New Jersey/New York Trip - Part 2

....Continuing on from my previous New Jersey post (New Jersey/New York Trip - Part 1)

Day 3:
I was really tired from yesterday, so started the day late by waking up at 9 and getting ready by 11.  New Jersey recently had a big Pratishtha (ceremony) to inaugurate a new Jain Temple in July, so we really wanted to visit that temple.  Since my parents wanted to go do puja at the Jain temple, my parents & my brother headed to temple earlier with my cousin and then I went afterwards with my sister in law and nephew.  The temple was beautiful from inside and very nicely built.  After we left from temple, we went to Iselin, specifically Oak street which is supposed to be like mini India with bunch of Indian shops, restaurants, etc., to have lunch at Khasiyat....and boy the food was delicious!!!! I think we all overate it.  We were all so sleepy after we had lunch but it was all good!!  After lunch, we went to see one of our friends who also lived in Iselin.  This friend had lived in Denver for couple of months and that's how my parents had met them.  What was funny was that they had also prepared some snacks for us, so I ate some more snacks + one glass of juice which basically filled me to the edge!!  I survived and then we all came back home and relaxed a bit.  From the lunch + additional snacks, I knew I had to skip dinner.  To sum up the day, I ended the day by eating a really nice desert (cake!!).

Day 4:
- It was Monday and holiday, so quiet morning.  My parents went with my aunt and uncle to do some grocery shopping while my brother and I went with my cousin to stroll through Princeton downtown and Princeton University.  The downtown and university are very close to one another and in walking distance, so we were on foot to explore both.  I really loved the university.  I loved where it's situated, the architecture of its buildings, and the whole campus atmosphere!!  The buildings are built like old castles and my cousin even told me that the new dorms and buildings that are being built on campus, they are building it with the same old style to keep the feeling consistent and the architecture alike.  Here is a snap from the university...

We came back home and had nice family lunch.  After lunch we decided to head to Atlantic city around 4 pm and got there around 5:15/5:30 pm.  It was raining, so went to the casinos instead (Caesars and Bally's), played machine roulette and then once the rain stopped for a while, we went to the beach for short while.  This was the first time that we played machine roulette and my cousin taught us how to play it and how there are so many things you can bed on for each play.  Obviously this was first time for us, so my brother played safe and started with $5 and my cousin started with $20.  At the end, my brother won $10 and my cousin won $100 :)...it was great to see him win because each time he would bet all the money hoping he would loose so we can leave but each time he kept winning and so the money kept doubling, so finally he stopped at $100 and then we left.  Around 8 pm, we had pizza in one of the casino's pizza place and then headed home around 8:30 or 9 pm.  We got home around 10:45 pm and had malai kulfi :).  We chatted and then went to bed around 12:30 am.  Overall, it was really nice day.

This trip isn't over yet....more to come in the next post...stay tuned!!

New Jersey/New York Trip - Part 1

Hello Friends,

Here I am with the post of my 2nd trip (after St. Louis) to New Jersey & New York.  This was a family vacation as opposed to the individual vacation that I took to St. Louis.  It had been looooong time since we have had any family vacation together, so I was really looking forward to it :).  This was a 10 day trip planned with first 5 days in NJ and last 5 days in NY.  My parents had families in both the states so we were looking forward to meeting them as well.  So here it goes....

Day 1:
The trip was from August 31 to September 9th and we head to airport early Friday morning to catch our 10:30 am flight.  Even though it was labor day weekend, there wasn't much crowd and we got through security in less than 15 minutes.  We boarded the flight to Newark on time, but apparently we were on the runway for over half an hour.  So I guess the labor day weekend traffic was on the runway and not at the airport :P...hehe.  Anyways, the flight took off after little over half an hour and luckily that didn't effect our landing time, so we landed on time in Newark.  Surprisingly where we got off the gate at Newark (whichever terminal that was for southwest airlines), there wasn't much walk to the baggage claim.  It was short distance so once we got to the baggage claim, we were greeted by my uncle and cousin.  This was a first time for me and my brother to meet them and it was great to see them.  We headed home which was about 45 minutes drive and we had a surprise waiting for us at home!! My cousin's son (about 2 and half years old) came running outside as soon as we got in the driveway and welcomed us with a big smile!!  The rest of the day included meeting my bhabhi (my cousin's wife), and my masi (aunt), having a family dinner, chatting with them, celebrating my aunt's birthday with some yummy pastries and then finally going to bed around midnight.

