YellowStone National Park

We visited Yellowstone national park for the weekend of July 4th. Yellowstone is one the biggest national parks. Give yourself at least 4 days to see the park. Yellowstone is all about Geisers. All kinds of geisers, mud-geisers, sprinkling , fountain and so on. Here are few notable things we have done in the trip.

Watch Wildlife - There is plenty of wild life in Yellowstone. We got to see Bisons, bears, coyotes, musks and deers. There is a wild life park in the west entrance of Yellowstone where you can feed the wild life.

Geisers - Dont miss the Old-Faithful and Norris geysers. The whole 8-loop in which the geysers are located is around 200 mile long and takes at least 2 days to drive around. Here are some pictures of the geysers

Continental Divide - Continental divide goes right through the Yellowstone. Check it out.















Camping- We have read lot of reviews online and talked to many friends about the best campgrounds in Yellowstone. Contrary to the information we got, we found the Bridge bay campground to be the best of all. It's new, has all amenities and it comes with a free movie from the park ranger. And, there is boating in the lake too.
































Rodeo - Wyoming is world famous for its rodeos. All rodeos are outside the park. We went to a rodeo in Cody.
















Boating - There is a boating place right next to Bridge bay campground.

Snake River Rafting And Grand Tetons We didn't have time to visit Grand Teton national park. If you have few more days for vacation, checkout Grand Teton national park and snake river whitewater rafting.

Catalina Islands (Avalon)

We visited Catalina Island, Avalon in May of 2008. May is one of the best times to visit this great serene island. The weather was almost perfect when we visited there.

To get there

There is ferry service from San Pedro Harbor (close to LA) to Avalon. Schedule is @ http://www.catalinaexpress.com/. Ferry is the only form of transportation available. The ferry service does not allow for transportation of cars. We got to park the car in the harbor and take the ferry to Catalina.

There is a city bus that goes around the island. The bus goes around and there is one for every one hour. If you want to go to Two Harbors, you have to take the Safari bus from Avalon. There was only one at 2:30 in the afternoon when we visited Catalina.

Watch sea life on the ferry and on the island

During the ride, we got sight of big cranes, dolphins and sea lions. Watching wild life on the ferry was one of the most memorable things we did on the trip.

Kayaking

Many companies offer kayaking in ocean waters. There was one company that offered a combination of kayaking & snorkelling. We got to see wild sea lions while we went kayaking. If you are lucky, you might even get to see dolphins. I was thrilled to see birds diving and catching fish.

Snorkeling

Snorkelling is easy and you dont need to know how to swim. There is plenty of ocean life around Catlaina including wide variety of fish. Dont forget to take a water_proof camera. 2-hour snorkeling trip, including all the gear cost me around $45.

Things we missed (and I suggest)

• Scuba diving
• Two harbors and Safari bus
• Island tour bus trip
• Camping (I heard good camping spots are available in Two Harbors

Here are nice pictures we took on the ferry and on our kayaking trip.

Moab, Utah

Moab is known to be heaven for archaeologists and geologists. But you don't have to one of them to appreciate it, if you got a tiny bit of adrenaline left in your body.

The first thing you will realize about Moab is laid back people. People there drive @ 20 mph on a 40mph street. You would also realize it's a very hot desert and touches 90's consistently in summer. I was told by locals that April is the best time to visit Utah.

Here is my list of to-do suggestions for the outdoor-enthusiasts and fun-loving people. Before you read my suggestions, I have a confession to make. I don't enjoy hiking much and I am not one of the people who goes to places just to take pictures. When I suggest visiting a place, it should have been really spectacular.

• Mountain biking

Moab is considered to be the mecca of mountain biking in westeren United states. I have no idea which place it's in the east. Moab is home to world-famous slickrock trail . Moab has trials for all skill levels. We hired a guide and biked in a intermediate skill-level trail close to arches national park. Most of the biking traits came naturally for me as I biked a lot when i was a kid. There were cases when I needed expert guidance. On the trail, we got to see dinosaur tracks as well as remnants of old Indian civilization. We witnessed a breed of tall rabbits as well.

