Happytraveller

2008-09-25T07:55:00.005-05:00

The other day when I was driving back from the grocery store, I saw one of those little cars for children (the kind where they actually sit in it and drive it) on the sidewalk. Behind it came a toddler, all dressed for the big ride, cool sunglasses and all....The first thought that occurred to me when I saw the little car was, "I bet that's one of the things my son is going to buy his son when he's all grown up." The reason being that that was one of the things he always wanted when he was 3-4 years old and for some reason, we just never bought it. It was always, "not now, sweetie" or "maybe later" Of course one reason behind my reluctance was that he would speed away and I would not be able to stop him.Not to mention the exorbitant price for it. It always felt like, it would be used for maybe a year and he'll outgrow it so why waste good money on it. We always found something else to buy instead, something which both brothers could use for a longer period of time.

Well, anyways, the little car got me thinking. Isn't it funny how, we always try to provide for our kids all that we never had as kids. My parents always felt that my brother and I should have all the things they didn't have while they were growing up. We always got to buy the latest fashion in clothes(as long as it was decent, of course!)They always made sure we had money in our pockets for anything we might need or for any emergency expenses-for me this emergency always translated to a severe craving for pani-puri at the road side stand:)When they were growing up, money was not something they always had and had to go through so much for even the smallest of needs. They always tried to provide a stable home environment for us, something which they themselves lacked, growing up.

Then I had my kids, and what did I do? I tried to provide for them all that I didn't have while growing up.There were a few things I felt like I could not have as a child.It is not always material stuff, I remember when I was growing up,my friends could not always come to my house to play, because my mom worked. So, most of the time it was me going to my friends houses to play. Sounds silly, but it stuck somewhere and now my kids friends' practically live at our house. However, me staying home and not working full time means, that my kids don't always get what they want or don't get what they want right away, because we have to budget our money. Hence, the little car got pushed to the background with all the other things we felt were unnecessary at the time. My husband, on the other hand, a big sports buff,(he played cricket for his state)was the last of 10 children in the family. Though he was pampered quite a lot, he still always had to borrow sports equipment when he went to play cricket and never had any of the fancy stuff the other kids had.There were just more important things the family needed. So, what does he buy our kids? All the sports equipment they ever need or even mention the slightest interest in.

I am sure, when my kids grow up, they are going to buy their kids all the stuff they never had. It may or may not be material things, but I am sure, when they are parents, they will have this big list of things they didn't have or didn't get to do.Funny how the cycle of life continues, right?

You must be wondering, this is a travel blog,so why the constant rambling about life and its little quirks? Well, I think of life as a journey too. The journey of our thoughts, sometimes down memory lane and at others somewhere into the distant future. But, a wonderful journey nonetheless, with all its twists and turns.

2008-09-02T09:37:00.003-05:00

Hi all,

I'm back after a long hiatus from blogging. Many things have been going on with me since the time I last blogged. Mainly, life.....

My parents came to visit and help me out with a surgery that I had to go through. The first three months of their visit went by in just helping me run the house. The kids were in the last quarter of school, the summer vacation that followed and so on and so forth. Hubby has been doubly busy with work..we all know how the work scene is these days..no need to elaborate on that! We did take a couple of trips during the latter part of their visit, though. Once was to St. Louis, Missouri, and the second one was to our fav vacation spot, The Wisconsin Dells. We had a number of karate tournaments, guitar and vocal recitals, drawing competitions, school plays and many more wonderful and exciting events. The biggest thing for us has been our older child starting high school this fall. Its a big deal around here. We were all a little overwhelmed, but we're on our way now and hopefully things will go smoothly. Our younger son started Intermediate school, 4th grade.

My parents left a couple of weeks back for India. I am trying to get back into the groove of things, school lunches(yup, remember those?) and work.

I just wanted to say hi to all of you again and hopefully, I'll be blogging more often now. I know I've said that before, but haven't really been able to, but I'll try harder now:))

2007-11-20T11:04:00.000-06:00

Hello all, this is a guest post by my husband. He recounts his recent visit to the Great Wall of China. Read on....

Changcheng (The Great Wall of China)

Visiting Changcheng or the ‘Long Wall’ as it is popularly known in China, built for over 6000 Kms, is an amazing experience. An awesome man-made structure built and rebuilt….and rebuilt…. Over thousands of years, by successive dynasties.

When I was in Beijing for my official visit, my colleague from the Beijing office suggested we visit some places. ‘What would you like to see?’ he asked. ‘Great Wall, of course!!’

I was a bit apprenhensive when my colleague offered to drive me to the Great Wall in his car. I was already having enough fun catching a cab from the hotel to my office and back. I would say traffic in Beijing is not as bad as it is in India, but it’s definitely stressful!!

My colleague Mr. Hao picked me up from the hotel at 8.30AM on Saturday morning. It was a two hour drive to reach Badaling section of the Great Wall. One could book any of the plethora of bus tours to the Great Wall from various points in the city. Since it was a Saturday morning, traffic wasn’t that bad and we made it in good time. After parking the car, we set off on foot to climb the tallest part of the Badaling Great Wall.

The climb was pretty steep and we were exhausted by the time we reached the peak. Of course, there were cable-car rides and train rides to reach the summit and I was tempted to take one of those rides; But after seeing some septuagenarians and octogenarians climbing the wall on foot, we decided to walk. And, what a walk it was!! I have been climbing the steps of Tirumala Hills since I was a kid and I thought I was very good in conserving my energy for long walks with steep climbs. But this was a totally different and amazing experience.

The scenery around the Great Wall is breath-taking. One can see the Great Wall disappearing into the horizon. Most of the Badaling section runs through mountains. One can imagine the hard-work put in by the people in those times, with no access to modern construction equipment whatsoever. There is a belief that some 2 million people died while building this wall.

After climbing down the wall, we reached Beijing city limits late in the afternoon. Since we skipped lunch (we were too tired to eat anything after climbing the Great Wall), we decided to eat an early dinner at one of the local restaurants. The food was amazing and I realized how spicy Chinese food could be!! Most of the Chinese restaurants offer a variety of choices for vegetarians like me.The only twist to this statement is to take a local person with you when you visit such restaurants. No matter how hard you try to explain your choice of vegetarian food, there will be some misunderstanding and you may end up with the famous Peking Duck cooked to perfection served steaming hot!! Your local friend can best explain your choice to the waitress.

Thank you Travelplaza for this space on your blog :-)

2007-11-01T14:15:00.000-05:00

Vist to Agra...The Taj!!

On our recent trip to India, the one place we wanted to visit was Agra, to see the Taj Mahal. My kids had made us promise when we were still here that we would see it. So, we booked our tickets using the travel site makemytrip.com. We only just booked our flight tickets as our accomodation was taken care of by freinds of the family. The tickets were not too expensive and the customer service reps were professional and curteous.

We arrived in Delhi on a Monday afternoon and spent the day lazing around. The next day, Tuesday, we woke up bright and early to drive to Agra. Our driver was a nice young fellow, except he kept losing his way around a little bit! Of course once we were on the highway, he knew every inch of the road and made good time. He used his 'Haryanvi' accent to talk his way through various "informal check-posts" setup by local police. Haryanvi is a special flavor of Hindi spoken in the state of Haryana which is adjacent to state of Delhi. We stopped for breakfast at a nice restaurant on the Delhi-Agra highway, I can't remember the name, but they not only had great parathas, but also some fabulous souvenirs. The kids of course were thrilled by the snake charmer who sat at the gate to the restaurant.

After a good breakfast, we resumed our journey and reached Agra at about 10.00 am and went straight to the Taj Mahal. Motor vehicles are not permitted close to the monument and so we had to park our car little away and from there ride in a jatka...a horse driven cart. It was an iteresting 10 minutes with the bumps and clumps and the willfulness of the animal itself. At one point the cart driver gave the reigns to my older son and this thrilled him no end. We arrived at the entrance and bought our tickets to go in. There was a security check point but there was no problem. It was not too crowded and it was a pleasant morning. Although it did get very hot really soon..

There are no words to describe the unique beauty of the Taj!!It stood regal and grand near the Jamuna...I was sad to see though,that the Jamuna had shrunk to a mere stream. We walked along the path leading to the Taj and went inside. Footwear had to be left outside and we entered the monument. It was quite hot outside now, but the spectacular architecture of the monument allowed for the cool breeze to waft in. This gave the place a serene, calm and cool feel. Photography is not allowed inside the Taj. However, we took plenty of pictures outside. The kids read about its history and other interesting facts on our way out. My younger son's reaction after reading them was just one word, "awesome!". We again took the jatka back to the car park. The heat was intense now and we were hungry. We headed to a restaurant for some Daal-roti and sabji.

The best time to visit the Taj Mahal seemed to be on any week day except Friday. Visit to Taj on Fridays and weekends will only cause lot of heartache for Taj-lovers. It was around the last week of June and I think schools being in session in India, there was not too much crowd. It was peaceful and quiet and just perfect.

Soon after our trip, The Taj was voted to be one of the New Seven Wonders!!!Yeah..Taj!

2007-10-26T08:44:00.000-05:00

More rambling....

Hi all,

I've been away for a long long time. But I'm back now. "Hey r u thinking of writing again?" These 7 words from Ajeya, posted in my comments section really got me thinking....what have I been doing these past 6 months? Why haven't I been even so much as looking at my blog? I was looking for some answers when my 8 year old came to me sleepy-eyed and asked me, "mom, what are you giving me for lunch today? Can you make aaloo parathas?" Aah, the answer...I've been living my life, the life of a mother, a wife, a home maker, a part time tutor...so many things...and its been full and rewarding at times and frustrating at others...and in all the activity I forgot to do what I love, to write!!

