Some Trips in US... (Blogging in Progress List...)
<Originally Added on >Monday, September 13, 2010 5:26:12 AM
A Chronological Account of some of the trips I went to during the times in US .. some moments.. some memories.. [Date Format - MM/DD/YYYY]
2018 ->
The trip to Crater Lake and Beyond.. [5/26/18 - 5/28/18] [Participants: Me, Shilpi]
All it started with.. thinking what to do on the Memorial Day weekend. It has been exhausting moving places to places, never for vacation but for work.
Thought it was about time, We needed a break. A small vacation of sorts. As well as considering the future, this seemed an appropriate time.
I thought to point it out on the Google Maps..
So how did we go about it...
Saturday morning decide
2018 ->
The trip to Crater Lake and Beyond.. [5/26/18 - 5/28/18] [Participants: Me, Shilpi]
All it started with.. thinking what to do on the Memorial Day weekend. It has been exhausting moving places to places, never for vacation but for work.
Thought it was about time, We needed a break. A small vacation of sorts. As well as considering the future, this seemed an appropriate time.
I thought to point it out on the Google Maps..
So how did we go about it...
Saturday morning decide
Afternoon...
2:00 pm Drive from Beaverton to Eugene, Springfield
Pitt stop at lovell lake...
Stay at holiday Inn...
Ate at noodles & company...
Went to Bunett park
Sunday
Breakfast (free)
Drove out.. .
Destination crater lake
Crossed national parks (Deschutes, wineme, Umpqua)
Couple of breaks down the road and view the lake.
Skip Rim village
Head down to bend
Stop over at lava cast forest (saw a amateur firing range)
Check in at Hilton garden inn
Monday -
Breakfast (paid)
Visit Mt. Bachelor
Eat at Taj Indian
Visitor center... Get to know and go to..
Summit point
Smith Rock national park
Drive to Redmond... Gas up, Walmart Pitt stop
Drive via Deschutes, three sisters town/forest area
Drive up to Woodburn premium outlet
Shop thru
Eat up at Red Robin
Drive back home.... 10:45 pm
Relocation (Yet Again) [03/10/2018] - [Participants: Me,Shilpi] to Beaverton, Oregon.
Places visited in and around:
Regional Blue Lake (05/12/18)
Estoria Bridge (4/ ../18) [Me, Shilpi, Swapna Di, Hemu Da, Ruhi, Ryan]
2017 ->
The year had an interesting turn of events to start re-accounting from... With the closing of Nov 2016 ... quite a few changes came about with my life as a contractor.
April 2017 - Relocation to Virginia, Fairfax [4/9/2017][Participants: Me,Shilpi]
3 weeks in Extended Stay in Tysons Corner
pick up the apartment in Fairfax, VA, take mETRO TO Washington dc..
...
A trip to Washington DC [5/20/2017][Participants: Me, Shilpi, Komal, Viren Tanna]
Trip to Acadia,Boston .. 5/26/2017 - 5/29/2017 [Participants: Me,Shilpi,Satakshi,Rphit Pandey]
Trip to Redmond, VA [6/3/2017][Participants: Me,Shilpi,Komal, Viren Tanna]
Trip to New York [7/1/2017 - 7/4/2017][Participants: Me,Shilp]
With a new car on our side.. excitement + apprehension abound our thoughts.
Sites visited :
Empire State Building
Madame Tussads
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2016
->
Trip to San Diego [02/03/2016 - 02/07/2016][Participants: Me]
Trip to San Diego [02/03/2016 - 02/13/2016][Participants: Shilpi]
Sudden and emergency visit to see her ailing sister in critical condition and her new born Aryan. I had to accompany her owing to the situation .. and a bit of morality kicked in... Nevertheless.. thought it might me a small gesture which might help them in some way..
Trip to San Juan Islands [02/14/2016 - 02/15/2016]
[Participants: Me,Shilpi,Krishnarup,Sunanda,Rian,Amit,Amrita,Amrita's Mother & Amaira]
A get away that was essential.... amongst the rains we landed on the islands post a ferrery ride from Anacortes to Friday Harbour. Previous night Shilpi had landed tired and distraught and the day started off with a 1.5 Hrs drive to the ferry landing zone. ...
Trip to Olympic National Forest/Sequim [09/03/2016 - 09/05/2016][Participants: Me,Shilpi,Amit,Amrita & Amaira,Sanjoy Ghosh,Mitali Ghosh & Ishaan, Angshuman Dhar, Shilpi Dhar]
A Plan that took about 2 weeks.. with minimal interference from me :), we ended up on a quick short vacation for the Labor Day Long Weekend. .. Saturday, we start at noon and start for Dungeness, with a few breaks.. exploring new citites along the way (Kitsap, ..et al) we reach close to evening. Other folks had reached already.. though not by a major gap.
We spend the night chit-chatting, barbequing , star gazing, some dumbcharades..some card games..
Next Day - Places we covered - Hurricane Ridge, Lake Cresent, ..La Poel,Salmon Cascade,San doc,Fairholme,Storm King (Skipped the hike),Sole Day Springs (missed the waterfall which had a 1 mile hike), East Beach..
drove around via country roads..Shilpi navigated by the hard map (since N/w was not there and hence no GPS maps)....ended up in Port Angeles and a quick dinner at the Crabhouse. Then took chicken back to the house and had another round of BBq, although it ended up with the chicken fried since the gas gave up on us..
Monday morning.. peaceful start to the day with sitting across the serene waterfront.. the mesmerizing beauty of nature..and we pack our bags to get back home..
