Wilderness Getaway!!

This morning when I got up, for some reason, I couldn’t go back to sleep. I stepped out of my cabin & the very first sight of what nature had to offer me was a pure treat to my sleepy eyes… beautiful sunrise, calm waters, chirping of birds & ducks wishing me a perfect good morning.. My inertia, sleep just vanished… :)
I made some hot tea & although would have hated to open my laptop on a vacation, decided to use it to start with my blog. My blog would be nothing but a miniscule description of my trip but even an author couldn’t have asked for this perfect setting to start his book today, hehe… so here I go…

Planning, Planning, Planning...……….
Planning this trip, I must say took a while. Olympic National Park was on our list for a long time and took a while to arrange as we didn’t want to plan this trip as a short trip. One has to give it at least an entire week to do justice… But July being our anniversary month & also we badly needed a long vacation away from our mundane routine; we decided to finally go on with our wilderness getaway!!
Having no idea of where to start added fun to the planning phase; Googled the Olympic National Park map to begin with & just looking @ the map got us excited. We decided to fly into Seattle and cover the park along the 101 loop starting from the south. Our brief wish list to visit the points of interest was ready and the next stuff to plan was where to stay!! This is something that I love planning. With a mix of B&B’s & Cabins, the accommodations part was done. One quick tip before I proceed, July is a great month to be here so plan to book for good B&B’s & cabins in June or earlier. We booked ours in third week of June, but still couldn’t get in to a few of our top choices coz they had no vacancies for JulyL. But from the initial idea of ONP vacation to planning one took us about 3-4 days or so.. You can imagine how badly we needed one, hehe!!

Vacation begins.. Hurray!!
Exploring South Olympic National Park…
We flew into Seattle on 17th Morning & decided to spend a couple of hours in the Pike’s Market before heading to Aberdeen which is about 50 miles south of Olympic National Park. I fell in love with this Pikes Market at its first glimpse. Organic vegetables freshly plucked from the farms, loads & loads of fresh fruits & other crafts made by local artists… Oh yes & how could I forget!! It seemed like this place was showered with the best of the flora.. Gorgeous flowers were being arranged in beautiful bouquets. We actually shopped for vegetables & loads of berries, before we stepped out or I should say, Niranjan had to drag me out of this place, weekly grocery you know ;-) Hehe.

The drive to Aberdeen was pleasant and we headed to our B&B. we fell in love with the old country style huge homes and instantly felt like owning one such place ;-) … however this place seemed way too quiet @ 5.30pm. Our B&B was located at a hilltop and Harbor view room where we stayed was beautifully decorated with cute little things. This was our first experience at a formal B&B & we truly cherished it. We checked in & decided to visit one of the beaches and headed towards Twin Harbors state park. It being a bit late in the evening, we kind of had the beach all to ourselves.. Had a nice walk hand-in-hand & the feeling of a nice week long vacation ahead made us beam with joy. The pacific waters were really cold but that didn’t stop me from dipping my toes for a bit before we headed back to our room and called it a day.

The breakfast was served ready @ 8am just as we had requested & my oh my!!, it was hearty one… Sitting in the sunroom, sipping hot tea & having a healthy yummy breakfast Vow!! This felt one of a kind & not having to clean up later was an icing on the cake :). We headed to Olympic National Park which was a beautiful 45 minute drive and our 1st stop to explore was Lake Quinault. After a quick chat with the Park Ranger, We did a couple of trails and thoroughly enjoyed it. It wasn’t strenuous at all, a bit steep at times but then that was needed to digest the sumptuous breakfast that we had :). After doing considerable amount of trails, we decided to give our legs a break and a good exercise to our arms. Any guesses?? We rented a canoe for an hr and explored the lake on our own. It was a bit tiring but worth it coz the lake was perfectly calm & weather rocked & not to forget, luckily we were the only ones!! Made a quick stop for lunch and then did another trail before heading back to our B&B. Since the sunset was around 8.30 or so, we had long days and that worked well for us. We decided to cover few more beaches.. What to do?? Water attracts us. Did a couple of them, but the Ocean shores beach was an all time hit.
The beach @ Ocean Shores gave us a thrilling surprise, Any guesses?? We could actually drive on the beach and get as close as you can to the waves!! :). To our luck, our car had the moon roof & I decided to climb up and feel the fresh air on my face as Niranjan drove parallel to the waves!! The gush of cold air, the splashing of waves and the drive was indeed an adventure.. & one of a kind experience. Later on we switched positions.. so that Niranjan got to do the same. We did a bit of photo session as well before we headed back to our B&B.

Link to the pics:
http://picasaweb.google.com/mnghate/WildernessGetawayPikesMarketPlaceSeattleSouthONP?authkey=Gv1sRgCOOpvo28ufb-ggE#slideshow/5498447834389076706

Exploring West Olympic National Park…
Next in action was to experience the wild coastal beauty of the pristine Pacific beaches along the Olympic National Park. Our 1st stop was @ Kalaloch lodge. Kalaloch means safe landing/ sheltered landing, The Indians considered it as a safe spot to beach dugout canoes. The lodge is apparently located such that you get to see amazing views but may be we were not that lucky that day, we didn’t feel anything dramatic about itL. We stopped for a couple of minutes and then headed for Ruby beach.
The view is spectacular even as you leave the parking lot for a short trail down to the beach; windswept pines, grasses, huge driftwood logs and finally a sandy beach with wonderful rock outcroppings & islands. Beautiful orange sandy headlands, tidal pools with starfish, seaweed & little fish is what we got to see as the tides went in. It was lovely to see the marine life peacefully resting against the rocks oblivious to the number of the visitors it had :). Surprisingly the beach was also lined with river-bed rocks… you know the kind that get a smooth polish with all the river water flowing over them… apparently these were the result of ancient glaciers… Niranjan had a blast taking loads of pics.. While I was just absorbing it all & not disturbing him :). We saw some beautiful drift wood pieces & stones and decided to look for more to try some new art on that once we got back to San Jose. So for an hr or so, we looked religiously for interesting shapes and colors in the stones. After having collected a couple of them.. we were beaming with joy like two small children and decided to stop coz our hands were filled with drift wood & stones & we just couldn’t carry more :). Sometimes it is these little things that cost nothing but bring a lot of joy in our lives… (for everything else there is Master Card :P ) We then that it was way past lunch time and that we were famished… We grabbed something to eat and then headed to Forks where we checked into our cabin before driving to Rialto Beach and La push Beach. (Chai break to Banta hain na ! )

