tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19084368694397314402024-03-04T23:41:26.238-07:00My Desi BlogSunshinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04067892526526643193noreply@blogger.comBlogger155125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908436869439731440.post-85335441367728880512016-08-24T22:04:00.000-06:002016-08-24T22:04:27.845-06:00Comeback...Hello Readers (if there are still any reading this blog....),<br />
<br />
I am not very proud of the fact that I have not been active on my own blog from almost one and half years now. As I wrote in one of my previous posts that 2015 had been a year with ups and downs, I can say that 2016 has also taken me by surprise!! This time, I am not going to make false promises of being regular at blogging or writing frequently, but, I will say one thing is that I will try my best to write one post a month and try to get back to blogging which I used to love and enjoy so much!!<br />
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Now, 8 months have passed by and 2016 also seem to be coming to an end, but I am going to try and recall all the things that I can share with you (although, there haven't been that many either). My 2016 kind of started out bumpy as I was laid off in March. It wasn't something that I had expected but didn't come as a full shock either. I had kind of sensed that a big round of lay offs is coming but just didn't realize that this one had my name in the list as well. Initially when I heard it, the news struck me and I felt emotional but I took it very positively and left the place happily. There is one thing that I have always felt strongly about and that is "whatever happens, happens for the right reason". Over so many years of service, I had made new friends and met so many talented folks, learned so many things and new technology, shared numerous laughter and life experiences!! How can I be leaving the place sadly? No way! I have great memories and amazing people to be thankful for! The only thing that I miss the most is the PEOPLE that I had worked with. Today, even after being away from that place for over 5 months, I try to keep in touch with them through one or the other social medium such as Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.<br />
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Well, good thing that I am writing this post after such a long time that you guys don't have to wait to hear the good news. Within 2 months of my layoff, after filling out lots of applications, quite a few phone interviews, and handful of on-site interviews, I was hired by another company and started my work in May. It's already been 3 months of working there and I am enjoying it. The people are nice and the work is good and challenging at times...the only difference is the open work space which I was not used to but getting used to it now :). I feel life throws so many challenges at you but it also gives you strength and patience to go through it...you just need to have faith!<br />
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I am also happy to have been very active this year in dancing. I can't recall last time when I had performed on a stage or with friends, but thanks to a friend who invited me to perform in an Indian Dance Festival where she had to put together a group for the performance. Our dance was a hit and to top it off, we were invited to perform in Gujarat Mahotsav, a huge event put together in Long Beach, CA, where artists from India came together and showcase what Gujarat is all about!! This was a great achievement for the group as our performance went well and we got such a big platform to perform on! Again, thanks to my friend who put her heart and soul into this dance and to make it a huge success! Thanks to her husband for not just being the backbone of her but the entire group and supporting all of us all the way! And Many thanks to her two young kids, age 1 and half, and 4 who were running around with us everywhere whether it was practice or performance! It was a trip of lifetime! Just as we came back after performing in CA, we were invited to perform at the Dragon Boat Festival in Denver. This was the 3rd performance for us within 5 months! Just amazing experiences all the way :). Through this dance, I made so many new friends for lifetime which I will never forget.<br />
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Phew...well that's about it for now. If I recall anything else, I will surely come back and share it with you all. But, as I said, I will not make false promises..I will try to write at least one post per month and get back to blogging....<br />
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Hope you all have wonderful day and thank you for visiting my blog and reading my posts!!Sunshinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04067892526526643193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908436869439731440.post-62833850599465601652016-01-08T16:30:00.002-07:002016-01-08T16:30:27.396-07:002016 - Happy New Year!!Dear Friends,<br />Wish you all a very Happy New Year!! I hope everyone had a great 2015 and have a great year ahead in 2016! As usual, I don't know where to begin writing as I have been completely away from blogging in the past year. 2015 was the fastest year for me but not smooth as there were ups and downs that came along, some good and some bad, and then some great. The worse part of 2015 was loosing my grandmother. It was hard to say goodbye to a loved one, but I hope she is resting in peace! She is still in my toughts and memories. The great part of 2015 was that we (my family) bought a house which was long overdue and I feel it was a blessing! Other than that, it was just getting settled in the new home, learning new things related to a home, etc. etc. took the rest of the year and nothing much. Hopefully this year is bit relaxed compared to last one :). Well, that's all I am going to say for now.<br />Have a great day!Sunshinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04067892526526643193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908436869439731440.post-50455671406014593042015-08-29T09:04:00.000-06:002015-08-29T09:04:25.495-06:00Can you ever be prepared for something like this?Hello friends,<br />
I think this year is not my year to blog. I have barely had any time on my hands for myself that I have not been able to sit down, take a breath and then write something, until now. My last post was in June promising to be back soon and share what I had been up to but that was almost 3 months ago...so you can see how tied up I must be to not be able to come back soon enough. Anyways, here I am and without wasting any further time, I would like to share few things with you.<br />
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This year had started out alright but soon enough my grandmother got unwell. She passed away in March and it was the hardest thing for the whole family. She was 93 and still strong mentally at that age, but it was her body that started slowing down and before we could even know it, she had left us. I was close to her and that's why I don't think I was really prepared for what happened. But honestly, can you ever be prepared for something like this? No, I don't think so. Whether you know that death is coming to your loved one, or it comes unexpectedly, it is never ever easy to loose a loved one!! We were all taken a back by her going but we also knew that she had lived her life to the fullest and worked really hard to give her kids the life they have right now. We know that she is in a better place now and in peace! March had not been the best month overall. One of my colleague's, and a good friend, father passed away at the end of March as well, completely unexpected, when his father was in perfect health. His father's death was a complete shock to their entire family. Death is pretty hard to accept and move past it...especially when it's one of your loved ones!<br />
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In May, one of my close friends' was going to move out of US, so they planned a one day trip to Sand Dunes National Park. This is the first time I went and it was really nice to see a different take on Colorado. Usually, when you hear Colorado, you instantly think of mountains, but this one was a desert in the middle of the mountains! Be aware, there is lots and lots of walking. If you think you will go all the way to the top, think again! Our plan was to go all the way to the top but the more you walk, the farther you will see the top of the sand dunes :). So I suggest you return back the moment you feel tired because you have to go back down the way you came back up! Here are some glimpses of the visit.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipID3SwVIVjxuusflKXDKL5LWoWmaPuZTaNeptrOvhx8Mtr3lbHpi9CgyxoQ37MHgCxJegQsE_1j9TnOMIxPk4AiQvOxLToob9Sh6gzYny298T2jBPh1-W2MyGkYtnsdJiOL-Yeaptc24p/s1600/P1050800.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipID3SwVIVjxuusflKXDKL5LWoWmaPuZTaNeptrOvhx8Mtr3lbHpi9CgyxoQ37MHgCxJegQsE_1j9TnOMIxPk4AiQvOxLToob9Sh6gzYny298T2jBPh1-W2MyGkYtnsdJiOL-Yeaptc24p/s320/P1050800.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sand Dunes National Park - At the base, getting ready to climb the sand mountain :)</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ4l6tgBS_mb7gcnwEkUxRO61Go2SpaaATXT9GSLVcO4NnGYtDoNywBDa7_-dRrnuKLNhibhjxeYm__LszUvhMdoVx6dpAQLdLdiMsg_uPuwFUfOQ-W9wnbCFSfayBKFBYMqJVn_Jm1srz/s1600/P1050809.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ4l6tgBS_mb7gcnwEkUxRO61Go2SpaaATXT9GSLVcO4NnGYtDoNywBDa7_-dRrnuKLNhibhjxeYm__LszUvhMdoVx6dpAQLdLdiMsg_uPuwFUfOQ-W9wnbCFSfayBKFBYMqJVn_Jm1srz/s320/P1050809.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje8urStQiaQjvbdJfh_x1YRvFTtSEUN0hnUYPuncw11KYalFgolvQb03NFQMcnnYqqqJgn66qaWD0vQXVIS1lvw5pqByQKlLYa7G3bTcCFG1z5hexX7_b0mreaNVPz5AAFrTPawbIWMqPf/s1600/P1050816.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje8urStQiaQjvbdJfh_x1YRvFTtSEUN0hnUYPuncw11KYalFgolvQb03NFQMcnnYqqqJgn66qaWD0vQXVIS1lvw5pqByQKlLYa7G3bTcCFG1z5hexX7_b0mreaNVPz5AAFrTPawbIWMqPf/s320/P1050816.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Great capture of Sand Dunes in front of the Mountains!</td></tr>
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This was the last trip that we did with our close friends before they left US. Hopefully, they will return soon and we'll have lots of more memories to build together.<br />
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Soon after this trip, I had another milestone in my life...my family bought a house, something we had been searching for a loooong time!! Finally, we bought a house we loved and we actually got it!! The reason I say "we actually got it" is because of the way Denver real estate is rising up...the prices are soaring high year after year! And in the midst of all, we were able to get a house where it's seller's market and buyers are having a bidding war. I do consider myself lucky in that manner. That was a sweet happiness for the entire family :). But with sweet happiness comes a load of responsibilities and I am going to leave that for the next post for me to write and share my experiences.<br />
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Hope you guys enjoy this post. I am writing after such a long time, and it feels good to be back here. Hope to continue this from now on. Until next time, have a great day :)Sunshinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04067892526526643193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908436869439731440.post-32428515378102204532015-06-11T09:16:00.001-06:002015-06-11T09:16:19.475-06:00Where was I?As much as I wanted to kick off 2015 with a storm by writing so many things on my blog, nothing of that sort happened :( In fact, 2015 has taken me by storm by throwing so many different circumstances, and situations my way that I barely had time to breath...<br />
<br />
Time has flown faster than I could imagine...and I can't believe that we are already into the 6th month of 2015! I got so many things to share, so many things to tell, yet, I can't put my thoughts together and think straight on where to start. But, I got to to start somewhere, so this post should mark that starting point for me to start blogging again :) (hopefully!!).<br />
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I don't have much to say to you right now but I will come back with more to discuss, to procrastinate, to explore, and elaborate (and I have no idea what I just said :P).<br />
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Until then, wish you all a very wonderful day!!Sunshinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04067892526526643193noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908436869439731440.post-66857030858554048672015-01-01T18:45:00.003-07:002015-01-01T18:46:13.552-07:00Welcome 2015!! Bye bye 2014 :(Dear Friends,<br />
I have said this before, and I repeat again, that 2014 has literally flown by! This has been the fastest year for me, but, that doesn't mean that it was boring...not at all!! It was fun-filled, and most importantly, friends-filled year all the way :). I can't say enough about this year, about the trips, about the experiences, and about everything that has happened!<br />
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Where do I start? The beginning of the year was very exciting as Denver Broncos were heading into Super Bowl but also disappointing to see them loose, miserably, to Seattle Seahalks :(. Moving on, the next big thing was IIFA Awards, in USA for the very first time, being hosted in Tampa, FL. My friend from Tampa convinced me to come since it was going to be in his home town and that it was going to be a gala time!!! And guess what?? It was indeed an amazing trip, seeing all the actors up close, clicking pictures with them, seeing them perform right in front of my eyes!! It was all like a dream! Awesome trip with stars and friends :).<br />
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On another note, on adventurous side, some of the trips of the year include Grand Teton & Yellowstone National Parks, Aspen, Mesa Verde, & Durango-Silverton Railroad. These two were one of the best trips taken with friends. Lots of photo sessions, full of fun and laughter, and great road trip all together! Apart from the trips, there were unlimited get-togethers, with friends, involved this year which ended up in all-night fun of games like Uno, Telestrations, Black Queen, and then Uno again, watching movies, etc. etc.<br />
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Just as much as one side of my year involved friends and trips, the other not-so-adventurous side involved busy schedule of work! In 2014, I felt like I was the most busiest in work I have ever been in my life with the new project that I was working on. I don't have any complains with it since I learned a lot of new things but it was just so hectic due to time constrain that we were under! All's well that ends well! That was the situation with my work project, it ended well and is at a steady pace now.<br />
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Well, that was all for me for the year of 2014! I hope 2015 brings new hope, new opportunities, new beginnings, and new adventurous!! Wish you and I, all of us, have an amazing 2015 filled with love, happiness, and success in your lives :)<br />
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Happy New Year!Sunshinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04067892526526643193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908436869439731440.post-50829884301665578052014-12-31T17:12:00.002-07:002014-12-31T17:12:49.163-07:00The User Profile Service failed the logon. User profile cannot be loaded.I have been meaning to write a post on this problem for a loooooong time but never got around it. I wanted to make sure that I get it on my blog before end of this year and that makes me come to this blog today to make it in before 2015 comes around :). Anyways, enough of excuses from my side, here is the solution for the error.<br />
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"The user profile failed the logon. User profile cannot be loaded.".<br />
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I have seen this error when I have tried to log into my account on Windows 7. Luckily, I have 2 admin accounts, so I was able to login on my Administrator account successfully to correct this error. I really don't know what causes the problem because it's been at random times.<br />
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I searched up on google and found some useful information on couple of sites that are mentioned :<br />
1) http://cherrybyte.blogspot.com/2007/07/fixing-user-profiles-in-vista.html<br />
2) http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/130095-user-profile-service-failed-logon-user-profile-cannot-loaded.html<br />
3) http://windowsitpro.com/windows-server/q-what-meaning-state-value-name-users-registry-profile<br />
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I was able to solve the problem by following the instructions listed on #1 site above. The instructions are very straightforward but I will still list the steps here for my records just if I need to reference them again for myself. Hope these instructions help you out too.<br />
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1) Log in to another Admin account on your computer (if you don't have it, then you might be able to create one by going into safe mode).<br />
2) Go to My Computer -> C: Drive -> Select Users folder<br />
3) You should see a folder "TEMP" (this is the folder that was created temporary). This is the folder that you would be removing along with its registry entry that was created temporarily by the system (replacing your original account registry entry).<br />
4) Click on Start -> search for program 'regedit' and enter<br />
5) Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList<br />
6) You might see the original registry entry with ".bak" extension and the temporary entry with the original registry name:<br />
For example: You might have one entry ending with "....1000.bak" and the other one ending in "....1000". In this case the one with ".bak" extension is the original entry. You can confirm this by clicking on that entry and checking the "ProfileImagePath" which should point to your users account (and not TEMP).<br />
7) To get the original registry entry back to normal, first rename "...1000" to "...1000.bak2" and rename the ".....1000.bak" to "...1000" (removing the .bak extension). After renaming, I just remove the ".bak2" entry.<br />
8) Now, you need to check the "RefCount" and "State" value. Make sure they're both 0 (if not, you can modify them and make them 0). If they're not 0, that's what caused the "User profile" error.<br />
