, public transportation information, etc
6. Plan - My planned order of visit
• Research on worthiness from various sites and your interest. Using this information to assign priority to the attraction. You can use reviews from popular travel sites to come up with the appropriate priority. Best source is word of mouth - Talk to your friends, families and colleagues, if they have already visited these places. Sometimes photos from other sites would be deceptive, so check whether your friends have album. This would give you some idea as what shots (if any) look best, unless you are a "pro."
• Once you have prioritized the places, add these to Google or other map websites. Adjust the order so that you don't shuttle back and forth between attractions. Tour time information should also factor in to the order. I leave adequate buffer between the timed tours, because of Murphy's law. (E.g., sometimes the traffic may be heavy, you might miss to take correct exit, wrong directions from website, etc). Now a days, I take GPS with me, so that if I have extra time, then I can visit next high priority attraction(s).

Planning helps me to save time, gas and frustration during the trips. Hope you find these useful. I would love to receive your comments/suggestions.

Plans are nothing; planning is everything. - Dwight D. Eisenhower

Happy Traveling.

Mount Shasta, CA and Crater Lake, OR

Preface

My friend and I planned to go to Mt. Shasta and Crater Lake for a weekend with our families. At the last minute, however, his daughter showed signs of fever and they had to cancel the trip. Fortunately, we have booked the SUV directly at Fox rent a car, so we didn't pay any penalty for cancellation.

July 25, 2009

I got up around 4.45am and got ready for the trip. As usual, Vidhya got up even earlier to prepare lunch and dinner for us. We packed all the stuff in our car and went to my friend's place to pick up the breakfast. Yes, my friend's wife had prepared breakfast for all of us, as per our original plan. Traffic was low to moderate in the morning and I cruised around 75 - 80 miles/hour. Vidhya and Kirti was able to catch up some sleep. Around 8.45am, we reached Willows and took a break for breakfast and fill gas. The veggie wrap was delicious. We continued our journey and reached Sundial Bridge in Redding around 10:30am. We spent quite some time there. Kirti enjoyed playing with pebbles in the Sacramento river.

Next, we went to Shastha Dam vicinity. First, we went to the vista point where we got the view of "three shastas:" Mount Shasta, Lake Shasta and Shasta Dam. Then, we went and registered for the Shasta Dam tour at 1pm. We strolled on the dam to be on time for the tour and had nice view of the dam and lake. Shasta dam is the second largest dam (by volume of concrete used to build the dam) in the country. (Grand Coulee on Columbia river is the largest dam in the US.) Dam tour was nice and informative. Moreover, it was pleasant (cool) inside the dam, as it was very hot outside. Tour wrapped up around 2pm and by then we were starving. We had our lunch and headed to Lake Shata Caverns.

We boarded the 3:30pm catamaran to Caverns. It took close to 30 mins to reach the entrance of cavern. Wow! inside cavern was even pleasanter than that of the dam. Also, the calcite crystal formations were gorgeous. Kirti climbed all the stairs inside the cave by herself. She enjoyed the temperature inside the cave and even wanted to walk without shoes (Yes, it was that hot outside). Well, a surprise awaited us when we stepped out the cavern. I awed the beauty of the Lake Shasta and the vicinity. It was mesmerizing. Btw, the bus ride to and from the cave was good too. We got back to parking lot around 5:30pm and headed to Lake Siskiyou.

It took 45mins to reach Lake Siskiyou. We went to the Lake Siskiyou camp resort to get access to the beach and view of Mt. Shasta. Kirti was happy to see people swimming in the lake. We put her in swimsuit and let her swim/play in the lake for sometime. The view from lake was amazing. As we had to travel another 1.30hrs to reach hotel, we didn't wait for sunset. We continued our journey and reached hotel (Candlewood suites) in Medford, OR. We had our dinner (yummy idlies) and I went to do shopping for next day, while Kirti and Vidhya watched Harry Potter movie.