Huckleberry Cabin was a neat small size secluded cabin & with a perfect setting in the woods. Having a fully functional kitchen made me dive into it to make some hot desi tea!! We were totally recharged with the chai & stepped out to visit remaining 2 beaches. Rialto Beach was a cute little beach, Similar to the Ruby Beach, it too was lined with river-bed rocks! I had a great time looking for some more flat rocks esp. the flat white marble ones that were hard to find… and Niranjan had a great time taking pictures of Pelicans diving for fishes…

On our way back, I was looking forward to getting back to the Cabin & cooking. Luckily I found fresh salmon that was brought into the store earlier that morning and off we headed to our cabin.. Made chole, steamed asparagus drizzled with salt, pepper & lime and last but not the least salmon cooked with desi spices drizzled with lots & lots of lemon juice… The aroma had driven us nuts and after presenting it in Chef Manasi style, we attacked the food :). This was followed by a nice short walk & a pleasant chat with the fellow tourists sitting by the campfire.

Link to the pics:

http://picasaweb.google.com/mnghate/WildernessGetawayWestOlympicNationalPark?authkey=Gv1sRgCIbw4rm4y_ie8AE#slideshow/5498451616648000194

Exploring Ho Rain Forest, Sol Duc Falls…
As I opened my eyes this morning, the view out from our window was a perfect bliss.. The thick dense forest surrounding our bedroom windows was a treat to the eyes and I wished for a elk or two near the windows.. but that didn’t happen ;) no worries. Enjoyed the serenity with a hot cup of tea in our porch and thanked God for giving me this joy.

After a nice home-made breakfast by me, we headed out to Ho Rain Forest. This temperate rain forest had lovely shades of green with thick moss covered trees. The dominant species in the rain forest are Sitka Spruce & Western Hemlock that can grow to tremendous sizes, sometimes reaching 95m (over 300 feet) in height and 7m (23 ft) in diameter.. 23 ft- that’s wider than most rooms in our homes!!!. It felt quite adventurous to do the trails in this section of rain forest.

Having hiked for quite sometime, we decided take a break and check into our B&B, before visiting Sol Duc Falls. Misty Inn B&B was in Forks as well and a very lovely place. The view from their balcony was amazing and we hoped that we could see the entire valley covered with fog the next morning to see the Misty valley stands true to its name. Our room was a cute French room, a bit on the pink side ;) but ok types. The owner Jim briefly described the breakfast options and showed us around the place before we left to see the falls, which he recommended as well.

Link to the pics:

http://picasaweb.google.com/mnghate/WildernessGetawayHoRainForestSolDucFalls?authkey=Gv1sRgCK_R756y1Z3PNA#slideshow/5498461274913212482


Exploring North West tip of Olympic National Park…
The morning started with an utter treat.. Guess what?? Bed Tea with lovely silver wear & a rose to top it all.. This was simply out of the world and the joy that reflects on my face can be seen in the pic. It was hard to step out of the bed after being pampered so much but alas.. ;-) the breakfast was being served in the dining room. But before that, our wish made the earlier day was indeed fulfilled. The valley facing the balcony was covered with fog and the view was fantabulous. We sat by the window facing the valley and had our yummy breakfast while on the other side, the blue jay (bird) gave us company by popping in couple of times to see how we were doing.. hehe.
This B&B is known for their huge portion size of breakfast and great hospitality and I second each and every review that I had found on trip advisor. They pamper you completely and make you eat as if there is no tomorrow :).

Anyways before you think, I have shifted my focus from wilderness to food, I will return to the wilderness part :). We decided to visit Cape Flattery which is north western tip of the park and then also went to Shi Shi (pronounced as Shy Shy) beach.

We passed Neah Bay, Sekiu, section of Makah tribe before reaching the Cape Flattery Trail. It was a scenic drive and sections of the road were covered with fog which added to the fun. This trail was really fun as most of the trail is board walk, so I had loads of fun doing hop, skip & jump, infact both of us. We forgot to act like grown-ups for a while :). The coastal views along this trail were mind-blowing and It was quite windy I must say.. but definitely worth it.

A short drive from there took us to the Shi Shi Beach trail head. This beach is one of the most secluded beaches and cannot be accessed by car. The only way to get to it is a 2-mile hike and it was fun all the way. This trail is also very different from most others as you have to walk through soft mud and puddles more often than not! Shi Shi is the northernmost beach of the park's coastal strip. It is a two-mile, crescent-shaped strip of sand bounded on the north by the Makah Indian Reservation and on the south by stunning Point of Arches, the most magnificent headland on the coast, dotted by sea stacks, jagged rocks and fascinating arches.
Having walked a good deal, we decided to head to our next destination which was Log Cabin Resort @ Crescent Lake (north of Olympic National Park). I was aware that our cabin faced the lake but the fact that it was this close was a complete surprise. The water was just about 10-15 steps away from the cabin, it was amazing!!
The cabin was ok types with very basic minimum amenities but the proximity to Lake was unbeatable. They also provided individual grills for each cabin facing the lake so we decided to do some barbecue, courtesy to the grocery shopping in Pikes Market @ Seattle.. :). The veggies, Chillies, Corn, Potato was yummy and we took no time to do complete justice to it.. As it got dark, the moon peeped in to say hello. We turned the grill into campfire :) and enjoyed the moment for a while.. & remembered one of my friend’s favorite Marathi song, “Toch Chandrama Nabhat” :)

