Can you ever be prepared for something like this?

Hello friends,
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.

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!

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.

Sand Dunes National Park - At the base, getting ready to climb the sand mountain :)

Great capture of Sand Dunes in front of the Mountains!

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.

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.

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 :)

Aspen, Mesa Verde, Durango-Silverton Railroad - Day 3

Hello Hello,

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.

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.

Durango-Silverton Railroad, Durango

Durango-Silverton Railroad, Durango

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 :)

Silverton, CO

Silverton, CO

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 :)

Bus ride on Million Dollar Hwy

Bus ride on Million Dollar Hwy

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.

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!!

Aspen, Mesa Verde, Durango-Silverton Railroad - Day 2

Hey everyone,
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 :(.

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.

Long House, Mesa Verde National Park

Long House (closer look at the houses)

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.

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...

Cliff Palace, Mesa Verde National Park

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!!

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.

One of the sites @ Mesa Top Loop

Sun Temple, Mesa Top Loop

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.

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!

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!!

Aspen, Mesa Verde, Durango-Silverton Railroad - Day 1

Hello everyone,

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!!

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.

Twin Lakes

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.

Independence Pass

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!!

Somewhere in the middle of the road :)

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!!

Maroon Bells, Aspen

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".

Maroon Bells, Aspen

Maroon Bells, Aspen

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.

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 :).

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 :) :)

Grand Teton & Yellowstone National Park - July 4th weekend - Part 4

Yellowstone National Park - Day 2
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Continuing from previous 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.

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.

At the sign of Yellowstone National Park

For day 2, our first stop was West Thumb Lake 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.

West Thumb Lake @ Yellowstone National Park

West Thumb Lake @ Yellowstone National Park

Next, we headed to Mud Volcano 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.

Mud Volcano @ Yellowstone National Park

Next, we headed to see the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.  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.

Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

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.

This brings us to our last stop not just for the day but for our Yellowstone Park trip.  We came to Mammoth Hot Springs 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. 

Mammoth Hot Springs @ Yellowstone National Park

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.

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.

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.

Have a great day :)

Grand Teton & Yellowstone National Park - July 4th weekend - Part 3

Yellowstone National Park - Day 1
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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.

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.

Our first stop in the park was the famous, the popular, The Old Faithful 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.

The Old Faithful @ Yellowstone National Park

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.

Crested Pool @ Yellowstone National Park

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 Biscuit Basin.  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!!).

At Biscuit Basin

Sapphire Pool @ Biscuit Basin (In Yellowstone National Park)

Continuing our drive, next stop was The Grand Prismatic Spring 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 :)

Grand Prismatic Spring @ Yellowstone National Park

Grand Prismatic Spring @ Yellowstone National Park

To squeeze in one last thing, we decided to head to Norris Geyser Basin.  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.

Norris Geyser Basin @ Yellowstone National Park

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.

Well, let's keep it for the next post to tell you all about the 2nd day!  Until then, enjoy your day :)  See ya!

Grand Teton & Yellowstone National Park - July 4th weekend - Part 2

Continuing from the last post of the Grand Teton/Yellowstone National Park trip....

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 :-).

Grand Teton National Park (beautiful view on the way to Visitor Centre)

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.

Hidden Falls @ Grand Teton National Park

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!!

Grand Teton National Park (Gorgeous View from within the park!!)

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!!

That's all from me about Grand Teton National Park.  Stay tuned to hear about our Yellowstone Park adventures!!

Have a great day :)

Grand Teton & Yellowstone National Park - July 4th weekend - Part 1

I 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.

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.

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.

Drive in Wyoming (on the way to Jackson Hole Resort Lodging)

Drive in Wyoming

View from our Condo (Teton Village @ Jackson Hole Resort Lodging)

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. 

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.

Next, our packed day at the Grand Teton National Park!

Bahamas Cruise - Carnival Sensation - Day 4 & 5

Day 4: Day on the Sea
Today was the day when it was a "Day at Sea" which means we were going to be on the cruise all day while the cruise is taking us back to the Port Canaveral in Orlando.  This was a day to relax and do things that we didn't get a chance to do the other days!  That mainly meant to do Water Slides!!!! We woke up around 8:30/9 am and my brother and I headed to the dining area for breakfast.  We had a nice breakfast which included pineapple juice, hash browns, and bread & butter.  After the breakfast, we were just strolling through the cruise and came across the casino :). Ok yea...we weren't just strolling, we made an intention to go there ;).  We thought of trying our luck again at black jack and surely, luck was on our side....we actually won some money.  This time, we didn't take chance and instead cashed out our winnings instead of keep playing.  We got back to our rooms, and changed into our swimwear to head out to the water slides!!!