Jul 26, 2009

We originally planned to leave hotel at 8:30am, but I was so tired (due to less sleep and drive on previous day) and slept little longer. We left hotel at 9:30am and headed to Crater Lake. The drive was enjoyable as the route was scenic. We reached Rim drive (Crater lake) around 11am. Hmm! nothing could equal the beauty of the nature. Her grandeur and serenity are unexplainable in words. One should experience it with their own eyes. We made stops at few vista points to quench our thirst for beauty and headed to Cleetwood Cove Trailhead parking area. We decided to hike down to the lake and have our lunch there. Hiking downhill was not bad and it took approximately 40 mins to reach the lake. Kirti and I played with pebbles in the lake for sometime and had our lunch with an awesome view of the lake. During our hike, one of the employees there drove a mini tractor on the trail. It was pretty stunning and I applaud his manuvering skills and risk taking attitude.

We began to climb up the trail and Kirti was so tired (perhapas, due to sunny day and steep trail) that she couldn't walk. I had to carry her with many frequent stops to rejuvenate myself. If I am exhausted and ask her to walk, she would walk on her own for some distance. She was very cooperative. Finally, we all made it to the top. It was the most strenuous hike I ever had (Note: The trail as such was okay, but carrying her was tiresome) and my knees started aching. We began our return journey at 2:30pm.

Since Kirti wanted to go to waterfalls, we decided to visit McArthur-Burney Falls. It took approximately 4 hours to reach the falls. As usual Kirti enjoyed playing in the water and we also enjoyed the cool breeze at the falls. Though, originally Vidhya wanted to go home directly she liked the stopover and the falls. It was a nice break from driving for me. We spent 45mins there and headed towards home. On the way, we stopped at Red Bluff for dinner and filling gas. We reached our home, sweet home, at 11:40pm.

I drove 1020miles in 2 days. This was the longest trip for our car (Camry). It was an exciting, but hectic trip for us. Good part is we made it to all the attractions as per our plan.

Click on the hypertexts for trip planner and album.

[All the above places are awesome and not to be missed.]

Tips:

• We took travel cooler box in this trip and it was really helpful, especially given the hot temperature outside. In addition, it saved our time in shopping.
• No electronics/bags of any kind allowed in the dam tour. Leave as much as you can (except keys) in your vehicle. I noticed a guy, who shuttled last minute to the car to keep his mobile phone.
• Lake Shasta Caverns has lot of stairs to climb. Prepare yourself, especially if you have children or elders (seniors) in your group.
• Lake Siskiyou beach can be accessed at multiple places. I would recommend accessing from Lake Siskiyou camp resort as the view was spectacular from there. The entrance fee at camp resort is $1 per person, but it is worth it.
• Candlewood suites is pretty good. I liked it and my wife loved it. I booked directly at the Candlewood suites hotel website, but you can try priceline for approximately half the price. I noticed that one guest has booked the hotel for $50 through priceline.
• Hike to Crater lake on Cleetwood Cove trail is strenuous, especially with children. Prepare yourself and allow some buffer for rest throughout the hike.
• There are lot of water (boating, etc) activities in Lake Shasta. Three day trip would be more relaxing and give time to explore other activities. If you wanna save a PTO, then 2 day trip is possible, but it would be hectic.
• Kirti got insect (perhaps, mosquito) bites during this trip. Take proper precaution (insect repellent, et al) for your children.
• I wish I had learned more tricks to take panaroma shots (multiple shots stitched to make a panoromic one).

Niagara Falls, NY

After our dinner, we went to Niagara falls (US side) around 11pm to see the illumination of the falls*. Official parking near the park was closed, but the observation tower parking lot was open. The guys charged $10 and mentioned that visit to observation tower (9th floor) was free, blah blah. Later, we learned that the observation tower was free regardless of parking. Further, the entry to tower was closed around 11:30pm or so (we missed it). I am not sure whether there is any other parking close by. First, we went to the observation deck of American falls near Maid of the Mist entrance. Night view was spectacular. We could also spot the view of horse shoe from distance, but couldn't capture it clearly using the camera. If we had time and not tired, we might have explored and found out a nice spot to take snaps of Horse shoe falls as well. In case you are planning to see, you might get that view from Goat island. [View from Canada side would be way better, but we didn't go]. After that, we did shopping and returned back to hotel (ESA).

