California Trip

Ok, so here I am back again after a long long time. Nearly two years! How time does fly?.even when you are not having fun!!!

Yes, the trip to California was amazing. I think I want to retire there eventually. This does conflict with my prior plans to retire in India and to get deeply involved with some projects that I have had my mind on. We?ll see. Maybe I can maintain two residences ?hehe?.no harm in dreaming!

Now about the California trip?.

Wish I had written things down sooner, I mean, soon after the trip. Now things are foggier. At my age, it is forgivable perhaps?

So one of the best things, of course, was the profusion of Desi food. You have choices! And SFO as a city was just so fun. I am sure if we lived there, I would love to just walk around and enjoy the city. We never did get to ride the street cars either..

And our first day, we went to the Redwoods. I think NM were not very enthu about it when we started out but once we were there, they absolutely loved it. You know how Nan gets into these kind of places. And Mitthu just totally was passionate about saving the trees and the animal life that exists in the forests. We had fun. Although the waterfall that they had promised us was QUITE a letdown. It was like a little trickle of water falling from a height of 20 feet. I mean, come on! But even so, we all enjoyed the place and we came back satisfied and happy. And then we stopped at a lookout point on the way back and they fell in love with it even more. Just the sight of the mountain ranges and the quiet?.

NM remember the Voight (Spelling?) Tower a lot. And the view of the harbor was just amazing. All that I have read about SFO and the harbor just started to make sense. Beautiful beautiful place

And the scenes along the Route 1. You could spend hours sitting there and watching the ocean. Although the birds may drive you away eventually.

And that place which was the old bathhouse. Then again, the beach at Carmel and the other one on the way (don?t even remember names anymore). The sea lions were fun to watch too.

Watched this show at the Pier 39 area. Sort of a magician, acrobat and a comic act rolled into one. Nanu and Mitthu went crazy laughing. I was amazed to see that Mitthu also has a strong sense of humor at 7!!

Santa Cruz was fun too. Although really, you can do those rides anywhere. But having them at the beach added an element to it.

Meeting Alka and Prerna was fun. Amazing how much each one has changed. Prerna seems to have lost her ?spunk?, her devil-may-care attitude. And Alka on the other hand has metamorphosed completely. I wish I had met Bela as well. Would have been interesting. And it would be even more interesting to hear what they really though after meeting me?

The China town area was fun too. Wanted to buy so many things but it would have been silly to bring stuff like that from US to Australia. Enough Chinese stuff available here, I can say.

Oh, I have to mention the bookshop we went to. What was that street called? Can?t remember. B, you know what I am talking about?

Anyway, the bookshop was just amazing. So many books on so many topics. And all very neatly organized. Bought Mitthu her first Harry Potter book from there. Unfortunately, when we landed in Melbourne she had in her hand and she kept it in the luggage cart. And then when Vivek unloaded the luggage into the car, he never noticed it and he left it there. She has been so upset?..Luckily, she borrowed it from her school library and has finished it. She is not reading Book 2!! And Nanu is on Book 5.

These kids are growing up too fast, I tell you!

Enough for now.

Another day for the trip to Seattle.

--GG