I was kind of scared to try the tube water slide which is kind of enclosed, but decided to give it a try and it was amazing!! It was so much fun that we kept going on it again and again!!  I think we spent couple of hours there until we finally realized how tanned/sun burned we were :P.  We got back to our rooms, took shower, got ready and got something to eat!!  We sat out on the deck and it was just very peaceful.  Right in the middle of the ocean, no one to be seen, just you and the blue water...

After we got something to eat, my brother and I went back to the casino.   I don't know what it is, but the casino just draws you towards it if you know how to play a game or two...and it becomes addicting!!  We didn't play much, just sat at a table for some time, and then headed back to our room.  Today was the last day on the cruise, so there was an entertainment show organized at 7 pm which was called "Far from over".  We went to the show and it was a nice musical piece put together with singers and dancers.  Most of the songs were really nice and I think from late 80s or 90s.  I think the male singer was good, but the female singer was loud and I felt she was doing little bit over the top!! If she toned it down, she would be much better and people wouldn't have to cover their ears when she sings that high note :(.  Overall, I think it was a good 1 hour show.

After the show, I went back to the room and changed for dinner.  We all went to dinner, and had last good chat with our server, Marko.  Very nice guy and warm person.  I am definitely going to miss him and his amazing service of dining room.  After dinner, one of my friends went back to the room to pack her bag while the rest of us hung around the photo studio to look at our pics from all 4 days and my brother and I decided on which elegant night portrait to buy (after much debate, of course!!).  After that, 2 of my friends went to see the magic show tricks, while my brother and I hung out in the casino, again!!  Long story short, I lost the winnings from the morning plus some of my personal money :P....you must be getting bored now by hearing about my casino saga!! Trust me, this is the last time you will hear about it because even I was tired of losing.  I called it a night and for last time, all of us hung out on the deck for few minutes and then went to bed since we had to check-out early next morning!!

Day 5: Back to the Port Canaveral
We had decided to do self-assist debarkation which means that you carry all your luggage yourself and you get priority in getting off the ship.  Our debarkation time for the main deck was from 7:50 am to 8am.  That means we had to get up early, get ready, have breakfast and be out of our room by 8 am.  We all got ready one by one and finished our breakfast and came back to the room for our bags, and scanned for any last minute items in the room.  We probably got in the line by 8:05 am and since I was timing the total time, it took us about 45 minutes to 1 hour to get out of the ship.  We must have gotten out by 8:55 or 9 am.  In the meantime, you just follow the line until you get to the final customs check where they check your passports.  What surprised me is that my friend who is on H1 visa just had to show her Indian passport, and she was good to go without showing any of her other documents she had brought.  She neither had to show her I94 nor work documents which was great!! We got out of the cruise terminal and bid my friend, C, good bye since she had to take shuttle to go back to Tampa while we were taking our flights back from Orlando.  We got to the parking lot of the terminal and waited for our friend, K, to pick us up and go for lunch.  It turns out that K didn't show up until 3 and half hours :(.  But no worries, we made sure we made that time worth while.  We found a good shaded area on the road, yes...on the road, close to the walk way and sat down to play Indian cards game of Do, Teen, Paanch!! That was hell of a fun and time passed by quickly :)

Once K came to pick us up, we headed to an Indian all vegetarian restaurant in Orlando called Woodlands.  It had amazing food and we were starving, so that made for a good combination :)....haha!! We left from there straight to the airport since it was already time for us to leave :(.  We all said good byes and got on the flight to head back home!!

This was one amazing trip with good company of friends (and my brother as well...I can't leave him out)!!  It'll definitely be in my memory and hope we can see each other soon :).  With that, I come to a conclusion for my Bahamas cruise posts and hope you all had good time reading it and it gave you some insight into the trip that it can help you in the future for your trip to Bahamas!!

Bahamas Cruise - Carnival Sensation - Nassau - Day 3

Nassau was the 2nd stop on Day 3 of our cruise.  Due to a lot of walking in Freeport, we were really tired and everyone kind of got up late.  I was first one to get up and go for breakfast.  The first thing at the port of Nassau, when you go out on the deck, your attention is drawn to the beautiful view of the Atlantis Resort.