Next day (July 12, 2009), we checked out the hotel and went to Maid of the Mist*. Kirti, for some reason, opposed to the blue plastic coat; so tried to convince her and had to catch the next boat (Hmm! waste of time). Well, no words can do justice to portray the view of the falls from the boat. Next, we took the stairs near American falls to get a closer view and it was quite good. Btw, we were worried about our camera and camcorder on both of these trips as we almost got a "free" shower. Beware! After that we had lunch and took a stroll to State park and Goat island. We spent couple of hours there and headed to airport as our flight was at 6:45pm. Dropped Vidhya and Kirti at the departure, returned the car at Avis and we boarded the flight to Oakland (via. Chicago).

On the flight, we had a delicious pasta, prepared by Vidhya. Flight was delayed at Chicago due to late arrival of connecting flight. Moreover, the flight was detoured on the air due to thunderstorms. Good news was that we saw amazing view of lightning on the flight. Unfortunately, it was on the other side of the flight from where we were seated, so couldn't take good photos or videos :-( Flight reached late (around 11:15pm) and Ganu came to pick us up from the airport. Well, there ends our 10 day trip to east coast. It was a fun, nice and hectic trip.

Click on the hypertexts for trip planner and album.

[* Not to be missed]

Tips:

• General view of falls (Horse shoe and American falls) from Canada side would be much better than that of US side view.
• If you are planning to drive from DC or NY to Niagara (or vice versa), I would recommend one way rental. It is convenient and saves time. When I rented, Avis came out to be less expensive at BWI airport by at least $200 when compared to other rentals.
• If you are planning for a day trip and return back to bay area, then flight (Southwest) to OAK would give more room to roam around in Niagara. Flip side is that there is no regular shuttle from OAK to SJC - You have to book an expensive cab or private shuttle ($100+). We were fortunate to have our friend pick us up.
• If you plan to visit multiple attractions then Niagara Discovery pass for 5 attractions could save some bucks. It was running at $33 (30% off the regular price) during our visit.

New York, NY

Day 1: July 10, 2009

Our New York, NY trip began with the visit to Statue of Liberty from Liberty State Park, NJ. I booked 8:00am tour, so we had less sleep/rest again (for the 3rd continuous day). There was ample amount of parking there. Additionally, there was not many people at that time. We boarded the ferry around 8:30am and visited Ellis island first. It housed interesting exhibits and you get a nice view of Manhattan skyline and Statue of Liberty from there. Don't miss the "American Immigrant Wall of Honor," an unique National Monument. We didn't hurry up in Ellis island, fed Kirti (breakfast) there and decided to take the 3rd ferry to Liberty statue. In my opinion, the view of Statue of Liberty from Ferry was much better than on the island. There was a long queue to go inside the Monument. Though we had booked tickets with Monument access, we dropped the plan to visit Monument when we heard that wait time is approximately 2 hours. I had breakfast in the restaurant there, went around to take few snaps and boarded the return ferry.


We decided to catch up sleep and take some rest, so that we can enjoy the rest of our trip. On the way to hotel we did grocery shopping. I took a nice nap for couple of hours; when I woke up Vidhya was ready with the lunch. We headed to Manhattan island and evening traffic from NJ was horrible for couple of miles near the Lincoln Tunnel. Perhaps, that was the downside of taking rest in the afternoon. We reached Times Square vicinity and parked the car in the Bryant park parking. We took a stroll to Grand Central Terminal and headed to Rockefeller tower. We wanted to spend the evening before and after sunset on top of the tower to get both day and night view of the city. We booked the tickets to Top of the Rock (AAA discount offered) and took a quick walk to nearby places, (St. Patricks Cathedral, The Ice skating rink, SyFy exhibits, et al) so that we can go to the "top of the rock" 30 minutes before sunset.