9) Go back to the "Users" folder in My Computer and remove the "TEMP" folder.<br />
10) After making these changes, restart the computer and you should be able to log in to your user account.<br />
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Alright, I hope these instructions help you out as they have helped me out. Check out the sites I have listed because they have helped me out and I am sure they will give you the info you need.<br />
<br />Sunshinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04067892526526643193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908436869439731440.post-63096284840228843532014-12-29T00:02:00.000-07:002014-12-29T00:02:45.858-07:00Aspen, Mesa Verde, Durango-Silverton Railroad - Day 3Hello Hello,<br />
<br />
The last day of my Aspen trip came to last destination activity which was to ride the Durango-Silverton Railroad. This was something that came up as one of the top "things to do" when I was searching up online for things to do in Durango. This was something that I had to book ahead of time (about $100/person with discount) since the railroad timings are fixed and the tickets sell out pretty quickly. Another thing we had to decide while booking was whether we wanted to do a full day or a half day trip. The full day trip is basically a roundtrip in railroad vs. a half a day trip is one-way railroad trip and one-way bus ride. We decided for a half-day trip since full-day would have taken almost an entire day, coming back to Denver after midnight! So, doing a half-day trip would be much more preferable with 8 am train to Silverton and then bus ride back to Durango station around 1:30 pm.<br />
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To catch an 8 am train, we had to leave house by 7:15 am (30-minutes drive and 15-minutes to find parking) and in order to leave by 7:15 am, we had to get up by 6:15 am. This is where all the friends were separating in 2 groups since only half of the people were coming for the railroad. We barely got any sleep since we slept late the previous night and got up really early for this train ride.....!! We packed up the car, settled in, and got to the railroad. Unfortunately, this was not the day of sunshine and instead it decided to pour down rain, slow and steady :(. That also made the weather quite cold (I am glad that we got the economy seats instead of the open air seats). Once the train started, it had its first unplanned break, for 15-20 minutes, since there was water on the tracks. The railroad itself was about 3+ hours long, so we had plenty of time to pass :). We all played a movie guessing game while the train was going through some beautiful scenery as well as some boring spots in the forest. But, nonetheless, it was nice.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZc33uGvvWaZcWYG_s-9J-Yj2GzvL9zEjZN-JWz4D-OMeOuD_WOuzf9NjWcPyJsglZia09GWxRhjeIOM2WLOe5WQHgSc2ki8fPnm7T-g_0OAcrDDHab8eeTfWh6q6_aaRXUMCn2ZHXQ2h8/s1600/P1050596.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZc33uGvvWaZcWYG_s-9J-Yj2GzvL9zEjZN-JWz4D-OMeOuD_WOuzf9NjWcPyJsglZia09GWxRhjeIOM2WLOe5WQHgSc2ki8fPnm7T-g_0OAcrDDHab8eeTfWh6q6_aaRXUMCn2ZHXQ2h8/s1600/P1050596.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Durango-Silverton Railroad, Durango</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp1nRHk7GPVUBSK-8caOvaXpCj9tRjmYj5vRJU8ymhjbBnS5UB1GQprX87FnX9-8TRzV3P_gSMe_2SkW8njh14doPdreRJqTf9tG7uGprLOdgQoKU0Jccud2NLecVkCM2Ezl7AQs-KVJGw/s1600/P1050606.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp1nRHk7GPVUBSK-8caOvaXpCj9tRjmYj5vRJU8ymhjbBnS5UB1GQprX87FnX9-8TRzV3P_gSMe_2SkW8njh14doPdreRJqTf9tG7uGprLOdgQoKU0Jccud2NLecVkCM2Ezl7AQs-KVJGw/s1600/P1050606.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Durango-Silverton Railroad, Durango</td></tr>
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One thing I am happy about is that we only got one-way railroad ticket since coming back in the same train would have been extremely boaring and that too for 3+ hours?? Pheww...half-day trip was a good choice. Once we got to the town of Silverton, it was gorgeous! This is an extremely small town, situated right in the middle of the mountains! Due to the cold and cloudy weather, I felt like it was a part of Switzerland in Silverton :)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhPGr6jti2KnzI3Q45vYCwT25wZgnmPxUkAkLpWMjAeSjtBlHpSd72orsr6loAxWrvGJEyxVh_-kp9kBrl2Gs3aXoV_7lQRMIxvMfwBAiFpmGamFgEpcryS2sD_4Bk4zcmU49nW98-dPDy/s1600/P1050634.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhPGr6jti2KnzI3Q45vYCwT25wZgnmPxUkAkLpWMjAeSjtBlHpSd72orsr6loAxWrvGJEyxVh_-kp9kBrl2Gs3aXoV_7lQRMIxvMfwBAiFpmGamFgEpcryS2sD_4Bk4zcmU49nW98-dPDy/s1600/P1050634.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Silverton, CO</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXbL0NjEk72OLvq9u-epYdYz1SdVBJ9kz4fx28w8pxbmKMPl6A3PMPU3lbp6Mi77FhxMHdktXemSyU2EveDx0RRG74MyM7e-ura8C4qzpLACTGNxT1EOKHmrX91D5VzdWJ2LJzQy8VryBF/s1600/P1050636.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXbL0NjEk72OLvq9u-epYdYz1SdVBJ9kz4fx28w8pxbmKMPl6A3PMPU3lbp6Mi77FhxMHdktXemSyU2EveDx0RRG74MyM7e-ura8C4qzpLACTGNxT1EOKHmrX91D5VzdWJ2LJzQy8VryBF/s1600/P1050636.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Silverton, CO</td></tr>
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We took some pictures of the town and group photos with the train. We didn't have much time to spare since we only had about 20 minutes from the time we get off from the train to the time we need to start boarding the bus. The bus ride was only about one and half hours compared to the train ride. This worked out great for us since we saved time and (the biggest plus point), we got to see the beautiful Million Dollar Highway which has amazing views! With this, we also got to see the first snow of the season :) <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8utn6QFVjeKW5pchOfLuF8B4cuLTwBuAgPDp2Oo77xpNl6z9q_POuD8lY7tclRFxr9nBNvDufqEqqwpDCthRJH38IZgnQdfCADE5YMLLhIguROiUe7pckSFmJH37kLsJRJIevD7WT2K3X/s1600/P1050645.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8utn6QFVjeKW5pchOfLuF8B4cuLTwBuAgPDp2Oo77xpNl6z9q_POuD8lY7tclRFxr9nBNvDufqEqqwpDCthRJH38IZgnQdfCADE5YMLLhIguROiUe7pckSFmJH37kLsJRJIevD7WT2K3X/s1600/P1050645.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bus ride on Million Dollar Hwy</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrh9OuDL4rJ3cAUmahIZ_YrA3tA8EWABHr7JtPD_Jr33ge4X6bR4jbfm91ZpQn6UOduQ5irKXdfaQXuROyNCh948QhUOtX2xjVPmmuDrwQGeALv1q_-a5eGY-uBd2sQB0NqJUmDTWpfVJO/s1600/P1050655.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrh9OuDL4rJ3cAUmahIZ_YrA3tA8EWABHr7JtPD_Jr33ge4X6bR4jbfm91ZpQn6UOduQ5irKXdfaQXuROyNCh948QhUOtX2xjVPmmuDrwQGeALv1q_-a5eGY-uBd2sQB0NqJUmDTWpfVJO/s1600/P1050655.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bus ride on Million Dollar Hwy</td></tr>
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We got back to the base at Durango station and soon started our journey back home (another 6-7 hours ride). We safely got home around 8 or 9 pm but that wasn't the end of the day. One of my friends and I had to go to return the rental car the same night, so from that we got back around midnight, and then, as far as I can remember I just passed out after getting home.<br />
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This wraps up my 3-day trip to 3 locations, action-packed and fun-filled, with amazing group of friends! And, it has (just like other trips) given moments to cherish for lifetime!!Sunshinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04067892526526643193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908436869439731440.post-82981455235389311552014-12-28T22:26:00.000-07:002014-12-28T22:35:00.003-07:00Aspen, Mesa Verde, Durango-Silverton Railroad - Day 2Hey everyone,<br />
Here I am with our Day 2 activities of the trip at Mesa Verde National Park. We had initially planned to leave early for the park but you know how it goes...everyone was tired from previous day, so the day started a bit late and we left our condo around 9 am (I think...), but no complaints there since we had a good breakfast to start the morning :). We started our journey to head to Mesa Verde National Park which was about 45 minutes drive just to get to the Visitor Center. We got some info on what sites to check out in the park. Lucky for us, we chose the right day to come otherwise they were going to close some of the bigger sites in the park from the next day! We got the park map, and booked a guided tour for cliff palace (one of their famous tourist spots in the park). We booked the last timing of Cliff Palace tour so that way we could cover one side of the park and then come back to the 2nd side later since the distance to both places was about half an hour from visitor center and in completely opposite directions :(.<br />
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Just to give you guys an idea of what this park is about, here is some info. Mesa Verde National Park consists of the best cliff dwellings in the world, features homes and villages built by Ancient Pueblo People (definition from wikipedia). Now, in my words, these are built in such a way that it's hard to get to them (from our hike experience) in caves or under the cliffs. Just because they're built in such areas doesn't make them immune to the weather because if you look at one of the pictures below, they're all open and you can tell how hard it must have been for the people to live in severe weather conditions. We took our first hike to Long House where the 1st half was very easy, and simple walk, but the 2nd half is something we didn't expect. We had to go from top to bottom via stairs, zig-zag narrow pathway, and few slopes to just get a glimpse of the Long House.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgptWF6ejRRm4ylMqAqFiVm8VL_KRMkNNDr-oTR9PpCKnzUi7dsQ598mZQHgUpZmtg6MKSLZ4P9CRYxfpxcPtAARjRQUyWryoLTNCtKBUjVTXE7lVr5kr7hyDd_aPmxudoIW-wqySHH2Qq3/s1600/P1050505.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgptWF6ejRRm4ylMqAqFiVm8VL_KRMkNNDr-oTR9PpCKnzUi7dsQ598mZQHgUpZmtg6MKSLZ4P9CRYxfpxcPtAARjRQUyWryoLTNCtKBUjVTXE7lVr5kr7hyDd_aPmxudoIW-wqySHH2Qq3/s1600/P1050505.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Long House, Mesa Verde National Park</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0HtZUF4xBfGr55dPv5W5X4D4kHlDtMs1oJxg6sddmGzhdzs43D7HtXcBjAu9b1hM2Ypi0V_Ycon-DaehYyE7upALOr9gIJp1frfGfxafcHpxHRmGsRRz7d74vvdcnHHEdDIAk0wzYQ17G/s1600/P1050500.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0HtZUF4xBfGr55dPv5W5X4D4kHlDtMs1oJxg6sddmGzhdzs43D7HtXcBjAu9b1hM2Ypi0V_Ycon-DaehYyE7upALOr9gIJp1frfGfxafcHpxHRmGsRRz7d74vvdcnHHEdDIAk0wzYQ17G/s1600/P1050500.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Long House (closer look at the houses)</td></tr>
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Awesome first sight of this place! This was something different from all of my previous trips, so I was exited. The first picture above shows the stairs at the far end which is where we came from and then took the ladder (also seen in the 1st picture) to go up to one of the homes' areas. The 2nd picture is a closer look at one of the rooms where people used to hang out (kind of like drawing room or it might be bedroom...I don't remember :-/). Pretty neat, isn't it? There was a guide who was walking around, answering any questions that people may have about the place, and also giving some background about the Long House. She, the guide, pointed out the fingerprints on the walls that were left by the people (and still visible after so many years)! There was some other interesting stuff too but don't remember much of it. So, if you're interested in knowing more about this historic place, I would definitely recommend talking to the guide or seeing if they have a guided tour for this or not.<br />
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After checking out the Long House, we started heading back to our cars which was equally hard since the hike itself was difficult and we were tired and hungry as well. It was getting close to our tour for Cliff Palace, so we just decided to eat once we got to that location. We had a nice lunch in the parking lot and headed to the tour meet-up location. We could clearly see the Cliff Palace at the very bottom of the cliff and with that my curiosity also increased to know how the hell we were going to get there...<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaFBM7DblmlapnDyg0Twe0t6vVCC00Ci2nY3dKlXX5JU_2AZnECCkuNKPiZh2gJXW_yCS2y65_WUPO-V2aOsKG3eoAruQTvKOO0kISSvXZ_JNy1-uZPsn4mGxMA51Ktwf3xYJAk19adqb9/s1600/P1050535.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaFBM7DblmlapnDyg0Twe0t6vVCC00Ci2nY3dKlXX5JU_2AZnECCkuNKPiZh2gJXW_yCS2y65_WUPO-V2aOsKG3eoAruQTvKOO0kISSvXZ_JNy1-uZPsn4mGxMA51Ktwf3xYJAk19adqb9/s1600/P1050535.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cliff Palace, Mesa Verde National Park</td></tr>
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The guide came, took our tickets, and then directed us to head to the site. It was indeed a ride since the hike included going through very narrow passages, steep stairs, and quite rocky path :-0. While the other tour before us had not finished, he sat us all down for a while, giving little background on the place, and once the coast was clear, he moved us to look at the site. He pointed us to several different things such as their kitchen, how there were paintings on the wall inside the building (where we couldn't really go but just take a peak through a tiny square window), etc. We took couple of pictures, group photos, and of course, selfies!! Now, the route to go out of this place was different from the one we came from. It was all going through steep stairs within a very narrow passage! Hats off to two of my friends who did this difficult hike with a year old baby!!<br />
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We took a short break for water and restrooms and then decided to check out the rest of the park. We wanted to visit the Spruce Tree House, but couldn't due to time constrain. We did the Mesa Top Loop where there are multiple sites that you could see from far under the cliffs that were not accessible via foot/vehicle. We stopped at couple of locations but I don't remember any of the names of the stops we made except the last one (Sun Temple). The structures were different for each of the stops that we made. Below, I have few pictures from couple of stops that we made.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsMKpgsP4qezVrB1FlXZ04sPtSrZj-A0WqiS4bQC8_CAxEUNMWr6QIwMW1v4ISqtHb6uPqA4oRHGyxNRStKhrqJoxmu7HgaYGwG7S0VVZPlLgTB_PJ9BJvoyxbSxSQp3VPGPJHnH1Um1c2/s1600/P1050579.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsMKpgsP4qezVrB1FlXZ04sPtSrZj-A0WqiS4bQC8_CAxEUNMWr6QIwMW1v4ISqtHb6uPqA4oRHGyxNRStKhrqJoxmu7HgaYGwG7S0VVZPlLgTB_PJ9BJvoyxbSxSQp3VPGPJHnH1Um1c2/s1600/P1050579.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of the sites @ Mesa Top Loop</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn8qOvLTZq-bP8LkxOr9-46Yj4hf7rfx5fY0l3JNIWw7cjJTPa6M_xW_b-rKgOWnstbxVPT43dXudVvk6B7-yG20mWD9F7OzM6_ka_0Hbc8QTUFzmysL0-e0wZdULWMMlSRhyphenhyphen5-gu-t6RL/s1600/P1050582.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn8qOvLTZq-bP8LkxOr9-46Yj4hf7rfx5fY0l3JNIWw7cjJTPa6M_xW_b-rKgOWnstbxVPT43dXudVvk6B7-yG20mWD9F7OzM6_ka_0Hbc8QTUFzmysL0-e0wZdULWMMlSRhyphenhyphen5-gu-t6RL/s1600/P1050582.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sun Temple, Mesa Top Loop</td></tr>
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After this loop tour, we still tried to make it to the Spruce Tree House but were late by 5-10 minutes, so couldn't get to see it :(. This was the last thing on our agenda for the park, so we all happily bid our goodbye to the park. My only recommendation for this park would be that if you want to cover more things on the park, get to the park early in the day (around 7:30/8 am) and I am sure you will cover most of the attractions in a day.<br />
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Now, taking you back to the previous night, we found out that two more of our friends were going to join us on this trip the next day (meaning our Day 2). They were going to come to Durango by night, so we all decided to meet up for dinner before heading back to the condo. We chose to dine at the Himalayan restaurant in Durango. The service was good there but the food was ok, I mean I have had better kofta curry and paneer tikka masala before, so it wasn't anything special. Later, all of us got back to the condo, and proudly gave tour of the condo to two friends who joined us. No one had the energy after a tiring day but we still stayed up, hung out and had a good time with everyone!<br />
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This wraps up my Day 2 activities of the trip. Next day, we check out from our condo and head for the Durango-Silverton Railroad (half day trip), but more on that in my next post!!Sunshinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04067892526526643193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908436869439731440.post-66125227255569768852014-12-22T19:45:00.000-07:002016-09-26T19:52:11.106-06:00Aspen, Mesa Verde, Durango-Silverton Railroad - Day 1Hello everyone,<br />
<br />
I am back with some more travel experiences' posts. Just like my Yellowstone trip, I am really behind on posting about this one but want to make sure I get it in by end of 2014 :). This trip was mainly planned by a friend to see the fall colours and one of the best places to check out the fall colours in Colorado is none other than Aspen! To make it more than a day trip, we decided to cover nearby sight-seeing areas as well, such as Mesa Verde national park and Durango-Silverton Railroad, and made it into 3-days trip. Originally, only 6 of us were confirmed to go on this trip, so we booked the minivan and found lodging at Durango Mountain Resort (2 bedroom, 1 sofa bed condo, fully furnished with kitchen) which we got it in good deal ($220/2 nights). We booked through Durango Mountain Resort but we stayed in Cascade Mountain Resort since they have properties there as well. Just the night before our trip, one more couple was added to join us on this trip, so we changed the booking from 2-beds to 3-beds and still had a good deal ($330/2 nights) since it was available. The more the merrier :). I took this trip on the last weekend of September which is said to be the best time to see the fall colours (thanks to online reviews) and I agree!!<br />