• Rock-Climbing

Moab offers rock-climbing for all skill levels. Talk to Dave from "Canyoneering, rock-climbing and repelling". You don't have to be very fit, but you will need muscle in the legs. This was my first time rock climbing. I ended up shouting "blair" a lot of times.

Collect Dinosaur fossils / See Dinosaur tracks

Here is something I didn't expect when i planned my visit to Moab. On one of the biking trails, we got to witness dinosaur footprints. This is the same trail we mountain-biked on. It's worth hiking to this spot just to see the tracks. The guide had a theory on how the tracks got preserved for millions of years. The whole plateau went below the sea level and sand deposited on it. When the place came back up, the sand solidified preserving the tracks. You will have to see it to believe it.

There is a shop in Moab, where they give away dinosaur fossils!!!!!!!!!!! I ended up collecting some free bones and also bought tusk of an elephant which roamed Utah 15000 years ego. The owner of the shop is supposedly a well-known geologist. We were told that a dinosaur species was named after him!

• Hike in Arches national park

Visit the national park very early in the morning. You got to be there before sun is up. Hike to delicate arch (or) double-o-arch. The yellow dispersed sun-light in the morning makes the arches even more beautiful. Don't forget your SLR. The hikes are not very strenuous, even the weak hearts can hike these hills. The HULK was here!

• Visit Canyonlands national park

Well, did i contradict myself? Didn't I say i never enjoy just visiting places and taking pictures? This place is exceptionally spectacular. I have been to Grand canyon, but I could never understand how people appreciate them so much!! But, here are the canyons, which have been preserved for millions of years and you get a feel of how a place looks like when it comes right up from ocean. This area is still rising every year.

• Rafting

Don't raft in muddy Colorado river. Go rafting in XXX river

• Canyoneering / Repelling

For those who don't have courage or energy for rock climbing should at least try canyoneering. Well, this is no fun if you have rock-climbed before.

• Get fooled and dazzled by La-sal mountains

The mountains look snow-capped, especially in the evening. They were named by a Spanish explorer as "la-sal" meaning 'mountain of salt' in Spanish because he didn't believe there could be snow in this hot place. The dazzling part about these mountains is that depending on weather and time of day, they look to be covered in snow and the sight keeps changing!

Little things worth noting

1. Check out Mexican restaurant on the main street
2. Check out trees that survived since dinosaur age
3. Visit Navajo Indian reservation
   

I have been itching to go back to Moab. If i had only one day left to live, i would mountain bike all day and eat lamb biryani for dinner!

Maui & Kuaui, Hawaii

Aloha! I would like to share the best things I have done in Hawaii. By the time we reached Maui airport, it was already evening. We rushed straight to the rental car agency not knowing that we would be watching the most spectacular sunset of our life. The weather was just perfect (never did we even know that the weather could even be that good). The moment I saw the sunset, I unzipped the bags to look for my digital SLR. By the time I switched it on, it was too late. Even staying 8 days from that point of time, nothing pleased us as much as this spectacular sunset.

Before I start of with my suggestions for to-do in Hawaii, let me tell you something.. I cannot swim...This might make some of you stop reading here.. But read on, as there is so much life other outside of water in water.

Maui

1) Halekala bike ride ( 9 /10 ) This is the first thing we did in Maui. A shuttle picked us up at 2:00 in the morning and we drive up to the top of Halekela mountain. We waited till the sunrise and then biked down the hill. It was one thrill ride down!!! You would see the remainins of volcanic eruptions in the begining and lush tropical gardens at the end of the ride. One thing I would definitely suggest is ride down all the way from the top of the mountain (there were some tours available that started half way through). Hawaii has got its own ecosystem. Some of the plants that grow here cannot be found anywhere else. One such is the "Silverswoods" plant shown below.