Having had a quick snack/lunch at IHOP, we head to Adiaz Hook..a strait flanked by the ocean on either sides.. beautiful !!! and then we head back on the road to home....
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2015
Trip to Charleston [01/18/2015 - 01/19/2015][Participants: Me,Shilpi,Sumanta,Debapriya]
Random trip with Sumanta and checking out the Charleston Crabs and beaches.
Trip to San Diego [Feb 25 - March 11][Participants: Shilpi]
Trip to her sisters house.
Trip and Settling in Bellevue,Washington [04/18/2015 - ] [Participants: Me,Shilpi]
Flying to Seattle, Moved to hotel in Bothell , then moved to hotel in Bellevue (extended Stay)
Then Moved to Foothill Commons (on May 1st) to set up new Household..
Trip to Mount Rainier (Sunrise Point) [May 24'2015][Participants: Me,Shilpi,Rupesh,Rakhi]
Trip to Leavenworth [May '2015][Participants: Me,Shilpi,Rupesh,Rakhi]
Trip to Bellevue / Seattle / Portland [June 10 - June 23'2015][Rudranil (Hemu Da), Swapna , Ruhi Shona, Shilpi, Me] - Shilpi's elder sister and brother in law came over to visit us in Bellevue and spend some vacation time with us. During the time, we visited in and around Bellevue, Seattle's tower, Chihuily Garden, Portland (Day trip), etc...
Trip to Crystal Mountain overlooking Mount Rainier [July 04 '2015][Participants: Me,Shilpi,Rajinder Singla,Vineeta ,harsha (daughter), Vineeta's Sister (Sunita), Sister's Husband]
Trip starts at 8 AM ..targeting Crystal Mountain's Gondola an awesome experience .. beautiful ..mesmerizing sight of Mount Rainier and trails of stony paths..upon greens of the hills.. Home made lunch from Vineeta added to the fervor..
Thereafter went on to Tipsoo Lake close by..good experience.
Trip to Green Lake and Golden Garden Park at the foot of Ballard near Seattle [07/18/2015][Participants: Me,Shilpi]
Been a while ... I wrote or we travelled out... its been a lot of social functions and random drives.. but not much trips...
Trip to California - Santa Clara/San Jose / San Francisco [11/26/2015 - 12/2/2015] [Participants: Me,Shilpi]
There wasn't much of a planning for this trip as well. I had been in town for a long while and wanted to get out. Shilpi as well has been house bound for a long while, with occasional socializing.. so I thought we both needed a break... Thanksgiving holiday and the black Friday holiday..sounded like a perfect time... with all the mental tensions and worries going on .. we needed this break.. hoping to start afresh the winter.. but alas...
Anyways, I did record a day - by - day recount of this trip... not sure why..but seems like I just had the time.. here goes...
So...here it is...
Random trip with Sumanta and checking out the Charleston Crabs and beaches.
Trip to San Diego [Feb 25 - March 11][Participants: Shilpi]
Trip to her sisters house.
Trip and Settling in Bellevue,Washington [04/18/2015 - ] [Participants: Me,Shilpi]
Flying to Seattle, Moved to hotel in Bothell , then moved to hotel in Bellevue (extended Stay)
Then Moved to Foothill Commons (on May 1st) to set up new Household..
Trip to Mount Rainier (Sunrise Point) [May 24'2015][Participants: Me,Shilpi,Rupesh,Rakhi]
Trip to Leavenworth [May '2015][Participants: Me,Shilpi,Rupesh,Rakhi]
Trip to Bellevue / Seattle / Portland [June 10 - June 23'2015][Rudranil (Hemu Da), Swapna , Ruhi Shona, Shilpi, Me] - Shilpi's elder sister and brother in law came over to visit us in Bellevue and spend some vacation time with us. During the time, we visited in and around Bellevue, Seattle's tower, Chihuily Garden, Portland (Day trip), etc...
Trip to Crystal Mountain overlooking Mount Rainier [July 04 '2015][Participants: Me,Shilpi,Rajinder Singla,Vineeta ,harsha (daughter), Vineeta's Sister (Sunita), Sister's Husband]
Trip starts at 8 AM ..targeting Crystal Mountain's Gondola an awesome experience .. beautiful ..mesmerizing sight of Mount Rainier and trails of stony paths..upon greens of the hills.. Home made lunch from Vineeta added to the fervor..
Thereafter went on to Tipsoo Lake close by..good experience.
Trip to Green Lake and Golden Garden Park at the foot of Ballard near Seattle [07/18/2015][Participants: Me,Shilpi]
Been a while ... I wrote or we travelled out... its been a lot of social functions and random drives.. but not much trips...
Trip to California - Santa Clara/San Jose / San Francisco [11/26/2015 - 12/2/2015] [Participants: Me,Shilpi]
There wasn't much of a planning for this trip as well. I had been in town for a long while and wanted to get out. Shilpi as well has been house bound for a long while, with occasional socializing.. so I thought we both needed a break... Thanksgiving holiday and the black Friday holiday..sounded like a perfect time... with all the mental tensions and worries going on .. we needed this break.. hoping to start afresh the winter.. but alas...
Anyways, I did record a day - by - day recount of this trip... not sure why..but seems like I just had the time.. here goes...
So...here it is...
Day 0
Shopping....
Day 1
SFO-golden gate ; Pier 39 - bubba gump
Day-2
Santa Cruz ; mystery spot ; manju dinner
Day-3
Ca-1, half moon bay, twin peaks, painted ladies, fisherman's wharf, crooked street, dinner @ red hot chilli peppers
Day -4
Ladies shopping, dd-discounts, kohls,Satish house
Day-5
Shopping dd-discounts,JC penny, chaat bhavan,duli meeting
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2014 -->
MARRIAGE - :) [02/11/2014 - 03/07/2014][Participants: Me,Shilpi ] - A Life Changing and life modifying event.