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We started our journey early morning around 5:30 am on September 26 and made Aspen, Maroon Bells in particular, our first destination to reach but not before we made several pit stops on the way. Now, I am not really familiar with which route we took but it was very convenient to see different places before we reached Aspen. Our first stop was Twin Lakes, that was very confusing to find in first place, which we only saw part of since we didn't know that there was a 2nd location from where you could see the lake as well. This was definitely a good start of the trip since we saw some beautiful colours in the area.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8dxCw21I0YbrFqh8VeXEB4cKvzBkPi-Pbj9dfp2kC1uP05VHcO30aObhNtI-2mi4BJnegCroaH8LpXkZVo_eASVtZ-YxrCABUfFixDNc_Nqa9APhWq5CZuFFaQhoT0ABQpFKCH2lc6xvC/s1600/P1050307.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8dxCw21I0YbrFqh8VeXEB4cKvzBkPi-Pbj9dfp2kC1uP05VHcO30aObhNtI-2mi4BJnegCroaH8LpXkZVo_eASVtZ-YxrCABUfFixDNc_Nqa9APhWq5CZuFFaQhoT0ABQpFKCH2lc6xvC/s1600/P1050307.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Twin Lakes</td></tr>
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<pic lakes="" of="" twin=""></pic><pic lakes="" of="" twin=""></pic>Moving on, our next stop was Independence Pass. On the way to Independence Pass, we came across a point which was at a quite a good elevation and had a beautiful view of the mountains. I don't know what highway it was but you would definitely pass through here if you are leaving from twin lakes and going to Independence pass. It was gorgeous view at the top while you could see the one road formed between the mountain range at the base. We did a good dose of photo session here and then moved on. Actually, I should warn you all ahead of time that you will read phrases like "photo session" or "selfie" (or both) more likely in every paragraph for every stop that we made :). Anywayzzz, moving on, we made it to Independence Pass which is one of the high mountain pass
in Colorado at the elevation of about 12000+ ft. By this time, it was
definitely feeling little bit chilly, mainly due to being at the high
elevation, and the wind was making it more colder than it was. We
stretched our legs and took a very short walk around the Independence
Pass trail which had some more beautiful scenery of mountain ranges. We
did some more photo session and took a selfie as well. We also came
across bunch of bike (cycle) riders whom we saw riding from our 2nd stop
all the way to Independence Pass. Hats off to them for taking that
route with such a difficult slopes!! They seemed to be having a great
time at the Pass, dancing and singing, waiting for their fellow riders.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9-YuK7XNlRz5HeRi1EuL-gXfmsUqnhqeOcBZ1fBh1N2wmcdxEn0TBCPNsH-nIW1OrBh4UOQvVWu5xm8FZz7sqiDr0UxDaU4GYZ6pE8ROTEI83FfZmnxAwSoXm2YhAGMs2q5ySDAyGw9ba/s1600/P1050335.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9-YuK7XNlRz5HeRi1EuL-gXfmsUqnhqeOcBZ1fBh1N2wmcdxEn0TBCPNsH-nIW1OrBh4UOQvVWu5xm8FZz7sqiDr0UxDaU4GYZ6pE8ROTEI83FfZmnxAwSoXm2YhAGMs2q5ySDAyGw9ba/s1600/P1050335.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Independence Pass</td></tr>
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Our next stop on the way was none other than in the middle of the road (on the side but still it's on the road). That's right! In the middle of the road where the trees on both sides were booming with beautiful fall colours, different shades of yellow and green colours to be precise, and making the road look like a passage for travellers! It was simply beautiful.We were having great time and taking every second to enjoy the places and witness the natural beauty!!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWFNO_1XBZnmdlGZrpp20sJoyt_d9_WEESIyJCS6d_4FFHmwqNSjPYyfKj6Oy_79nnPb_g4DSXZwtLwer6k3iKQ7aB52S6gfz58MKjGvxWuh1zMuDgocetud-UCnVJS5rSwlv65fofljry/s1600/P1050360.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWFNO_1XBZnmdlGZrpp20sJoyt_d9_WEESIyJCS6d_4FFHmwqNSjPYyfKj6Oy_79nnPb_g4DSXZwtLwer6k3iKQ7aB52S6gfz58MKjGvxWuh1zMuDgocetud-UCnVJS5rSwlv65fofljry/s1600/P1050360.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Somewhere in the middle of the road :)</td></tr>
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Finally, we continued our journey to the destination of Maroon Bells, Aspen. Lucky for us, since we had a year old baby on board with us, we were able to drive straight up to the Maroon Bells parking lot :D. If it wasn't the case then we would have had to park in the general parking lot, just like everyone else, and take the bus up to the Maroon Bells parking lot. I am soooooo glad that we were able to take our car to the main parking lot because otherwise we would have not been able to stop on the way to see the Gold that Colorado has secured all these years in the form of the fall colours :). See it to believe it!!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgirO-uM1Y7cv04ytMdYYGc-nWhMr3_FtSl2VghkUnHbwJtfM4ASRIxjyHZDfJ5ok8kKIavOEop5enJYb3oQ6mEkb8SGkdAaFZcywVYdwcLHHvxbD7xpNmjznCDG3fcvSkQsOx30m2TIHEV/s1600/P1050385.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgirO-uM1Y7cv04ytMdYYGc-nWhMr3_FtSl2VghkUnHbwJtfM4ASRIxjyHZDfJ5ok8kKIavOEop5enJYb3oQ6mEkb8SGkdAaFZcywVYdwcLHHvxbD7xpNmjznCDG3fcvSkQsOx30m2TIHEV/s1600/P1050385.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Maroon Bells, Aspen</td></tr>
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It was probably around 1 or 1:30 pm by the time we reached there and surprisingly, there wasn't any crowd at all. It was perfect - we found the parking spot and a great picnic area table where we had a nice lunch together. After a nice meal, we took on the trail to the famous spot of Maroon Bells. The view was magnificent, magical, and too good to be true! It was at that moment that we sat down for a "bit" to just relax and enjoy the moment. That "bit" lasted for whole 2 minutes and we got right to our photo session and selifies :) :). Here are some great pictures for you to enjoy for a "bit".<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKKDXm7sqxZBWTAQF4OTS4z0X8Hll9O89MIQZiZdkZI6R0qgfKd0jUpnC3U26y-tkyjSm1i-OI-h9G4pIcYadmrAtBgYurFFlAO6f51RrINoWbOxI4DfZUE0MJ7RE58SP_ishREN7uHb89/s1600/P1050455.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKKDXm7sqxZBWTAQF4OTS4z0X8Hll9O89MIQZiZdkZI6R0qgfKd0jUpnC3U26y-tkyjSm1i-OI-h9G4pIcYadmrAtBgYurFFlAO6f51RrINoWbOxI4DfZUE0MJ7RE58SP_ishREN7uHb89/s1600/P1050455.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Maroon Bells, Aspen</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdZhPGVKbX7_xAY5a3JIvIOQV9M7xQi40S4xmdsx2NribgXnnfJCeT_XShls9dLUYuAaPvDspjjX2RCJ1r3P4YrUeJ5dhbCKjRXUtxoZgCKTMSekfj8KPn1fC4w8jJAGDLh0KXblqoFCka/s1600/P1050460.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdZhPGVKbX7_xAY5a3JIvIOQV9M7xQi40S4xmdsx2NribgXnnfJCeT_XShls9dLUYuAaPvDspjjX2RCJ1r3P4YrUeJ5dhbCKjRXUtxoZgCKTMSekfj8KPn1fC4w8jJAGDLh0KXblqoFCka/s1600/P1050460.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Maroon Bells, Aspen</td></tr>
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After a good dose of taking pictures and praising the natural beauty around us, we took a very short hike (and some more stops to taking pictures - if you didn't guess that already), we headed back to our car and took off for our Condo in Durango. We were supposed to meet our friends (who joined on the trip later on) at this spot but unfortunately missed meeting them by just a small margin (due to lack of phone signal at the top). It was about 5 hours drive from Maroon Bells to Cascade Mountain Resort, so we reached to the condo around 9 pm. It was dark and there was barely anything around to get something to eat and whatever was around was already closed, so we were in a dilemma. Thankfully there was a local pizza place open (forgot the name :-/) which was going to close at 9:30 pm, so we got there in time to place our order. The order was going to take some time so we decided to check out our condo and unload the things from our car to start settling down.<br />
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We got to the condo and were just in AWE of it! It was a beautiful 2-story condo where 1st floor has open living room, kitchen, dining area, 1 bedroom and full bathroom and 2nd floor has a HUGE master bedroom, equally HUGE master bathroom, 2nd bedroom, 2nd full-bathroom and an open loft which had a sofa-bed!! Amaaazing....is all I could say seeing the place! The girls chilled out while the boys went to get the Pizza. We had a nice meal together and then just relaxed while our friends reached the condo. Thanks to them, for solving our 2nd dilemma of getting groceries, who stopped by at a supermarket on their way to get all the necessary things for 2 days we were going to be at the condo. So, tip to all those who want to stay in this area, make sure you get whatever you need to get before you enter this town since there is nothing close-by!! Our friends came around mid-night, we hung out with them for a while and then all of us called it a night around 1/1:30 am. This was a great day with all the stops we made since we were not rushing for anything and took our time to enjoy every chance we had :).<br />
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I think I have already made this post long enough for you to fall asleep...so, I will stop here and let you continue, if you're interested enough to come back and read some more, in next post. Until then, have a great day :) :)Sunshinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04067892526526643193noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908436869439731440.post-66800140825619853752014-12-15T10:01:00.000-07:002014-12-26T11:08:19.438-07:00Grand Teton & Yellowstone National Park - July 4th weekend - Part 4Yellowstone National Park - Day 2<br />
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Continuing from <a href="http://mydesiblog.blogspot.com/2014/12/grand-teton-yellowstone-national-park_14.html" target="_blank">previous</a> day of Yellowstone Park... as everyone was really tired, couple of friends decided to skip the park for 2nd day and instead just hang around in the nearby area to see the downtown, check out the skyway (which takes you to the top of the mountain for a beautiful view of the Grand Teton), etc. This required some re-shuffling since now only 2 out of 4 cars were going back to the Yellowstone Park. So, from the entire group, 5 of the friends decided to stay back and the rest (10 people) decided to adjust in 2 cars and continue the day 2 activities.<br />
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First (and for most) stop was the famous Yellowstone National Park sign! We stopped there, took pictures and then continued our ride. Beware of the mosquitoes at this spot as I got bunch of mosquito bites from here...so make sure you have mosquito repellent before you decide to stop here. The view is gorgeous at this spot.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijG3pSB2mW3H5xQHJFh7erPR_uc8ELz0qwfR5HERiooNhrORuAQXGU_eKvU1Gvmq7DgPT_VUHzHIIHCGTyVhCc4eq8F907i_k_KFo2gWnws7yjQVNz1jHCGWmu2j2KVIE9iNzIr5sVHIo1/s1600/yellowstone_10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijG3pSB2mW3H5xQHJFh7erPR_uc8ELz0qwfR5HERiooNhrORuAQXGU_eKvU1Gvmq7DgPT_VUHzHIIHCGTyVhCc4eq8F907i_k_KFo2gWnws7yjQVNz1jHCGWmu2j2KVIE9iNzIr5sVHIo1/s1600/yellowstone_10.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At the sign of Yellowstone National Park</td></tr>
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For day 2, our first stop was <b>West Thumb Lake</b> which was not very far from the entrance compared to the previous day drive to the Old Faithful. This place also had some different looking geysers along with a magnificent view of the lake surrounding the park.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXYSxixWdLu0FcfKY08L5kLZfY5J6DbpaaGDNG6WTvzwOdI_Gl3r51XLsK6lu_oFWfsoGjSC8Fuuobmus8PtV43kr-nO19EVnw_SqUiH6IC3ZWI0PXCVb4e3NdJ5L-YchEuEdgjVSY7D2D/s1600/yellowstone_12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXYSxixWdLu0FcfKY08L5kLZfY5J6DbpaaGDNG6WTvzwOdI_Gl3r51XLsK6lu_oFWfsoGjSC8Fuuobmus8PtV43kr-nO19EVnw_SqUiH6IC3ZWI0PXCVb4e3NdJ5L-YchEuEdgjVSY7D2D/s1600/yellowstone_12.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">West Thumb Lake @ Yellowstone National Park</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFQIN54tOdxH4sFb79jSkmtPMXYN8E5z2k7B9CemD1eOmnKOVFZL3XUVI5CTHbuknTpnHIrs30nNulnvM04RMlvK0gbZ5BFro6-nfZ_YS87C7xqeiKP-6PQ8uQFp1aBCPL7ag1FX11MQY2/s1600/yellowstone_11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFQIN54tOdxH4sFb79jSkmtPMXYN8E5z2k7B9CemD1eOmnKOVFZL3XUVI5CTHbuknTpnHIrs30nNulnvM04RMlvK0gbZ5BFro6-nfZ_YS87C7xqeiKP-6PQ8uQFp1aBCPL7ag1FX11MQY2/s1600/yellowstone_11.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">West Thumb Lake @ Yellowstone National Park</td></tr>
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Next, we headed to <b>Mud Volcano</b> which was basically a mud geyser (very surprising to see!). What was surprising me the most was that we found Bison sitting right next to the mud volcanoes which seemed very scary (for the bison, of course). I guess they weren't scared of it at all.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6-HX2L1AXp-jCQK026PvOGnoiGA6dwlYk-hcDA7x2_V95ow7yXEwyPax-LKDW1oxdeQDcskWsJMiLiEWCNmHaFnLD0N3G7WEGkQk5Of6XYNCtvS0hdcuf5YaS74__ps735c0bSkU2UEol/s1600/yellowstone_13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6-HX2L1AXp-jCQK026PvOGnoiGA6dwlYk-hcDA7x2_V95ow7yXEwyPax-LKDW1oxdeQDcskWsJMiLiEWCNmHaFnLD0N3G7WEGkQk5Of6XYNCtvS0hdcuf5YaS74__ps735c0bSkU2UEol/s1600/yellowstone_13.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mud Volcano @ Yellowstone National Park</td></tr>
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Next, we headed to see the <b>Grand Canyon of Yellowstone</b>. On the way, we were lucky to spot a herd of Bison with bunch of baby bison as well!! Once we got to the upper falls (another name for grand canyon), it was a sight to see. There are bunch of spots from where you can take pictures of the falls from different angles. I guess we must have taken picture from every possible angle.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE5oYKuIW0GzVbDtu47PxQnlpSO4nJstoHksiyDlPVNmwrExnES4PLqCnCqReBztpOdhcT1ytniDzHOOz2w5jn_CrHZlji2QTzIR75BnKUbSaOFvW_tdipvlu4hKRgA0Tm1F2KlgFJvd4-/s1600/yellowstone_15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE5oYKuIW0GzVbDtu47PxQnlpSO4nJstoHksiyDlPVNmwrExnES4PLqCnCqReBztpOdhcT1ytniDzHOOz2w5jn_CrHZlji2QTzIR75BnKUbSaOFvW_tdipvlu4hKRgA0Tm1F2KlgFJvd4-/s1600/yellowstone_15.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Grand Canyon of Yellowstone</td></tr>
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After a heavy load of photo session, we had our lunch and decided to head to the last spot for the day. This was a long drive from where we were to where we had to be, however, it was a beautiful drive!! On the way, we encountered, for the very first time, a jam-packed traffic with people all over the side of the road! Before I could even guess, my friend excitedly said "There has to be a Bear! It's a bear!"...and indeed he was right. The entire traffic was jammed because there was a bear spotted in the woods at the far distance. We also tried to see the bear and it was very hard but we surely spotted it! I think that is what was missing from our trip and we were able to fulfil it with this last experience of spotting a bear :D.<br />
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This brings us to our last stop not just for the day but for our Yellowstone Park trip. We came to <b>Mammoth Hot Springs</b> which had its own unique formation of geyser and stones. At this point in time, it was screaming hot and my skin just felt like burning. We split in 2 groups where 5 of us took the hike to the top of the springs, only to find that there wasn't anything there! It was kind of disappointing but still there was a nice view from the top. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM_jcBD8DSdD5xsRXAwWS4L5F_I_-sMLGUubGJfqomTqjFIZiQQ8ofW8pIV22dsfTKHNtlrxriUqTom55OWszuwy6RUhWcb8Qy81CURqHKRBx5rh-QqMANlz0QxnErmouBlrii3gB2DySc/s1600/yellowstone_16.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM_jcBD8DSdD5xsRXAwWS4L5F_I_-sMLGUubGJfqomTqjFIZiQQ8ofW8pIV22dsfTKHNtlrxriUqTom55OWszuwy6RUhWcb8Qy81CURqHKRBx5rh-QqMANlz0QxnErmouBlrii3gB2DySc/s1600/yellowstone_16.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mammoth Hot Springs @ Yellowstone National Park</td></tr>
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With this last stop, it concludes our Yellowstone National Park trip!! We headed straight for our condo and made it there in time for dinner. We had our dinner and decided to meet at the other friend's condo to hang out together with everyone. We hung out for a bit, talked, and saw part of a movie and then off to bed.<br />
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This was the only night where all of us were able to sit together and relax before everyone starts taking off the next day separately. We only had 2 cars (out of 4) leaving early the following morning, so we bid goodbye to the rest of the friends and headed to our condo. The next day, started our journey back home around 8:30 am and got home before dark.<br />
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This was one of the memorable trips with great group of friends and family for me!! It has given me moments to cherish for lifetime! Hope you enjoyed reading my trip experience and get some useful info out of it when you decide to go for the Grand Teton and/or Yellowstone National Park.<br />
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Have a great day :)Sunshinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04067892526526643193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908436869439731440.post-2574401286431122912014-12-14T22:40:00.000-07:002014-12-14T22:40:51.445-07:00Grand Teton & Yellowstone National Park - July 4th weekend - Part 3Yellowstone National Park - Day 1<br />
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First of all, before I tell you about my Yellowstone Park experience, I want to tell you something that I heard the most before I started this trip. I heard from most people, who had been on this trip before, that July 4th weekend will be the busiest time of the year to visit the park and that we'll have to be prepared to be STUCK in traffic for hours since it'll be moving at a snails pace. There was nothing like that!! We left our condos around 8 am and we barely saw any traffic. In fact, our first view of the Yellowstone National Park (on the way) was of Bisons (which I was very excited about :p). The different places in the park itself had some crowd but it wasn't that we were stuck in traffic to get to that location. Parking was definitely hard to find but if you're there early enough then you don't need to worry about it.<br />