When we were planning our trip to India in the summer, I was looking forward to getting together with some of you, but as it turned out, I didn't get a chance to meet any of you. The trip itself was eventful and I was glad to be there when I was. It seemed like it was over all too soon and we returned home with tears in our eyes and our hearts full of memories, that we will remember for ever, some fondly, others sadly, but memories, there will always be.

This post is just a come-back one...and I hope to be writng a lot more soon. I haven't had a chance to post about my India trip at all, but we did travel a little bit while we were there and maybe I'll post about our travels to Delhi and Agra...the Taj was spectacular and the kids loved seeing it.

Yes, yes...I know, I'm rambling again..seems like I'm doing that a lot lately....if not on my blog, then when I'm talking to someone...anyways, I hope to be blogging more soon. I want to thank all my blogger friends for thinking of me and caring....

2007-01-26T10:32:00.000-06:00

SUNDRY RAMBLIMGS

I was doing the laundry the other day and the smell of clean fresh laundry took me back to my childhood when we would run around playing in the yard amidst the clothes drying in the sun. Occasionally one or two small clothes would drop down from the clothesline and we would be yelled at for making the freshly washed clothes dirty.
Then my mind wandered to my teens when with the setting sun, my mom would ask me to bring the laundry in and fold the clothes and put them away in their respective places. I loved folding laundry, but the putting away part was what I hated. I grumbled and made a list of all the most hated chores including drying the dishes and putting them away.
Today as I gently fold my kids clothes and put them away in their closets, I smile to myself and think its not so bad after all. The memories of childhood and adolescence come back to us, sometimes, unbidden and other times, we fondly recall them. The topic at the dinner table in our home usually revolves around my husband’s and my childhood and the kids love hearing our escapades and of course, how we got in trouble.
Whenever I feel lonely and isolated, living so far away from our families, it is these memories that bring a smile to my face. These memories are what keep us close to the hearts of the ones we love and to our home. I hope my children have wonderful memories of their childhood when they grow up too, for it is these memories that make the present bearable-knowing that someday the present will be memories of things past.
Why this post, you ask…its all in the title, sundry ramblings! And yes, my friends and family do think I’m weird because I love doing laundry!!

2006-11-03T09:30:00.000-06:00

I’ve been tagged again:) by RK and Ajeya.

I must say I’ve been really late with this one. Anyways I’m supposed to say eight things about myself…So, here goes…

1. I was born in Hyderabad, India, brought up in Bangalore…lived a good portion of my life there before moving to Sydney, Australia and then to the United States.

2. My favorite place in the world is still Bangalore.

3. I had my first child at a very young age when I was still studying. I had him the day after completing my second year degree exams. I had the highest marks in the whole college for that last exam.

4. I am quite reserved with people I don’t know very well. But I am anything but reserved with friends and family. In fact, they complain that I cannot stop talking…

5. I will not say I am a perfectionist, but I strive to do the best I can at all times.

6. I love traveling. I have a passion for visiting new places. I hope to travel the world sometime…

7. I love my kids to distraction…as if you couldn’t tell already..:)

8. And finally, my philosophy in life is to take each day as it comes and live life to the fullest. Planning is good, but spontaneity is better. Don’t forget to put your party hats on…and have a blast:)

I tag....
Britmum
Jim
Vijay
Dav
Christine
Ravenbajan

2006-10-11T12:10:00.000-05:00

Door County, Wisconsin….

I know I’ve been MIA for the last few weeks. There’s just been too much action around here, which kept me away from blogging for a while. But I’m back:)and I hope to stay or at least visit more frequently.
We went to Door County, Wisconsin for the Labor Day weekend, September 2 to the 4th with another family, who are our close friends. We left on the 1st, which was Friday. We left at about 3.30 in the afternoon for the 5-hour drive. We drove in two vans because of all the luggage. (As always, I had my handy rice cooker and lots of yummy snacks). My friend too had her van filled with the good stuff:) The drive itself was quite uneventful, excepting the occasional squabble in the back seat for the MP3 player or which movie to watch. We stopped at the lone subway restaurant at a sleepy little town for dinner. I cannot remember the name of the town but it was so quiet! The pizza there was delicious, though. The sandwiches were, well, sandwiches. After dinner, we resumed our drive. After we passed through Sturgeon Bay, the road was very dark and very quiet. It was late and all the stores were closed. We left the highway and drove through many little towns before we got to Ellison Bay.

Oh, I’m sure a lot of you are wondering about what Door County actually is? The county is named after the strait between the Door Peninsula and Washington Island. The French explorers gave it the name, "Porte des Mort Passage" or “The Door to the way to Death" because it was a particularly hazardous passage for ships.I got this bit of its history from Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia.

Well that’s the history of the place. Door County is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen. I have been there a couple of times before on day trips to see the fall colors, which are absolutely spectacular. The County is home to several state parks. Its serene atmosphere is soothing and is a much-needed breath of fresh air in our busy lives. Its supposed to be bear country out there. We didn’t get to see any, though. We however, did see some deer and other little animals.

We arrived at Ellison Bay at about 10.00 in the night. We had booked a cottage at one of the many resorts. The resort was tucked away in the natural surroundings and we had to drive around a bit before we found it. We found our cottage after again driving around a little bit, and parked our vans. When we got out, we looked up at the clear night sky, with millions of twinkling stars. The whole atmosphere was picture perfect. We walked in and found the cottage to be very pleasant. It was in fact, a fully furnished, log cabin. The kids were kind of scared at first at the unfamiliar surroundings and the dim lights. But they soon became comfortable in the serene ambience that it exuded. We went right to bed that night, awoke fresh, and ready the next day.

We had a good breakfast on the back porch with the trees around us swaying in the gentle breeze, dancing to the timeless tune of nature. The kids played in the woods and then we left for Sister Bay to go to the Potawatomi State Park. We reached there just in time for lunch and ate at a charming little restaurant. We then went to the beach at the State Park and did a little boating. The paddle boats were fun but not as much as the Water Cycles. The kids had a blast, trying to race each other on their water cycles. Apart from the many water activities, the state park is great for biking, hiking and other outdoor fun. We played some more at the beach and when it started to get cold, decided to head back to town. We stopped to play miniature golf on the way. It was so much fun. Even our friends’ toddlers had a great time running around with little plastic putts (Is that the right word? I’m terrible at golf and its lingo) claiming they had made ‘a hole in one.’ We then got back to our cottage and watched a movie together. The next day we hired a huge boat that could accommodate around 12 people. We were eight of us and so we picked this one. We set off, and everyone got a turn steering and feeling like the skipper, of course no one wanted to be Gilligan:) (I’m probably giving away my age here, talking about Gilligan’s Island.)

We got back for a very late but delicious lunch, thanks to my rice cooker and my friends assortment of spices. After lunch, we went for a walk in the woods and to the shoreline of Lake Michigan. The weather was just perfect for a late afternoon stroll. Later in the evening, we went swimming at the indoor pool at the resort. The kids took turns diving into the water, seeing who could splash the water the farthest. We then went to dinner at a little ice cream shop close to the resort. The quaint, old-fashioned ice cream shop, also sold pizza, sandwiches and other food. We were all so hungry, and the pizza was going to take a while, so we had dessert before dinner. It was the yummiest ice cream…mmmm….The pizza was good too. After dinner, we came back and relaxed in the cottage watching another movie.

We left the next morning and drove back home. It was a fun, relaxing vacation. I think this is what vacations are all about, some R&R, good food and great company. Thanks, S&S.

I will be posting more pictures soon.

2006-09-13T09:15:00.000-05:00

Hi to everyone after a looooong time:-)
Thanks to all of you, Jim, RK, Vijay, Gangadhar, Ajeya,for inquiring about where I'd dissappeared:)It feels good to be cared about. Its been crazy at our house with the new school schedules, my new part-time job and the many activities that our lives revolve around. This weekend is going to be kickback time. We’ve decided to go into lockdown mode and stay indoors at least Friday night and Saturday. Let’s see if that actually happens:) We are people people, all of us, and despite all our attempts to stay in and rest on the weekends, we find ourselves going out and having fun! And then we’re tired the rest of the week:( I’m probably not making a lot of sense right now. My thoughts are all jumbled up just like our schedules. We’re planning on renting a couple of movies and just chilling:) Sounds good just thinking about it.
Talking about movies, last Sunday we went and saw Lage Raho Munna Bhai. I really liked the movie. It is such a simple story but so touching. Just an old-fashioned feel good movie. I’d recommend it to anyone. The kids loved it too. I’m not going to review it here though.
Actually this post is just a comeback hi to all of you. Also I wanted to say a couple of things about two other posts that I enjoyed reading.
First, I’d like to refer to Couch Potato's latest post about September 11. It’s a touching tribute to all those lives lost and people maimed, physically and psychologically, five years ago. His words brought tears to my eyes. How easily we forget and move on…Just like the Mumbai train blasts. We were all horrified by what happened. But we forgot and moved on with our lives. Many of us will say, “What more can we do”? We can think about how precious life is and how much we take for granted.
Another post I really liked, on a lighter note, was Shruthi's post on chivalry and most importantly courtesy. I always enjoy Shruthi’s posts and this one was no exception.
I’m not going to give away all about Couch potato’s and Shruthi’s blogs. I enjoy reading them and so thought I’d share with all of you out there. I will leave you to get to these two great blogs and read the post s for yourself.
I promise to be back with a post about our trip to Door County, Wisconsin, really soon..