Engagement Day - 12/11/2013
Marriage Day - 02/17/2014
Trip to Washington DC [04/18/2014 - 04/20/2014][Participants: Me,Shilpi,Sumanta]
Trip to Biltmore Estate & Ashville [05/24/2014][Participants: Me,Shilpi,Shanthi,Rohit Shinde,Harsha,Rohit Singh,Gyatri]
One Day trip and plan to capture the grandeur of the largest private house in US and the winery tasting of Biltmore Wineries. It was a good but a bit tiring experience. An extended day that started with a scary moment at the roads with a log of wood shirking off my car damaging my car body a bit and taking the rim off the car following mine. The day culminated although in a nice relaxed environment of wine tasting and a vist to the historical past of the Biltmore's. A tiring day is never finished unless we top it with a nice meal .. and so it was a dinner down @ Mela in Ashville.. A filled tummy and a satiated spirit.. we trudge back to base @ Clt.. A day well spent...
Day Trip to Clover/Kings Mountain/Crowders Peak [06/28/2014][Participants: Me,Shilpi]
Random drive through upon the road towards South Carolina via Lake Wily took us through many of the adjoining towns/counties .. a day on the road and the vist to the country side of US ..
Trip to Durham & Outerbanks [07/03/2014 - 07/06/2014][Participants: Me,Shilpi,Rohit Pandey,Snigda (w/o)&Mayur,Shweta (w/o)&Pritish,Shilpa (w/o)&Sonu Sharma]
Quick planning and random getaway's continues when in the eye of the tropical typhoon Arthur, we planned to hit Outerbanks for our annual meetup .. It was a very good time spent amongst old and new friends..
Me & Shilpi stayed over @ Durham for the night of 3rd at a friendly home of Carrissa via AirBnB and then continued our journey to OB the next day. Looked around Durham a bit and then drove all the way to OB..
This was my first road trip where I drove all alone over 700 miles... ..
Trip to Atlanta [08/30/2014 - 09/01/2014][Participants: Me,Shilpi]
Beautiful random trip....hectic schedule ...on the fly decisions. .. almost most of monuments were scoured...good food...good drive....
Trip to West Virginia Snowshoe Mountain [11/25/2014 - 11/29/2014][Participants: Me,Shilpi,..host of others]
Gathering of old buddies and introducing our new spouses.. complete 4 days of in house fun and card games..
2013------->
Trip to Grandfather Mountain/Blue Ridge Parkway [10/20/2013][Participants: Me,Sagar,Rohit Shinde,Harsha Shinde]
Drive and a nice getaway ... One day trip.. and a nice time out...... Caught up with the fall almost at the end of this season but it was a very nice sunny day for the trip. drove to the Mtn range and via the Blue ridge parkway..walked 3 trails and walked over the Mile High Bridge .. .
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Trip to Colorado/Utah [ 8/29 - 9/3][Participants: Me,Amit,Shivam,Santosh,Pritish,Shweta,Rohit Pandey,Mayur, Setu, Sonu,Shilpa, Rama]
Well planned trip by Pandey and team. I fly down from India and a weekend later I join this trip.
Flight on a Thursday Night to Denver and off to Vail via Road. ...The next day we drive close to 600 miles to Moab to visit the Arches National Park ..Milestone trip.
The next day we drive back to Vail via various scenic points ... and then have dinner cooked and a day later have barbeqee setup.
The next day we drive well back to Denver ....back to Clt on Tuesday Evening. ..
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Trip to Chicago [5/25 - 5/27][Participants: Me,Kunal,Shanthi,Anusha M]
A road trip planned in about a couple of days stared right out at us with a daunting task of driving around 786+ miles one way (close to 14 - 15 hrs) drive to Chicago and back.
Started off the trip by upgrading the car from a Full Size Sedan to a mid-size SUV to a Full Size SUV (Dodge), had to literally reach out for the brakes
Started @ Night 9:00 PM EST on Friday, pitt stopped @ Louiseville @ 5:30 AM EST on Saturday, restarted @ 11:30 AM EST and reached Chicago @ 5:30 PM CST.
Looked up the place we booked via airbnb (a local site where people gave up their own apartments for rent, cheap and homely feeling place) and thereafter left for Sears Towers (Tallest Towers in Western Hemisphere). By the time we wrapped up the day, (had Dinner @ Devon Street a.k.a. Indian Street with plates of CHicken biryani and faluda and finishing off with a zarda pan) , each of us were dead tired off the journey and the walks and the wait times.. we crashed on the makeshift beds.
Day 2 - we start @ 11:00 AM and make our way to explore the downtown. Made a stop @ some harbour beach, nice place.. went and walked the city.. went to Navy Pier.. danced away to some local band (Rock Candy).. befriended a Cab wala (btw, a desi who was settled in Chi town), reached a place which was open 24 hrs outside the uptown area, (giving me a feeling of the hotels we used to find on the Shillong-Silchar night super bus journey's).. had a decent fill of the food.. had a nice masala chai.. and romped back home.. only to roam around in the middle of the night for a parking spot.. (heck its a pain to find parking in Chi town)...
Day 3 - Start off by packing and putting back the house in order.. picking up the threads of the old Indian feel.. had brunch @ Abhiruchi (a mix of US'ised Andhra Food) and then pan and off we hit the road again.. slept in the monstrous car.. drove crazy stretches of miles.. cross atleast 5 states driving .. (Indianapolis, Kentucky, Cincinaty... et al.)...