Link to the pics:

http://picasaweb.google.com/mnghate/WildernessGetawayNorthWestSideOfOlympicNationalPark?authkey=Gv1sRgCP2C0aiAsZDI6QE#slideshow/5498465462449170402

Exploring North Olympic National Park….
The lake view from the loft was extremely inviting and when I stepped out, I was greeted by a flock of ducks, cute little ones.. As per our Indian tradition which says “atithi devo bhava”, I fed the ducks with couple of bread pieces.. it was a lovely sight & needless to say, Niranjan captured it really well. After a quick breakfast, we headed towards the ranger station to find the best trails in the area. We did the trail upto MaryMere Falls and then did a short trail to the Crescent Lodge coz we were told that the view of the lake from here was unbeatable and it indeed was. The sun was playing with the water colors and what we saw was gorgeous variations of blue and green. Sitting in their lounge, facing the lake we had a delicious lunch. I also got a chance to pick a M&B there and read that while we were waiting for lunch.. It was awesome :). We took a couple of pics here as it was a must :). I actually sat on the tip of the ramp and loved it. With this lovely break, we were energetic to explore something new and decided to drive to Hurricane Ridge.

The drive was awesome and as we went higher, we were surrounded by mountains and it was only getting better & better. Just before we could reach the visitor centre we were greeted by 2 deer’s, they were in a romantic mood indicating that Love was in the air.. :).
The views from the visitor centre were fabulous and to our luck, we saw a deer/stag walk by every now and then. It was as if, they were indifferent about human presence near them. Ofcourse, they were alert but were ready to share this beautiful place with us. Not sure, if I would be saying the same had it been a Bear :), but we didn’t spot any. We did a couple of trails here and headed towards the Hurricane Hill trail. Initially it was ok, but later on it was getting tiring coz the going uphill part didn’t seem to end. I was willing to give up, but Niranjan kept us going.. and frankly after a while it didn’t matter.. Not many people on the trail.. so @ times it was just us on those hills.. With a deer in the vicinity. It was a bliss & perfect solitude amidst the open skies, majestic mountains and alpine meadows. The getting back part hardly took us anytime.. & before we realized we were back at the parking lot..

It was quite late by the time we got back. Niranjan made yummy Bhel that night. We were so tired that I never realized when I dozed of to sleep.

Link to the pics:
http://picasaweb.google.com/mnghate/WildernessGetawayNorthOlympicNationalPark?authkey=Gv1sRgCLytv_Khn7KBrAE#slideshow/5498467959291353010

Exploring Small towns to the East of Olympic National Park….
I am not a morning person, but for some reason, I just couldn’t sleep an longer that morning. Stepped outside the cabin and that very instant my sleep vanished… and I was all excited to write the blog.. This is where it actually started writing this blog!! Hehe. Seriously, wished we could have stayed longer @ this place coz to have the lake this close was a thrilling experience for us. We had to get going so I had to put the laptop away. Took a last glimpse of the lake from my cabin and checked out reluctantlyL.

We had to drive to Hood Canal which was about 2 hr drive from Crescent Lake and we were planning to stop by @ the Lavender farms and Dungeness Pit on the way. We just stopped for few min’s at the Dungeness pit which is a Mecca for birds. We did do any trails here as for some reason both of were quite tired. We drove to Sequim and stopped by Lavender farms. The smell was very soothing and relaxing and It was fun walking thru the lavender fields…
We reached the Robin hood cottages @ Hood Canal late afternoon and found this place quite charming & rustic in every sense, I mean the cottage. The town by itself is very small and other than the lake activities there’s nothing much to do here. There’s a resort close by that faces the lake & one could rent canoes, speed boats etc over there. Niranjan suggested we go there and spend sometime as there wasn’t anything much to do anyways. As we strolled thru the area, he cleverly routed me to the Spa, Voila!! That was a pleasant surprise, Niranjan had taken an appointment for a 2 ½ hr spa session for us both. ROYAL BLISS in every sense and it was worth getting pampered after all the endless hikes & trails that we did for the entire week. It was such a relaxing session for both of us that after we were done @ the spa, we relaxed on the beach chairs close to the lake. There was live music with melodious romantic songs in the background as we watched the sun set over the lake. The evening couldn’t have been any better than this!.

24th was our special day & we decided to take it easy… drove to small town “Port Townsend” @ the east tip and strolled thru their downtown in leisure, ate some yummy hot fudge sundae at an old fifty’s style restaurant. After spending some more time in the town, we drove back to our cottage. We had a lovely meal @ the Alderbrook resort. Sipping our cocktails, seeing the sun go down, followed by a lovely dinner and this was topped with a delicious complimentary dessert served by the staff.. Yummy…… now all that was needed was a good walk.. The vacation had almost come to an end.. but we still had one day Yippe!!!

Link to the pics:
http://picasaweb.google.com/mnghate/WildernessGetawayEastOlympicNationalPark?authkey=Gv1sRgCPq798fem8S01wE#slideshow/5498471176857093010

Last but not the least, Mount Rainer National Park….
We decided to end our memorable vacation by spending an entire day @ Mount Rainer National Park, We hadn’t planned for it earlier so it was even more exciting. We drove to Rainer from Hood Canal for about 2 hrs but to get to the visitor centre in Paradise takes about ½ hr more. A good tip given by the ranger was to get to Paradise and park the car coz it gets full after a while and then car parking is a big hassle. We hiked for 5 ½ miles covering couple of trails and thoroughly enjoyed it. It was way too bright & hot but the saying, all pain, no gain is very true. The hikes were worth the sweat, hehe.. The glaciers melted into numerous waterfalls & although the water was freezing cold, splashing the water on our faces was extremely refreshing. The trails were covered with snow in certain sections so it was fun to hike in the snow.. slipped a couple of times, but ski poles were a great help. We were totally tired by the time we got back to visitor centre so decided to call it a day as we had to drive back to Seattle to catch the early morning flight.
Niranjan seemed to get back to work as soon as we got to airport by responding to his work email on the iPhone… as for me, I was still in holiday mode. It’s a good thing, that I don’t have an iPhone, kept me off from checking my office emails. While he was following up on his mails, I decided to continue with my blog.