2006-08-16T11:12:00.000-05:00

Wisconsin Dells…

The long summer days were starting to drag on all of us. The kids had enjoyed their vacation for the first month or so and then the “I’m bored” syndrome caught up. I took them to the park, they played with the kids in the neighborhood and we went to the pool. But somehow, the long days still dragged on. We decided it was time for a short family vacation. We wondered what would be a fun place for the kids and a place that we could enjoy too. Almost together we said, “Dells, of course”.

Wisconsin Dells, is in the southern part of the state of Wisconsin and is about a 3-hour drive from where we live. It is the perfect place for a short vacation full of fun and is great anytime of the year. It is known for its innumerable water parks, indoor and outdoor. The indoor water parks are fabulous for the winter, when the cold gets unbearable and we just want a break from it. The outdoor ones are of course great fun in the summer. There are various hotels and resorts situated very close to the famous water parks. Most of the resorts have their own indoor and outdoor water parks too. *The price for a family suite, consisting of two rooms, a kitchenette and a bathroom runs roughly up to about $200 a night in the peak season. It is much less in the other months. The peak season is usually the months of June, July and August. Single rooms and rooms at hotels (not resorts) do not cost as much. From the huge number of resorts, we chose to stay at the Atlantis water park hotel, located in downtown dells, about a block away from Noah’s Ark (supposed to be the largest water park in America).

We started after lunch on a Sunday. The weekdays are better as the crowds at the water parks are less and the hotel prices too are less compared to that of the weekends. We drove the 160 miles (approximately) with one break in between. It was a beautiful drive by the cornfields.

We checked into the hotel and of course, the kids wanted to do something immediately. So, after a snack, we went down to the indoor water park at the hotel itself. It had a couple of water slides and some fun stuff for younger kids. We enjoyed the pool adjacent to it. After a relaxing hour and a half at the pool, we showered and went out for dinner at a Mexican restaurant, a few blocks away from the hotel. It was a nice place and the food was fantastic. We got back from there and went straight to bed, because the next day we were going to visit Noah’s Ark. The kids were very excited about it and could hardly stop whispering about all the rides they would go on well into the night.

The next morning, right after breakfast, we set off for the water park. It was a hot day and we walked the block to the water park. As soon as we went in, one of the first rides we went on was the ‘sting ray’. After that, of course it was one dizzy ride after another. I begged out of some rides, because frankly, they terrify me. I did most of the rides, though. ‘The point of no return’ was one ride I refused to go on. The ride consists of climbing up many steps (I don’t know the exact number) and then you just slide down. Sounds simple enough. But it is such a steep fall, that at one point you feel like you’re flying in the air….no thank you, not for me. Hubby and older son went on this one…twice!!Well, better them, than me. We had some yummy nachos and cheese and lots of junk food for lunch and relaxed in the wave pool. All in all, we had such a splash that the kids didn’t want to go back even after going on almost all the rides multiple times. We got back to the hotel about 8.00 pm. We’d been at the park since 9.00 am when the park opens! We had dinner at a pizza place opposite to our hotel and just crashed into bed. The kids declared it was the “funnest, bestest day in their whole life”…

Wisconsin Dells is known for its water parks, but there is so much more to it than just that. The first time we went there in the summer of 2004, we went on the famous “Wisconsin Ducks.”These vehicles go on road like a regular truck but can also go on water. It was quite a fun experience.

This time we decided to try something different and booked a jet boat ride over the upper Dells of the Wisconsin River. We arrived at the designated area after breakfast and after a short wait, got into the jet boat. These jet boats are famous for their speed and their 360 degree turns and sudden stops. The captain of our boat was a friendly guy, who knew his boat and handled her with an ease that comes with years of expertise. He gave us an awesome and informative tour of the Upper Dells.

The Dells of the Wisconsin River was formed approximately 15,000 years ago when a glacier burst and unleashed a powerful torrent of water that surged through and created unusual sandstone rock formations. It is believed that the Dells were formed within a matter of days or weeks. Such was the powerful flood that coursed through! It was awesome looking at the wonderful art that nature had carved out.

We went around Blackhawk Island named after the famous Indian chief, Blackhawk. The unusual rock formations have names like “Black hawks nose” and “chimney rock” etc.
Needless to say, more than the history of the place, it was the speed and turns of the jet boat that thrilled the kids. Of course, we were all soaking wet halfway into the ride.

Back on land, we got into our van and drove into downtown Dells for some lunch. I remembered an Indian restaurant that we had eaten at the last time we were there. Being the last day of our vacation, I was craving some good Indian food. So we tried to find this place. But ah the tragedy, it was closed. I was so disappointed. Well, we had pizza again(!) and some really yummy jalapeno poppers. I stopped sulking after the poppers arrived and I was quite satiated. After lunch we ducked into one of the many Fudge shops that Wisconsin is famous for and bought a whole load of chocolate fudge, caramel and chocolate dipped strawberries..mmmmm…

The kids wanted to see the “Ripley’s believe it or not museum” and so we made that the last stop before we headed home. The museum itself is quite small but held several unusual and interesting pieces. By the time we got out, we were tired and wanted to get back home. The ride back was peaceful and we once again drove by many cornfields with the tender ears of corn glinting in the late afternoon sun.

*Prices may vary from what I have mentioned. The prices I have stated are only a result of my research while looking for affordable, good quality accommodation.

2006-08-09T16:42:00.000-05:00

I've been tagged!
by RK

When I first saw his comment on my blog saying I was tagged, I wondered what I was supposed to do, but then, I followed his direction and learnt that this "tagging" isn't so bad after all...its actually a lot of fun. So, here goes..

I’m thinking about:
What to make for dinner:))

I said:
Everything that happens is for the best

I want to:
taste the benne masale dose at CTR, that
RK raves about

I wish:
I could write better

I hear:
only what I want to

I wonder:
what life was like in the 50’s and 60’s

I regret:
Nothing

I am:
a good mom(or so they say).Also I'm very modest:))

I dance:
When I’m happy

I sing:
All the time

I cry:
When I watch sad scenes in movies and also when I’m extremely happy..

I’m not always:
busy..I take time out for the good things in life-family and friends

I make with my hands:
The best matar-paneer in the world(my family says) and my own Ganesha for Ganesh pooja

I write:
what I feel

I confuse:
everyone, but mostly myself

I need:
Love and friendship

And finally:
I am thankful for all that God has given me…especially my family and good friends (including my blogger buddies)

I tag
Vj,
Ajeya,
Couch Potato,
Kartik and
Britmum

2006-07-31T11:41:00.000-05:00

Family fun at the beach…

Usually for the 4th of July holiday, we plan some kind of vacation. Sometimes it is to Colorado, other times Niagara Falls. This year too, we were wondering what to do for the holiday. We did not feel like taking a really long trip, partly owing to finances and partly because hubby wanted to save up some of his vacation for later in the year. Good friends of ours, S&S suggested the beach and we jumped at it. Yup, a relaxing, fun time at the beach. The kids love the water and we love watching them having fun. Not to say, we don’t have any fun of our own. So, the four of us and the four of them, SS and their adorable two, set off for the beach.

The beach is a short distance from our house and we arrived there around noon, just in time for lunch. We had packed ourselves a picnic lunch and as I’ve said before, I think food tastes better outdoors. We realized that almost all the area residents had the same splendid idea we had, of going to the beach. It was packed. Of course, that made it even more fun. The more, the merrier. We ate, smeared more sunscreen, carried all our stuff, and headed towards the water. It was really warm weather and we thought the water would be cool and refreshing. The kids ran into the water and came out squealing. It was cool, really really cool!! Once their teeth stopped chattering, however, they were in the water, again.

The little ones made sand castles and we threw the ball around and played a few other games. The water was blue and beautiful. The sand, warm and clean. It was one of the cleanest beaches I’ve been to. Toward sunset, we headed back home. After a quick shower and dinner, we headed out to see our local fireworks display. A fun end to a fun day.

Oh! Did I not mention which beach I was talking about? Can you guess what shoreline it is that I speak of?

It is the shoreline of beautiful Lake Michigan. We went to the Illinois Beach State park in Zion. It is in northern Illinois. The Illinois Beach State park offers a wide variety of recreation like jogging and biking paths, fishing, and camping. It is perfect for some good old family fun.

2006-07-21T12:53:00.000-05:00

Colorado Part 2

Hi…am back again. We were on a short vacation to Wisconsin Dells and just returned a couple of days back. I will be posting about that soon. But for now I’ll finish up on our Colorado adventure!

After our stay at Colorado Springs, we headed to the Royal Gorge. The Royal Gorge is located in Canon City. It is situated about an hours drive away from Colorado Springs. The best way to visit this spectacular canyon is by the Royal Gorge Route Railroad. However, we could not do that and so we just drove to the Royal Gorge Bridge and Park. This is located just 25 minutes from the train depot and offers a panoramic view of the Gorge from the World’s highest suspension bridge. This bridge hangs about 1000 ft high and spans about a quarter of mile across the canyon. The view from atop the bridge is breathtaking with the Arkansas river flowing right through the Canyon. One can indulge here in white water rafting and other water adventures. We chose the Incline Railway to go to the Canyon floor. The Incline Railway was built in 1931 and is considered to be one of the most difficult structures to be built. It travels at an angle of 45 degrees and descends about 1500 ft deep into the canyon. Here we marveled at the timeless granite walls hovering all around us, and the suspension bridge looking like a mere rope above. We enjoyed the scene of some dare devil white water rafters maneuvering through the roaring rapids of the Arkansas River.