Return - Started @ 1:00 PM CST on Monday - Reached Charlotte @ 5:00 AM EST on Tuesday Morning.
...TBD.....
Trip to Atlanta [5/3 - 5/5][Participants: Me,Pritish, Shishir, Amit,Sampath,Santosh]
Having been asked by Amit to drive with him, we went on to Atlanta to buy possibly 3 cars and ended up getting back with a very successful campaign of 2 Cars (lexus 350 for Pritish and Mazda3 for Amit).
Woke up @ 5 AM on Friday, and with a day off from Office.. drove down to Atl and into the dealer shop (UIAuto Shop(Roswell, GA)) and spent a very entertaining day over there digging into the value of a car and negotiating the price of the same.
The ride back was interesting as well with Amit driving in fog and rains and me navigating.. pretty interesting at times
...
2012----- -->
Trip to Cannan Valley [12/13 - 12/16][ Participants: Me,Pritish, Shweta, Shishir, Amit, Rohit Pandey, Mayur, Setu, Shirish shetty]
Gathering of old friends..chicken bbq..drinks..trail trekking..insane curvy mountain driving...nice time
Trip to Savannah [11/11 - 11/12][Participants: Me,Kunal,Shanthi]
Absolutely No plans for the weekend, we while away the time on Friday, Saturday and the on Sunday 12 Noon, we are bored.. so pick up the camera, get the rental car, pick up Shanthi and off we go to catch the Sunrise @ Savannah ('coz someone told that we get good food there).. Crazy as it is, its not that bad.. nice historical place, with the port on its side and quite a variety of food..
Trips to Asheville [10/ - 11/ ][Participants: Me,Kunal]
Multiple trips to Asheville, at the foot of the Smokie Mountains. We drive down there just as there is nothing better to do. Discovered good fooding joints (Mela , Kathmandu Cafe, Chai-Paani).
Very good food and a decent drive down the road...
Trip to NYC and US Opens 2012 [9/4 - 9/9] [Participants: Me]
Immediately back from the outerbanks trip.. i do a WFH of one day and fly out in the evening to NYC and New Jersey. Met old friends Sunny Rajora and Praveen Dodagodur and his wife.
Experienced LiveUS Open and saw all players whom we see in TV .. right in front of the eyes..
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Trip to OuterBanks [8/31 - 9/3] [Participants: Me,Rohit Pandey, Pritish, Shweta Naik,Shishir Kumar,Amit Singh]
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Trip to Miami [8/9 - 8/12] [Participants: Me,Rohit Pandey, Venkat Subramanium,Shishir Kumar,Amit Singh]
One of definately my best and unique B'day Celebrations and parties and time out. Chilled out and absolutely lazed out time.
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Trip to Knoxville/ Nanthala Pass/ CheroLay Skyway (Smokies) [6/28-6/29] [Participants: Me,Kunal]
---------------------------
Trip to West Virginia (White Water River Rafting)[6/30][Participants: Me,Balaji,Venkat S, Channu,Jyotsna,Pandey,Shanthi,Amit Singh,Karthik Subramanium,Madhuri,Vijayalakshmi Kumar,Paramita Gupta] ...
A Single day trip that started @ 4:30AM and culminated @ 12:00 AM(next day) .. Exhaustive tiring day but satisfying..
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Trip to Chester County (Sky Diving) [6/16][Participants: Me,balaji,Venkat S, Channu,Jyotsna] ...
One of the most awaited bucket list item till date.. sudden chance came by and I jumped at the offer..
-----------------------------------
Trip to Myrtle Beach and Charleston [6/10 - 6/12][Participants: Me,Kunal,Sugu] ...
First trip with roomies of Apt # 519 .. nice trip at the midst of Summer Break.. beach fun .. tried Baseball on the Sea.. surfing..
---------------------------
Trip to YellowStone National Park [5/29 - 5/][Participants: Me,Pandey,Shishir,Venkat,Amit Singh,Shweta Naik,Amit Bhat,Pritish,Prabhu,Mayur Kishalaya] ...
Worlds primero Geyser basin ...Hot Springs at almost every quarter of a mile atop the YS ..
One of the most inspiring and soul-fully peaceful trips.. Amazing beauties and nature's glory to display. "We Enjoyed Nature's pleasureable glory as well as saw Natures wrath" .. Scores and scores of uninhabited lands purely in the lap of Nature.
We saw literally Seasonal changes in a sopace of 15 mins.. we saw hail,rain,snow,sun all within minutes. Some of the scenics were so amazing that I have no words. ......
A home to many natural habitats.. Bison,elks,fox, Bears (Grizzley)....
-------------------------------
Trip to Winston-Salem [4/7 - 4/7][Participants: Me,Pandey,Kavya,Shanthi] ...
Late decision to drive down to Raleigh ended up @ Winston-salem for a break for a 'coffee'. ......
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Trip to Lake Murray [4/1 - 4/1][Participants: Me,Kunal] ...
Silent.. trying to break Ice trip.. calm .. visited quite far from Charlotte ..
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Trip to New Orleans (Mardi Gras)[2/17 - 2/21][Participants: Me,Pandey,Satish,Abhinav,Neha(Abhinav ki wife), Balaji, Venkat, Shishir, Prabhu, Siddharth (Venkat's Frnd)]
Amazing...Crazzyy.. mast... few words that come to the mind.