Link to the pics:
http://picasaweb.google.com/mnghate/MountRainierNationalPark?authkey=Gv1sRgCM_w59b6-YyTCw#slideshow/5498472102837121922

The trip was refreshing in each & ever sense. Every day started with something new and ended in a perfect manner. Endless hikes & trails to rain forest, beaches, water falls, mountains, We both couldn’t have asked for more, and that why I call it a perfect wilderness getaway

Hoping for many more of such vacations… & finally looks like I have penned in all my thoughts, so will end it for now,
Adios....

Links of the places where we stayed:
http://www.aharborview.com/
http://www.huckleberryforks.com/
http://www.mistyvalleyinn.com/
http://www.logcabinresort.net/
http://www.robinhoodvillage.com/
http://www.alderbrookresort.com/

Sites which helped us plan our trip:
http://www.visitolympicpeninsula.org/hurricaneridge.html
http://www.olympicpeninsulawaterfalltrail.com/
http://www.quinaultrainforest.com/pages/hiking.html

Vacation @ Alaska

Cama’I :) (Before you wonder, that’s how Alaskan natives say hello),

This year has definitely been terrific so far in terms of vacation!! Had never imagined that we would cover southwest & northwest corners of America in a matter of 3 months :-). But destiny had other plans for us! Hehee… or was it me ;-p. Anyways, thought of convincing Niranjan… and in the process, I also convinced Ketaki very good friend of mine or should I say I was able to sell the idea :-) and then rest was history… hehe, since our husbands like us so much, they said YES BOSS!! :-) … and the four of us were sold on the idea of an Alaska trip.

Planning & Planning .............
Hawaii trip planning had taken a long time… on the other hand, the decision to visit Alaska was made in a day, the tickets were booked next day and then it took us one week to plan most of the activities.. planning & execution was around 1st week of may!! Considering the airfares, long weekend etc, the best suited week for everyone was 26th May -3rd June. Having decided the days, the next task was getting accommodations, activities in place. We tried B & B’s this time to get a different feel!! Our only constraint was having access to the kitchen or a separate kitchennet, coz having an option of Indian food is always the best!! You can’t deny the saying, EAST OR WEST DESI FOOD IS THE BEST!! :-). Before you doubt our intentions of trip, I mean “tum log khane gaye the ya sightseeing gaye the” I shall proceed ahead with the trip!! :-). What say??

To begin with, we booked the shuttle bus at Denali National forest, as the entire trip revolved around that. Inspite of it being early in the tourist season, we were able to reserve the bus only for 1st of June. We also made reservations for cruise & kayak paddle in advance. Having decided that we chalked out our itinerary…. I don’t plan to list out everything here coz then you may not read ahead ;-) hehe (wicked me). Short summary of the trip would be, we spent 3 days in Anchorage, 1 day in Seward & 2 days in Denali. Coming back to the trip, my friend and I were just counting days… Unlike Hawaii, where we didn’t need an excuse to shop extensively for the trip, Alaska didn’t have much coz the weather indicated that we needed to have layered clothing. But girls being girls thodi bahut shopping to karni hi thi.

Yippeee... Vacation begins...... :)
Days passed by quickly & within no time, we were all set to board the plane on 26th may at 1.30PM. We flew via Alaska Airlines, with a 3 hr break journey at Seattle. The glimpse of snow laden Mt Rainer and the lush green lands from the plane made it even more exciting.. The first sight of Anchorage from the plane was the snow laden mountains. It was refreshing and coming from Phoenix, it looked like heaven to us!! We landed in Anchorage at 9.30pm. The other amazing thing we noticed was, hey its 9.30pm and still daylight??? Awesome. The first thought that came to all our minds was just in case we get up late, we will still have plenty of day-light to do various activities because the sun sets only around 1.30 am and only for three hours.. All the jackets that seemed to be hidden, popped out the moment we landed in Anchorage, it was really cold! We picked our car from Avis (they had the best deals… even after 31% taxes!!!) and headed straight to the Conner lake’s B&B which was just 5 miles from airport. The sight of exclusive kitchen, private jacuzzi thrilled us. Dreaming about glaciers, we called it a day (although there was no sign of sunset).

Next morning, we started with a perfect south Indian breakfast (hehe) hot hot upma, coriander chutney, desi coffee (courtsey ketaki & myself) & some potato dish (courtesy Mahesh) Check out the snap!! You will forget you are in Alaska!! We packed desi sandwiches and saying enough to cooking, we set on our day trip.