Our plan was to leave the Royal Gorge Bridge and Park at about 3.00 pm and drive down south to Durango to camp there for a couple of nights. However, as plans go, this one went a few hours off the mark too. We did not leave the Park until about 6.00 pm. This being so, we reached our campsite near the Mesa Verde National Park close to midnight. It was quite an adventure pitching our tents by the light of our car headlights! The kids were asleep in the car and it was stifling hot. We decided to pitch just one tent for the night and six of us huddled into that at about 2.00 am. Actually, it was a lot of fun!

The next day, we went rafting!! It was just so awesome. We drove down to the main office in downtown Durango, where we met up with other rafters. Here we were driven by bus to the main part of the Lower Animas river where we would be rafting. We were given life jackets and led to the river by our guide. She was a young girl who seemed very confident on the waters. We, on the other hand, were a little nervous. But it was just such an amazing experience. The lower Animas is just perfect for first time rafters and families with young children, with some peaceful stretches and a few class II and class III rapids for that little bit of excitement. The Upper Animas is for the more adventurous, with class IV and class V rapids.

We had a great time and the kids were excited and thrilled. After this we returned to camp and cooked ourselves a delicious dinner. Too exhausted, we just dropped off to sleep. The next day, we went exploring the Mesa Verde National Park.

The Mesa Verde National Park was established in 1906 to preserve sites built by the first settlers on mesa tops and in Canyon alcoves. The park spans about 50,000 acres. Mesa Verde or “Green Table” rises high above the surrounding country. The park consists of several cliff dwellings. Some of the dwellings can only be viewed with a park ranger. But there are others that can be explored from a distance on our own. We visited many such cliff dwellings and pit houses, and got a glimpse of the indigenous people who lived then. We marveled at the construction and wondered how they got in and out of the cliff dwellings. They are located so deep and steep into the canyon that one cannot fathom climbing in and out. These cliff dwellings have helped historians understand significant details of the life and times of prehistoric America.

We also visited the museum, which displays the artifacts of the early settlers. It was an educational and fun experience for the kids and adults. We were extremely tired after the long walks through the park and came back to our campsite, once again exhausted but very content. We left the campsite the next morning and started driving back home. We had to drive through mountain roads for a good number of hours. By the time we were done with the winding roads, my sons had had enough and claimed they had ‘mountain sickness.’

We were happy to be on our way home. As fun as vacations are, we also missed home. We drove continuously for the next 24 hours, changing drivers every couple of hours of course, and got home close to 6.00 pm on the 4th of July. And guess what? A tornado had just passed our area, fortunately not touching down. That was the big news we cam home to…..I told you…there has to be a storm in every story of mine…

2006-07-06T11:05:00.000-05:00

Incredible Colorado!

We visited Colorado with a couple of friends a few years back. We drove from Illinois to Colorado. We did not have a minivan then and went in a rental Ford Explorer. Although quite comfortable, it was a little crammed for space for six people, four adults and two kids. All the same, it was not bad at all.

The whole trip consisted of about nine days. We left our home in the afternoon of the first day and drove until Omaha, Nebraska, where we stopped for the night. We stayed at the Radisson, a pleasant hotel. The next morning we visited a temple at Omaha and after breakfast drove on. We reached Colorado Springs that night at about 10.00 pm, Mountain Time. As we drove into Colorado, we could see the majestic Rocky Mountains ahead of us. It was a magnificent sight. I’ll never forget that first glimpse of the Rocky mountains. Seems like whenever we travel there has to be a storm. This time was no exception. At one point it started to rain so heavily that we couldn’t see an inch in front of us. We just had to stop at the side of the road. There was so much hail and the noise was deafening. To top things off, we had a huge load of luggage tied to the top of the vehicle. Being a small vehicle, we couldn’t carry all the stuff we needed for 10 days in the car itself. So, we had the brilliant idea of loading it all on the top and tying it there securely. It worked well, although every few minutes, we would have to look up to make sure nothing came undone! Anyways, even with all the excitement, like I said we reached Colorado Springs in one piece, with all our luggage safe, if not a little soggy.

We went straight to bed and the next morning we decided to see the “Garden of the Gods.” This is a National Natural Landmark. It consists of about 1300 acres of red sandstone rock formations. One can drive through the park, take a horseback ride, or ride a bicycle. There are paved bike paths in the park. There is no fee to drive through the park. There is a visitor’s center that offers multi media shows focusing on the American Indian heritage and the geologic formations in the park.

We had a great time driving through the park and taking pictures. The next day we drove up Pikes Peak. At a height of more than 14,000 ft, this is a visible landmark for many miles to the east, far into the Great Plains of Colorado. The view from atop Pikes Peak is breath taking to say the least. It is at the summit of this mountain that Katherine Lee Bates was inspired to write “America the Beautiful” her most famous poem. The overwhelming beauty of the open skies, fields and the majestic Rocky Mountains inspired her to write that poem. The drive up was beautiful. We stopped from time to time to take some pictures, but I don’t think any picture can do justice to the natural grandeur of the mountain. The temperature was very hot at the foot of the mountain, but when we reached the summit, it was actually snowing!

Another mode of transport to the summit of Pikes Peak is the Cog Railway. The Manitou and Pikes Peak Railway is supposed to be the world’s highest cog railroad. This railway is said to be running for almost 114 years, taking passengers to the summit of Pikes Peak. We took the Cog railway the next day to get a first hand experience of this train. It was awesome. It took us up a steep incline all the way to the top. The kids had a great time looking out the window at the mountainside. At the summit we had some coffee and hot chocolate in the small restaurant. We looked at the vast stretches of land from the top once again and marveled at the wonders of nature.

That evening after dinner, we went to see the famous Seven Falls. To be frank, I was a little disappointed. It was a mere trickle. After having visited the Niagara Falls, all other water falls pale in comparison. But in all fairness, the lighting was very good. They had different colored lights dancing to the timeless tune of the waterfall.

The next day we visited the Royal Gorge. From there on we drove south to Durango where we camped for a couple of nights and visited The Mesa Verde National Park and went rafting in the Colorado river. But that’s going to be another post.

2006-07-05T09:58:00.000-05:00

Hi...
Hope all of you had a good 4th of July. It's been a busy weekend for me. We had a number of activities planned and the kids had a great time. I will be posting about our visit to the beach shortly, but just wanted to say Hi so you guys wouldn't forget me!

I also wanted to especially thank Couch Potato for the link back on his blog.In his latest post 'experiences tell' he talks about my blog.He especially refers to my two latest posts, 'The other side' and 'the Good Samaritan.' I love the way he writes and this post is a great read.

Thanks to Kartik I finally figured out how to add the link in the main body. I didn't realize it was quite that simple. Thanks again Kartik.

2006-06-22T10:40:00.000-05:00

The other side…

A couple of years back, on our trip to India we had a..should I say, enlightening experience. If our experience with the Good Samaritan was great, this was the exact opposite of it. I felt I had to blog about both experiences.

We were going to Tirupati from Bangalore by road. We had booked a Toyota Qualis (not unlike our SUVs here). It’s a distance of about 160 miles and on Indian roads should have taken us about 5 to 6 hours. We started bang on time, an unusual occurrence in itself for us…many who know us will agree that we are not the most punctual people. It was about 9.00 am. We figured, with a break for lunch and everything we would get there by about 4.00 in the afternoon, giving hubby plenty of time to climb the hills by foot (which he does every time we go to Tirupati). It usually takes him less than 2 hours to climb. For mere mortals like me, it takes about 4-5 hours. He is very much used to it as he has been climbing the Hills by foot since he was a kid. We ( my parents, kids and me) would continue up in our vehicle and get settled in before he joined us.

The plan remained the same this time too. We were on the road in good time and actually got through the Bangalore traffic in decent time. We passed the outskirts of Bangalore and hubby even remarked that we might actually get there before time! Wow! Never happened before. We marveled at the newly laid highway as our driver whizzed past busses and other traffic at reasonable speed (forgot to tell you - whenever you hire a car in India, you get a chauffer too). He was obviously used to this route and could drive with his eyes closed. We chatted merrily and enjoyed the drive. When we got near Kolar, this guy suddenly started crossing the busy highway with a huge bale of grass on his shoulder. He seemed oblivious to the oncoming traffic. Our driver honked several times, but the guy didn’t flinch. Our car was going at a speed where it would have been dangerous for the driver to brake all of a sudden(the car could have toppled with all of us in it.) we were hoping the guy would hear the honking and move quickly, but nothing…

And the car hit him..... All this happened so fast, in a matter of seconds. We were terrified and of course, we all got out of the car and tried to help him up. However, within minutes, it seemed, many people materialized, almost out of nowhere and started harassing us. We agreed to take the guy to the nearby village hospital and go to the police station to settle the matter. We were concerned about his safety and were ready to do what it takes. Little did we know what we were getting ourselves into.

One thing we realized when we got down to help the guy was that he was stone drunk. We got to the village hospital soon enough and the police station was just opposite to it. The guy went in to be checked by the doc while we waited outside. The kids were freaked out by the whole experience and so was I. We were all very tense. Waiting in the hospital was no help. One of the nurses walked out and told us the guy had to be taken to another hospital, about a half hour away for an x-ray, since they did not have the necessary equipment. The man’s wife( we later learned that in all probability was not his wife!) came now and started kicking up a big racket and asking for money. The demand started at 10,000 rupees. We were happy to pay for the person’s treatment and do the needful. But the demands kept increasing. We went to the police station, where, it seemed the inspector there was quite used to this sort of thing! He advised us to pay the man and move on.