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Alright, here is another heads up to you if you're staying in Grand Teton and heading to the Yellowston Park from there. It'll take you around 2 hours to drive to the park and then another 45 minute to hour drive to get to the first spot in the park from the entry point of the park :(. It's sad but it's a fact!! This is something we were not prepared for even though we knew about it. Anyways, the drive to the Park was beautiful as well as we encountered a big group of Deer/Elk on the way.<br />
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Our first stop in the park was the famous, the popular, <b>The Old Faithful</b> Geyser! This Geyser is true to its name (faithful) as it erupts every 90 minutes without any hesitation :). We got to the spot and it was a packed place already but you will always be able to find a spot to stand/sit to wait while the geyser erupts.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoe12MRsfY7mX30FVU9vwFz_ZHfjoL9FM2lVjIYNBSnoF6_HItx8twIhAwpABzsdnD-xF1eijIZaauztcR9MSqOQvJ_6q-ExeWYF01sqF4Zaqeyral0bEnQbpuSEUgqcWCyl3sli4DtALn/s1600/yellowstone_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoe12MRsfY7mX30FVU9vwFz_ZHfjoL9FM2lVjIYNBSnoF6_HItx8twIhAwpABzsdnD-xF1eijIZaauztcR9MSqOQvJ_6q-ExeWYF01sqF4Zaqeyral0bEnQbpuSEUgqcWCyl3sli4DtALn/s1600/yellowstone_1.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Old Faithful @ Yellowstone National Park</td></tr>
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After we saw the Old Faithful, we took the 1 mile hike around that park which had bunch of other small/mild geysers which were just amazing to see!! I was amazed with the number of geysers that surrounded the Old Faithful as well as the crystal blue colors that formed some of the geysers. Here are some of the pictures of most beautiful geysers I saw.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRKRlHkLsSWOtKeR2J4q5VU6yKaLTmY1VR8uMhwRgV2KaHhq4l62EjXMxAxlt5gNYD1dDEfa2ASoK5ld78UG_GCkd24PWt_PU_Q7u7TsZfMOwDG0pC-Se0smYpuMBTH3gxvTddAk19nO9l/s1600/yellowstone_3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRKRlHkLsSWOtKeR2J4q5VU6yKaLTmY1VR8uMhwRgV2KaHhq4l62EjXMxAxlt5gNYD1dDEfa2ASoK5ld78UG_GCkd24PWt_PU_Q7u7TsZfMOwDG0pC-Se0smYpuMBTH3gxvTddAk19nO9l/s1600/yellowstone_3.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRxnpEyIVlAulaeGTe-bY1hVL4nlcW8D5c_lW6NE4kGKhyphenhyphenQMDaFKzSpamxylAC6aFHK2WXfAfhwJMzsq3Hv7G4QKrPVkjfVR8udQ4K8nASDhNJP9XWB_ekaJKD-ZGdJCzHcsi0a2zwvUvD/s1600/yellowstone_4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRxnpEyIVlAulaeGTe-bY1hVL4nlcW8D5c_lW6NE4kGKhyphenhyphenQMDaFKzSpamxylAC6aFHK2WXfAfhwJMzsq3Hv7G4QKrPVkjfVR8udQ4K8nASDhNJP9XWB_ekaJKD-ZGdJCzHcsi0a2zwvUvD/s1600/yellowstone_4.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Crested Pool @ Yellowstone National Park</td></tr>
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After an adventurous hike, we decided to put some fuel in our body to recharge and head to the next location. Even though it was a late lunch, it was still very fulfilling and entertaining as we sat right in front of the Old faithful, just in time for it to erupt again. I think by the time we wrapped up it was late afternoon and we hurried up to the next location which was <b>Biscuit Basin</b>. Just like The Old Faithful, this stop was equally interesting to check out. Look at the Sapphire Pool at the biscuit basin and the geyser next to it which has aqua blue color (amazing!!).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguL3gH9114vD-w2-G3OsnNSFRa11k7_e1wSknpSLOmgeQEmKQgzzSzgTgj11TzagnoC0ukKf0vLKjXzzN6JfU4Se1LP1BHafV-rd3CAesvqCqqvmT7ppjHYZG_CrWLXXmgdkxT9trQFO-2/s1600/yellowstone_5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguL3gH9114vD-w2-G3OsnNSFRa11k7_e1wSknpSLOmgeQEmKQgzzSzgTgj11TzagnoC0ukKf0vLKjXzzN6JfU4Se1LP1BHafV-rd3CAesvqCqqvmT7ppjHYZG_CrWLXXmgdkxT9trQFO-2/s1600/yellowstone_5.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At Biscuit Basin</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAVh37L1ra6V69T0fkNq0dvOF5MeA8kdiLtjFj2CwrDJ0ylWa-zyHF3tBHvN0E1VG0XAq0dvO5CZresfC3R6cACm61qqz1o7bWwD3dQYT6z2AqLRf9VHGyEtZxHxi_vxnQd7GnxGaDCY46/s1600/yellowstone_6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAVh37L1ra6V69T0fkNq0dvOF5MeA8kdiLtjFj2CwrDJ0ylWa-zyHF3tBHvN0E1VG0XAq0dvO5CZresfC3R6cACm61qqz1o7bWwD3dQYT6z2AqLRf9VHGyEtZxHxi_vxnQd7GnxGaDCY46/s1600/yellowstone_6.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sapphire Pool @ Biscuit Basin (In Yellowstone National Park)</td></tr>
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Continuing our drive, next stop was <b>The Grand Prismatic Spring</b> which was one of the best geysers to see. You can see the steam from the Grand Prismatic Spring from far away while you're driving towards it. It was more like a big hot swimming pool (except you just can't treat it as a swimming pool)!! There is a short hike around the spring which we took and surprised with how this amazing natural beauty was formed. See it to believe it...(right now in pictures) for yourself :)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN8O1LTQ-et7eD0_t4ySGY_OJrfzU7Ub-zo7_zXLmSJQO-gwFWu62vFbVhbCSE1M0M8QUDkroNnfvsKJePAZzxWUXPUll9f8g5bVi3jmTBoMFd_crLN_4H5fnYy7WiiiYJTO_unUxfXR0T/s1600/yellowstone_7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN8O1LTQ-et7eD0_t4ySGY_OJrfzU7Ub-zo7_zXLmSJQO-gwFWu62vFbVhbCSE1M0M8QUDkroNnfvsKJePAZzxWUXPUll9f8g5bVi3jmTBoMFd_crLN_4H5fnYy7WiiiYJTO_unUxfXR0T/s1600/yellowstone_7.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Grand Prismatic Spring @ Yellowstone National Park</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQYLsO3aozi0fQN0yAYk18N1QpdGXsP7cObjUNgLzQs_qOOxZfa9sRRACnPX8BVHPhMCWM7URUleBDEmWAglnmU0LqxDjWsjKNq40v0lafk2MVUwNoq1uABx9hiE2hKep2nBqo5CkSvjZU/s1600/yellowstone_8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQYLsO3aozi0fQN0yAYk18N1QpdGXsP7cObjUNgLzQs_qOOxZfa9sRRACnPX8BVHPhMCWM7URUleBDEmWAglnmU0LqxDjWsjKNq40v0lafk2MVUwNoq1uABx9hiE2hKep2nBqo5CkSvjZU/s1600/yellowstone_8.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Grand Prismatic Spring @ Yellowstone National Park</td></tr>
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To squeeze in one last thing, we decided to head to <b>Norris Geyser Basin</b>. We didn't really explore much here but did see some of the geysers from the top instead of taking the hike down to the bottom of the basin. This one is said to have the poisonous geysers of all (or at least that's what I heard from one of the friends). It had bunch of small geysers on the trail if we had done the hike, but we just saw it from the top. Here is a sneak peak for you if you decide to go there.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6reYHog7FR-i9KeDG1WCvCm_Jx4YJz9zmzBXao_HQrflkpNvgCxP_S13GAm6CZ6FNBYrgaiCV2fjmnQ64wcdJVuPTiI606VW4H8JaB6QG-YLLTKgSANNJt66WqCThyphenhyphenH8A5S20IrYsK94C/s1600/yellowstone_9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6reYHog7FR-i9KeDG1WCvCm_Jx4YJz9zmzBXao_HQrflkpNvgCxP_S13GAm6CZ6FNBYrgaiCV2fjmnQ64wcdJVuPTiI606VW4H8JaB6QG-YLLTKgSANNJt66WqCThyphenhyphenH8A5S20IrYsK94C/s1600/yellowstone_9.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Norris Geyser Basin @ Yellowstone National Park</td></tr>
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Wrapping up the day, it was already close to 7 pm by the time we left Norris Geyser Basin, which meant a drive of 3 hours back to our condo. It was amazing day to see what we covered so far in the park but it was also exhausting with lots and lots of walking!! I dozed off for some time in the car and woke up just little before we got to our condo. Saving every little energy that we had, we embarked on the staircase to 3rd floor to get to our condo. It wasn't easy, but we made it...! We quickly made some meggie noodles with some of the other food items we had left to fuel ourselves. Wrapped up kitchen as fast as we could and passed out without even thinking what to do for the 2nd day since everyone was so tired from the day itself.<br />
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Well, let's keep it for the next post to tell you all about the 2nd day! Until then, enjoy your day :) See ya!Sunshinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04067892526526643193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908436869439731440.post-20212424773182016202014-12-14T21:44:00.000-07:002014-12-15T09:40:48.018-07:00Grand Teton & Yellowstone National Park - July 4th weekend - Part 2Continuing from the last post of the Grand Teton/Yellowstone National Park trip....<br />
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We started our day early to head to Grand Teton National Park....obviously making several stops in the park to click lots of individual pictures, group pictures, and of course, pictures with the natural beauty of Grand Teton :-).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh98VxQZoXdMMExPrO3VkpD8SEZYc0SIHPTT5Glk6T79HeCIergphDAVmgbbOrbVGOzi-IuGqSsRH9e7ADWdSoSqZorV_5qIgYEIPCo-VEeKvH9qzvyySzGUJOW02Ivqzyh-GZZEj75sN1e/s1600/grand_teton_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh98VxQZoXdMMExPrO3VkpD8SEZYc0SIHPTT5Glk6T79HeCIergphDAVmgbbOrbVGOzi-IuGqSsRH9e7ADWdSoSqZorV_5qIgYEIPCo-VEeKvH9qzvyySzGUJOW02Ivqzyh-GZZEj75sN1e/s1600/grand_teton_1.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Grand Teton National Park (beautiful view on the way to Visitor Centre)</td></tr>
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We made first stop to the visitor centre to figure out where we were heading next. The guide gave us couple of options and based on the time we had, we decided to take the boat ride on Jenny lake to the hidden falls and then some of us decided to hike back down (instead of the boat ride back). The drive from the visitor centre to the boat ride was short but the hike to the hidden falls was something unexpected :-/. It was just half a mile hike but the roughness, slopes, and steep steps made it really hard. I also had my mom with me who is not a hiker at all but I can't believe that she did the entire hike with me without any issues. You start seeing the glimpse of Hidden Falls as you're hiking up your way and it's nice sight when you actually reach the final spot.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7Y_WUjk6REMBL1l1x_O0vA0uqhlktq7vj_rD3-kjmZ0mUIkRtiMpayc70NryomDmTcRO6BFY_GpLvKp_wrxhgM2LM0zG8QkYrfl8pwSIAg5oKyCE1f7ftdkAlaJ0tGTUArksOmyw3MvWM/s1600/grand_teton_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7Y_WUjk6REMBL1l1x_O0vA0uqhlktq7vj_rD3-kjmZ0mUIkRtiMpayc70NryomDmTcRO6BFY_GpLvKp_wrxhgM2LM0zG8QkYrfl8pwSIAg5oKyCE1f7ftdkAlaJ0tGTUArksOmyw3MvWM/s1600/grand_teton_2.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hidden Falls @ Grand Teton National Park</td></tr>
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If you hike just little bit more (maybe 10-15 mins more), you get to the top where you have a nice view of the park and the lake itself. Since it was still bit rough hike, my mom and I headed back down while the rest of our group headed to the top. I saw some pictures that my friend had taken and I think it was a nice view. My original plan was to hike back to the starting point instead of taking boat ride but due to extreme heat and getting tired from the previous hike, I decided to just take the boat ride back down. We got to the parking lot and had nice lunch while waiting for few of our friends who were hiking down from the hidden falls. Once everyone was back at the station and had their lunch, we continued our journey in the Grand Teton National Park. There was one place which I don't remember the name of, but it was just a stop in the park which had one of the BEST views of the Grand Teton mountain ranges. We parked our cars on the side and sat down on the sideway to enjoy the view and relax a bit. Check out the view!!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfC63uDx4dS2oomA1kzYkJPZQzm9qZH4c27HinZGpnd64NvJaSAgN9DgvDD2KU4EF_JMHfNo-SjfkWqdseuKCJQX7BtQi71nOOweEZmA3EB7en7tcA6wixnUfVkDGHS6_QScJeEs_B9F5E/s1600/grand_teton_3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfC63uDx4dS2oomA1kzYkJPZQzm9qZH4c27HinZGpnd64NvJaSAgN9DgvDD2KU4EF_JMHfNo-SjfkWqdseuKCJQX7BtQi71nOOweEZmA3EB7en7tcA6wixnUfVkDGHS6_QScJeEs_B9F5E/s1600/grand_teton_3.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Grand Teton National Park (Gorgeous View from within the park!!)</td></tr>
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We had also stopped by at one of the Dam locations for a while before heading back to our condos. It was close to 8 or 9 o'clock when we got back to our condo, tired and exhausted from the entire day but also hungry, so we cooked something quickly, had a nice meal. Lucky for us, we were able to witness the July 4th fireworks from our condo which was nicely done. Then, decided to call it a day to be prepared for the next day in Yellowstone National Park!!<br />
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That's all from me about Grand Teton National Park. Stay tuned to hear about our Yellowstone Park adventures!!<br />
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Have a great day :) Sunshinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04067892526526643193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908436869439731440.post-59921382632280139102014-10-28T23:56:00.000-06:002014-12-15T09:38:45.850-07:00Grand Teton & Yellowstone National Park - July 4th weekend - Part 1I don't remember since when, but I had always wanted to go to Yellowstone National Park. I had heard so many things about it that I put it on my places to visit list. Unfortunately, every time my family and I thought about it, it was too late to plan a trip there since the lodging would get completely booked on the Park and it would be hard to decide where to stay nearby. Luckily, some of my friends decided the trip almost 3 to 4 months in advance, but I was not sure at that time. Long story short, I decided to go and the trip's final count was a group of 15 people :). We booked the condo in Jackson Hole Resort Lodging (same place as other friends booked it) and surprisingly we got it at a better rate even on last minute.<br />
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To tell you little bit about the condo that we booked, it was booked in Jackson Hole Resort Lodging and we got it in Teton Village, 3rd floor, which had perfect view to the base of the lodging. We just had to step out of the condo, into the balcony, to see the July 4th fireworks which was very convenient! The condo was fully furnished, and perfect for our stay. It was 1bd/1ba condo with fully equipped kitchen, a dining hall, spacious living area which included a sleeper sofa, and a beautiful view! We had booked the condo for 4 nights for $738 which is not bad at all since it came out to be $148/person (between 5 people) for 4 nights.<br />
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Our trip started on July 3rd morning which consisted drive of little over 9 hours. As I said earlier, we were group of 15 people going on this trip and we divided in 2 groups where 2 of the cars were going to leave on July 3rd morning and the other 2 cars were going to leave late in the afternoon. We left in the morning around 9 am and reached our condo around 7 pm. There was some nice scenery on the way to the lodging which you can see here.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh7u0pgzMGsMGwtT38xzq_nsKcJ5C2YPEDGO_ri0_NVXTR09_LCOPizV9Sbioy3nuDjyKl30VzN80b0LTu5ZMTdS2mUmCA6CBQ4DCCOdsAnFrI1QxworYw5OvhFwh0g8bnYwd3T79o4STr/s1600/drive_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh7u0pgzMGsMGwtT38xzq_nsKcJ5C2YPEDGO_ri0_NVXTR09_LCOPizV9Sbioy3nuDjyKl30VzN80b0LTu5ZMTdS2mUmCA6CBQ4DCCOdsAnFrI1QxworYw5OvhFwh0g8bnYwd3T79o4STr/s1600/drive_1.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Drive in Wyoming (on the way to Jackson Hole Resort Lodging)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpFDsbcmwK4bgJetFyuBSP-1lUxWCnAqtcJ8sN1FeSXogsZJ5v6LtQGL9ErlaGvgV09HPO94JGayuUfBba7dv1aG5yPg0RMw9Ru7PbHkyPCTRELE5wQEFl8rqUreq91084FsRRe1iO2CXP/s1600/drive_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpFDsbcmwK4bgJetFyuBSP-1lUxWCnAqtcJ8sN1FeSXogsZJ5v6LtQGL9ErlaGvgV09HPO94JGayuUfBba7dv1aG5yPg0RMw9Ru7PbHkyPCTRELE5wQEFl8rqUreq91084FsRRe1iO2CXP/s1600/drive_2.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Drive in Wyoming</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyiz3P-tgUMBN3SKtAEaphR4kx5k7lgwZ5E22Cel5wAn6hEXfhFdQMapLH2ZBnFlSTxNCqMnLYKF_bgJTPPOr82z23Sfp0BMzOKJAVRcD514zPa0-xxfG7hAw-DtmPSAmMbfXCMVM0OI09/s1600/condo_view.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyiz3P-tgUMBN3SKtAEaphR4kx5k7lgwZ5E22Cel5wAn6hEXfhFdQMapLH2ZBnFlSTxNCqMnLYKF_bgJTPPOr82z23Sfp0BMzOKJAVRcD514zPa0-xxfG7hAw-DtmPSAmMbfXCMVM0OI09/s1600/condo_view.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View from our Condo (Teton Village @ Jackson Hole Resort Lodging)</td></tr>
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If you need to do grocery shopping before heading to Jackson Hole, make sure you stop by the Albertson's in the town before you head to the lodging. <br />
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Great thing about our condo was that the Jackson Hole does fireworks on both July 3rd and July 4th nights at the base (very close to the lodging) and since our condo was on 3rd floor facing the base, we had a great view of fireworks right from our condo. We were able to enjoy the fireworks right from our condo balcony with clear view! After fireworks, little relaxing in the condo, had nice dinner, and then slept early to be going the next morning to the first stop of Grand Teton National Park.<br />
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Next, our packed day at the Grand Teton National Park! <br />
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<br />Sunshinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04067892526526643193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908436869439731440.post-36605273028205031002014-10-20T13:11:00.001-06:002014-10-20T13:11:14.568-06:00Blogging - sounds familiar...Well, blogging does sound familiar but it feels like lost somewhere...or maybe I have been lost from it? I can't remember last time I wrote something that I wanted to share with you all....or there was something that I really wanted to share but just never got around writing about it. That's it! That was the problem, I just never got a chance to write anything. Anyways, enough of puzzling, but I am so happy to be back on my blog to write a sentence or two even though they are silly or about nothing at all!<br />