Snaps @ Anchorage:
http://picasaweb.google.com/manasi.niranjan/VacationAlaskaAnchorage/photo?authkey=TW3BVheIqes#s5074664179257090914
Day 1: Our first stop was @ Girdwood, a small town 50 miles from Anchorage. The drive was beautiful with the coast on one side and snow laden or lush green mountains on the other. The sun wasn’t as bright and it was quite chilly.. but yet we enjoyed. We were yet digesting the fact that we were very much in Alaska. Stopped at the couple of spots on the way to embrace nature and take pics and reached Girdwood (35 miles from Anchorage along the Seward Highway). It sits on the northern shore of Turnagain Arm and is a town of 2000 people. The main highlight of this town is the Alyeska Resort nestled at the base of Chugach Mountains. We took a ski tram which in five minutes takes you 2300 feet above sea level and offers spectacular views of the Turnagain Arm & snow covered mountains. We could see enthusiastic skiers & snow boarders zipping through the snow and it was fun to watch them. We hiked uphill on the snow and after all the aah ooh…. Ouch, we had enough of it, hehe.. We tired skiing as well and it was worth the effort ;-). Well you have heard the saying all play, no chocolate makes a man dull and tired!! It was time for hot chocolate and from there we left for Portage Valley. It’s about 10 miles from Girdwood. We had made reservations on a one hour cruise to see the Portage Glacier which can be seen only via cruise. We didn’t have time to visit the Crow creek mine & try our luck for gold but we were ok with that. Coming back to the cruise, we were very excited as we were going to see the glacier for the 1st time.. It was really cold but that didn’t stop us from going on to the deck. The park ranger provided some history here and there and in a short while, what we saw was huge chunks of ice floating on the Portage lake followed by the huge glacier. The boat made its way past these chunks of ice and we could clearly listen to the crackling sound of the ice and see the cracks in the ice.. We maintained pin drop salience for sometime, it was an amazing experience and the joy, the surprise reflected on each & every tourists face was worth to be captured. The captain of the boat spotted us & asked “So are you from India?” and while we nodded, he said a famous personality from India had been on our boat for shooting in this Glacier. While we kept wondering he said, Do you know Madhuri Dixit, her movie Pukar was shot here.. We shook hands with him when he said he had shaken hands with Madhuri Dixit .. hehe that was a trivia!! It was interesting to note that only 10% of floating ice is above water while 90% is under water. You can imagine now what must have happened to Titanic when it crashed against an ice-berg.
The view from the boat was definitely mesmerizing and in order to continue to feel the same, we decided to take the one hour hike to Byron Glacier. A friend of mine had suggested we take bear bells as this was a bear area and they didn’t like being surprised… All along the walk we were kind of scared but being a group of 4, we chatted all the way with the bell ringing in background. When we reached the foot of the glacier, it was just beautiful, Ketaki & I did a bit of masti in the snow and while we were about to leave, we saw random footprints here and there. Niranjan tried to trace it but none of us had much knowledge of wild life, we couldn’t figure out which animal it could have been. But having seen the pug marks we didn’t venture too far and decided to head back. Later we happened to refer to the books and realized that the pug marks might have belonged to the Lynx (wild cat) or wolf & that was scary. After all the excitement, we decided to head back to Anchorage and enjoyed the drive. We had dinner at Thai Kitchen (which boasted of lots of veggie dishes) and headed back to the B&B. Although it was 9.30-10, there was no trace of sunset and it felt weird to have to go to bed, but we had to start early next morning and hence we forced ourselves to sleep.

Snaps @ Seward :
http://picasaweb.google.com/manasi.niranjan/VacationAlaskaSeward/photo?authkey=CzSCdFVf4uA#s5074665291653621154
Day 2: We had reserved a 6 hour cruise at Seward (11.30 – 5.30pm). Seward is located 125 miles south of Anchorage and is about 3 hours drive. We were told that the drive was very scenic and we had experienced some of it on the way to Girdwood, so we were prepared for many stops along the way. We reached Seward around 11.00, wandered around the place for sometime and checked in at Renown Travels office for the cruise. The cruise could accommodate 300 people but we were about 70 people, so it was quite spacious and everyone had a very good view. The cruise takes you into famous Kenai Fjords National Park which has abundant marine life and awesome glaciers. We got to see plenty of Humpback whales, a fin whale, sea lions, Orcas (killer whales), Puffins and many types of birds. But the highlight of the cruise was the massive Holgate Glacier. Everyone hoped to see Glacier Calving (process by which ice breaks off a glacier’s terminus, usually this term is reserved for tidewater glaciers or glaciers resulting in lakes). The captain mentioned that pieces of ice continuously break of the face of Holgate Glacier & crash into the sea like small explosions. As if our prayers were answered, we got to see the calving. It was mind-blowing experience. A huge chunk of ice broke off the glacier wall with a loud cracking noise and crashed into the water…The water just splashed everywhere and Glacier was in a way telling us, I am very much there…!!!
Niranjan recorded the calving just in time and you will get to see what its like. We had never been on a cruise for this long and the sea being rough that day, Ketaki & I experienced sea sickness. A tip here - take medicines before you board… So at least for us, it was gratifying & not so enjoyable experience at the same time. We had planned for sunset kayaking but we were not in our best health, so we postponed it to next day morning. We had reserved a B&B in Seward as well and this place was neat & tidy as well. It was a secluded log cabin with five bedrooms, a common room & kitchen. In addition to us, we found another family was staying as well. We decided to end the day by going to a bayside restaurant for dinner. On the way back to our B&B, we spotted a moose, it was walking by a creek in wilderness completely oblivious of our existence.. but the moment we whistled it ran away!! It was more of a donkey with a humpback, I would say!!