While we were still confused about what was going on and trying to figure things out, our driver, poor guy, was trying to placate the villagers. He agreed to take the injured guy in the car to the other hospital for the x-ray, while we waited there. We agreed and waited for several hours while they were gone. Meanwhile, the family still kept asking for money.

Our driver returned a few hours later and we learned that the guy was fine, no fractures. Thank goodness! Now came the police station scene. A number of villagers had gathered at the police station. The inspector there talked to our driver (our driver advised us to stay away). After a long discussion, they decided on a certain sum of money and this soon exchanged hands.Somewhere along the way, some sort of report was also filed. We were told we could leave. We thankfully got into the car and drove off. It was way past lunchtime and we were all starving. But most importantly we were out of there.

We later learned that this was a daily occurrence and a source of income for some people in the village. They would send one person out into the traffic; making sure a small vehicle hit him. They were careful not to send people into the path of buses or trucks. The group would then get together and harass the occupants of the vehicle for large sums of money. If the occupants insisted, as we did, on going to the police station to settle the matter legally, they would agree, as it seems, some of the police men are in cahoots with these people and they all share the money!!

Apparently, when our driver walked in with the injured guy into the hospital, the doctor took one look at him and said,” you again? When are you going to stop putting your life at risk to make some money?”

I was appalled listening to all this. Imagine pushing one person into the traffic so some of them could make a few extra bucks. We also later learned that, sadly, the person who actually put his life at risk got the smallest cut(mostly just some booze money) while the rest of the group made off with the rest of it!

If there are wonderful people in the world, there are others who spare no thought before they put the lives of a lot of people at risk for their personal gains. The accident that day could have turned out much worse if they had miscalculated their whole plan by a second. The man could have lost his life. My whole family, my parents, my kids, hubby, the driver and I could have been seriously injured or worse!! Why don’t people think of the consequences of their actions? At what cost do they wish to make money?

I am just so thankful that no one was seriously hurt that day. We were all badly shaken after the incident. We went on our way and reached Tirupati late in the evening at about 8.00 pm., much later than our scheduled time. Hubby still climbed the hills by foot and we all reached our room, had dinner and got settled in close to midnight.

What a day! What an adventure! That’s one adventure I do not want to ever have in my life ever again.

Note: The town of Tirupati, located in Andhra Pradesh, in South India, is one of the most sacred places in India. The shrine of Lord Balaji is located atop one of a cluster of seven hills in the town of Tirumala. Every day thousands of devotees flock there, waiting for hours for a glimpse of their God, Lord Balaji (Lord Venkateswara).

2006-06-12T09:19:00.000-05:00

Good Samaritan

The other day we were talking about Good Samaritans and I remembered this story from a few years back.
My older child was only about two years old. Hubby joined us at my parents’ place (in a different city than where we used to live) after a long trip abroad. We were returning to our own home together. We took a flight out to New Delhi and had to catch another flight from there to get back home. We all had confirmed tickets on the same flight. But when we got to the check in counter, guess what? Hubby’s ticket was not valid. Computer malfunction? Probably....
Anyways, the guy at the counter would not hear a thing. He said hubby just had to buy a new ticket in order to travel that particular flight. Well, the price of the ticket in those days was 6,000 rupees, no small price by any standards, not then, not now. We didn’t carry that much cash and believe it or not, we didn’t have a credit card. (Not many people did back then.) Being as it was really early in the morning, banks were not open and the domestic airport did not have a travel exchange office. We just had travelers checks and international currency. My son was clinging to his dad and that ruled out the possibility of my traveling with him and hubby following us later after sorting out the ticket problem. We could all just take a different flight, but that meant giving up our two good tickets. We were stranded at the airport with 30 minutes to go before the flight took off.
As we were debating about what to do, this guy tapped hubby on the shoulder and handed him 10,000 rupees. “Buy your ticket and take your family home,” he said! As our jaws were still hanging open, he disappeared into the crowd. It took us a few minutes to understand what was going on. First things first, we bought the ticket and then went running to find the good man. After much searching, we spotted him, thanked him profusely, and asked for his home address so we could mail the money back to him. He seemed totally cool and said he did not expect the money back! But, of course, we insisted and after much persuasion, he gave us his home address.
To this day, I do not know his name. But I do remember his face clearly. His act of generosity towards total strangers woke us up to the fact that the world is not such a bad place after all! There are good people out there.
It is almost 10 years since this incident and I hope that person, wherever he is, knows how thankful we are for his timely help..

2006-06-06T11:42:00.000-05:00

Tips for road travel…

Look no further, I have all the secrets to successful road travel with kids right here. Yeah right..like anyone could figure that out. But I do have some useful tips.

The most important part of any trip is

Planning.

The first thing you have to do is obviously, pick your destination. It could be a couple of hours away or days away from where you live. The important thing is to plan it properly. I would suggest here a couple of good websites that I have used in the past with very good results. To get a good map and directions, mapquest.com is one of the best tools. Also Bellhop.com offers some useful hints for planning a road trip. For example, at Bellhop.com, you can calculate how much gas you will need for a particular distance based on the kind of car you are driving. You can also get the exact number of miles from point to point and decide on your night stop or any halts along the way.
A really neat gadget for road travel is the navigation system. Most of the newer model cars and minivans often come equipped with one, but if you have an older model, investing in a navigation system is well worth it. We ourselves bought one before our trip to Arizona and it came in very handy. There are several models available at Circuit City or Best Buy and you can find the right one to suit your needs best. I am sure other stores might carry them as well. We shopped around and found one that best suited our needs. The price ranges from around $700.00 to $1000.00. This works out less expensive than having one installed in your van or car. Not only does the navigation system give you exact directions, but you can also access several other ‘points of interest’ along the way like restaurants, drug stores, gas and stuff. The navigation system also gives you the exact time of arrival at your destination. I also like to keep my road atlas handy.

Another important part of planning your road trip is to book your hotel for a night stay (if necessary). My favorite website, I have to say is, expedia.com, I have used this website many times in the past with excellent results. In fact, the one time we did book a hotel through them that we didn’t like, and had to leave in a hurry (someone was sleeping in our room!) we got a full refund.It's best to stick to popular hotel chains. I have even booked several flights and actually planned complete trips through them with very satisfactory results.
Of course you can choose any travel website from the multitude available like, Orbitz, hotels.com, Travelocity, cheap tickets and several others, and get really good results as well. You can compare the rates and choose the one that works best for you.
When you travel by road, its always best to start early so you can beat the morning rush hour and make good time. I have noticed that we tend to cover more distance before noon.

Once you have planned your trip carefully, you have to think about..

Packing.

I like to say pack really light. Comfy clothes, preferably cotton clothes work best. For kids, always keep an extra set handy where you can get your hands on them easily. Don’t throw all your stuff in the trunk. Trust me, the minute you toss everything in the trunk, you’ll need something.
The kids can wear flip flops or sandals in the car, so they can take them off and get comfy when they want to and they are also easy to put back on when you stop. (too many minutes spent on tying laces taught me this, specially, when they need to really go to the bathroom!) Pack an extra pair of shoes for when you arrive at your destination, depending on your activities planned.
Remember to pack some emergency medicines like Tylenol(adult and childrens), pepto bismol or any other antacid for that upset stomach that has a way of creeping up on you at the wrong time, any necessary allergy medication and a few Band-Aids. You also would want to pack some chewing gum and hard candy. These really help if there is a sudden change in air pressure. The change in air pressure sometimes results in terrible ear pain, especially in young children.

Now my favorite part, food.. I think this the most important thing you need to think about when traveling with kids. Pack plenty of snacks and drinks. Kids can go from being stuffed to starving within minutes of passing that elusive McDonalds on a deserted highway. Also by packing your own snacks, you can keep it moderately healthy. My favorites are baked cheese snacks, crackers, cookies (although you might want to avoid anything with too much sugar) and trail mix bars.

For drinks, I like to carry plenty of water, juice boxes and of course coke or other caffeneited drinks for the driver and navigator. You may not want the kids filling up on soda and then bouncing off the walls of the van. Good breakfast foods for the road are snack size cereal boxes, pop tarts.

I also like to carry lunch for the first day of travel as later mostly we have to eat out. PB&J sandwiches work really well as also cheese or boiled egg ones. I, of course, love some good Indian food and so like to carry flavored rice dishes or stuffed Indian bread. These keep really well for a long time and can be stored in an air tight container and kept in the ice box to retain freshness.

Of course while packing don’t forget your essentials, no I don’t mean underwear..of course you’ll pack that. What I’m talking about is a couple of rolls of travel size toilet paper. You’d be surprised at the number of rest areas that do not have enough toilet paper in the stalls!! I know, yuck!! Also make sure you have some sanitizing hand lotion as again, there are faucets at the rest areas, but sometimes they don’t work. And when they do work, chances are you wont want to touch them! Sanitizing wet wipes come in handy too. Of course some rest areas are really good and provide all the essentials. I have to be fair about that.

Last but not least, pack plenty of stuff to keep the kids busy and occupied. Books are great. Also little toys and coloring books come in handy. My older son, an artist of sorts loves to sketch or draw cartoons. That kept him busy for a long time. When they are too tired to do anything or just want to wind down, a movie on the portable DVD system is really good. Most newer model vans come equipped with this too, but you can also buy one at any of the stores. The price ranges from about $100 to $300. We chose one for about $200. This came with two sets of ear phones, a carrying case, remote et al. The carrying case is supposed to go around the back of the front seats and the DVD player can be hung from it. We just couldn’t figure it out though, and so our ice box acted as a good little table to prop it up on.
Of course, don’t forget your toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant and lotion and a hair brush.
Now that you have everything you need, what are you waiting for? Pick up your camera, bundle the kids in and set forth into the unexplored beyond and have the time of your life..