Day 2:
Today's main agenda was to go to meet one of my mom's college friends whom my mom had not seen in over 15 years.  She lived in Jersey city which was little over an hour away from where we were (Princeton) but they had decided to meet since we were in town, so my mom's friend's husband came to pick us up around 11 am and then we went to her place.  Ohh...it was joy to see my mom meet her college friend after such a long time and it was great for us to meet her as well since she had seen us when we were kids.  We had nice lunch together and then we decided to take the NJ Transit back to Princeton since we didn't want her husband to drive back all the way.  They lived so close to the NY that the Hudson river is the only gap between them and Manhattan, NY.  He took us to the JFK East side where you can see the entire Manhattan downtown which was beautiful!!

We stopped at one or two spots and then headed for the Secaucus train station to catch our 3:24 pm train.  The ride was smooth and nice since the NJ transit train had really nice and comfy seats and it didn't have any crowd at all.  The train also had small compartments at the top if you want to put your bags or any kind of luggage.  We got to Princeton junction in 1 hour where my cousin was already waiting for us.  Before we went home, we stopped by a Durga Mandir which was very close to their home.  The Mandir was so beautiful and peaceful from inside.  It had Durga Murti in the center along with Ram, Sita and Laxman, Shiv-Parvati, Krishn-Radha, Ganpati, Santoshi mata, Sarasvati mata, and some other Gods as well.  We got home and then had nice dinner and then sat down to watch the movie Bol Bacchan.  I don't remember but I fell a sleep around midnight when the movie was about 2 hours done..but honestly I wasn't a big fan of it!!  For those who don't know, this is a Rohit Shetty movie and his movies are adaption to the old classic Hrishikesh Mukherjee movies.  Bol Bacchan was adoption of Golmaal and it failed badly!! Of course, bollywood is running out of ideas, so that's why they have to adopt the concepts of old movies and torture it, or remake the old movies!!!  In either case, I fell asleep during the movie and didn't care to finish the movie :)

To make sure that my posts are not super long and that they don't feel like essays, I am going to stop right here and continue the remaining New Jersey experience on to the next post.....

Hope you enjoyed reading and continue to do so :)

Back-to-back vacations!!!

Hi Friends,

How are you all doing?  Hope all is well on your side.  All is very well on my side as I have been on 2 back-to-back vacations in September.  Also work was piled up a lot so that's why I have not been able to write any posts on the vacations yet.  But not to worry, since I am back now and won't be taking any more vacations for this year (I think?)....so now I have all this time to update you guys on my 2 vacations - first one to New Jersey/New York (which I took in the first week of September) and 2nd one to Las Vegas/California (Last week of September).  Both were fantastic and I have a lot to tell you about both the vacations that might help you when you are planning your trip to either of the places!!  I will hopefully have the New Jersey/New York trip updates this week and Vegas/Cali will be updated next week.  First, I need to remember myself of all the things that happened on the Vegas/Cali trip since it was so packed with all the activities.  So stay tuned and I will come back with lots of trip information and some cool pics of both the trips :).

Until then, have a great day and great week ahead!!

St. Louis Trip - Day 3 & 4

Day 3:
After 2 days of full fun....I was looking forward to the 3rd day!!  Since it was Saturday, my friend, R, and his fiance, T, were able to join in checking out some places.  We started the day late around 11 and had nice brunch and then left for Missouri Botanical Garden which was very close to where my friend lived.  I got there around noon and checked out the entire park within an hour.  They currently had the Chinese lantern festival going on, so the entire park was decorated with Chinese sculptures (which gets lit up at night).  Overall, it was really nice park.