Day 3: The 3rd morning, we were all fresh after a good nights sleep and after a steaming cup of coffee, we were all set to do 3 hr kayaking at Lowell point Resurrection Bay, Seward. Sunny Cove adventures provided excellent gear which ensured that we would not get wet. The funny part of the gear was guys had to wear skirts as well. Before you start wondering, skirts?? Their purpose was to strap yourself against the kayak so that no water comes in!! We rented a 2 person kayak as none of us had ever kayaked before for that matter. The first & foremost question was what if the Kayak toppled over!! Hehe! With the excitement & energy & a bit of tension we rowed & rowed. The water was freezing cold and weather wasn’t all that great, when we started out. We took a ½ hr break after one hour at Sitka forest and then rowed back. We were not lucky enough to see sea otters against our Kayak as they show in pics, but on the whole the experience of rowing in the sea was quite challenging & refreshing. We were a group of 10 people including 2 guides. Towards the end of it, I lacked the stamina but it was only because of their motivation & my determination that I made it to the shore!! We cherished our experience. With a sense of achievement, we were all eager to hike to the Exit glacier. It is 3 miles from Seward. The amazing part about this glacier was that you could walk right up to the face of the glacier, almost within touching distance. We were awestruck at this enormous wall of ice and we seemed dwarfs in front of it. The glacier is active and calving, so they advised us to be careful. The one thing you can definitely note is the signs pointing out the glaciers reach in years past and keeps you wondering what would it looking like beyond 50 years from now. It was 9 mile long to begin with, but as of today, it’s a 3 mile stretch. At the base of the glacier, we could actually feel the dense blue ice and listen to the crackle. It just felt very peaceful. Few of pics have come out really well, Hats of to Niranjan!! The blue color, the melting can be distinctly seen in the snaps. After having spent quite some time over there, we headed back to Anchorage. We were really sick of eating bread, bread & bread :-), so we decided to cook an elaborate Indian meal!! Potato bhaji, Tomato soup, Patra, Chappatis & Rice!! This was followed by dessert that was provided by the B&B owner at anchorage. It was a tiring day and by now we had accepted to the fact that we are not going to see sunset/darkness during the entire trip. So without any further ado we went to sleep.

Back to Anchorage...
Day 4: We had planned nothing in particular for today and so didn’t have to get up early :-). We visited the Anchorage Heritage centre. If you have visited Polynesian cultural centre at Hawaii, this was very similar to that. It depicted the life of Alaskan natives from various regions of Alaska. Alaska's Native people are divided into eleven distinct cultures and speak twenty different languages; only four of these qualify as Eskimos. It reminded me of India as we come from the same country but we have so many dialects and the traditions, the living habits etc vary from region to region. Anyways coming back to Alaska, it was amazing to notice the innovative ideas that the natives of every region came up with to sustain themselves against the winter & wild life. Hunting was their main source for food, clothing, etc… it reminded me of Darwin’s theory - Survival of the Fittest!! :-). Totem poles is another interesting structure that they built. Totem poles are used to record family crests, document stories and legends, and to mark special events. The 30ft totem pole build at the center depicts a man who represents the Alaska Native Heritage Center opening the box of knowledge to be shared with the community. At the base of the cedar pole are a boy and girl representing the children and grandchildren of Alaska Native peoples; the child figures also represent the Eagle and Raven moieties of the Tlingit people. Toward the center of the pole is a young man standing over a bent wood box, he is opening the container of wisdom to share with the people. The figure at the top of the pole represents an elder or tradition bearer who instructs and teaches traditional values. You will see it in a pic. Amidst all this, I managed to borrow a native dress for a pic as well :-). Later, we decided to cover the Coastal Line trail along the coast of Anchorage, which starts from downtown. One of the “must do” trails but frankly we went 1/4th mile and found no good views, It seemed like a remote area with marshy land on one side and buildings on the other. May be had we walked a bit more, we would have seen something pleasant!! But it was really cold and a bit gloomy day on the whole so we headed back to downtown. It was good to see the town busting with people. Saw the famous street sign “Airways crossing” of Anchorage. Having found an Indian restaurant in Anchorage, we had dinner there… Please don’t order Malai Kofta, Navratan Kurma & Paneer Shahi, it really SUCKS!!

Snaps on the way to Denali & @ Denali :
http://picasaweb.google.com/manasi.niranjan/VacationAlaskaOnTheWayToDenaliDenali/photo?authkey=xNSx52Wx6pw#s5074680478657980578
Day 5: We planned to drive all the way to Denali National Forest. This was our last day in Anchorage. We left at about 9.30AM. We were tempted to land on the glacier and finally giving in to our temptations, we reserved a flight seeing tour with Talkeetna Air Taxi for the south face McKinley tour with glacier landing on the Ruth Glacier; an expensive affair but all of us had the same mindset - lets just do it this time!! The tour starts from the small town of Talkeetna115 miles from Anchorage. This is an ideal location for the flightseeing as you get to fly over lush green lands before heading up Mt. McKinley. Our plane, a 1957 Beaver, was really small, manually operated 5 seater. We were hyper excited and at the same time some of us had the feeling, what if the plane…. Reminds me of a line from the marathi play “Varadh nighala London la, aai he boong khali padla tar” :-). But it was too late to back off ;-). We started out by flying over the lush Susitna Valley and saw some very unique features… We got to see a stream bright orange in color due to bacteria and pools of water as black as granite amidst lush green trees. From there we flew up Mt McKinley along a glacier and headed into the Don Sheldon amphitheater which is surrounded by Granite peaks and cascading icefalls. Here we landed on one of the forks of the Ruth glacier… The Beaver was well equipped with sledge landing gear for snow landings. It was surprisingly very calm and quiet up there… just the five of us surrounded on all sides with snow covered mountains, standing on top of 4000 feet of ice :-) … On the way back we flew down the Ruth Glacier and spotted few campers on the glacier… We saw the captain had to control the beaver manually & that raised lots of concerns, yeah kya chal rah hai?? We asked the pilot, about the plain and when it was built and he said 1957!! Oh boss, we were relieved that we asked this question after we came back :). After the flightseeing, we spent some time in the town of Talkeetna… This is a very small beautiful laidback town. People were in no hurry to reach anywhere and everyone seemed to be relaxed. The town is also the main staging area for climbers waiting to start their Mt. McKinley ascents and also a sought after place for flight seeing. One of the oriental food place had something written on their specials and that caught our eye!! They had listed “Curd Rice (Yogurt)” as of one of their specials.. This brought a smile to our face and we were sure that lots of Indians had traveled in Alaska.. Yaha pe bhi apna stamp laga ke gaye!! :-). We left Talkeetna around 5 as our destination was Denali National Forest. We had reserved a cabin in Healy( 10 miles from Denali). The owner had built 3 cabins by himself and he was very proud of it. The cabins were clean and nice, nothing extraordinary, but the view from the windows was just too good. Girls being Girls headed straight into the kitchen after we reached and started cooking dinner. Made Paneer sabji, now don’t ask how well we were equipped!! :-) Alaska mein jane ke baad bhi paneer nahi choda!! Anyways it had been a long day and we had to catch an early bus next morning so we called it a day.