.... drove down arounf 12 hrs to Biloxi (92 miles off New Orleans).. the evening brought with it a tornado warning that drove the locals into their houses and us into the beach.. daring the sea and the winds gives a different feeling altogether.. thereafter we head back to our resort as the weather was unruly .. a game of Ass of cards and some relaxed talks gets us to the evening.. and then we head over to the Casino.. Beau Rivage...
*************************************************************
2011 -->
Trip to Washington DC and New York [10/7 - 10/10][Participants: Me,Kunal,Aafreen,Pritish]
A trip punctured with interesting and odd coincidental occurances not so pleasant.
Be it missing to see the Durga Puja Celebrations, Kunal missing his colleagues marriage,Aafreen toppling off a Chicken Briyani on herself, missing our bus to NYC, ending up reaching NYC @ 4 am , ...etc
Well the format was decently planned but all loopholes were not covered.. we drove down to DC, reached @5am, put up at a motel where we had a booking for the next day, the slept like a log till 11:30, bearing a very strong headache, roamed DC.. the Capitol , Lincon's Memorial.. etc
then the hunt for a overnight parking space made us get divided and roam around Union station to places where not many are allowed.. tension and confusion rode high..
add to it .. cell getting charged out of a bar ..
@ New York...
TBC..
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Trip to Myrtle Beach [9/10 - 9/11][Participants: Me,Kunal,Aafreen,Pritish,Pandey,Shanthi]
Extensive over worked week leads to a Late Saturday. Wake up, plan to go grab a coffee.. Starbucks..o'er there plan for a briyani.. then sudden plan for a quick trip to Myrtle and back.. all agreed and we head to Myrtle beach at 5:00 PM in the evening... drive down ,,,,,,,,,,,
tbc
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Trip to Arkansas.. [8/12 - 8/14][Participants: Me,Kunal]
Randomness knows no bounds... Spirit knows neither..We take two flights across multiple states... rest awhile and drive back 960 Miles on a Car which my roomie and friend buys...
we travel from Charlotte -> Atlanta (flight)(brief stop over) -> Arkansas (Flight) -> Memphis (By road) -> Charlotte....
Experiences account galore...
TBC
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Gainesville .. Highlands(Applacian mt. ranges) Trip [6/2 - 6/4][Participants: Me,Pritish,Pandey,kunal,Shanthi]
Another random trip decided late saturday noon ... trekking...bathing at the waterfall ..different fooding...
tbc
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Miami and Keywest Trip [5/26 - 5/31][Participants: Me,Pritish,Pandey,kunal,Shanthi,Jatin & Wife,Afreen, Ravi manem & Family.... 22 folks in total]
did some watersports,, a cruise...ate dolphin...got ticket for over speeding...lost my ipod touch...2100 miles of road trip
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Crowders Mountain [10 Apr 2011][Participants: Me,Kunal,Himanshu]
What better way to start the summers than hiking. so with those thoughts, we get on to our rented car @ 6:30 in the morning .. to catch a sunrise and then to go find a trek ...
wasn't able to get the sun come out of the clouds though.. a foggy morning .. led us to go in hunt of a Trek ... we ended up at the same place at which we finished our winters.. the Crowders Mt. in South Carolina. But this time round we scaled a tougher, steeper trek. Went up to the Overview point.. out of breath...and the body muscles screaming
....
Kings Pinnacle Hiking (Crowders Mountain State Park)
[23 Jan 2011][Participants: Me,Kunal,Himanshu]
This episode adds to the randomness frenzy ... to reaccount the events... lets go to the past night.. we come back from watching 'Dhobi Ghat'.. discussions and introspection were in order when suddenly we came up with the thought at 2AM on Saturday of watching sunrise the next day (Sunday).
Next day... 6:30AM .. trudge along with sleepy eyes... hit the closest location (Mc'Dowels county nature preserve)... we were on the wrong side and as well had missed the twilight by quite a while.. spend some time there and then drove back... but planned to go on for a drive down the other side... about 30 mins into the drive.. thought to check the place we reached and if there was anything worthwhile around...voila.. there was a point...a peak.. thought to chk it out.. reaching there ..with some roads mismatch.. we come upon a trail.. thought to check it out... and we 3 started walking.. got converted into hiking .. and a pleasure stroll changed into a decent hike into a peak at a elevation of about 1800ft. .. not bad huh !!! 6 miles hike mixed with moderate and strenous patches... it felt good...
Appalachian Ski mountain ...
[16 Jan 2011][Participants: Me,Pritish,Pandey,Jatin & Wife, Aneesh, Shilpa Jindal, Afreen, Vishal Shenoy & Family, Ravi manem & Family.... 20 folks in total]
First time in life.. Skiing .. Snow Clad Mountains and sliding down... Man it was an experience for sure... the sheer scary feeling and the adrenalin flowing ... the toppling and crashes down the hills.. brusies...
a scene that was starking... a kid.. with finger in his mouth .. and skiing .. on slopes where we were struggling to keep balance .. :-P
TBC...
2010----------------->
Myrtle Beach Trip...
[26,27 Dec 2010][Participants: Me,Kunal,Himanshu,Pritish,Shankar]
A trip which was a sudden decision to break away from the monotony of Clt life. A drive of close to 300+ Miles one way.. nice to go down. Had a chance to see the sunrise .. a beauty upon the Atlantic Ocean.
Atlanta Trip...
[27 Nov 2010] [Participants: Me,Kunal,Shankar,Rohit,Pritish,Tilak,...]
One day trip.. to the coca-cola factory ... good desi food...