Missouri Botanical Garden

After the botanical garden, we went to the Cathedral Basilica around 2 pm.  This is the first time when I have been to a Cathedral like this one.  It was magnificent from the outside as well as inside.  The Cathedral also has a small museum downstairs which you can cover quickly.  After Cathedral visit, we had a quick bite at McDonald's and then headed to Montelle Winery which was about 40-50 minutes drive.  The drive was beautiful since it was through forest-like road where both the sides of the road are covered with trees making the road feel like you are going through a passage to get to the end of the tunnel....sorry if this terminology confuses you...but that's only how I can explain it :P.  To get to the winery stop, we actually had to walk up the hill on a very steep slope but we made it and it was a good time from then on!!

Cathedral Basilica

Montelle Winery

 On the way back from the winery, we stopped by a mall and grocery store and then finally got home around 9 pm.  We had nice dinner and delicious homemade blueberry pie made by T!!! We had great time chatting and then finally slept at 1 am.  It was already time for me to leave St. Louis the next day and head back home.

Day 4:
The only thing that was left for me to cover in St. Louis was to go to the Jain temple.  We all got ready around 11 am, had lunch and then headed to the Hindu temple.  The temple was beautiful and it also has a small Jain temple within it.  After that we covered the Swaminarayan temple which was also beautiful from inside. 

Hindu Temple

We got back home around 2:40 pm, I checked my bag quickly, and then we headed for the airport around 3 pm.  I bid farewell to my friends and then headed for the airport.  The airport didn't have much of a crowd so got through security quickly.  My flight was at 4:30 pm and got home around 7 pm.....Home sweet home!!!

Overall this was a much needed relaxing vacation!! I got to see my friend and meet his fiance, explore St. Louis and lots of good time!!!  All thanks to my friend and his fiance for having me and showing me around town!!

Alright folks, that's it for my St. Louis trip!! My next couple of posts will be on my 2nd vacation coming up ;)....but for that you will have to wait and watch!!  Until then, have a great time!!

St. Louis Trip - Day 2

Day 2:
Unlike first day, the 2nd day started little bit later after 10 am.  Today's agenda was to cover St. Louis zoo and the Art Museum.  Luckily, a lot of these attractions are very close to where my friend lives, so he came to drop me off at the zoo.  Before I go in the zoo, he showed me around the area since zoo and art museum were really close (along with the Grand Basin).  I started exploring zoo around 10:45 am and covered almost everything within 3 hours including the train ride around the park.  The train ride was ok and if you don't get on the train, you won't miss much.  I guess the kids will enjoy it much more.

After getting out of the zoo, I headed to St. Louis Art Museum which was just 5 minute walk from the zoo (north entrance).  First thing I did was to grab a quick bite from the museum's cafe before checking out the museum.  There were some really neat paintings and art that was pretty impressive.  I think I covered pretty much all the galleries within 2 hours.  It was about 3:15 pm when I got done with everything and then just went out to sit and relax a bit by the Grand Basin.  My friend was not able to come and pick me up right away so I just waited by the Grand Basin.  It was so nice and peaceful by the fountains and under the shade that I didn't know where the time passed.  I also spent some time clicking some pics by myself near Grand Basin (experimented with the self-timer :) ) and then finally got home around 5:30 pm.

St. Louis Art Museum

Grand Basin

After coming back home, I ate something and then it was relaxing time!! I felt really tired since there was a lot of walking involved, but still a good day and the weather was pleasant as well so can't complain.  My friend decided to go for the "Ek tha tiger" movie for 10 o'clock show, so we got ready quickly because we had to make few stops before that.  We stopped by for grocery shopping, then went to Pizza Hut for some delicious pan pizza and garlic bread and then headed straight to the theater for the movie.  Wow!! What a movie!! Amazing stunts and Katrina looked gorgeous!!  And it just makes you feel that Salman is really the tiger that the movie claims him to be!!  Love the songs too.....Definite Watch!  Plus they showed the trailer of SRK's next movie - A Yash Chopra Romance.......Can't wait!!!!!!!!!

We got done with movie around 12:30 am and the weather was much cooler than expected!!  We got home, chatted for a while, and then called it a day around 1:30 am and hit the bed.  My vacation was going just great!!  3rd day coming with a lot more activities....coming up!!!

St. Louis Trip - Day 1

St. Louis, here I come!!