Day 6: We had reserved seats on the 7.00AM bus to take us around Denali National Forest. Denali meaning the “High one” is the name Athabascan native people have given Mt. McKinley as it crowns the 600-mile long Alaska Range. The bus journey inside the forest is 85 miles one way and begins at the Wildlife Activity Center (WAC) which surrounded by Spruce forest called Taiga (Russian word, meaning land of little sticks). You can drive by car for initial 15 miles but are not allowed beyond that. The only access into the forests is via their buses. This ensured that natural habitat for wildlife remains as is. All along our stay in Alaska, we were hoping to see a Bear; that was our number one attraction. Our bus driver cum guide had very good knowledge about the forest and all along the drive, he provided very good information. He mentioned at the beginning of the tour that very few people get to see the famous 6 which included wolf, bear, fox, caribou, moose & definitely last but not the least Mt Mckinley!! Mt Mckinley creates it own climate and only 20% of visitors generally get to see it in the first shot. We crossed our fingers and first thing we saw was the majestic Mt Mckinley. It was standing apart from the rest of the mountains and was completely covered with snow!! We were quite far but the view was very clear. Everyone was happy, to be in the lucky 20% and we proceeded ahead. All through the ride, we hoped to see a bear and of course what we saw next was a mamma & baby bear right in front of our bus. Baby bear was so cute and it kept following the mamma bear everywhere. The guide told us that he estimated the cub to be around one year old. Female bears don’t mate while they care for their cubs and usually chase the cub away after 3-4 years to mate once again. We were requested to keep quite and just observe them which everyone obeyed. Mahesh took awesome pictures of the bears. We moved ahead, all along the way, we spotted dall sheep standing high on the mountain slopes, squirrels & rabbits running here and there. Then we spotted a wolf but at a measurable distance, Our guide mentioned that spotting a wolf is rare in Denali compared to a bear. Then in line came the fox :-). We actually got to see it hunt for a squirrel. It reminded us of animal planet documentaries!! As we started going into interiors of the forest, the road began to climb out of taiga and into treeless expanse of the tundra. After we reached the last drop point (Fish Creek) we left the bus and spent some time walking in the Tundras (hehe… remember Geography in school??). Tundra is a fascinating world of dwarfed shrubs and miniaturized wildflowers adapted to a short growing season. More than 650 species of flowering plants grace the slopes and valleys of Denali. Walking on grasslands was like walking on a carpet. We couldn’t see a full bloom, but one can imagine how beautiful it would look then. It seemed like God fell in love with this place even before he made it!! This was also a perfect spot to view Mt Mckinley(70 miles into forest).Mt Mckinley is the highest peak in North America at a height of 20,320ft. and is the centre piece of Denali National park. The amazing thing about the Denali is you could hike to your hearts content and catch the bus whenever you felt like it. Of course provided the bus had some space :-), It is required for all the passengers to be seated. We hiked for about 5 miles that day and by the time we left the park, it was 8pm. The sun was shining brightly and it definitely had no intention of giving the moon a chance to rise!! We stopped by a café and had a nice cup of coffee and bagels, did a bit of window shopping and headed back to our cabins. It was indeed a tiring day, but we felt great because of the physical activity. We needed a good sleep and a bit of darkness for that :-), it was kind of irritating to see sky so bright at 11pm in the night. I don’t know who was the last person to crib, but one by one all of us went to sleep :-).

Day7: This was our final day in Denali & Alaska for that matter, It felt good to get back to Phoenix and did feel a bit sad to leave Denali. But then saying “jana to padega”, we left our cabin around 9am & left for Denali Park Head quarters to view the sled dog demonstration. The rangers and dogs work together to demonstrate a traditional Alaskan mode of travel. Thus unique 30 minute program includes an opportunity to tour the park kennels and visit Denali's Alaskan Huskies. The dogs were a beauty and although I am not much of a dog lover, I did attempt to pet one of them - An 8 year old Husky named Carlos who was soon to be adopted. The huskies are mixed breed that are selected for performance not looks. Husky breeders are looking for dogs with an instinctive desire to pull long and hard through the toughest conditions. The dogs are trained during summer so that they are all set for winter. It was fun & scary to watch them.
From there we drove to the Savage River point (one of the stops in park) and did a 3 mile hike. The day was perfect and so we so thought of burning few calories before our vacation came to an end. The trail was by a stream of water and the sound of water was very pleasant. We tried to record the sound, but it turned out ok.. It was almost 1pm and we were really hungry. Stopped by a café, had quick lunch and resumed our 6hr drive back to Anchorage. We stopped at Eklutna/ Thunderbird Falls (1/2hr drive from Anchorage) and did our last 2 miles hike there!! The falls are beautiful and so were the lush green trees and plants around it. It was perfect set from Hawaii. The only part that didn’t let us stand there for long was mosquitoes. Uff! Ye Machar!! 8 miles hiking in 2 days was an achievement for us and after realizing that it was 15 miles hiking during the whole week we were overjoyed!! We declared ourselves as serious hikers :-) hehe and drove to downtown Anchorage. We desperately wanted something hot to eat so we went back to the Indian restaurant in spite of all the junk we had there. We decided to go simple, rice & dal makhani. I guess that was indeed the best bet!! After all the hectic day, we attacked the food and finished it in no time. We reached Anchorage airport around 10, returned the car and were in time for boarding the 1AM plane. We were so sleepy that we didn’t realize that it was a 7 hr flight. We reached Phoenix around 9.30AM. I did get up once and took a sneak peak at the darkness and felt HURRAY!!! AFTER 7 days of daylight, this was a bliss for me!! I really missed it and I am sure everyone else felt the same.