2) IAo valley ( 8 / 10) I mentioned witnessing a spectacular sunset over cloudy mountains the moment we landed in Maui. I did not realise where the sunset happened until the next day when i visisted Iao valley. It's undoubtedly one of the most scenic places, I have ever visited. You would definitely appreciate it no matter if it's sunrise or sunset. 'Iao Valley' is the site of one of the most famous battles that occurred in 1790 and changed Hawaii history forever when King Kamehameha I destroyed the Maui army in an effort to unite the Hawaiian Islands. One of the great natural wonders of Maui, Iao Valley blends tales of ancient Hawaiian warfare with a lush and peaceful tropical setting. Iao means, "facing the down" or "supreme cloud."

3) Ride the hana highway ( 5 / 10) I heard a lot about this highway with somewhere around 54 bridges on 50-mile winding highway. The ride was fun passing through lush greenery and tons of waterfalls. However, the ride is quite boring, with not much to do and you are stuck the whole day as you have to take the same road back to the city. There are many good beaches along the way, with really big waves.

4) Horse Ride ( 8 / 10)

Dont count on my rating on this one. I have always fascinated about riding horses. Whether you enjoy the ride or not mostly depends on your guide. Take a personal tour instead of a group tour as you would have more liberty for galloping the horses. You can actually ask them that you are intrested in riding faster when you sign up.

They have tours ranging from 2 hr long to 5 hr long. Go for the longest tour. You would not be disappointed! It's very hard to get appointments for the horse ride. Book before you fly!

5) Sunset on the IAO valley, watch from the beach on the west side ( 10 if you get lucky, 7 if you dont)
After watching the beautiful sunset on IAO valley on the first day, we wanted to see it again. We drove on to the west side of the island next day only to realize that you got to be on the east side of Iao valley to watch sunset over those mountains. The next day we took the hana highway and stopped on our way back to watch the sunset. Though it was not even close to what we have seen on the first day, i got the picture of the day! BTW, the sunset view point i got was from Thirfty car rental center near Maui airport.

Kaui

1) Helicopter ride over napa coast (open windows) (9/10) OH MY GOD!! If you didn't take this in your last trip to Hawaii, you should go again. Napa valley coast is not reachable by road. The only way is either by boat (or) helicopter. I was told it's worth trying both tours. One suggestion I have is to take Helicopters with no windows, as you can feel the weather while flying over the clouds. If you take a helicopter with windows, dont count on my rating of 9. Ask specifically to be seated in front seats, when you make the registration.

2) Try the zipline adventure (9/10)

Actually I havent done this as I could not get a reservation. This is a MUST do event, as the locals say. Book before you fly!

3) Fern grotto (3/10) There is not much here other than a wet place (Supposedly one of the wettest places), where lot of fern grows and there is a natural amphitheater. If you are struck up in Kuai and have no other plans, take it. It just takes 2 hours.

4) ATV adventures (6/10) Get Dirty!! Drive the ATV thru the lush sugarcane fields and test if you are rugged enough to survive the terrains. I would not suggest this if you are with a girl, who does not have enough stamina in the wrists to turn the steering, as they are really hard. If you are driving with a kid or a girl, try the 2 seater vehicle. But, the single seater vehicles are real fun!

Oahu

1) Attend a Luau ( 8 /10)

Lau (Also known as Hula) is the name of polynesian dance. Each dance is associated with expression of emotions in an incident. This is the only part of polynesian culture left in hawaii. Most of the native hawaiians cannot even speak polynesian any more. I do not have any good pictures of Lau.. but here are the pictures we took with the dancers.

2) Grand Canyon of the pacific ( 3 / 10) There is a rocky place called wailmea canyon in Oahu which is also known as grand canyon of the pacific. It's listed as one of the must see sites by many Hawaiin tourist guides. But I felt it's a boring ride all the way just to find out there is nothing much to do there other than driving back. The only thing we have done there is taking a photograph. I did not even like "grand canyon" anyway.

4) Iolani Palace, Honolulu ( 6 /10) This was the capital of Hawaiin kingdom before Hawaii became part of US. It's definitely worth a visit. No photography is allowed inside the palace.

Big Island

Helicopter tour over the Volcano (10/10) I have not tried this one but many people told me this is the best thing to do in Hawaii.

Ten words to know

• Aloha
• Mahalo
• Kiki
• Mahine / Wahine
• Shaka

Some of the good pictures I have taken in Hawaii