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From past 3-4 months, I have been so busy that I can barely remember doing anything other than work!! Work, work, work!! That's all that has been on my mind. But, I am trying to get it back to normal. And that too when 2014 is coming to an end....:-o. I can't believe that this year has flown by me without even me realizing it. In fact, I can't remember doing much this year (well, I can't forget IIFA, of course)! It's like I have had to squeeze some things here and there for this year before it ends, so I can say that yea I did this and that in 2014, but I feel it was all so rushed!! I even forgot that I have a blog that I maintain where I share things about my cooking experiences, my travel experiences, or anything that I feel like writing about, but that seemed to have lost for a while too. Thank God that I have not forgotten about it and didn't get lazy to come back to it. How could I? I enjoy this space of mine where I can share my travel stories, cooking adventures (haven't done any in a while), silly things, and anything at all (well, not anything, because I don't share everything with you :P ). See, how silly I am being right now writing this! But, I am just happy to be back to writing something.<br />
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Well, enough of me bragging how I was and where I was and etc. etc. and back to sharing some interesting things with you all (or at least with those who read my blog)!! I have been to 2 trips since I was last on my blog. The first trip was to Grand Teton national park and Yellowstone national park with group of 14 people (awesome time) and second trip was to Aspen, Mesa Verde national park, and Durango-Silverton railroad with group of 10 people (the group was divided in installments for days..haha..more on that later). So, I have a lot to write up for these 2 trips but I promise that you will get to hear about it in the year of 2014 and sooner than later with some great pictures of both the trips!<br />
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So, with that, I take your leave and promise to come back with some interesting travel stories :)<br />
Have a wonderful day!!Sunshinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04067892526526643193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908436869439731440.post-10942692316064213372014-07-11T07:37:00.001-06:002014-07-11T07:37:57.853-06:00IIFA Awards 2014 - Day 5 - Tampa, FLDear Readers,<br />
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I hope you enjoyed the previous posts of IIFA Awards from Day 1 to Day 4!! I tried to give you my entire experience with few pictures here and there. I hope it didn't bore you and you enjoyed reading it!! Well, the IIFA festivities were over but the fun was far from being over :). As I said in my previous post that my friend and I slept around 7/7:30 am in the morning, as much as we would have loved to sleep in, we had to wake up by 11 am to check out of our room :(. We just can't catch a break!!! Thankfully, my friend, V had her room for another day, so we grabbed everything from our room, dumped it in the bag and rushed to her room to drop it all off. Checking the room one last time, returned the keys at the front desk and went back to V's room to relax for a bit. Sunday wasn't really planned at all since it was going to be a relaxing day (nothing related to IIFA) and hanging out with friends. V and I decided to call our friend K and planned to have lunch together. On the other hand, Ka had her flight booked for the evening, so she had to make sure she packed everything before we left the room. All 4 of us left to go to Hilton to pick up my friend K. Little did we know, we ran into couple more celebrities at the hotel :). We saw Ankit Tiwari again (singer), and also clicked few pics with Sonu Sood and music composer Ehsaan (from Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy trio). It was fun! We also caught Priyanka leaving the hotel. I asked for a picture but it seemed she was in a rush to get to the airport, so she just shook hands with me. Finally, after a round of celebrities leaving the hotel, we decided to give ourselves a break and get something to eat.<br />
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We went to an Indian store but it was closed so ended up going to the Taco Bus which is a great alternative anytime of the day!! It has vegetarian and vegan Mexican food options. Food is definitely great! If you're ever in the area near Taco Bus, give it a try. I am sure you will not be disappointed! We sat down, chatted, had our food, and then decided to go to the famous Clearwater beach in Tampa. In between, Ka decided to postpone her flight to the next day since we all were having good time so she decided to stay back with us and hang out.<br />
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We got to the Clearwater beach and it was beautiful!! I would recommend that whoever is in Tampa, do stop by this beach as you will enjoy thoroughly. It's a beautiful beach with white sand and has great sunset as well! We hung out at the beach until sunset and then headed back to my hotel to pick up my rental car and return it at the airport. Even though I was staying until Monday morning, my friend was going to drop me off at the airport, so I had kept the rental only until Sunday night to avoid last minute rush to the airport.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh21xg9CfgIiCr64PJLna-45QJRaY0fxJJO7qXjeAt-ucavTcLjg2tshCpG95n9KWyXFzFEr_PVEgpxPPMFI3y5Wn-WbWS3rf66NK5nHPTpl6fRWc_5tPTA4bcBfo7GNtweLCoYLrXZrFWb/s1600/iifa_beach.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh21xg9CfgIiCr64PJLna-45QJRaY0fxJJO7qXjeAt-ucavTcLjg2tshCpG95n9KWyXFzFEr_PVEgpxPPMFI3y5Wn-WbWS3rf66NK5nHPTpl6fRWc_5tPTA4bcBfo7GNtweLCoYLrXZrFWb/s1600/iifa_beach.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Clearwater beach, Tampa, FL</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNL41818pwcYShFGl8LdM5dvZyoEhZSYgSkf0huzGd3TSEcjmPz8CZgPEc3tVsNsyKMHVDjzXuoL3jZ_6nTdF4IsI45thxg9_PeyToyVerL_38v6nAT8x9uBLOe6qeK_FzRyBxsuHA1K6z/s1600/iifa_beach_sunset.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNL41818pwcYShFGl8LdM5dvZyoEhZSYgSkf0huzGd3TSEcjmPz8CZgPEc3tVsNsyKMHVDjzXuoL3jZ_6nTdF4IsI45thxg9_PeyToyVerL_38v6nAT8x9uBLOe6qeK_FzRyBxsuHA1K6z/s1600/iifa_beach_sunset.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
We decided on an Italian restaurant for dinner and headed there which was kind of in the downtown area. I forgot the name of the place but the food was good. The weather was great so we sat outside in their porch area and had great coversation with the dinner. Time really flies when you're having good time and it was already closed to midnight when we got out of there. Ka, who had postponed her flight, booked a room in the same Hilton on the same 17th floor where the celebrities were staying. She was able to get a room there for a good rate since almost everyone was gone by Sunday night. It was our luck that she got her room right across from Ranveer Singh's room and then it was a hide & seek game for us to make sure that we pay close attention to when he comes and goes :P. We were literally peeking through her room's peephole to keep a close eye on his room to see him and keeping a close attention to any noise made which indicated that he was coming or going....haha...it was crazy fun!! Unfortunately we didn't get to see him from front, but I did see him from the back when he went in the room and when I went close to his room, his door was not closed all the way. I was soooo tempted to go and knock on his door but couldn't do it :(. For the rest of the night, in the hope of seeing him, we waited but that didn't happen. Finally, we gave up at 2:30 am!! I said bye to my friends, V, S, and Ka and headed to K's home and it was already 3 am. I had an early morning flight where I had to wake up in 2 hours, so just got a short nap and K came to drop me off at the airport.<br />
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That was the end of my IIFA weekend!! Exciting, Amazing, Unpredictable, Unbelievable, and FUN FUN FUN!! It was an experience of lifetime which I will never forget and it'll always be memorable!! I can't thank enough to my friend K for convincing me to come to IIFA and helping out with everything....now I am back to normal routine, but the IIFA fever had not gone down until after a month of IIFA event. I guess it has that effect on everyone who was part of it.<br />
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I hope you enjoyed this journey of IIFA with me as I was writing it after a month. I got a chance to re-live the moments as I was penning it down on these posts :)<br />
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Hope you all have a great day!! Enjoy :)Sunshinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04067892526526643193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908436869439731440.post-31008146815238810942014-07-09T19:45:00.001-06:002014-07-09T19:45:19.576-06:00IIFA Awards 2014 - Day 4 - April 26, 2014, Saturday<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSJ62XrlUlfy3dhOa4g1XsEALoYoE2fbIBdilx_kqJydj-2qT-tLJRhSS219r3_a5DPBTvJzEQwDny3vPMPsNYhZ3a3eaPWj2xPAW8QfPIFeWMtjZIUD4qPWn5Bq1X9ltOex8DM6oAlFNI/s1600/iifa_john.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSJ62XrlUlfy3dhOa4g1XsEALoYoE2fbIBdilx_kqJydj-2qT-tLJRhSS219r3_a5DPBTvJzEQwDny3vPMPsNYhZ3a3eaPWj2xPAW8QfPIFeWMtjZIUD4qPWn5Bq1X9ltOex8DM6oAlFNI/s1600/iifa_john.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">John Travolta @ IIFA Awards 2014</td></tr>
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Lots of excitement of IIFA was finally coming to a finale!! It was the last day of IIFA events with the main IIFA Awards show being held in the Raymond James Stadium!! My friend and I got ready to head to the Hilton. By this day, it had become an everyday thing to head to Hilton after getting ready...:). The two main events planned in Hilton was the press conference with John Travolta and IIFA Master Class Panel with Kevin Spacey but the latter one was invite only whereas the John Travolta press conference was open to the media. We went in the room and found a spot to stand (it was already packed with people) and waited for John to arrive. The press conference went well and got a hint that he might be performing in the evening show...well, that's certainly something to look forward to!! Soon after, there was a press conference for Nawazuddin Siddiqui where he was interviewed by few media people.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjogrDVAv4r2cDeuF0xWKPxdYXXKdFiBlKmE3g_9DX44EeBagDGKk_VbsvsmAiBGkFoj_qr8G7KuABKtiCFS7vpmmOfJkoE84QeYoyZBeYvtg8aymqy8sz5lbxI2KS559wr-zlG46VcRgm5/s1600/iifa_crowd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjogrDVAv4r2cDeuF0xWKPxdYXXKdFiBlKmE3g_9DX44EeBagDGKk_VbsvsmAiBGkFoj_qr8G7KuABKtiCFS7vpmmOfJkoE84QeYoyZBeYvtg8aymqy8sz5lbxI2KS559wr-zlG46VcRgm5/s1600/iifa_crowd.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">IIFA Awards 2014 Crowd @ Raymond James Stadium</td></tr>
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The original plan for the day was to get the evening clothes with us to the Hilton so we didn't have to go back to the hotel to change and get ready. Keeping this in mind, my friend and I both packed our clothes to take with us to save time in the evening. It turned out that I brought everything except my ticket for the IIFA Awards. I had to go back to the hotel, get ready at the hotel and then head to the stadium. This took a lot of time which meant finding a parking spot much further than the closer parking lot :(. When I got there, it was completely packed with zillion people!!! There was no room to squeeze in and on top of that it was burning hot....must be 85 to 90 degrees!! I was not on media side since my friend stayed at hilton and left from there whereas I left from our hotel room to the stadium so it was hard to find her but I eventually got in touch with her and she was able to take me to the media side since she had my badge with her. Even after going to the media side, the actors had not started arriving, so I just relaxed a bit (standing, of course) and waited for the show to begin!! Before I got busy, I did snap a pic as a memory to see how crazy crowded it was at the stadium.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBsL1lDpHybZIR7-FUaAoMDbnOTMxUwP1xUycyJE1IhiykFo4vH1gWiZjQIPX_aMAPcHAQMjD363hf7wmIWJgE3vHPDPpGMS18YSKbt4hxXdeVAxNmQglAGEfS8QPSBqUFcrcEuWoDmyZi/s1600/iifa_shahid_farhan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBsL1lDpHybZIR7-FUaAoMDbnOTMxUwP1xUycyJE1IhiykFo4vH1gWiZjQIPX_aMAPcHAQMjD363hf7wmIWJgE3vHPDPpGMS18YSKbt4hxXdeVAxNmQglAGEfS8QPSBqUFcrcEuWoDmyZi/s1600/iifa_shahid_farhan.jpg" height="228" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Farhan Akhtar & Shahid Kapoor @ IIFA Awards 2014</td></tr>
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I am not going to post any green carpet pics of the IIFA Awards as there are waaay too many, but I will post some pics of the actual show. The green carpet for this event went on until 10:30/45 pm. The show was supposed to start at 8 pm but lucky for me that it started 2 hours late, so I only missed like 45 minutes of it which didn't have any Bollywood performances, so I was very happy about it. Another reason to be happy was that my friend had 2 floor tickets and her cameraman finished before time so he was not going to come inside and my friend asked me if I wanted to come with her to the floor seating!! I was like "of course!!"...haha...it was really nice of her to ask me to come with her for that ticket since I know I wouldn't have had the same view with the upper seating ticket that I had originally bought :). We went inside the stadium (it must have been like 15 minute walk) and I would say the main show started after we got in!!<br />
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The show was fantastic!! It did go on for looooong time though, to be precise, it was 5 hours long. They did a lot of time pass in between but fun overall!! There were performances by Priyanka Chopra, Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone, Siddharth Malhotra, Madhuri Dixit, and Hrithik Roshan.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEC-9fROyhucF4Wk5QjSZugUtJ_4JLFakl311A864PhcYxKzvinbtbCtibPlxCPrZ5tvnNo66pgamhCSarx9zA3YgoWIFHgIam2sOzy4POuEpqdWFrhfMm_2C4-RU5QXz-rFpbDm89RxEs/s1600/iifa_ranveer_dance.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEC-9fROyhucF4Wk5QjSZugUtJ_4JLFakl311A864PhcYxKzvinbtbCtibPlxCPrZ5tvnNo66pgamhCSarx9zA3YgoWIFHgIam2sOzy4POuEpqdWFrhfMm_2C4-RU5QXz-rFpbDm89RxEs/s1600/iifa_ranveer_dance.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Powerhouse Ranveer Singh Performance</td></tr>
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I think all the performances were great, but 2 which struck the most were Ranveer Singh and Hrithik Roshan. Both were powerhouse performances with full on energy and great dance moves. Also, the other highlights were John Travolta dancing with Priyanka Chopra on Tune Mari Entriyaan and Kevin Spacey dancing with Deepika Padukon on Lungi Dance!! It can't get better than that! Among all this, Shahid and Farhan even took a Bollywood selfie with the celebrities, inspired by the Hollywood selfie taken by Ellen in Oscars. What do you guys think?<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimb16T4MIIKPNhpXwLcpzhbM8gvZy0Iwv_kxnRfvnkBl7hYwjW0O75CWSLp2QpGMEWWUp1Y9wQrOuUQITy0IOmJW786KQLvPU1dfb9_0pRN11RRMlMUzAYGeqVs8nyPt7C7vuPA_povCy_/s1600/iifa_selfie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimb16T4MIIKPNhpXwLcpzhbM8gvZy0Iwv_kxnRfvnkBl7hYwjW0O75CWSLp2QpGMEWWUp1Y9wQrOuUQITy0IOmJW786KQLvPU1dfb9_0pRN11RRMlMUzAYGeqVs8nyPt7C7vuPA_povCy_/s1600/iifa_selfie.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bollywood Selfie @ IIFA Awards 2014</td></tr>
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The show finally ended at 3 am in the morning and the next challenge was to get to the car and get out of the parking lot. This event was in the Raymond James Stadium which had the audience of about 25,000 to 30,000. Can you imagine the kind of chaos it had created getting out of the parking lot?? No, you can't!! It took us 40-45 minutes just to get out of the parking lot :( and then another 20-25 minutes to get to the Hilton hotel. The reason we went to Hilton is because that's where the after party was and thought that maybe if we get to see some stars on the last night of IIFA. Just as we pulled in to the parking garage next to Hilton, we could clearly hear Hrithik's voice hosting the party. I was so excited to think that he might be in the after party for a bit, so we quickly parked the car and walked fast to the hotel (even though our feet were hurting like hell from standing on the green carpet for soooo long). It turned out that the celebrities had their own separate party going on where Hrithik was hosting it, but nonetheless we still made it to the after party for the non-celebrity people :). The first thing we did was get something to eat since we were starving and had not eaten since afternoon!! Food was great, finally, there was something to eat!! This entire event took the entire night which we didn't expect. My friend and I headed back to the hotel at 7 am in the morning, completely tired and exhausted. As soon as we got to the room, we both crashed in our beds!! It was one hell of a day and night!!<br />
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The rest of the IIFA weekend, which included an entire Sunday, I will post later with more details of the Hilton visit, visit to the Clearwater beach in Tampa, and saying bye to friends and Tampa, FL.<br />
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Hope you enjoyed the IIFA coverage from my point of view!! Cheers!!Sunshinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04067892526526643193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908436869439731440.post-85702344036819529822014-07-09T17:54:00.004-06:002014-07-09T17:54:59.118-06:00IIFA Awards 2014 - Day 3 - April 25, 2014, Friday - Part 2Continuing from <a href="http://mydesiblog.blogspot.com/2014/07/iifa-awards-2014-day-3-april-25-2014.html" target="_blank">Day 3 - Part 1</a> of IIFA Weekend....<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYY5kE8HI9dyTIGVdMyzNLZkrzadUXQUqJXbrsO_KkvyKFrNbTGS1Omf1ni8FaPaIiXJxZ3p5ic8GqzpQk6Q_wik8mBW7zGLNZFJdRB-xFrBR3RoPlhwWT3wKHVm4-ndBGbJsu7UB-qtmz/s1600/iifa_sridevi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYY5kE8HI9dyTIGVdMyzNLZkrzadUXQUqJXbrsO_KkvyKFrNbTGS1Omf1ni8FaPaIiXJxZ3p5ic8GqzpQk6Q_wik8mBW7zGLNZFJdRB-xFrBR3RoPlhwWT3wKHVm4-ndBGbJsu7UB-qtmz/s1600/iifa_sridevi.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sridevi @ IIFA Awards 2014 - Magic Of the Movies Awards</td></tr>
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We were already late for the green carpet of the
show, but made it around 8/8:30 pm and got on the media side. Gauhar
Khan was getting out of the limo right as we were going to the media side of
green carpet (and she looked beautiful). The first face I saw on Green
carpet was Sridevi with her husband, Boney Kapoor, and both daughters.