View from the ship at the port of Nassau

We all got ready and headed out of the ship around 11 am.  Important: Make sure you take an ID card with you when you go out of the ship to see the town.  It can be even driver's license!! When we were coming back from town, Nassau officials were checking everyone's cruise sail-and-sign card and an another identity card at the security check!! Once you walk out of the ship, there is a little shaded walkway that you go through.  Right there, there are quite few people standing waiting for tourists and trying to get them to come with them for city tour if you are interested.  Since we did adventurous excursion in Freeport, we wanted to take the city tour in Nassau.  As soon as I got hold of guide, Bernard, he offered the city tour of 2 to 2 and half hours for $25/person.  We bargained a little bit and asked for $20/person since there were 4 of us.  He agreed and got some more people for his van.  We all followed him to his van and off we go to the city tour.

Through his guide, we found out that the island of Nassau is very small.  It is just 21 miles long and 7 miles wide.  This is the reason the it has everything so close including the police station, the post office, the library, etc.  The place also feels little congested since the roads are very narrow.  It has population of about quarter of a million people.  The guide pointed out some major local spots as he was driving through them.  Our first stop on the tour was Fort Fincastle.  It is not that big, but you can still go in to check it out and see a 360 degrees view of the island from top.  The admission to the fort is not free, it's $1/person if you want to go in.  I think it was worth going in there since you are already there!!

Fort Fincastle @ Nassau, Bahamas

View from top of Fort Fincastle

After the visit to the fort, our next stop was visit to the Queen's staircase which was just a short walk from the fort.  If you have knee problem and can't walk a lot, you might not be able to walk down the stairs.  The guide gave option to those people to just sit in the van and drive down where the queen's staircase ended.  My friends and I decided to walk down the staircase.  I think it was gorgeous view from the staircase because the trees are covered on both sides which kind of looks like a passage in the woods :P.

Queen's Staircase @ Nassau, Bahamas

Waterfall at the Queen's Staircase

After what felt like a nice encounter with nature, we continued our city tour.  On the way, we found out that a lot of Hollywood actors own houses on this island which are quite pricey.  Some of the famous names include Anna Nicole Smith, Michel Jordan, Leonardo De Caprio, Oprah, and many more I am sure!!  The tour also had the Nassau hospital on the route where apparently Anna Nicole Smith's son was treated who later died there.  The next stop on the tour was Atlantis resort.  Now, for those who think that Atlantis is on Nassau, it is not!! Atlantis is on a separate island (I think it's known as Paradise Island) which you can go to through a bridge from Nassau.  There is a $2 toll right when you enter the perimeter at the entrance.  Also, if you are going to Atlantis to just visit it (and not staying in the hotel), you are only able to access some areas of it including the Casino.  The casino is also worth going because it includes some amazing art pieces/sculptures which are worth checking out!! The inside of Atlantis seriously feels like the Forum Shops of Ceasar's Palace in Las Vegas and the Venetian shops with high-end brand shops and all.

Atlantis @ Paradise Island

After half an hour or so, we were picked up from the Atlantis and we finished our tour by seeing some local spots of Nassau from the Van itself.  After we were dropped off back at the ship, we went to the Straw Market.  Now, if you want to shop, this is the place for you!! It's packed with stalls of bags, jewellery, hand crafted items, etc.  And you can try to bargain as well.  There is also a public beach just 10 minutes walk from the cruise ship port which our server, Marko, had told us about, but we didn't have time to go there.  We headed back on the ship after another fun day, grabbed hot chocolate and sat out on the deck.  It was a nice view and good weather!

The rest of the day, there wasn't anything planned except dinner, my brother and I decided to be in the casino and try out Black Jack.  We met one of the casino crew member, Richard, who was from South Africa.  He showed us how to play Black Jack and we played couple of rounds with him.  He was very nice and welcoming guy...he asked us where we were from and upon finding out that we were from India, he shared his story with us.  He said that he met Shah Rukh Khan and Shilpa Shetty in South Africa when they had gone for their Cricket teams' match!!  I was so jealous :P...haha!!  Anyways, throughout the night, we pretty much lost all that we had played (after winning some and then losing the winning money as well)...so decided to call it a night.

The next day was going to be very relaxing since it was going to be on the sea :).  With that, I conclude my 3rd day of the cruise and hope you guys had fun reading it!!  I will be back with my 4th day adventures later....until then, have a great time!!