Grandfather Mountain .. (Charlotte)
[31 Oct 2010] [Participants: Me,Kunal,Shankar,Rohit,Pritish,Roshan,Roshan's Wife]
One Day Trip to one of the highest peaks around ...nice drive down the remains of the fall season...
NewYork - Boston - New Hamshire...
[8,9,10,11 Oct 2010][Participants: Me,Sovit,Praveen Srikantan,Kannan,Rakesh,Suryakant,Rahul Parmar,Sumanta,Rupesh,Abhishek Patil]
A Trip to New Hampshire to see the FIRST Fall Colours for the season...an awesome scenic drive (20 hrs total one way) .. countryside drive down the road..
A get together with old friends.. folks woth whom had a gap of 3 Years .. an excitement that drove us along..
Snaps and experiments all down the road... tried my hand at photographies... snaps which did draw some appreciations...
TBC.....
Virginia Beach Trip..
[4,5,6 Sept 2010][Participants: Me,Mayur,Rohit Pandey,Pritish,Suraj,Abhinav,Pushkar,Jatin,Anu(Jatin's Wife)]
A trip to which I was pulled in almost instantenously as I set foot into Charlotte. A plan for which folks at Parkside had been planning for quite a while..I was pulled in by the virtue for a couple of my old friends being there in Parkside..
An Awesome trip.. The First in US.. a drive away that took away my breath for many scenic beauties and the awesome feeling of catching up with old buddies..
TBC...
2013------->
Trip to Grandfather Mountain/Blue Ridge Parkway [10/20/2013][Participants: Me,Sagar,Rohit Shinde,Harsha Shinde]
Drive and a nice getaway ... One day trip.. and a nice time out...... Caught up with the fall almost at the end of this season but it was a very nice sunny day for the trip. drove to the Mtn range and via the Blue ridge parkway..walked 3 trails and walked over the Mile High Bridge .. .
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Trip to Colorado/Utah [ 8/29 - 9/3][Participants: Me,Amit,Shivam,Santosh,Pritish,Shweta,Rohit Pandey,Mayur, Setu, Sonu,Shilpa, Rama]
Well planned trip by Pandey and team. I fly down from India and a weekend later I join this trip.
Flight on a Thursday Night to Denver and off to Vail via Road. ...The next day we drive close to 600 miles to Moab to visit the Arches National Park ..Milestone trip.
The next day we drive back to Vail via various scenic points ... and then have dinner cooked and a day later have barbeqee setup.
The next day we drive well back to Denver ....back to Clt on Tuesday Evening. ..
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Trip to Chicago [5/25 - 5/27][Participants: Me,Kunal,Shanthi,Anusha M]
A road trip planned in about a couple of days stared right out at us with a daunting task of driving around 786+ miles one way (close to 14 - 15 hrs) drive to Chicago and back.
Started off the trip by upgrading the car from a Full Size Sedan to a mid-size SUV to a Full Size SUV (Dodge), had to literally reach out for the brakes
Started @ Night 9:00 PM EST on Friday, pitt stopped @ Louiseville @ 5:30 AM EST on Saturday, restarted @ 11:30 AM EST and reached Chicago @ 5:30 PM CST.
Looked up the place we booked via airbnb (a local site where people gave up their own apartments for rent, cheap and homely feeling place) and thereafter left for Sears Towers (Tallest Towers in Western Hemisphere). By the time we wrapped up the day, (had Dinner @ Devon Street a.k.a. Indian Street with plates of CHicken biryani and faluda and finishing off with a zarda pan) , each of us were dead tired off the journey and the walks and the wait times.. we crashed on the makeshift beds.
Day 2 - we start @ 11:00 AM and make our way to explore the downtown. Made a stop @ some harbour beach, nice place.. went and walked the city.. went to Navy Pier.. danced away to some local band (Rock Candy).. befriended a Cab wala (btw, a desi who was settled in Chi town), reached a place which was open 24 hrs outside the uptown area, (giving me a feeling of the hotels we used to find on the Shillong-Silchar night super bus journey's).. had a decent fill of the food.. had a nice masala chai.. and romped back home.. only to roam around in the middle of the night for a parking spot.. (heck its a pain to find parking in Chi town)...
Day 3 - Start off by packing and putting back the house in order.. picking up the threads of the old Indian feel.. had brunch @ Abhiruchi (a mix of US'ised Andhra Food) and then pan and off we hit the road again.. slept in the monstrous car.. drove crazy stretches of miles.. cross atleast 5 states driving .. (Indianapolis, Kentucky, Cincinaty... et al.)...
Return - Started @ 1:00 PM CST on Monday - Reached Charlotte @ 5:00 AM EST on Tuesday Morning.
...TBD.....
Trip to Atlanta [5/3 - 5/5][Participants: Me,Pritish, Shishir, Amit,Sampath,Santosh]
Having been asked by Amit to drive with him, we went on to Atlanta to buy possibly 3 cars and ended up getting back with a very successful campaign of 2 Cars (lexus 350 for Pritish and Mazda3 for Amit).
Woke up @ 5 AM on Friday, and with a day off from Office.. drove down to Atl and into the dealer shop (UIAuto Shop(Roswell, GA)) and spent a very entertaining day over there digging into the value of a car and negotiating the price of the same.
The ride back was interesting as well with Amit driving in fog and rains and me navigating.. pretty interesting at times
...