I feel her older daughter resembles Sridevi a lot!! She is like the
carbon copy of her. See it for yourself!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigopHm1iB1KRnmSkvrzSaFKkOLZzHFXzWuRc78K0FuRxKH-Wt2hnxQuivM6WxCy2D0hLakexiaqiyr4fmAzwsJsPtbTcSPp6aZLAkail_3wXdU4kFzi_BfLH_LY0nD8cxljB0GHfh_6qaH/s1600/iifa_kareena.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigopHm1iB1KRnmSkvrzSaFKkOLZzHFXzWuRc78K0FuRxKH-Wt2hnxQuivM6WxCy2D0hLakexiaqiyr4fmAzwsJsPtbTcSPp6aZLAkail_3wXdU4kFzi_BfLH_LY0nD8cxljB0GHfh_6qaH/s1600/iifa_kareena.jpg" height="320" width="124" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kareena Kapoor</td></tr>
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Once we found
a spot on the media side then it was flood of actors, one after
another, on the green carpet. Bipasha Basu looked stunning in white
sari, Sonu Sood looked handsome, although I feel he is really skinny
when I saw him up close. Aftab Shivadasani looked dapper in a white
suit with his fiance Nin Dusanj (now, wife. He just married in June,
2014). Vivek Oberoi with wife Priyanka, Jhakaas actor Anil Kapoor,
Govinda with wife Sunita, Javed Akhtar, Sharman Joshi, Arshad Warsi,
Yami Gautam, Vani Kapoor, Kalki Koechlin, and the list goes on until
some of the big guns showed up!!<br />
<br />
Kareena Kapoor looked pretty with no
jewellery look and a high bun. Hrithik Roshan looked
stunning/gorgeous/handsome (I can't find enough words to describe
him)!! Deepika Padukone was looking completely glittery and shiny in
her full-length golden dress and Siddharth Malhotra couldn't look more
handsome!! Madhuri Dixit was the last one to arrive at around 10:30/45 pm but I left just minutes before she came.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7M_gN4v4vwyR3ZUU5QoWHBfp50vnA-EMsnkVRovgGoP7BTJ1jN2vI6Yr9iZ23zjguBE2Xqtr8AJ7c6n60OkXRpwh566GXys07tmYwtPhDKaPad9yCEX_kdG9POM1PinPFRuiDyA8J-9eY/s1600/iifa_hrithik.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7M_gN4v4vwyR3ZUU5QoWHBfp50vnA-EMsnkVRovgGoP7BTJ1jN2vI6Yr9iZ23zjguBE2Xqtr8AJ7c6n60OkXRpwh566GXys07tmYwtPhDKaPad9yCEX_kdG9POM1PinPFRuiDyA8J-9eY/s1600/iifa_hrithik.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hrithik Roshan</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR1cRkD8mkLbyMeDHYlW01inygHFjNGUYso8CmkddSAM9Qdmwjz2hWyvVB-oVitG5G5b0mSd6n14WzIv07CWsgn2ynZ70FczP0sb1Ry6CvNzqOnK0cteyRSGwOf2YjJwbjX1I2JXPMl_9S/s1600/iifa_deepika.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR1cRkD8mkLbyMeDHYlW01inygHFjNGUYso8CmkddSAM9Qdmwjz2hWyvVB-oVitG5G5b0mSd6n14WzIv07CWsgn2ynZ70FczP0sb1Ry6CvNzqOnK0cteyRSGwOf2YjJwbjX1I2JXPMl_9S/s1600/iifa_deepika.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Deepika Padukone</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9y-wOoZKMuugfBPjozhVvmE23xz3n2Aa52s1i9Jx5gouX_3KldSLhqxp0krNT8nmGyZQBZtUjz-ovk-J13_cwHlryKbfW4uAqpIiHg3IvCHqvG-q5aU4S-NCXb2Kk7ooTNFsdljWfd3sm/s1600/iifa_kareena_dance.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9y-wOoZKMuugfBPjozhVvmE23xz3n2Aa52s1i9Jx5gouX_3KldSLhqxp0krNT8nmGyZQBZtUjz-ovk-J13_cwHlryKbfW4uAqpIiHg3IvCHqvG-q5aU4S-NCXb2Kk7ooTNFsdljWfd3sm/s1600/iifa_kareena_dance.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kareena Kapoor Performance</td></tr>
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The thing is that the show had already started around 9 pm and I was almost 2 hours late to the show since I was on the green carpet. I wanted to at least enjoy part of the show, so decided to leave the green carpet at 10:45 pm to enjoy the last hour. When I entered the amphitheater, Bipasha's performance was almost over. I found my friend, K, and sat with him and enjoyed the rest of the show. I got to see some of Saif Ali Khan and Vir Das hosting the show, Pritam's musical performance, and Kareena's dance performance. What I didn't get to see are performances by Mika Singh, Farhan Akhtar, Sonakshi Sinha, Bipasha Basu, and Rahat Fateh Ali Khan (I saw his performance the night before in IIFA Rocks)!! I was fine missing these performances because I at least got to sit for some of the show towards the end. The show ended around midnight and there was an after party at Hard Rock Cafe which was not too far from the amphitheater but in my mind I was just going through one thing......please let there be no traffic when we get to the parking lot!! Yea, right!! It was obvious that most of the traffic was going to leave from amphitheater to go to Hard Rock Cafe for the after party, and also I was really starving for food, I dropped the idea of going to the after party. I headed straight to the hotel where the 6" subway was waiting for me in the room refrigerator :).<br />
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On the other hand, my friend, V, and his siblings and fiance went to the Hard Rock Cafe for the after party and it turned out that there was a huge line and they were only letting certain number of people in at a time. They ended up coming back to the hotel since there was no way for them to get in. I guess, after all, it was a good idea for me to no go to it!! Once they came back, I was able to go to her room and hang out with her and catch up. Catching up with friends is always fun!! Finally, after lots of chatting, I went back to my room and slept around 4:30 am. Sleeping at morning times like 4 or 5 am was becoming so normal that I thought to myself that if I don't get sleep then I will just fall asleep on the floor one of these days....but then I thought "Eh...who cares...it's IIFA weekend"!!:P<br />
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Well, friends, that's my update of Day 3 for you all!! Stay tuned for the last day of updates of IIFA weekend with the main IIFA Awards show that took place in Raymond James Stadium! <br />
<br />Sunshinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04067892526526643193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908436869439731440.post-34000111710224108762014-07-09T17:53:00.002-06:002014-07-09T17:53:40.435-06:00IIFA Awards 2014 - Day 3 - April 25, 2014, Friday - Part 1Day 3 - IIFA weekend - April 25, 2014:<br />
<br />
The whole point of setting an alarm is to wake you up in the morning but that didn't seem to be the definition of alarm during this trip, instead it was more like sleep through the alarm and then wake up when you want to. I woke up at 9 am (don't blame myself, we slept around 5 am, so at least need few hours sleep to recover) and got ready. The day was planned with some activities but apparently it changed completely in the morning itself before we could even execute what was planned. My friend and I got ready around 11:30 am and headed for the Hilton hotel. At the media room in Hilton, we happen to run into Mr. Anupam Kher! He was kind enough to let us take individual pics with him and very humble to talk to.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7OUuDfTvmHM4n7VlOBHtjaEn5PLbUtvrdspwSiLh6gnbDzGYtWCgp00fT8deRruSlURs7uzbflsoqZ0roWxrRiHSYwjOwHmzcF_zoztNLKcAmhiwV-skxLD40TrTRTj1qW8KLiOMocnqJ/s1600/iifa_govinda.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7OUuDfTvmHM4n7VlOBHtjaEn5PLbUtvrdspwSiLh6gnbDzGYtWCgp00fT8deRruSlURs7uzbflsoqZ0roWxrRiHSYwjOwHmzcF_zoztNLKcAmhiwV-skxLD40TrTRTj1qW8KLiOMocnqJ/s1600/iifa_govinda.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Govinda @ IIFA Awards 2014 - Press conference</td></tr>
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My friend tried to get us in to the press conference with Govinda. He was running late and when he finally came, we had to wait another 30-40 minutes since he had 2 private interviews scheduled before they could open it up for the rest of the media. Once they opened it up for the general media to enter, it was complete chaos! Everyone wanted to get a glimpse of him. Before the press conference started, he showed the trailer of his new movie, Abhinaychakra, which is going to release in August. It looked interesting and seemed like a good comeback for Govinda, especially it has some great dance moves that he does!! This press conference went on forever!! Hats off to Govinda for his patience and even more, hats off to his wife, Sunita, for being patient with him. She was in the same room, sitting in a corner, while the interviews were going on. She was patiently waiting, very nice, and interacting with whoever wanted to talk to her. After the flood of interviews, I was able to quickly take a picture with him and then he left.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOt5Ja3nkUEfds9b0IRbAYwPGTzzU-ImgsAcRvwn_aRVMImvdrWmTnk4EcUR-OyKXXtIQub-IZ7fVAynzD6zalGujcMefxUSSqzXGiaSdbQamqeqgpdx2FH25kZOT6wrA8lZHSAl_5TDFh/s1600/iifa_ranveer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOt5Ja3nkUEfds9b0IRbAYwPGTzzU-ImgsAcRvwn_aRVMImvdrWmTnk4EcUR-OyKXXtIQub-IZ7fVAynzD6zalGujcMefxUSSqzXGiaSdbQamqeqgpdx2FH25kZOT6wrA8lZHSAl_5TDFh/s1600/iifa_ranveer.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ranveer Singh @ IIFA Awards 2014 - Hilton Lobby</td></tr>
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Next, we headed to the Hilton lobby since it was time for Ranveer Singh and Aditya Roy Kapoor to come. We were right on time! As we got there, they both entered. Aditya didn't really stop and interact much with fans but Ranveer Singh was taking his time and signing autographs, giving selfies, and totally fan friendly!! It was good to see them up close!! While in the lobby, Ritesh Deshmukh also came right behind them but he didn't stop for a second and headed straight to the elevator. We also spotted Gauhar Khan in the lobby when she was coming from outside. After that, we knew that Farhan's flight had already landed and he had to be the next one to arrive. We waited 30 minutes, 45 minutes, 1 hour, but no sign of him! Then after checking his flight, we realized that he landed in Orlando :-o....that was big bummer!! Being disappointed, we headed for our hotel to get ready for the evening show, IIFA Magic of the Movies Awards.<br />
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Once I got to the hotel, I met up with my friend, V, and her fiance. We
were meeting almost after 6 months since we took the Bahamas cruise.