We spent couple of hours on the Rockefeller tower and got nice view of the city. The Target Breezeway showcase on top of the tower was awesome. Got few nice snaps of Kirti there (check out the album for more photos). Inside the tower you won't miss the Joie, one of the largest Swarovski cut crystal chandeliers in the world. After the visit, Kirti was hungry and had her dinner at McDonalds. Meanwhile, I bought dinner togo for us from Utsav, an Indian restaurant. We went to Times Square, a place where it would be sin to talk about energy (electricity) conservation. This is one of the busiest streets I have ever seen and I saw people even selling drugs (illegal) there, but the place as such appeared to be safe. Later we went to Bryant park where Kirti played in the fountain and we had our dinner.

We picked our car around 11:45pm and headed to Liberty State Park, NJ to get the night view of NY skyline. It was 30 minutes past midnight and could hardly spot any souls there. It was scary, but still went till we got a glimpse of it. Vidhya was sleepy, but Kirti wanted to come out of the car with me. Moreover, we left our tripod at the hotel. :-( Given the situation, I stepped out and took couple of quick snaps and headed back to hotel. If I had company (or had I been single), I would have ventured to go even closer to get a better view.

Day 2: July 11, 2009

We decided to take it easy today. Got up relatively late, checked out the hotel and went to NY Financial district area. First, we decided to see Brookyln bridge and had a nice view from the car itself. Due to road maintenance (closed streets), I had to ignore GPS route only to get an even better view of the bridge on the FDR drive. We also saw Manhattan and Williamsburg bridge from FDR drive. We had to drive over the Brookyln bridge few times (Thanks to GPS) and we really got bored of the view. We finally figured our way out of that maze and parked our car in Battery Plaza. Since it was noon time and spotted McD, Kirti had her lunch. Later we saw the WTC site, Wall St (NYSE and Federal Hall National Memorial) and Trinity Church in that vicinity.

Around 3:00pm we began our drive to Niagara Falls. We had to drive through the Holland Tunnel, but it appeared that traffic was stalled approximately a mile before. We tried to work around the local streets, but in vain. Fortunately (and accidentally), I figured out how to exclude the particular route in GPS. It was very helpful; otherwise we might have got stuck there for quite long. Around 4:30pm we hit the highway and took couple of brief stops for gas, Kirti's dinner and to stretch our legs. It was adventurous to drive fast in the heavy rain on one segment, where I couldn't see even few feet ahead of our car. Additionally, the trip was relatively scenic (nature); therefore, it was enjoyable. Reached Niagara around 10pm, had our dinner and headed out to see the illumination of the falls.

Click on the hypertexts for trip planner and album.

[Note: I wouldn't miss any of these attractions.]

Tips:

• If you are interested to go to the Crown of Liberty statue, you need to book tickets at least 2 months in advance. While booking I would recommend booking Monument access as there is no extra charge. I booked the tickets from a site, where they charged be $14 service fee. Later (on the trip), I figured out that you can book from the official site without any additional charge.
• If you don't want to miss Monument access, then it would be better to take the ferry from Battery Park, NY. Ferry from NJ goes to Ellis island first and on return it doesn't stop at Ellis island. Whereas, ferry from NY goes to Liberty statue first and Ellis island later. This way you could beat the long queue for Monument access and won't miss any attraction.
• We skipped Central park, but it seems like a good place to relax. If you are planning to skip the "rest" part you can fill the gap with visit to Central park.
• In this trip, we managed to group the NY attractions together and didn't take public transportation.
• Empire state building might be crowded and Rockefeller Tower is equally good, if not better. Also, you can see the Empire state building from Rockefeller tower. :-) Additionally, the Top of the Rock tickets are timed, so you don't have to waste time standing in long queue.
• Get yourself familiar with GPS, especially the route exclusion feature. It was very helpful and it could save hours of your time during heavy or stalled traffic. I found this to be one of the biggest advantages of GPS.