2006-05-30T18:53:00.000-05:00

We went canoeing!!

I know I said I would post tips for traveling with kids in my next post, but I’m going to have to do that later. I’m just so excited over our Memorial day weekend that I really had to post about it first.
We had a reunion of sorts with hubby’s friends from college. They were meeting after about 16 years. We met each other’s families and got to know each other on Friday. On Saturday, we decided to go canoeing on the Fox River up in Wisconsin. It’s about an hour’s drive from where we live. We had a picnic lunch and set off in four canoes. Initially, a 7.5-mile canoe trip didn't seem to be hard at all!! It was a beautiful, scenic trip through the wilderness and we loved it.There was a slight breeze and the trees swayed and danced around us. We could hear little critters in the bushes along the shore and we spotted lots of different birds. We couldn't capture any on them in our camera though. Like I said, it was idyllic. And then things started happening.... In a while, we realized that 7.5 miles on water seems much farther than that on road!!

At one point we got separated from the rest of our group. We were wondering what happened when we felt strong winds blowing and the canoe was being pushed around and in the wrong direction..upstream! We fought hard to keep going in the right direction. When we realized we had left our group way behind and it was starting to get dark, we decided to go ahead and send someone to get them.

We made it back to shore at about 6.45 pm. While we were still paddling back, we saw the people who had rented us the canoes coming in our direction in their motorboat and we asked them to please find the rest of our group. Another couple followed close behind us and made it back at about 7.15. The other two canoes actually floated back in style, being towed by the motor boat! They had their feet up in the canoe and were busy taking pictures.

We later learned that a storm was passing through and hence the winds! I think there’s something up with us and the storms! (Remember our return trip from Arizona?)We also learned that one of the canoes in our group, got stuck at one point because of the winds and they completely lost sense of direction and started moving the wrong way. They met up with the other canoe after a while and realized they were going back to where we started from!! They were relieved when the motorboat pulled up and towed them back.
Despite the little hitches, we all had a pretty good time and a good laugh about the whole adventure. We picked up dinner on the way and could barely eat with our aching muscles. Nevertheless, we did eat well and came back home. I provided everyone with motrin..being the good hostess that I am and hubby got some wonderful coffee for all of us and that kept us going well past midnight, playing games and talking about everything and nothing!
The next day we went to downtown Chicago, but ah, that’s another post. Don’t want to bore you all at once…

2006-05-24T14:32:00.000-05:00

Now, the part that inspired me to start this blog.
The vacation was over, well… almost over. We still had to come home, by road!! So, we planned our return trip carefully. We once again booked a hotel in Oklahoma City, but not the Marriott, although why we booked a different hotel, I will never understand--temporary insanity perhaps?
Anyways, we started off bright and early once again. It was a beautiful sunny day. We had the snack-size cereal boxes, goldfish, bread, and plenty to drink. We left Glendale around 6.00 am and drove North on I-17. After we crossed Flagstaff, we got onto I-40 East and set forth. We had breakfast on the go and stopped for an early lunch at the Arizona-New Mexico border.
We entered Texas around 5.30 in the evening and stopped for dinner at Vega once again, the same place we had lunch on the way to Arizona. Once again, we did the usual gas, food and pit stop combination to save time and set off.
The sun was setting behind us and the stars stepped out of hiding. There were so many stars in the sky! It was beautiful. We still had a few hours to reach Oklahoma City and the kids were getting tired. They picked out a movie they wanted to watch and started to wind down. As we drove quietly in the dark, I noticed some lights in the distance. The lights were golden and rhythmic and seemed to be dancing to a distant tune. I pointed this out to hubby, who took a quick look and came back with, “looks like a laser show. There must be a lake somewhere in the distance.” When we lived in Sydney, Australia, we had watched a fantastic laser show over the waters of Darling Harbor. I accepted his explanation then, but something still bothered me. The lights seemed to be in one place, to our distant right, but as I said, something nagged me.
My younger son looked up when the movie was over and said, “Mom, look, its lightning.” I assured him it wasn’t, that it was just a laser show. He seemed satisfied with my answer for about five minutes and once again in a very small voice, said, “Mom its freaking me out, it is lightning.” I knew by now that it was indeed lightning and that we were driving into a major storm. I tried to calm him down and told him to try to sleep and that mom and daddy would protect him. He settled down and went to sleep. Now, ordinarily lightning does not bother me. In fact, I like looking at it light up the night sky. But this time I was scared. The lightning was not like anything I had seen before. It was a bright golden color and just seemed to set the whole sky on fire. I saw numerous sky to ground strikes as we neared the storm! The winds were stronger and seemed to push our van around like some kind of toy. If you live anywhere in the US, you know that OK is known for the twisters that occur there from time to time. In fact, the whole midwest is privy to some very deadly tornados. Of course, that's the first thing that popped into my mind when I saw the lightning and heard thunder. The only other vehicles on the road were some huge trucks. We were desperate to get to some shelter and quickly. The few rest areas that we passed looked deserted in the night and we drove on hoping to get to our hotel soon.
We entered Oklahoma City with a sigh of relief. Although we had been chasing the storm and seemed to be getting closer to it every minute, we managed to stay behind it and reached our hotel safe and sound. The ground was soggy and wet from the storm and as we parked and dragged two weary and tired children and entered the hotel, I wondered…”what were we thinking when we started this trip?”
Well, the hotel didn’t at all look like the picture we had seen of it on the internet. The kids had already started to whine and say they didn’t like it here and can we please just go. I wasn’t too pleased either, but hubby convinced us it was just for the night and all we needed was some sleep. With some reluctance, we agreed and got the keys to our room (after a long wait!) It was 11.30 in the night and we desperately needed a bed. Well, we took the key and went looking for our room. After some searching, we finally found it and entered the dimly lit two room suite. There was an empty soda can on the coffee table and the TV was on! “Hmm… the staff probably forgot to turn off the TV and pick up the soda can after cleaning up,” I thought. Hubby walked into the bedroom and stood staring at the bed. When I went up to him, he very calmly said, “there’s someone sleeping here!” Needless to say at this point, we hastily made our exit. I was terrified at the thought of the person sleeping there waking up and finding four strangers staring at him or her. We ran down to the reception area, returned the key and left. I tried to ask for our money back, but was told that we had to contact the website through which we booked the hotel. So, we just left. The receptionist seemed very calm about the whole other person in the room thing!! Maybe she thought we could share!!!
We were out on the street at midnight with two kids and no place to go. We thought we would try our luck with the Marriott again and so I called them. They very kindly put us up for the night in a very clean and wonderful room with two queen beds and clean bathroom and no one sleeping in either of the beds! Oh! What a relief!
We turned on the TV and guess what, the next day, the day we were supposed to leave Oklahoma and return home, was going to be one of the stormiest days of the year.Numerous tornados were predicted and people were being asked to stay indoors as far as possible. Golf ball sized hail and soft ball sized hail was expected in some areas. The storm’s path was our route exactly! The storm was predicted to be traveling at about 35 miles an hour and with us driving at about 65 miles an hour, we were destined to catch up with the storm at the Missouri-Illinois border. After a quick discussion, we decided to stay put for another day. We called the hotel desk and once again they very graciously let us book the room for the next day too. Thankfully, we sank into bed at about 2.00 am. Only after we returned home did we hear that several tornados had touched down along our very route! Many tornado related deaths were reported in Tennessee, Missouri and southern Illinois. I think we made the wisest decision of our lives by deciding to stay back an extra day!! We have been known to do some whacky things and I'm glad we didn't try to drive through the storm.
The next day was beautiful and sunny in OK City, but the rest of the Midwest reeled under the raging storm. We tried to make the most of our extra day. We slept in, had a good breakfast and decided to visit the Cowboy museum there. It was just about 4-5 miles from where we were. The museum was great and the kids especially loved the gun exhibit (boys-of course). We got a glimpse of the wild west and how life was in those times. The museum had one room full of huge paintings of the Grand Canyon, the Yellowstone National park and many other wonders. We looked around for a couple of hours and went to get lunch. The rest of the day we just spent relaxing in the hotel room and went to bed early. The next day, we checked out early and started to drive back home. Thankfully, the journey was quite uneventful and we made it back home in good time. The kids were happy to be back in their room with their own beds and their TV and games! Anyone would think they didn’t have TV for centuries!
All’s well that ends well and yada yada yada….yup I sure was glad to be back home…my very own comfort zone with the old familiar smell.

One thing I have learned from this trip is to never, ever book a hotel based on the pictures you see on the internet. Often the picture is of the reception area!
The star rating given by the travel websites do indeed make sense and it is safe to book a hotel that has more stars than less.
It is safest to stick to popular hotel chains or to go by other peoples experiences. Ask around before you book a hotel.
We were lucky in that the website through which we booked the hotel gave us a full refund for the cancellation. A big thank you to them!

I wish I had taken pictures of the awesome lightning strikes, but at that point, all I could think of was for my family to get to safety.Also at the Cowboy museum in OK city, photography was prohibited near most of the exhibits, so no pictures of that either. But my son is trying to draw a picture of the storm that we experienced and I will try to update the post with that once he is done.