It was great to meet her and her fiance. We didn't get a chance to talk
much but decided to catch up later since I needed to get ready for the
evening and so did she. <br />
<br />
I am going to stop right here in terms of updating this post of Day 3 and will continue on from Part 2 since I have more to cover for the IIFA Magic of the Movies Awards and don't want to make this post any longer. Until then, take care!Sunshinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04067892526526643193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908436869439731440.post-92050288740093155002014-06-25T23:05:00.000-06:002014-07-09T12:00:47.617-06:00IIFA Awards 2014 - Day 2 - April 24, 2014, Thursday - Part 2.....Continuing from <a href="http://mydesiblog.blogspot.com/2014/06/iifa-awards-2014-day-2-april-24-2014.html" target="_blank">IIFA awards 2014 - Day 2 - Part 1</a><br />
<br />
After the IIFA press conference, we relaxed for a bit in the lobby, and my friend talked to one of the media crew to see if they can set up a backstage interview with any of the actors. Luckily, the media crew set up a backstage interview with Vivek Oberoi at Tampa Convention Center where he was rehearsing for the IIFA Rocks show. He was going to be the host for IIFA Rocks along with Gauhar Khan. We headed for the Tampa Convention Center and after waiting for about an hour, we were allowed to go backstage and there he was, coming down the stage, looking very handsome!! It was amazing to see him up close!! I was completely taken back with his down-to-earth nature and simplicity! He was talking to everyone patiently and didn't mind repeating the stories for all the interviewers about his flight from India to US, how his son was having fun on the flight and was a complete rock star for not giving him or his wife hard time on the flight, etc. etc. He was veeeery nice!!<br />
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While other people were interviewing Vivek, I was able to spot Vishal Malhotra who was on stage waiting to get backstage interview with Vivek for official IIFA awards. I went up to him and told him how I have seen him since he was in the show called Hip Hip Hurray! Since that show he has been in so many movies such as Ishq Vishq, Kismat Konnection, Ek Vivaah...aisa bhi, etc. He is also working on movies like Happy New Year and Don 3 with Shah Rukh Khan and it's amazing how far he has come!! I got a picture with him and then went back to the place where Vivek was being interviewed.<br />
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After the interviewers had chance to interview Vivek , I squeezed in for a bit to get a picture with him and wished him best for the upcoming IIFA awards. He was nominated for the Best Villain award and I told him "I really hope you win the best villain award!!", unfortunately he didn't win :(. <br />
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Once the interviews were done, we were debating whether to just stay there or go back to the hotel, change, and come back for the show. I was leaning towards going back to the hotel and changing and my friends agreed with me, so we headed for the Hilton first to pick up the car. While we were waiting for our car to come, we found Boman Irani standing just 2 feet away from us. He had just arrived from the airport, so he was getting his bags out of the car, but it was just funny that we didn't recognize him at first :P. When we did recognize him, I said hi, how his flight was, and asked him if we could get a picture with him and he was very friendly about it! Our car came and we headed for our hotel to change. It was all rush since we were already late for the IIFA Rocks show...but managed to get there in time and might have just missed maybe 5-10 minutes or so.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMY4_qYwgKzrymtwKJGcm7w1X3iU3d9sVHOcbSkJ1f3adXeGeIUDelkn8SeIDU2IY_9dJSZxws7KnG9KGZCMAE6DSNA8bNDOimBFbZFBg_N3cwxWQzsEGGc4zjMH9vk46EyondXifmcjdw/s1600/iifa_rocks_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMY4_qYwgKzrymtwKJGcm7w1X3iU3d9sVHOcbSkJ1f3adXeGeIUDelkn8SeIDU2IY_9dJSZxws7KnG9KGZCMAE6DSNA8bNDOimBFbZFBg_N3cwxWQzsEGGc4zjMH9vk46EyondXifmcjdw/s1600/iifa_rocks_1.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gauhar Khan & Vivek Oberoi (IIFA Rocks)</td></tr>
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First of all, the IIFA Rocks was hosted by Vivek Oberoi and Gauhar Khan. Gauhar was looking stunning and Vivek was looking handsome!! They both did a great job of hosting the show. The show had music and dance performances by Ankit Tiwari (Aashiqui 2 - Sun raha hai na tu singer & composer), Bhoomi Trivedi (Ram chahe leela singer), and Monali Thakur (singer & actress). It was fun and entertaining!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDHxYbMnoZww06uU2c7uIXsQZoyfxmBlgpToGvmsAhO6uM7TqlhAKVcuJchVSW0CF6KID_R10rQ6ha2irij2mT8bdg7OobKOc3YVVrC2xpUpzbjq_y86tATYQwJ__BEQ9mZB-vFdrCfKPN/s1600/iifa_rocks_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDHxYbMnoZww06uU2c7uIXsQZoyfxmBlgpToGvmsAhO6uM7TqlhAKVcuJchVSW0CF6KID_R10rQ6ha2irij2mT8bdg7OobKOc3YVVrC2xpUpzbjq_y86tATYQwJ__BEQ9mZB-vFdrCfKPN/s1600/iifa_rocks_2.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nina Davulur, Miss America 2014</td></tr>
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The show also had 3 packed fashion shows by the 3 top designers of Bollywood. First fashion show showcased the collection of designer Manish Malhotra who had show stoppers like Sonakshi Sinha, Siddharth Malhotra, and Anil Kapoor. The 2nd fashion show showcased the designs of Amita Bal who had Nina Davuluri, Miss America 2014, as her showstopper. Nina Davuluri looked gorgeous as she walked down the ramp!<br />
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The last, but not the least, was Vikram Phadnis who showcased his collection with help of 2 gorgeous showstoppers, Yami Gautam and Malaika Aurora Khan. His collection was beautiful. Not that I didn't like Manish Malhotra's collection, but I felt Vikram Phadnis had very colorful collection with Red, Pink, and Orange colour combination clothes!! <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsmWdYZF6SEaGV6zK0UobEohS2DC4aHL0WxPhvJvhcwowJd2yGW8uJAJ6QGd2aRVZVva_l9hLiWgHSbofTeDNFTeQGHUTV3fAdDDNrSVWSgmt-hacUUELS3YvmPuWBb4kA90nLQgg3Rrvj/s1600/iifa_day2_iifa_rocks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsmWdYZF6SEaGV6zK0UobEohS2DC4aHL0WxPhvJvhcwowJd2yGW8uJAJ6QGd2aRVZVva_l9hLiWgHSbofTeDNFTeQGHUTV3fAdDDNrSVWSgmt-hacUUELS3YvmPuWBb4kA90nLQgg3Rrvj/s1600/iifa_day2_iifa_rocks.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Vikram Phadnis Fashion Show</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx1cSQnbD6jrkuZUxhNsF4SMqk6i06VP53i4q1QMOrA7W2FgJMW0a_7r6b2usc-7pDUPn9quoe6x7GcN6gS6P41rfygZ97eYMx5YyNShsllc46rVtlaNRnBuVy7vi41Ug5CeKAz_5y5Nku/s1600/iifa_rocks_3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx1cSQnbD6jrkuZUxhNsF4SMqk6i06VP53i4q1QMOrA7W2FgJMW0a_7r6b2usc-7pDUPn9quoe6x7GcN6gS6P41rfygZ97eYMx5YyNShsllc46rVtlaNRnBuVy7vi41Ug5CeKAz_5y5Nku/s1600/iifa_rocks_3.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Malaika Aurora Khan</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdDjKG2wlUXqSrxlCy53N6PKqC5vaMNID3vu_E_kSipSTE0uGOUmgTRnbaJdSHG8YXb2fxn6EG74IlcOInfTw8_o4JURW3nBXu-V8pK34l78JaK7TocRNS83ehYpYzEYNZfYKhWPsGtdFG/s1600/iifa_rocks_4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdDjKG2wlUXqSrxlCy53N6PKqC5vaMNID3vu_E_kSipSTE0uGOUmgTRnbaJdSHG8YXb2fxn6EG74IlcOInfTw8_o4JURW3nBXu-V8pK34l78JaK7TocRNS83ehYpYzEYNZfYKhWPsGtdFG/s1600/iifa_rocks_4.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ustad Rahat Fateh Ali Khan</td></tr>
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Now, for the finale, they saved the best for the last!! It was the live performance of Ustad Rahat Fateh Ali Khan! He has such soulful voice that truly touches your heart!! He was mesmerizing that you couldn't think of anything else other than focusing on the songs he was singing and completely melt yourself into music (Am I making any sense?) :). Lucky for us that a lot of people had left when his performance was going on, so we were able to move to the 1st row seats to enjoy the performance.<br />
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After his performance, it was a wrap and everyone started leaving. There were not that many people and there wasn't really any security towards the entrance of back stage, so my friend decided to check it out and see if she can catch someone for a quick interview. There weren't that many people left backstage either but, lucky for us, we were able to meet Rahat Fateh Ali Khan and get a picture with him as well as an autograph. He was very nice person, very humble, and talked to us with a smile on his face. It was an honour to meet him. I also got an autograph from Ankit Tiwari who was backstage as well.<br />
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Phew...that was IIFA Rocks show! Amazing, surprising, beautiful, and entertaining!! The show had an after party which started right around 12:30 am or so and unfortunately for us, my friend had the passes for us but he wasn't reachable after the show :(. We tried hard to go pass the security but the security guard was adamant and didn't let us in (well, he was doing his job). After sitting around for a while, hoping that someone would pity on us and let us in, someone walked up to us and handed us 3 after party passes!! How convenient!! We went in, and due to starvation, we grabbed whatever we could and fed ourselves!!<br />
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We danced for some time and then headed back to the Hilton hotel to pick up our car. I ran into my friend, K, and we hung out in the lobby of the Hilton until it was 3:30 am. By the time we got to the hotel it was 3:45/50 am....we changed and by the time I went to bed, it was already 5 am :-o!! Time really flies and I set my alarm, again, for 7:45 am and went to bed.<br />
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Well, that was one looooong day but a lot of fun!! It's not over yet...more to come for IIFA in next 2 days!! Stay tuned!Sunshinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04067892526526643193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908436869439731440.post-148810573800343532014-06-25T00:44:00.000-06:002014-06-25T00:44:09.174-06:00IIFA Awards 2014 - Day 2 - April 24, 2014, Thursday - Part 1 Hi Friends,<br />
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Here I am, back with the day 2 activities of IIFA awards in Tampa! From my previous post of Day 1 activities, I had said that I went to bed around 4:15 am setting an alarm for 7:45 am, but that didn't go down as planned :-|. It turns out that I slept through my alarm and woke up after my friend realized that it was close to 9 am! We both woke up with a jerk and made a run for the breakfast room since the breakfast was going to close at 9! We made it in time..no worries!! Grabbed some things to eat and headed back to the room. While my friend, Ka, and I slept through the alarm, one of Ka's friend landed in Tampa who was also going to join us for the IIFA weekend. Once she arrived, we all got ready and headed for the downtown Hilton hotel around 11 am which was the main headquarters for all the stars for IIFA weekend!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi13rp7CuZP1rZMVwBL5SamlNuvLs3nXi6lStuoKJLoceOyNbPjKxAzVDQTt4GACcw8rj7sL-XxSQnvHh0Bq9XyIBX12EUKJQXKQztAW9eUjBvre7mKFWfJ0nplnwG0rxMWwhmLvAuxm5o/s1600/iifa_day2_govinda.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi13rp7CuZP1rZMVwBL5SamlNuvLs3nXi6lStuoKJLoceOyNbPjKxAzVDQTt4GACcw8rj7sL-XxSQnvHh0Bq9XyIBX12EUKJQXKQztAW9eUjBvre7mKFWfJ0nplnwG0rxMWwhmLvAuxm5o/s1600/iifa_day2_govinda.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Govinda @ Hilton Downtown Tampa (IIFA 2014)</td></tr>
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We got our media accreditation from the hotel and relaxed in the media room for a bit before heading for the lobby. The original plan was to go to the airport for stars' airport arrivals, but there was not enough time to get to the airport, so the best choice was to stay at the hotel where the stars were going to arrive after the airport arrivals! And surely, soon after, the actors started arriving. First one to come was Govinda with wife Sunita. He surely seems to have lost weight.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyHtDgAwMot61DoaEaXfvNesxk8y2HPGXdLUFQ_JVtZqnQFNvKfqQIwPzu93GWGVNixq9q_A34xGegxV0wNZsktffo-5ZDv5BZQVJrEdMn54yG4hsu1D10zy7AA4cl81XlC4YG2b2bawFQ/s1600/iifa_day2_shabana.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyHtDgAwMot61DoaEaXfvNesxk8y2HPGXdLUFQ_JVtZqnQFNvKfqQIwPzu93GWGVNixq9q_A34xGegxV0wNZsktffo-5ZDv5BZQVJrEdMn54yG4hsu1D10zy7AA4cl81XlC4YG2b2bawFQ/s1600/iifa_day2_shabana.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Shabana Aazmi</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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After that, there was a flood of actors who came one after another. I saw Rajkumar Hirani near the elevator, saw Sameera Reddy and Shabana Azmi as she was heading out. Next, Arshad Warsi came to the Hilton and my friend interviewed him which was interesting! Next, was Mr. Milkha Singh with his family. After that was Vivek Oberoi (didn't see his wife or son with him at that time). He stopped for a second to also talk to the media for a bit and then headed to the elevator.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhadxKFEb4BGr0VVJgc9CVtuqnoAt4v23auQYVmNwPaJ_FocLhizni6s47TfJuex48TRbCO0-WnKg1JzjSvaB87yKlRjJ8Imfs66sjwcTMLb5NITpgowhrF3Flb2lR-X3n37Tqx4KcCiS04/s1600/iifa_day2_vivek.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhadxKFEb4BGr0VVJgc9CVtuqnoAt4v23auQYVmNwPaJ_FocLhizni6s47TfJuex48TRbCO0-WnKg1JzjSvaB87yKlRjJ8Imfs66sjwcTMLb5NITpgowhrF3Flb2lR-X3n37Tqx4KcCiS04/s1600/iifa_day2_vivek.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Vivek Oberoi</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Next, it was the dhak dhak actress Madhuri Dixit who arrived with husband Ram. She was looking great...unfortunately, she didn't stop to talk to anyone. And then, the moment that took my breath away had come...the arrival of the heartthrob Hrithik Roshan!! He was looking handsome, dashing, and amaaaazing!! I couldn't take my eyes off him!! It was like people woke up all of a sudden when he came and crowded the place like crazy carnival!! Here are some snaps of their arrival.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1E_rD4VaQy9oCMXasRHDZ2JTY3B-xNb5LjGNVEUoguvud2mjT4L6hZ56h1AJRayWOeedhvnSQOCQX5qMeT5eeR_5QWVJI6158NWyNXy9LMV6ANMq9Qqt4at49dFsdfZ7uZMeqVI1hrJgO/s1600/iifa_day2_madhuri.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1E_rD4VaQy9oCMXasRHDZ2JTY3B-xNb5LjGNVEUoguvud2mjT4L6hZ56h1AJRayWOeedhvnSQOCQX5qMeT5eeR_5QWVJI6158NWyNXy9LMV6ANMq9Qqt4at49dFsdfZ7uZMeqVI1hrJgO/s1600/iifa_day2_madhuri.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Madhuri Dixit with Husband Ram</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv6Ug1CcsOlI_2ZnS7JVIZ-SdMUa-DwmpTPRMkcj6dY_ZIxPnXWKZcmMdIT-ioDct0GplnXlAcohAKk3z_WsC-gLXpML-W_fkqjN9kGBhyOuL46MlA-BLa4WHM2GDDqfjBJ5rQA3s6R_By/s1600/iifa_day2_hrithik.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv6Ug1CcsOlI_2ZnS7JVIZ-SdMUa-DwmpTPRMkcj6dY_ZIxPnXWKZcmMdIT-ioDct0GplnXlAcohAKk3z_WsC-gLXpML-W_fkqjN9kGBhyOuL46MlA-BLa4WHM2GDDqfjBJ5rQA3s6R_By/s1600/iifa_day2_hrithik.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hrithik Roshan :) :)</td></tr>
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As far as airport arrivals were considered, Hrithik was the last one to arrive in the afternoon and there was no one else coming until late evening. We headed straight to a conference room where the IIFA press conference was going to be held. The conference had speeches from Dr. Kiran Patel, the Mayor and Commissioner of the Tampa Bay, and of course, the actors, Priyanka Chopra, Anil Kapoor, and Sonakshi Sinha! The press conference also unveiled the new album Back2love from singer Ustad Rahat Fateh Ali Khan. At the end of the press conference, all the actors came on stage along with the mayor of Tampa Bay and the CEO of Visit Tampa Bay and they all danced together on the Do Da Tampa (IIFA theme song). In fact, Anil Kapoor showed some of his moves to the mayor and he tried those as well :) Overall, the day was going pretty good, but it was far from being over.<br />
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For the rest of the day updates, I will continue in the next post giving you details of the backstage interview with Vivek Oberoi, running into Vishal Malhotra, and the main event of the evening, IIFA Rocks, which included fabulous fashion shows, dance and music performances, and finally the grand finale with Rahat Fateh Ali Khan's live performance (that I will never forget)!!<br />
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Till then, have fun!!Sunshinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04067892526526643193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908436869439731440.post-86815510559043578872014-06-23T23:29:00.000-06:002014-06-23T23:29:08.636-06:00IIFA Awards 2014 - Day 1 - April 23, 2014, Wednesday - Part 2....Continuing from <a href="http://mydesiblog.blogspot.com/2014/06/iifa-awards-2014-day-1-april-23-2014.html" target="_blank">Part 1</a><br />
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After almost 3 and half hours of flight, I landed in Tampa Bay, FL at around 10 pm. I got to the terminal and the first thing I see is this IIFA welcome!!<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZi1i9Vv8R3uxV38LqwHlKHCV1J5o76nocTA9T9CyqB6S8eKHSDhobfSpdYvcx9G2BA1KdyaI0aw9tsubzu76l8ur2qdaPXLbabF_oI8l2frnZlADGWYZnR4K-beZajZ8QDKvljhZ9xrda/s1600/tampa_airport_iifa.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZi1i9Vv8R3uxV38LqwHlKHCV1J5o76nocTA9T9CyqB6S8eKHSDhobfSpdYvcx9G2BA1KdyaI0aw9tsubzu76l8ur2qdaPXLbabF_oI8l2frnZlADGWYZnR4K-beZajZ8QDKvljhZ9xrda/s1600/tampa_airport_iifa.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">IIFA Welcome banner at Tampa Bay, FL airport</td></tr>
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I was sleepy, tired, but as soon as I saw the sign, I was wide awake :). I called my friend and she asked me to come to the 9th floor. Well, let me give you little background about this 9th floor. The 9th floor of the airport is actually a short term parking floor but that had been converted to a green carpet welcome floor for all the stars arriving for IIFA! The media and local audience sections were separate on the green carpet where the actors can first go to the fans' side and then give little speech on the stage (more like mini-stage) and then come towards the media side. I headed to the 9th floor and I must say even at 10:30 pm, the welcome area was crowded with fans. Luckily, my friend was already on the media side since she had already gotten in with her credentials (with an email as proof of media accreditation). She got me in from the media side and as soon as I entered, just minutes later entered Randhir Kapoor and Rajeev Kapoor. This was the first time I had ever seen any actors up so close. Here is the pic of Randhir Kapoor on the mini-stage.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy_wIJpxwqybpN-rIQyw_HedjgIrjL1hp5xO3vJv1zLituXkevTWMvA2hR717wR8eC5sEE3pEPcWxp8zkQ04EgkWfaeczbAdwobnetqJ9Cvcymd8GBMFgDNMbSBRxujLqumJHbFQE0cS9W/s1600/tampa_airport_iifa_randhir.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy_wIJpxwqybpN-rIQyw_HedjgIrjL1hp5xO3vJv1zLituXkevTWMvA2hR717wR8eC5sEE3pEPcWxp8zkQ04EgkWfaeczbAdwobnetqJ9Cvcymd8GBMFgDNMbSBRxujLqumJHbFQE0cS9W/s1600/tampa_airport_iifa_randhir.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Randhir Kapoor @ IIFA airport welcome</td></tr>