So my trip started in the evening after work, my flight was at 7 pm and reached St. Louis around 10 pm.  I got out of the airport and met my friend....almost after 2 years!!!  It was great to see him and meet his fiance, T!!  It was long day already, so we went home and had some delicious "Dabeli" made by T, chatted for a while and then finally went to bed around midnight looking forward to start the adventure the following day :).

Day 1:
The morning started at 8:30 am and got ready by 9:30 and left home with my friend to go to downtown.  I knew my trip was gonna be adventurous right when my friend, R, played a gujarati song in the car :).  Today's agenda was to go cover the Arch and the St. Louis downtown.

I walked to the arch and went to its visitors center.  My friend had recommended seeing the Lewis and Clark: Journey to Westward movie at the arch, so I got the package with the movie ticket and Gateway to the Arch ticket together.  The movie was after half an hour, so to kill the time, I checked out the Westward Museum first.  It was nice.  Then headed to the movie which was about 45 minutes long and enjoyed it thoroughly.  It's not really necessary to see the movie, and people won't miss much if they don't see the movie, so I wouldn't recommend people for this movie if they are not really into the history of Missouri.  After the movie, it was time to visit the Arch!!  There was no crowd at all and no lines which was great!!  Just an FYI for people who have hard time climbing stairs, there are quite a bit of stairs that you need to go through to get to the tram entrance, so be careful.  It was pretty impressive in how they built the tram to get to the top of the Arch, but I got to tell you that I am not a fan of the tram compartment itself.  The door to get to the tram was just 4 feet high and the actual tram has egg-shaped compartments.....these compartments are not for people who have problems with small spaces or congested areas!!!  Anyways, it was a short ride to the top, so I didn't mind, and there comes some more stairs before I can get to the observation deck!!  You can stay on top of the arch as long as you want but I am sure you will be done observing and looking around in 10 minutes, max 15 minutes.  The observation deck has small windows which gives you views of the entire St. Louis downtown from one side and covers the river and the bridge from the other side.    The view from the top was indeed breathtaking!!!

View from the Arch (from Observation deck)

After I got back down, I went next door to the Old Cathedral and then to the Old Courthouse.  It was nice to go inside the Old Courthouse and stay in Air condition since the temperature outside was getting hot :P.  Right behind the courthouse is the city garden which is spread through couple of blocks with bunch of water fountains and really nice pool where kids were having ton of fun.  It was already past 12:30 pm, so met up with my friend and had a nice lunch in the city garden park.  After we had lunch, I continued roaming around downtown to check out some other historic buildings including the City Hall, Court House, Busch stadium, etc. and then came back to the city garden area to relax  and wait for my friend.  One of the fountains in city garden is so relaxing that I just spent over 30 minutes sitting by it and even wet my feet :).

City Garden (St. Louis Downtown)

Once my friend got done with his work, and after checking out almost everything near the area, my friend and I started heading back home around 3 pm which followed with a heavy thunderstorms and good amount of rain which definitely cooled down the weather.  The rest of the day was pretty relaxing with freshening up, dinner, watching some indian shows, and then me writing this summary :D.  This is the true definition of a vacation which is a mix of relaxation and exploring the place as well!!

With first day coming to an end, 2nd day info coming up!!  Stay tuned :)

St. Louis Trip Highlights

Hello Friends,

I have been away from my own blog from over 2 months, but I am back with some vacation updates :).  My last vacation was last year in May to Orlando, Florida which was fantastic...but since then I had not taken any vacation!!  So here I am with the details of my first vacation of the year 2012 to St. Louis, Missouri.

One of my friends who lived in Denver once had moved to St. Louis and had invited me to come down.  I thought it would be great to take my first vacation and get a break from work.  Without a second thought, I booked my tickets for mid August for 4 days and anxiously waited for it!!

Well, then it was all adventure and relaxing time from there on!! My trip included of a lot of sightseeing including visit to the Arch, Missouri botanical garden, St. Louis downtown, zoo, art museum, and much more.

Remember these are just highlights....a detailed post on each day is coming up soon...
Stay tuned!!

Here is a photo to give you a glimpse of the trip....enjoy!