Bahamas Cruise - Carnival Sensation - Freeport, Bahamas - Day 2

For the 2nd day on cruise, I woke up in the Bahamas!! The cruise ship had already docked at Freeport, Bahamas.  One by one, we all got ready, had breakfast, and then started heading off the ship around 10:35/40 am.  Let me tell you that for this cruise, I did not get any excursions through Carnival.  Instead, I had researched a little bit before the cruise and asked my uncle who had taken this cruise before on what we could do at the port.  From my research, I found out that there is a resort called The Grand Lucayan Resort which has a beach and there is a 3rd party company Ocean Motion who have water activities on that beach which we can buy for much cheaper price than what we would pay at the cruise excursions.  With that in mind, when we got out of the ship, there were already local taxi drivers there ready to take you to Port Lucaya Marketplace which is just across from the The Grand Lucayan Resort.  The round trip ride was just $10/person, so we got on to one of their 10-passengers van.  We had a female driver, Geneva, who was very nice lady.  She dropped us off at the gate of Tennessee Bay Casino (which is next to the resort), we paid the round trip fare to Geneva and in return, they give you a pass which you present back to the agent at the gate whenever you want to head back to the ship.  That simple!

After getting our pass, it was just a short walk to the resort next door.  The resort has an all-day pass for non-guests for $15 which allows you the access to the beach and all their facilities such as pools, cafes, etc.  Make sure you bring the beach towels from the cruise since the resort does not provide them for free (you have to pay for them).  The resort has a free wi-fi!!  My brother and I wanted to do parasailing, so we started looking for the Ocean Motion guys where we could get that going.  We headed to the right side of the beach and found an agent of Ocean Motion.  He told us that their website shows $70/person for parasailing but he would give us a deal for $60/person.  In either case, it was going to be a good deal for us.  He also said if we wanted to do jet skiing, it was $60/30 minutes/2 people which is not bad deal.  We signed up for parasailing and headed on a boat to get to the dock where they had parasailing gear (just little bit away from the beach).  There was an option for 1 person/2 people/3 people parasailing and we just opted for all 1 person, that way each of us get to go alone!! This was the best experience we all had.  I didn't time it but we were up in the air for quite some time (maybe 7 minutes) and it was so beautiful and peaceful up there!! You can see the ocean clearly and even the surface underneath the water you can see clearly!! I was high enough to see a good view of the island!! Beautiful indeed!! We got back to the shore and wanted to relax a bit, so decided not to do jet skiing.  We relaxed a bit under the shade and then wanted to check out the resort's infinity pool that I had read about in the reviews online.

The Grand Lucayan Resort in Freeport, Bahamas

Relaxing under the shade, and still beautiful view!!

The beach, the white sand, the crystal clear blue water

After relaxing for a bit, we headed to the far left end of the beach where there was the infinity pool.  We reached there and it was worth walking that extra distance because the pool was nice!! It wasn't that deep and you have a good view of the beach from the pool.  We chilled in the pool until it was time for us to head back.

The Infinity Pool @ The Grand Lucayan Resort

The taxi driver had told us to be back by 4 pm and we wanted to stroll in the marketplace little bit, so we headed out from the resort around 3:15 pm and went to the marketplace across the street.  I personally felt that everything was kind of expensive in the shops, so just looked around and then finally we caught the taxi to get back to the ship.

This was really a tiring day since we walked a lot on the beach.  It was also a tanning day since it was crazy hot and the sun was upon us the entire time!!  But the day was not over yet.  This day also happened to be the elegant night on the cruise which means we all dress up and take bunch of fancy photo shoots around the cruise where they have different/elegant backgrounds set up for us.  We got on the ship, took shower, and got ready with our formal dinner outfits!! Headed out to take pics and then off to the dining room.  We were starving and attacked the bread and butter like crazy :P...haha.  We had to wait until our main dinner came, so we just fed ourselves to the readily available food which was bread & butter!! Don't worry, we finished our main course meal as well :).

Today, for entertainment, we had magic show which was going to feature at 10:30 pm, so before that we had some time on hand, so my brother and I tried our luck in the casino.  I can't remember right now, but I think we lost while playing Roulette. The magic show was  interesting and entertaining.  With that, I called it a night and went to bed.  This was a great fun and adventurous day and I will always remember it!!  The next stop is Nassau, Bahamas, so stay tuned for more stories!!

See ya!!