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After they were escorted to their cars, the next one to arrive was none other the rock star Priyanka Chopra!! She had long flight (just like all the other actors), she looked tired, but she still looked great! Luckily I got an autograph from her, couldn't get a pic with her though :(. But when she was over on the fans' side, she was very friendly, taking her time to give selfies, giving autographs, and even talking to some of the fans. Here is her snap while she was giving a small welcome speech.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-EOs3ckRzh8k1bYSdmeUvQ5-EWgdu2SIRXGj8qRJ_xv5w6KCpWX-J4VCmy91_j7RzNEWMOmCq50g1UJpfqK2InBGiWEec1yeMcQGizRD1qKBhYJOe35WRmYF07rpGsNRk275eJmI-U_8j/s1600/tampa_airport_iifa_priyanka.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-EOs3ckRzh8k1bYSdmeUvQ5-EWgdu2SIRXGj8qRJ_xv5w6KCpWX-J4VCmy91_j7RzNEWMOmCq50g1UJpfqK2InBGiWEec1yeMcQGizRD1qKBhYJOe35WRmYF07rpGsNRk275eJmI-U_8j/s1600/tampa_airport_iifa_priyanka.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Priyanka Chopra @ IIFA airport welcome</td></tr>
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She was the last one to come for that day and after she was taken to her car, everyone headed for their homes. I met up with my friend, K, who was on the green carpet with Priyanka, helping the IIFA crew. My friend, Ka, and I headed to get the rental car. The process was pretty quick and we got a nice 2014 Nissan car (don't remember the model). It was late and we were both tired and maybe that might have been the reason that we got on the wrong Hwy which made a 5 mile journey into a 15 miles drive :-(. Finally, got to the hotel, checked in, and I crashed on the bed for few minutes. Both of us weren't sleepy, so we just chatted and caught up on things!!<br />
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In short time, my friend, K, came to the hotel room to hang out for a while after he wrapped up airport arrivals and meetings. We all hung out until 4 am in the morning and soon after he took off. Ka and I slept around 4:15 am, setting an alarm for 7:45 am!! Well, that was the first day of IIFA for me, hectic, crazy, exciting, and tiring, but I am not complaining!! This is just the beginning of an exciting and amazing IIFA weekend!! Next day is packed with lots of great activities...stay tuned! Sunshinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04067892526526643193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908436869439731440.post-28008705698176914992014-06-23T17:01:00.001-06:002014-06-23T17:01:10.832-06:00IIFA Awards 2014 - Day 1 - April 23, 2014, Wednesday - Part 1First of all, I have been wanting to write the details of my IIFA awards weekend from a long time, but it's been super hectic and busy on my end that I have not had any chance to write these updates :(. But, today, I am going to start writing about each day and finish up all the days as soon as I can, starting with April 23rd :). So, here it goes....<br />
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April 23, 2014 - Day 1 (Wednesday)<br />
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With so much excitement of IIFA and very little planning for this trip, I actually slept really late the night before. Usually I am done with packing and preparing for the trip at least 3-4 days in advance and then only last minute stuff is left to put in the hand bag, but this time, it was complete chaos since I had been busy with work so much. Even though I had very little sleep, I woke up early with excitement :). I still had things sitting outside that I needed to pack. I went to work for half a day before my flight, came home, finished packing, and headed for the airport. It was nice that the airport wasn't packed that much and I got through security in like 15 minutes and headed for the gate. I wish I was able to rest at the gate for a bit before my flight but resting was far from the agenda :(. I had to take care of some pending things before I boarded the plane which included canceling my previous car rental reservation (with 2 different companies) and making a new reservation with Enterprise Car Rental. Reason? Well, there was a difference in price with Budget vs. Enterprise and also I had made one reservation a month before and a 2nd one a week before and both of them needed to be cancelled before I make a new one (3rd one) :P. With that taken care of, I had little bit time to relax at the gate (but not for long).<br />
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Thinking about IIFA awards, I knew I had a lot of things with me for this trip but I think even people around me must have guessed I am going for a month of trip, not because the size of my carry on bag but due to the amount of things I had packed in that carry on bag which was basically expanded and stretched from every possible angle :D. Ohh, and I also had jam packed backpack! Being concerned after looking at my bag, the lady sitting next to me mentioned that if we are taking carry on with frontier airlines, you need to get your boarding pass stamped. The only way you get it stamped is if the Frontier Airlines agent check the size of your carry on and personal item and verify whether they fit in their designated carry on boxes. What?!?! What do I do now? There is no way my bag was going to fit in their designated size boxes...!! I was a bit concerned myself after hearing what the concerned lady told me. I gathered my courage and went to the counter to get the boarding pass stamped. When I put the carry on bag over their box, it did not fit at all. The lady was nice and asked me if it's just clothes and if I can squeeze them in little bit. I agreed and she stamped my boarding pass!! Phew....that would have been a disaster if I had to take stuff out from the bag! I got on the flight and fell asleep as soon as plane took off. I thought I had fallen asleep pretty good until a sudden plan turbulence shook the entire plane...that was bit scary for few minutes! No complimentary drinks on Frontier anymore (actually that was when I flew. Now, they even charge for taking your carry on bags on plane with you and getting assigned seats...rediculous!!). I ate the masala paratha (tortilla) made by my mom and then tried to sleep again, but couldn't. That's when I thought of writing up the happenings of today so far! But, the day is not over yet. More things to come in next couple of hours as soon as I land in Tampa Bay, FL!!<br />
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I have told myself that I will keep the posts short enough so that they don't get boring and loose its substance...so I will give you more updates in the 2nd part of April 23, 2014! Until then, enjoy :)Sunshinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04067892526526643193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908436869439731440.post-46982348907156290622014-05-14T18:01:00.000-06:002014-05-14T18:01:10.097-06:00IIFA Awards 2014 Fever<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB8cDUPYPKTrb3_33EgFBHV9GuTPuio4Xxa0to-Bk8v5j4c5fE-QJ5E70ISWxoCrvLtlkNfs2XlQke7VdEYejz_QMW4VbTKStlKX5ZqyMtJidd4XlDRGBylbGAJtGUrA0et8B7lNmjWDGN/s1600/IIFA_logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB8cDUPYPKTrb3_33EgFBHV9GuTPuio4Xxa0to-Bk8v5j4c5fE-QJ5E70ISWxoCrvLtlkNfs2XlQke7VdEYejz_QMW4VbTKStlKX5ZqyMtJidd4XlDRGBylbGAJtGUrA0et8B7lNmjWDGN/s1600/IIFA_logo.jpg" height="174" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">IIFA Awards in Tampa Bay, FL, USA from April 23 - 26, 2014</td></tr>
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For those of you who don't know what IIFA is, here it is: IIFA Awards are International Indian Film Academy Awards celebrated annually to honor the actors/technical staff/professionals from the Hindi Film Industry (known as the Bollywood)!! IIFA awards are always held outside of India in a different country each year. This way IIFA brings the Indian culture to whichever country it chooses as well as brings the Bollywood to the millions and millions of fans across the world!! It is no different from other awards show but it's still got a unique thing to it that attracts you towards it and that's the beauty of IIFA is that it takes you to different and exotic locations each year!! It becomes a huge celebration!<br />
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Well, I think you get the picture now on what IIFA Awards are :) (and if not then Google it up). Before I get into anything regarding IIFA, I have to take you all in a flashback to last year, end of September 2013, when I first found out about IIFA Awards coming to Tampa Bay, FL in 2014, for the first time in US!<br />
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Last year, I planned a Bahamas Cruise with few friends (I won't bore you with the cruise details) where I made a new friend, K! K is very involved in the community and was the one to tell us that IIFA is coming to Tampa Bay, FL (in US for the very first time) and it was exciting enough that all the friends were like, oh yea, we should go for it!! That was then, just discussion on the fact that IIFA is coming to Tampa Bay and the talk was kind of over there. Since then, every time I talked to K here and there, it was mentioned that IIFA is coming and we should plan a trip for sure. Cut to January 2014, when the IIFA dates were announced to be April 23 - 26, 2014 and it was announced that the tickets for IIFA will go on sale from January 17, 2014, K kept me posted and told me I should not think twice and just buy the ticket since it'll be a lifetime experience. I was not sure...but he definitely convinced me to come to IIFA since it was going to be in his home town! I told him I am going to buy the ticket!! Then came the question of who will I go with and who will I sit with if I get the ticket (my brother was supposed to come initially but he wasn't too interested in this so he decided not to come)?? That's when I reconnected with another friend, Ka, who had already planned to go to the event. We talked and bought our tickets together so we can have our seats together in this big stadium where the event was going to be held. It's good to have a familiar face sitting next to you, otherwise it's no fun discussing the event to a stranger sitting next to you (without the stranger thinking you're a creep trying to strike a conversation)! Anyways, so the ticket was booked and now there was no turning back and the only thing on my mind was "IIFA, here I come!!" :)<br />
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I booked my air tickets and it was final....I was going to IIFA!! I was too excited and just couldn't believe it! And that's it, that's when IIFA fever started!! It was down to counting months, and then days, and then just hours (at the airport) away from Tampa :) :)<br />
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The credit in the deciding factor for my IIFA trip goes to my friend, K, who convinced me to come to IIFA in Tampa Bay since it was coming to his home town, plus he took care of the accommodation in the hotel for me and my friends, plus he got IIFA Rocks passes for me and a friend, plus he got the IIFA Magic of the Movies Awards passes for me and a friend, plus he got after party passes for me and a friend!!!! That's A LOT that he did for a friend so selflessly and just shows how great of a person he is!! I also know that he had been helping out IIFA committee day-in and day-out, putting lots of hours in the work...but that's him! So a BIG thanks to him for my IIFA trip!!<br />
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In the meanwhile, I also got a message from my friend, Ka, who was in India visiting the IIFA group, that she was able to get media accreditation for herself, myself, and one of her friends. It was kind of exciting to know that we were going to have media badges but I didn't know much on what that meant in terms of access at the IIFA. But let me tell you that it surely made the IIFA experience more fun and felt like that extra extra cherry on top of the cake :). So a Big thanks to her as well!!<br />
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This, my friends, is just the beginning of my IIFA fever! Stay tuned for my day to day experiences with IIFA event, the craziness of each day, the close encounters with the actors, the fashion shows, the evening shows, the green carpet, and finally the main event of IIFA awards show!!<br />
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Hope you enjoyed reading this post!! Many more to come :)<br />
Enjoy!! Sunshinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04067892526526643193noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908436869439731440.post-38219088399430061792014-03-22T22:43:00.002-06:002014-03-22T22:45:30.232-06:00Kadhai Paneer & KulchaHello everyone,<br />
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It feels like ages since I wrote a cooking post on my blog, but I am back with a recent recipe that I tried out from a friend. It is none other than Kadhai Paneer and Kulcha recipe. First and for most, I want to thank my friend, D, who shared her recipe with me and because of the mouth watering picture of kadhai paneer and kulcha, I decided to try it out.<br />
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Here is her site for you to check out her recipe:<br />
http://fun4friends.net/indian-recipes/kadai-paneer-with-kulcha<br />
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Even though I am going to write down the full recipe with different variants and portions of the ingredients, the first credit goes to my friend!<br />
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<b>Kadhai Paneer</b>:<br />
<u><b>Ingredients</b></u><br />
<b>Vegetables:</b><br />
Onions (1 small onion)<b> </b><br />
Green/Red/Orange bell pepper (capsicum): think of a bell pepper having 4 sides. I cut 2 sides of each color bell pepper into cubes<br />
Green chillies (1 small)<br />
Tomatoes (2 big or 4 small)<br />
Cilantro <br />
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<b>Spices:</b><br />
Cloves (3-4), Cinnamon (2 sticks), Cumin seeds (Jeera), Coriander powder, Red chili powder, Garam masala<br />
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<b>Other:</b><br />
Tomato sauce (2 spoons), 1/2 pound paneer (cut in cubes), oil, ginger garlic paste<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHXW4-D5JogBYm5PEbvUZRhMKhm681tQsbmQIOGN5Ual_-qt_yKZolsct_aO539PJve-bn0ZUOHeIB7YN_xX3WAyfREM4_QQtSxtEXbVVOi90yB1nzfHSaUGvY3CwgwbUNRBLZrHAZ8bap/s1600/prep1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHXW4-D5JogBYm5PEbvUZRhMKhm681tQsbmQIOGN5Ual_-qt_yKZolsct_aO539PJve-bn0ZUOHeIB7YN_xX3WAyfREM4_QQtSxtEXbVVOi90yB1nzfHSaUGvY3CwgwbUNRBLZrHAZ8bap/s1600/prep1.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<b><u>Preparation:</u></b><br />
- Finely chop onions<br />
- Finely chop tomatoes<br />
- Chop bell peppers into small cube sizes<br />
- Chop cilantro<br />
- Finely chop green chillies<br />
- Cut Paneer into cubs<br />
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<u><b>Method:</b></u><br />
1) Heat oil in a pan and once oil is little warm, add cumin seeds, cloves, cinnamon sticks, and stir them for a minute or so.<br />
2) Add ginger garlic paste and chopped onions and mix it well for a minute or so<br />
3) Add salt and chopped green chillies and stir until onions are little transparent<br />
4) Add chopped bell peppers, mix it well and let it cook for couple of minutes<br />
5) For adding the spices, just so that they don't burn as I add them to the pan, I made a paste. For the paste, you add coriander power, red chilli powder, and garam masala all in one bowl and add little bit water (as needed) to make a paste out of it which is not too liquid but not too thick either.<br />
6) I added the paste in the pan and mixed everything and let the spices cook<br />
7) Add chopped tomatoes, and tomato sauce to this and let the tomatoes cook for about 3-4 minutes by mixing it well and stirring in between<br />
8) Now add paneer cubes and mix it with everything else (make sure you don't stir it such that your paneer is squished)<br />
9) Add chopped cilantro and turn off the heat<br />
10) It's ready to be served hot :)<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP6CMNEXpK9g_Z8P0ea8jr9t0fBUg74Sh8hO0lKFGGCCdKdui5YYEdR0d3oSteWF5QEa5uEFs4BxhA-Xdj0aEJa0IkiHh5wJ9ebZDXOlYogiiO3q2fPyCbh8PC-pa0MGaLRtHdlQ4ZzhTO/s1600/kadhai_paneer.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP6CMNEXpK9g_Z8P0ea8jr9t0fBUg74Sh8hO0lKFGGCCdKdui5YYEdR0d3oSteWF5QEa5uEFs4BxhA-Xdj0aEJa0IkiHh5wJ9ebZDXOlYogiiO3q2fPyCbh8PC-pa0MGaLRtHdlQ4ZzhTO/s1600/kadhai_paneer.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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<b>Kulcha:</b> <br />
<b><u>Ingredients</u></b>:<br />
2 & 1/2 cup Maida (all purpose flour) & little bit more for rolling the dough balls<br />
Baking powder (I didn't measure it according to my friend's instructions, but I think it was close to a teaspoon)<br />
Baking soda (not that much, maybe just 2 pinch of it)<br />
Salt<br />
Sugar<br />
3 tbsp oil<br />
1/4 cup curd (plain yogurt)<br />
1 cup milk (I had to use 1 cup milk to make the dough)<br />
Sesame seeds (to mix it in dough balls)<br />
Shredded garlic (to mix it in dough balls)<br />
Chopped cilantro (to mix it in dough balls) <br />
<br />
<b><u>Preparation</u></b>:<br />
- Mix all the above ingredients and let the dough soak for about 3-4 hours (I kept it for 3 hours)<br />
<br />
<u><b>Process</b></u>:<br />
1) Once the dough is kept for 3 hours, just mix it one more time nicely and make medium size balls out of it<br />
2) Use the extra maida (flour) to dust the balls and roll them into small tortilla shape<br />
3) Sprinkle sesame seeds, shredded garlic, and chopped cilantro on it and make it into a ball again<br />
4) Roll them again into big tortilla shape size<br />
5) Place it on a flat pan<br />
6) Switch the side once the other side is half cooked<br />
7) Once both sides are half cooked, apply oil or butter (ghee) on both sides and cook them until they have light brown spots on them<br />
8) Your Kulcha is ready to be served!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBI_j7X5zMfAT2AmRFgnY246YdTi4qphWejsvKuwvSX6NTShfB0W31kZiOTTndJ3v0GFBB4OiiwwfXTcC_HKg3bcIsjhyphenhyphenrTpO2vw6L5k-pYkWhK0knH1m-P_vLjYoAY5DgmZBPK3Fc2Lmv/s1600/kulcha2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBI_j7X5zMfAT2AmRFgnY246YdTi4qphWejsvKuwvSX6NTShfB0W31kZiOTTndJ3v0GFBB4OiiwwfXTcC_HKg3bcIsjhyphenhyphenrTpO2vw6L5k-pYkWhK0knH1m-P_vLjYoAY5DgmZBPK3Fc2Lmv/s1600/kulcha2.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<br />
Well, here you have it, a delicious Kadhai Paneer and Kulcha :)<br />
<br />
The reason I posted the recipe steps again is because it's little bit different than my friend's in some of the steps and some portions as well, so thought of sharing both the ways.<br />
<br />
Hope you enjoy making and even more enjoy eating it!! Sunshinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04067892526526643193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908436869439731440.post-56817082282034668442014-03-07T18:34:00.000-07:002014-03-07T18:34:34.653-07:00Little late for happy new year....Hi Everyone,<br />
<br />
It's good to be back on the blog and post something. I have been really busy for a while now and haven't had the chance to be back on the blog. But now, I'm going to make a conscious effort to visit the blog and post something once or twice a month. I can't believe that March of 2014 has already started and this year is already zooming by fast! Hope to be back soon with more posts :)<br />
<br />
Until next time, have a great day!<br />
<br />Sunshinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04067892526526643193noreply@blogger.com0