2012----- -->
Trip to Cannan Valley [12/13 - 12/16][ Participants: Me,Pritish, Shweta, Shishir, Amit, Rohit Pandey, Mayur, Setu, Shirish shetty]
Gathering of old friends..chicken bbq..drinks..trail trekking..insane curvy mountain driving...nice time
Trip to Savannah [11/11 - 11/12][Participants: Me,Kunal,Shanthi]
Absolutely No plans for the weekend, we while away the time on Friday, Saturday and the on Sunday 12 Noon, we are bored.. so pick up the camera, get the rental car, pick up Shanthi and off we go to catch the Sunrise @ Savannah ('coz someone told that we get good food there).. Crazy as it is, its not that bad.. nice historical place, with the port on its side and quite a variety of food..
Trips to Asheville [10/ - 11/ ][Participants: Me,Kunal]
Multiple trips to Asheville, at the foot of the Smokie Mountains. We drive down there just as there is nothing better to do. Discovered good fooding joints (Mela , Kathmandu Cafe, Chai-Paani).
Very good food and a decent drive down the road...
Trip to NYC and US Opens 2012 [9/4 - 9/9] [Participants: Me]
Immediately back from the outerbanks trip.. i do a WFH of one day and fly out in the evening to NYC and New Jersey. Met old friends Sunny Rajora and Praveen Dodagodur and his wife.
Experienced LiveUS Open and saw all players whom we see in TV .. right in front of the eyes..
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Trip to OuterBanks [8/31 - 9/3] [Participants: Me,Rohit Pandey, Pritish, Shweta Naik,Shishir Kumar,Amit Singh]
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Trip to Miami [8/9 - 8/12] [Participants: Me,Rohit Pandey, Venkat Subramanium,Shishir Kumar,Amit Singh]
One of definately my best and unique B'day Celebrations and parties and time out. Chilled out and absolutely lazed out time.
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Trip to Knoxville/ Nanthala Pass/ CheroLay Skyway (Smokies) [6/28-6/29] [Participants: Me,Kunal]
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Trip to West Virginia (White Water River Rafting)[6/30][Participants: Me,Balaji,Venkat S, Channu,Jyotsna,Pandey,Shanthi,Amit Singh,Karthik Subramanium,Madhuri,Vijayalakshmi Kumar,Paramita Gupta] ...
A Single day trip that started @ 4:30AM and culminated @ 12:00 AM(next day) .. Exhaustive tiring day but satisfying..
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Trip to Chester County (Sky Diving) [6/16][Participants: Me,balaji,Venkat S, Channu,Jyotsna] ...
One of the most awaited bucket list item till date.. sudden chance came by and I jumped at the offer..
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Trip to Myrtle Beach and Charleston [6/10 - 6/12][Participants: Me,Kunal,Sugu] ...
First trip with roomies of Apt # 519 .. nice trip at the midst of Summer Break.. beach fun .. tried Baseball on the Sea.. surfing..
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Trip to YellowStone National Park [5/29 - 5/][Participants: Me,Pandey,Shishir,Venkat,Amit Singh,Shweta Naik,Amit Bhat,Pritish,Prabhu,Mayur Kishalaya] ...
Worlds primero Geyser basin ...Hot Springs at almost every quarter of a mile atop the YS ..
One of the most inspiring and soul-fully peaceful trips.. Amazing beauties and nature's glory to display. "We Enjoyed Nature's pleasureable glory as well as saw Natures wrath" .. Scores and scores of uninhabited lands purely in the lap of Nature.
We saw literally Seasonal changes in a sopace of 15 mins.. we saw hail,rain,snow,sun all within minutes. Some of the scenics were so amazing that I have no words. ......
A home to many natural habitats.. Bison,elks,fox, Bears (Grizzley)....
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Trip to Winston-Salem [4/7 - 4/7][Participants: Me,Pandey,Kavya,Shanthi] ...
Late decision to drive down to Raleigh ended up @ Winston-salem for a break for a 'coffee'.
......----------------------------------
Trip to Lake Murray [4/1 - 4/1][Participants: Me,Kunal] ...
Silent.. trying to break Ice trip.. calm .. visited quite far from Charlotte ..
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Trip to New Orleans (Mardi Gras)[2/17 - 2/21][Participants: Me,Pandey,Satish,Abhinav,Neha(Abhinav ki wife), Balaji, Venkat, Shishir, Prabhu, Siddharth (Venkat's Frnd)]
Amazing...Crazzyy.. mast... few words that come to the mind.
.... drove down arounf 12 hrs to Biloxi (92 miles off New Orleans).. the evening brought with it a tornado warning that drove the locals into their houses and us into the beach.. daring the sea and the winds gives a different feeling altogether.. thereafter we head back to our resort as the weather was unruly .. a game of Ass of cards and some relaxed talks gets us to the evening.. and then we head over to the Casino.. Beau Rivage...
*************************************************************
2011 -->
Trip to Washington DC and New York [10/7 - 10/10][Participants: Me,Kunal,Aafreen,Pritish]
A trip punctured with interesting and odd coincidental occurances not so pleasant.
Be it missing to see the Durga Puja Celebrations, Kunal missing his colleagues marriage,Aafreen toppling off a Chicken Briyani on herself, missing our bus to NYC, ending up reaching NYC @ 4 am , ...etc
Well the format was decently planned but all loopholes were not covered.. we drove down to DC, reached @5am, put up at a motel where we had a booking for the next day, the slept like a log till 11:30, bearing a very strong headache, roamed DC.. the Capitol , Lincon's Memorial.. etc
then the hunt for a overnight parking space made us get divided and roam around Union station to places where not many are allowed.. tension and confusion rode high..
add to it .. cell getting charged out of a bar ..
@ New York...
TBC..