Gangadhar, Tracy, Jimmy, Kartik..Thanks so much for adding me to your blogroll!

Coming up....

Useful Tips for Roadtrips with kids!

2006-05-15T10:48:00.000-05:00

The Grand Canyon…

I have always wanted to see the Grand Canyon. So, it was on the top of my list of things to see when we planned our trip to Arizona.
We set off right after an early lunch. Our cousins, having taken a number of family members to see this natural wonder, joined us to see it once again. I really appreciate their effort, because I know it’s not easy traveling with a one year old. But he was a perfect angel all along the trip.
The Grand Canyon National Park is about 230 miles from Glendale. It’s a beautiful drive in the spring time, transcending one from the heat of Phoenix and Glendale to the snow capped mountains near Flagstaff and beyond.

We reached The Grand Canyon National Park at about 1.30 in the afternoon. There is an entrance fee for the park, which is about $25 for one vehicle. We drove into the park and found parking near a lodge. After a quick bathroom break, we were all ready to explore this natural wonder. We set off to the appointed stop for the shuttle buses, which take you to different scenic points. We hopped onto one of the shuttle buses and stepped off the bus at the point from where one can view the Colorado River flowing through the Canyon. It was an amazing sight!

The Grand Canyon is not just a beautiful, awesome view; it is a timeless gift to humanity. Its vastness and magnificence are unparalleled. I was completely awestruck at this great chasm, carved over millions of years across the Colorado plateau. I cannot find words to describe this natural wonder!

One can indulge in a number of activities at the Grand Canyon National Park from hiking to horseback riding to white water rafting in the Colorado River and many more. We did not embark on any of these adventures, but spent our time going to different scenic points and just gazing at the Canyon. We returned to the lodge where we had parked our car before sunset so we could see the sunset at the Grand Canyon. We saw a number of Elk on our way to different points. Sometimes the elk just step right into the path of vehicles and can be quite dangerous, especially after dark.

The sunset was spectacular! Again, words fail me. Even our camera failed to capture the beautiful sunset at the Grand Canyon in its entire splendor. We did, however, try to get some good pictures.

On our way back from the Grand Canyon National Park, we stopped at the Imax theatre and saw a movie about the Grand Canyon.. It was a spectacular showing and I would recommend all who visit the Grand Canyon to take the time out and see this presentation, as it gives you a new perspective.

I have, as of now, visited two of the Seven Wonders of the World, the Taj Mahal in Agra, India and the Grand Canyon in Arizona. I hope to be able to visit all of them someday…

2006-05-10T21:51:00.000-05:00

Tucson…

After our trip to Sedona, we decided to drive south to Tucson. Tucson is about 140 miles south of Glendale and a mere 60 miles north of the Mexico border. The drive time is about 2 hours and thirty minutes. Tucson has many interesting attractions. The one we chose to visit was the Saguaro (pronounced ‘Sauvaro’) National Park, part of the Sonora Desert, home to a wide variety of cacti, including the famous Saguaro cactus. The park consists of two sections, the east and west sections.

The eastern section of the park, also called the Rincon Mountain district is the one we visited. The Saguaro National park has a dry rugged personality of its own. The Saguaro, the giant cactus, has been described by many as the monarch of the Sonora desert and has been a symbol of the American Southwest. It is famous for its odd shapes and huge size. The tallest ones can be up to 50 feet tall and 150 years old. The National park is also home to many other types of cacti and desert trees and shrubs. Many animals and birds also live in this vast desert land. The Gila Woodpecker and gilded flicker are two common residents of the Sonora desert. These birds live in nest holes they make in the larger branches of the saguaro. Some other winged inhabitants of the saguaro are the red-tailed hawks, American kestrel, western kingbirds, elf and screech owls to name just a few. Some animals that live here are roadrunners, the desert tortoise, Western diamondback rattlesnake, the cactus mouse and the jackrabbit. Many of these animals are nocturnal and venture out at night, thus avoiding the desert heat. Some animals venture out in the cooler morning and evening hours while a few that have special adaptations for dissipating heat like the jackrabbit(radiates heat from its oversized ears) comes out at midday.

The Saguaro begins its life as a shiny black seed, the size of a pinhead.
One saguaro produces tens of thousands of seeds in a year. Of all the seeds, only a few survive and grow to adulthood. The growth of the saguaro is extremely slow. By the end of a year, a saguaro seedling may measure only a quarter of an inch. At about 30 years, the saguaro begins to flower and produce fruit. This fruit was used by the Tohono O’odham Indians to prepare jams, jellies and even wine for their ceremonies.

We took a road that lead to several trails and started driving slowly along the winding path. It was an interesting trail with many types of desert plants growing on either side. There are smaller trails leading off from this one where one can go hiking. There is only one trail in the national park where one can ride a bicycle and this is the Cactus forest trail. The kids were trying to spot some snakes or other animals, while I was more than happy not spotting them! Being around midday, we didn’t see much animal life, much to their disappointment. However, we did go on a short walk where we saw a few small creatures scurrying away from us. We were told at the visitors center that just a couple of days before we visited the national park, a mountain lion was caught on the park camera drinking from a water hole!

We could see the Rincon mountain range all along the trail. It was beautiful in the afternoon sun. As we drove along slowly, the sun began to go down bathing the valley and the hills around in a golden hue. The warm temperatures and the golden light had a mesmerizing effect. Being the end of March, the temperatures were not too high and were very comfortable. However, temperatures are typically over a hundred degrees in the afternoon during the summer.
The Saguaro National Park was proclaimed a National Monument in the early 1930s and later declared a National park in 1994.
The Saguaro National park is not the only attraction in Tucson. The Biosphere, which is located a few miles away from the city of Tucson, is a 250-acre facility. Guided tours of the science exhibits are available. Also one can look at the upper and lower grasslands and the ocean under the glass. Guided tours of this are also available.
Another family attraction is the Old Tucson Studios. The Studio brings back memories of the old west. Kids enjoy cowboy adventures and simulated gunfights and action packed stunts.
Again, we had only a day at Tucson and our adventures were limited, but wonderful! There is so much to see and so little time!!

Coming up…The Grand Canyon.

2006-05-07T12:15:00.000-05:00

A big thank you to the author of Travel-Rants, one of my favorite travel blogs for featuring me as "blog of the day" on Friday May 5, 2006.

2006-05-05T10:58:00.000-05:00

Sedona……

We spent a day at our cousins’ home relaxing and getting our aching muscles back to normal. The kids enjoyed playing outdoors again after a long time. Our cousins have a beautiful yard and play set and those kept the kids busy. Oh! and the air was filled with the sweet smell of so many flowers. Living through the winter in Illinois, I’d forgotten there were so many sweet smelling flowers on the planet. And the colors were awesome too, from the vibrant bougainvillea to the fragrant white jasmine, it was paradise.

Well, we decided to do a little sightseeing the next day. We had heard a lot about Sedona and so decided to go out there. Sedona is about 106 miles from Glendale, AZ.
Although I had heard a lot about Sedona, I was not prepared for its unparalleled splendor. It took my breath away.
At an elevation of about 4500 ft, it nestles, at the base of the dominating Mogollon Rim and the mouth of the majestic Oak Creek Canyon, among beautiful red sandstone rocks. The huge sandstone monoliths have names like Coffee pot, Bell and Snoopy because of their resemblance to these objects or in one case a lovable cartoon character. Sedona is also home to the vast Coconino National Forest. It goes unsaid that with so much natural splendor, there are many outdoor activities that one can indulge in here.

There are jeep rides, helicopter tours, hot air balloon rides, to name just a few. The more adventurous can go hiking or for ATV rides. Whatever mode of transportation one chooses, there is plenty to see in Sedona. The rocks are home to authentic old Indian cave dwellings. Downtown Sedona has an old worldly charm of its own. There are several specialty stores where one can spend hours just window-shopping. There are also several friendly cafes where one can get a cup of coffee.
We decided to take a helicopter tour of the place; although the kids were more interested in doing a jeep ride or ATV ride, (I’m not that adventurous!) We drove down from the city’s tourist information center to the small airport. We were asked to wait a short while. In a few minutes, we were accompanied to the helicopter and introduced to the pilot, a friendly smiling chap, who made us feel at ease. Being a family of four, we got a chopper all to ourselves, and yours’ truly had the opportunity to sit in front, next to the pilot. My family was jealous that I got the best seat and I couldn’t help gloating. To say that the view was spectacular from above would be an understatement. Words cannot describe Rich, Beautiful Sedona!
It’s a small world indeed, because after our helicopter tour on the way back to downtown Sedona, we stopped to take some pictures at a scenic point, when we ran into one of my son’s teachers from school. We were pleasantly surprised and took the opportunity to take some pictures with her too.

Apart from its natural grandeur, Sedona is also considered a spiritual retreat by many. It is believed that Sedona is home to several vortexes or focal points of the earth’s energy and many come here to renew their own energy.
After shopping for souvenirs and getting some yummy ice cream, we decided to head back home. How I wish we could have stayed another day and explored more of Sedona.

I’m sure, if I have the opportunity I will certainly go there again!

2006-04-28T10:50:00.000-05:00

Part 2....On the road...