Washington DC

It was 11:45pm when our flight landed at BWI airport. We hustled to Avis rental and rented the car (Hyndai Sonata). Lady at the counter was very helpful and recommended nice and fuel efficient car to us given our plans to drive long distance. We headed to the Extended Stay America near BWI airport only to find out that night attendant was missing in action (MIA). Another guest was waiting for more than an hour. Called emergency customer service, but they couldn't reach the attendant either. Finally, after 30 mins, a guest showed up near the lobby and he opened the lobby door for us. The night attendant then showed up in few minutes after hearing the noise. To add fuel to the fire, the attendant was not courteous either. This messed up our next day plans to quite a bit. [Note: Filed a complaint about this incident on ESA website and they have sent "Be Our Guest" coupon valid for ONE free night stay. :-) Not bad.] We slept for less than 5 hours that night and got up early in the morning. Vidhya, my wife, got up even earlier and prepared lunch and dinner for us. We headed out to DC around 7:30am on July 09, 2009. It took little less than an hour to reach DC. We were few minutes late for Library of Congress tour (8:30am). So, we decided to skip that at that time. We went to Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) to collect tickets for evening (5:00pm) tour. We, then, parked our car near Stadium-Armory metro station and decided to use public transport. Parking was not expensive there and it had quite a lot of parking space. Metro was very convenient to cover top attractions in DC.

We reached US Capitol* around 10:15am and learned that absolutely no food and water is allowed inside the building. We didn't want to throw away the food, so Vidhya decided to stay outside (sacrifice). Kirti and I went inside only to find out that tours were suspended for unknown time. Bummer! We took some snaps inside and spent sometime watching the exhibits in the visitor hall. When we were about to head out, the tour resumed operation. We both took the tour and headed out when Kirti felt hungry. There was a restaurant inside the US Capitol, so I decided to buy her lunch there itself as I don't want to search for places outside and delay her lunch further. We were not allowed to take the food outside (what a weird restriction?). By the time I fed her and came out it was almost close to 3 hours. Vidhya was clueless, but had faith that we would return back. :-) Vidhya had stomach ache, so I asked her to have some fresh food in the restaurant inside. I had the prepared lunch outside the US Capitol.

We then headed to US Supreme Court for our 2pm tour*. We had a nice tour and lecture about the Supreme Court and US judicial system. We took some pictures inside and outside the Supreme Court, Capitol and Library of Congress. We had some spare time and decided to venture into Library of Congress. We had a quick self-guided tour of Library of Congress and headed to BEP. Before that, I ran to capture the Monument shots from Capitol building and other side of Capitol. That was worth the run!

We were few minutes early for our BEP tour*. No photography/videography was allowed inside the BEP. We bought uncut one dollar sheet as a souvenir. After that we took a stroll to Monument and White house. On the way, we saw US Treasury and Department of Homeland Security offices. We picked our car and went to see Pentagon. We couldn't really make out Pentagon from outside and told my wife that satellite view of Google maps would be much better. Then, we began our journey to New Jersey.

On the way, we visited Mohan and Kavitha family (Ten day trip to east coast) at their home in Delaware, whom we met during Art of Living course at Chicago. We had a delicious dinner prepared by Kavitha. Kirti had fun playing with Laasya, Chinnu and Chinnu's friend. At 11:30pm we started from their place and reached the hotel (Candlewood suites) at Secacus (NJ) around 1.30 in the morning. Boy, it was another hectic day for us.

Click on the hypertexts for guide to DC sites and album. (This guide is provided by the Office of Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren.)

[* Not to be missed. US Capitol tour is also good. If you are bored you can leave the tour after seeing the dome.]

Tips:

• Contact your Congress representative to request tours for White House, Capitol, Supreme Court, Pentagon, et al. About 1 to 6 month advance notice is required for White House tour and is subject to last minute cancellation.
• Metro is very convenient and highly recommended in DC. You don't have to hunt for parking and worry about the missing the tour time. I also heard that parking is quite easy to find in DC.
• While discussing with one of my colleague, she mentioned that Aerial view of Oval Garden in White House and Pentagon from Monument is good. So, plan for that. We thought it would be yet another high tower and skipped it. :-(
• You can easily spend 2 - 3 days in Washington DC. We skipped memorial, as it was getting late to head back to NJ.