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Trip to Myrtle Beach [9/10 - 9/11][Participants: Me,Kunal,Aafreen,Pritish,Pandey,Shanthi]
Extensive over worked week leads to a Late Saturday. Wake up, plan to go grab a coffee.. Starbucks..o'er there plan for a briyani.. then sudden plan for a quick trip to Myrtle and back.. all agreed and we head to Myrtle beach at 5:00 PM in the evening... drive down ,,,,,,,,,,,
tbc
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Trip to Arkansas.. [8/12 - 8/14][Participants: Me,Kunal]
Randomness knows no bounds... Spirit knows neither..We take two flights across multiple states... rest awhile and drive back 960 Miles on a Car which my roomie and friend buys...
we travel from Charlotte -> Atlanta (flight)(brief stop over) -> Arkansas (Flight) -> Memphis (By road) -> Charlotte....
Experiences account galore...
TBC
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Gainesville .. Highlands(Applacian mt. ranges) Trip [6/2 - 6/4][Participants: Me,Pritish,Pandey,kunal,Shanthi]
Another random trip decided late saturday noon ... trekking...bathing at the waterfall ..different fooding...
tbc
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Miami and Keywest Trip [5/26 - 5/31][Participants: Me,Pritish,Pandey,kunal,Shanthi,Jatin & Wife,Afreen, Ravi manem & Family.... 22 folks in total
]did some watersports,, a cruise...ate dolphin...got ticket for over speeding...lost my ipod touch...2100 miles of road trip
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Crowders Mountain [10 Apr 2011][Participants: Me,Kunal,Himanshu]
What better way to start the summers than hiking. so with those thoughts, we get on to our rented car @ 6:30 in the morning .. to catch a sunrise and then to go find a trek
...wasn't able to get the sun come out of the clouds though.. a foggy morning .. led us to go in hunt of a Trek ... we ended up at the same place at which we finished our winters.. the Crowders Mt. in South Carolina. But this time round we scaled a tougher, steeper trek. Went up to the Overview point.. out of breath...and the body muscles screaming
....
Kings Pinnacle Hiking (Crowders Mountain State Park)
[23 Jan 2011][Participants: Me,Kunal,Himanshu]
This episode adds to the randomness frenzy ... to reaccount the events... lets go to the past night.. we come back from watching 'Dhobi Ghat'.. discussions and introspection were in order when suddenly we came up with the thought at 2AM on Saturday of watching sunrise the next day (Sunday).
Next day... 6:30AM .. trudge along with sleepy eyes... hit the closest location (Mc'Dowels county nature preserve)... we were on the wrong side and as well had missed the twilight by quite a while.. spend some time there and then drove back... but planned to go on for a drive down the other side... about 30 mins into the drive.. thought to check the place we reached and if there was anything worthwhile around...voila.. there was a point...a peak.. thought to chk it out.. reaching there ..with some roads mismatch.. we come upon a trail.. thought to check it out... and we 3 started walking.. got converted into hiking .. and a pleasure stroll changed into a decent hike into a peak at a elevation of about 1800ft. .. not bad huh !!! 6 miles hike mixed with moderate and strenous patches... it felt good...
Appalachian Ski mountain ...
[16 Jan 2011][Participants: Me,Pritish,Pandey,Jatin & Wife, Aneesh, Shilpa Jindal, Afreen, Vishal Shenoy & Family, Ravi manem & Family.... 20 folks in total
]First time in life.. Skiing .. Snow Clad Mountains and sliding down... Man it was an experience for sure... the sheer scary feeling and the adrenalin flowing ... the toppling and crashes down the hills.. brusies...
a scene that was starking... a kid.. with finger in his mouth .. and skiing
.. on slopes where we were struggling to keep balance .. :-PTBC...
2010----------------->
Myrtle Beach Trip...
[26,27 Dec 2010][Participants: Me,Kunal,Himanshu,Pritish,Shankar]
A trip which was a sudden decision to break away from the monotony of Clt life. A drive of close to 300+ Miles one way.. nice to go down. Had a chance to see the sunrise .. a beauty upon the Atlantic Ocean.
Atlanta Trip...
[27 Nov 2010] [Participants: Me,Kunal,Shankar,Rohit,Pritish,Tilak,...]
One day trip.. to the coca-cola factory ... good desi food...
Grandfather Mountain .. (Charlotte)
[31 Oct 2010] [Participants: Me,Kunal,Shankar,Rohit,Pritish,Roshan,Roshan's Wife]
One Day Trip to one of the highest peaks around ...nice drive down the remains of the fall season...
NewYork - Boston - New Hamshire...
[8,9,10,11 Oct 2010][Participants: Me,Sovit,Praveen Srikantan,Kannan,Rakesh,Suryakant,Rahul Parmar,Sumanta,Rupesh,Abhishek Patil]
A Trip to New Hampshire to see the FIRST Fall Colours for the season...an awesome scenic drive (20 hrs total one way
) .. countryside drive down the road..A get together with old friends.. folks woth whom had a gap of 3 Years .. an excitement that drove us along..
Snaps and experiments all down the road... tried my hand at photographies... snaps which did draw some appreciations...
TBC.....
Virginia Beach Trip..
[4,5,6 Sept 2010][Participants: Me,Mayur,Rohit Pandey,Pritish,Suraj,Abhinav,Pushkar,Jatin,Anu(Jatin's Wife)]
A trip to which I was pulled in almost instantenously as I set foot into Charlotte. A plan for which folks at Parkside had been planning for quite a while..I was pulled in by the virtue for a couple of my old friends being there in Parkside..
An Awesome trip.. The First in US.. a drive away that took away my breath for many scenic beauties and the awesome feeling of catching up with old buddies..
TBC...
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