Our route: I 94/294 E-I 55 S- I 44 W- I 40 W-I 17 W
As I said, we set off bright and early at about 5.30 am(Central time). Our route looked simple. We took I94 and from then on got onto the I55 toward St. Louis, Missouri. A couple of hours on the road and we took our first break at a rest area with the Vermillion River flowing behind it. It was a beautiful sight early in the morning, although the river itself was no more than a trickle. Soon we were on the road again going towards St. Louis Missouri. The kids were hungry and restless by now and I pulled out my stash of snack size packs of dry cereal(Apple Jacks, Froot Loops Coco Puffs and many others.) These are great for the road as they can double as breakfast and a snack for the afternoon. Baked cheese snacks are pretty good too as are Ritz crackers. Hubby and I also enjoyed these with the kids. We had also packed plenty to drink, water, sodas and for the kids Hi C. This is where the stow-and-go feature in our van came in real handy. We had plenty of room in the van as all our belongings were, you guessed it, ‘stowed’ away.

At about 11.30 am we reached St. Louis. We saw the Mississippi river and the bridge over it on our way there. The famous Arch at St. Louis was visible from quite a distance and we marveled at its splendor as we got closer. However, we did not stop here as we were intent on getting to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma for our night stop.
We stopped for lunch soon after at Burger King, the kids love their French fries. I had some of the food that I had made before we left and we ate that with the fries. I don’t know what it is about the outdoors, but food always seems to taste better. We had an impromptu picnic right beside Burger King (okay, if you must know, in the parking lot…), but nevertheless, we enjoyed it.
Our ETA at OK City, OK was 8.00 pm. We drove through the afternoon as the kids watched a movie on the portable DVD player that we bought for them before the trip. This one buy was worth the two hundred odd bucks we spent on it. Also my younger one had a travel activity book and my older son, who is quite fond of sketching had his sketch pad on hand. They also brought along plenty of CD’s to listen too. We had a backpack full of things just for their entertainment, which they had a great time packing themselves.
We were quite excited to arrive at the OK state border, which meant we were close to our half way mark. We reached Tulsa at about 7.00 pm and from there on it was just about an hour and half to OK City. It was a pretty long hour and a half with “are we there yet?” coming from the back seat every 2 minutes. We reached OK city by about 8.30 pm and checked into the Waterford Marriott. I would recommend this hotel over any other. It has a quiet ambience and the service is great. Best of all, the beds were comfy, the bathrooms clean and the towels fluffy! On our way back from Glendale, we booked a different hotel(God alone knows why)and had a very interesting experience which I shall explain in detail in another post. We had more of the food I had carried with me and we had this for dinner. I have learnt that keeping a little extra can save you the trouble of trying to go out and find food when the whole family is tired and just about ready to eat each other. After dinner and showers, we collapsed thankfully into bed.
Once again, we left early the next morning(6.30am-CT). This was going to be the longest part of the journey and most tedious. We had to cover just under a 1000 miles, with almost 800 miles on one straight road, I-40.
We entered the Texas state border at about 11.00 am. We only had to drive across the northern tip of Texas. As we drove out of OK and into Texas, we saw the huge cattle ranches with hundreds of cattle roaming and grazing. Another thing we noticed in these two states were huge windmills. The weather was undoubtedly better than it was back home in Illinois. The kids would look at the little screen showing the direction we were driving in and the temperature outside and get all excited. “Mom, look, it’s 60 degrees, now its 62, yippee, and it’s getting warmer.” When you live through the winter here, 60 degrees does sound balmy and warm.
We stopped for lunch at a Diary Queen in a small town in Texas called Vega. The food was good. They made us some good veggie burgers and we ate with gusto. One thing we learned on this trip was that we can save time if we stop for food and gas at the same time. Also it would be good to include a pit stop too. That way, we were not stopping for different things at different times.

We soon entered the state of New Mexico and moved from Central time to Mountain time zone. Now, the state of New Mexico is fascinating. Fascinating, because I have never seen so much land with nothing in sight for miles and miles all around. It looks like a scene from an old Western, with hills all around and not a soul in sight.I could almost hear the theme music of 'Good, Bad and Ugly'(anyone remember that?) in my mind. There were a few trucks on the road along with our van and a few other cars. In the distance, we spotted a cargo train, which seemed in no hurry to get to its destination. The kids dozed off after staring at all the nothingness around them. I tried to keep hubby company, but found myself catching a few zs too.
There was road construction at several places and traffic slowed to a crawl at times. We reached Albuquerque, NM at about 4.30 pm(mountain time, 5.30 Central time), a little later than we had hoped for. Our destination Glendale AZ was a good six hours away in the best traffic conditions. The kids were tired by now and were getting on each others nerves. We took a quick break so they could stretch their legs and some fresh air. We soon reached the AZ state border. It was about 6.00 pm(mountain time) Arizona is in the mountain time zone until the onset of daylight saving, when they switch to pacific time. When we passed the Petrified National Forest, it was starting to get dark. All of us were, by now, ready to call it a day and get some rest. But we still had a long way to go.

We reached Flagstaff,AZ around 8.00 pm. It was a lot colder here as it is about 6000 ft above sea level. The route from here on was quite hilly with steep gradients. It seemed more tedious in the darkness. There were not many cars at this time of the night and it increased our sense of urgency to make this last leg as quickly and safely as we could. We drove on silently until I heard a loud scream from the back seat. My younger one was crying in pain clutching his ear. The change in air pressure had caused his ears to get blocked and he was in a lot of pain. We stopped for a minute so I could go and sit beside him and comfort him. I was just debating whether to give him some Tylenol when I remembered something about chewing gum or sucking on a piece of candy when there is a change in air pressure. I had tried this while traveling by air and it seemed to help in keeping the ears from getting blocked. I pulled out some hard candy that I had and gave him a piece. This seemed to help a lot and he calmed down soon enough.
We finally reached Glendale and pulled into the driveway of our cousins home at about 10.30 pm. The kids were tired and hungry and of course, so were we. We were welcomed warmly by our cousins into their home. I gave the kids a quick dinner and put them to bed. The tiredness seemed to go away as we talked and caught up with each others lives. We hadn’t seen each other for many years and there was a lot of catching up to do. But tiredness soon caught up with us and we decided to turn in. I can honestly say I have never slept better before.
To be continued....coming up....Sedona trip

Road trip to Arizona

2006-04-21T15:49:00.000-05:00

Hi

I created this blog to share my experiences about our great American road trip and the adventures that go with traveling with kids. Hope you like it.

This is the first in a series. I call it...The Beginning.

Hubby and I have always been fond of traveling. We like visiting new places, learning new things and meeting new people. My kids too have a thing for traveling. Although my younger one would be more than happy to just stay home with his beloved play station 2 and his TV. Nevertheless, they always join in our vacation plans with great enthusiasm (at least for the first five minutes).

My travel travails have always been a source of amusement for my family and friends. I seem to have the weirdest, quirkiest travel experiences. Few vacations have gone by without something wacky happening. Well, this time was no different.

Once again, we made our plans with great excitement. We wanted to go to Glendale, Arizona. We have family there and have always wanted to visit them, more so after the birth of their first baby. Well, we called them, told them of our intentions and said we would get back to them with further plans.

I started browsing the internet for good deals on airfares. My eyes popped out of their sockets when I saw some of the prices displayed. And these were supposed to be the “great deals". Of course, we planned to take our trip during the spring break, so cannot be too hard on the travel sites. Well, after days of despairing over the airfares, hubby dearest came up with a master plan! “Lets drive, it’ll be fun”! Again, my eyes popped out of their sockets. “Are you crazy? You want to drive across the breadth of the country in our poor old Honda Civic?” Okay, I was just going ballistic now. You see we live in Northern Illinois. “No silly, we’ll rent a minivan.” “Hmm…still it’s an awfully long distance. The kids are going to be tired, not to mention the two of us, after driving all those hours. It’s about 2000 miles. You do realize that. I don’t think it’s such a good idea.” “Actually, it’s 1800 miles” he corrected me. And of course, just as always, the idea grew and grew in hubby’s head till he had it all figured out. “It’s brilliant, we’ll drive. It’ll be the best trip ever.” I was still mumbling and grumbling, but he had to have his way.

So he called the car rental, booked a minivan and then, of course, told me about it. I asked him how much the car rental was and yup, you guessed it, once again…the eye popping. My eyes were tired from doing that so much!! “We could have got air tickets for that much.” “Oh, but think of the fun we’ll have and the adventure! It will be amazing.” After much persuasion, as always, I let myself be talked into another of his wild schemes.

Anyways, the travel arrangements were all made. The hotel was booked for our night stay at Oklahoma City. Our cousins were told of our plan. They thought we were nuts too, as did our friends. But we had to do what we had to do. I began thinking about what food I’ll have to take and agonizing over thoughts of the kids getting sick or about us having car trouble. Well, I’m a mom, it’s my job!

We were all set. We had a week’s time to pack, get our stuff together, and do just about everything one has to do even if going away for a day. I kept telling myself, it would be fun and all would be fine. But I couldn’t help being a little worried. Like I said, my job!

“You know, you’ve always wanted a minivan. Instead of renting one, why don’t we just buy one? We’ve been wanting to anyway and what better time than now. This way we won’t have to rent the minivan, we can just drive our own to Glendale.” You guessed it, hubby’s thoughts after just a couple of days of booking the rental van. I must concede here, I did always dream of a shiny new minivan. So I gave into that one quite easily. We went shopping and soon enough picked out a shiny silver minivan. The kids were thrilled and so were we. We cancelled the minivan rental and started packing for the trip.

The day of our great road trip arrived. It was a beautiful spring(?)morning.If you live anywhere near Chicago, you know that Spring mornings are not that beautiful always. We just fantasize about beautiful spring mornings. We decided to leave bright and early so we could make good time. We dragged the kids out of bed, got them ready, had a hurried breakfast and were on our way, praying for a safe journey.

...........to be continued.