Chicago, IL

Our Chicago trip began on the July 7th night after Guru Purnima celebration. We stayed in Congress Plaza Hotel in downtown. Buckingham fountain was 5 minute walk from the hotel. Lights and the water jet on the hour was awesome.

Next day, I went early to Midway airport using MTA to pick up rental car. I rented PT Cruiser, a perfect car for driving in downtown, easy to maneuver, park etc. In Chicago, you don't need a rental car as most of the must to visit places are in walking distance. Additionally, public transportation is good. By the time I reached hotel (8:30am), Vidhya completed the checkout and was ready with Kirti. Since we were early we decided to visit Buckingham Fountain and Grant Park to show it to Kirti, as she was asleep the previous day. We parked the car using pay parking on the street near the fountain itself. Kirti fell down and scratched both her legs on the rough surface. Scratches were quite large. So, we wrapped up pretty quick and went back to hotel to clean her wound and give first aid. Next, we went to Sears or Willis Tower (new name). We didn't visit the skydeck as we were not interested and we also needed to catch up the boat tour on time.

From there we went to Wendella boats, but we reached late (Thanks to GPS). We had to catch up the next boat tour "Combined Lake and River Tour," which was longer than the regular river tour. Boat tour was relaxing and worth it.

Given this, we were delayed to meet Shankar Prasanna, my undergrad school senior. We had delicious home made lunch (Thanks to Sandhya & her mom). Then Shankar and we went to Millenium Park by walk. There we visited: Crown fountain*, Boeing Gallery, Great Lawn, Cloud Gate* and Park Monument*. Next, we went to Lou Malnati's Pizza in the downtown. We had mouthwatering Chicago style deep dish pizza. It took 30 mins to have our pizzas after we ordered. We were getting close departure time. After our dinner we headed back to Shankar's place, picked our car, filled the gas and rushed to airport (MDW). Airport was pretty much empty, so we breezed through the check-in and security check and boarded the flight to Baltimore (BWI). One thing I don't like about security check is to empty the water. We had to waste few gallons of water throughout this trip. It was nice to catch up with Shankar after a long time. Thanks to Shankar and family for lunch, dinner and accompanying us in the afternoon.

Click on the hypertexts for trip planner and album.

[* Not to be missed]

Tips:

• When getting ticket for MTA, use exact change. I wanted one way ticket, but I had only $5 on hand. When I inserted the money the vending machine gave a ticket worth 5 dollars. I gave away the ticket for free to one guy who was trying to get a ticket in the airport.
• If possible, use pay parking on the streets. They are inexpensive, closer to the attractions, easy and convenient when compared to public parking lots/locations. I would recommend trying pay parking first.

Ten day trip to east coast

Well, now that I am done with my MBA and I am obligated to take my family to places in U.S. we planned to visit for long time. Fortunately, or unfortunately, my office announced a week shutdown after the July 4th weekend. In sum, we had 10 days to spend and decided to visit east coast. We flew from San Jose (SJC) to O'hare airport (ORD) in Chicago via. American Airlines. Finally, I used the miles I collected for a decade to book the tickets for whole family. I still have 50K+ miles left.

Luckily, Guru Purnima fell on the same week, so as a family we attended Art of Living course in Chicago. My wife (Vidhya) and I did advanced course and my daughter (Kirti) did Angels course. Kirti had lots of fun during the course. She made quite a lot of friends and all kids liked Kirti. Through her friendship we became friends with Mohan and his family (Kavitha, Chinnu & Laasya), who live in Delaware. It was an awesome experience for us too, as we were in silence for 3 days, except when Kirti was around. Guru Purnima courses wrapped up on Guru Purnima day (July 07, 2009) with great celebration. Btw, during Guru Purnima I wore kurtha for first time.

Guru Purnima album can be found here.