The trip was geared towards outdoor activities and yet it allowed us ample time to relax and enjoy the vacation. Each day promised a new adventure and a first time ever activity. However personally I felt, may be later weeks of June or early July is a better time to visit Alaska, when the temperature would be in 60’s. Layered clothes, is not something I look forward to wearing :-(. One must definitely visit Alaska. The glaciers, wild life, the scenic beauty this place offers, hmm.. Alaska is definite a winner in terms of Gods creations!!

I realize that I have changed the definition of a blog :-) and have ended up writing a book but guess what I just couldn’t stop the flow of thoughts and had to pen them down!! I thoroughly enjoyed penning down everything as usual and it was re-living each and every moment again.

Hoping for many more of such vacations, I shall end my blog on this pleasant note,
:-) Ukudigada (That’s how Aluet people say good bye) :-).

Below are few links that might be useful,
Anchorage (Bed & Breakfast) : http://www.connerlake.com/
Seward (Bed & Breakfast) :
http://www.stoneycreekinn.net/
Healy cabins(5 miles from Denali) :
http://www.aksprucecabins.com/about.htm
Renown travels cruise @ Seward :
http://www.renowntours.com/contact-us.htm
Sunny Cove kayaks @ Seward : http://www.sunnycove.com/
For bus reservations, forest details : http://www.denali.national-park.com/
Portage Glacier cruise @ Portage Valley :
http://www.graylinealaska.com/sightseeingtours.cfm/mode/detail/product_id/1789
Info on various trails :
http://www.trails.com/activity.asp?area=11830 http://www.dnr.state.ak.us/parks/units/chugach/trails.htm
For other lodging details: Lodging @ Seward : http://www.alaskaone.com/seward/acmlst.html
Lodging @ anchorage: http://www.anchorage-bnb.com/inns.php?id=178 http://www.alaskaone.com/anchorage/acmlst.html http://www.anchorage.net/

Vacation @ Maui

Aloha!!

Where do I start ? ? Hmm.. Just thinking about the trip, brings a smile to my face!!

Planning, Planning & Planning :-)

Somewhere at end of 2006, we started planning a trip to Hawaii... Merely having decided to visit Hawaii got us excited… To start with, we had to decide the number of days, which islands to visit, what to see etc!! Maui was a instant choice as we had heard from our close friends that it is “the place” for a dream gate-away :-) and their pics were definitely tempting.

We bought this book "Maui Revealed" by Wizard publications, on a friends recommendation. The book was definitely informative and the best part about the site/book are the aerial views of the hotels which let you see exactly how close the hotel is to a beach... You can decide for yourself if the ocean front hotel really has an ocean front view or not!! A Nice book to have!! Check it out in one of the book stores. Having read most of the book, we finalized on visitng Maui.

We planned out our trip from 2nd Feb - 11th Feb of 07!! We were getting good deals via Hawaii airlines from Phx to Oahu. As we were flying to Oahu, we decided to make a short stay @ Oahu before spending major chunk of our vacation at Maui. We were interested in visiting 2-3 places in Oahu so we decided to stay there for 1 1/2 days and spend the remaining 8 days in Maui.

At this point, we had our task list ready 1) Book hotels 2) decide the places of interest @ Oahu & Maui 3) finalize few fun activities @ Maui. At Ohau, we booked a ocean view room in Parkshore Hotel. A moderately priced place across the street from the Waikiki beach. At Maui, we booked a garden view room in Napili village. We wanted a ocean view room with a kitchen but to our luck all such rooms were already booked. The next best choice was at Napili village, where rooms were spacious, 2 min walk away from the beach with a well equipped kitchen. This place was also given a good review by book "Maui revealed".

We kept our plans open for Oahu, but booked a couple of activities @ Maui thru "Activities Warehouse". We booked the activites of our interest on their website and got an estimate. We then called them and asked an estimate as well, To our luck, the estimate was lower than their online deals. They generally fax you the list of activities, time, day etc and once you reach Maui, we need to visit their store and pick up the passes... As I go further, I will shed more light on the activities we did. :-).

Journey Begins, Reached Oahu!!

http://picasaweb.google.com/manasi.niranjan/Oahu/photo?authkey=_0tUAzTcXPo#s5032575988130027218

Having planned most of the stuff, all that was left to do was to wait to board the flight on 2nd Feb :-). We took the 8 AM flight on 2nd Feb from Phx and reached Oahu at about 1.30pm. It was really hot in Oahu, so for a minute, we boasted of how good weather Phx had at present compared to Oahu ;-). By the time, we got our luggage, picked the rental car and reached our hotel, it was 3pm. Our room was on the 14th floor and view of the sea was superb!! Given a choice, I would have sat in our lanai (balcony) watching the sea for countless hours. But we definitely needed some exercise after a long flight... so we decided to take a hike to Diamond Head Crater.

The 0.7 mile hike and the view you get from this point is worth all the sweat!! :-). The hike was a bit of an adventure in itself - it comprised of hilly roads, two flights of 150 steps, a dark tunnel and windy rusted spiral staircase. 0.7 mile seemed a lot then!! :-) hehe!! The wind, sun was just perfect when we go to the top and view was fantabolous! We could see the whole of Waikiki beach lined up with tall buildings/hotels. Our hotel was the first in line!! We spent 1/2 hr there and then headed back... We then drove to the Waikiki beach and were in time to see the sun-set!! The beach, the waves and the sunset was a treat to the eyes... This refreshing view recharged us for a walk down the beach front streets... This place was really close to Promenade street, LA - in short words it was a happening place. ABC Stores popped up at every intersection and no store seemed to lack people. It could give a hard competition to Mc Donalds in terms of its number of locations!! But that was _the_ place to get stuff at reasonable prices compared to others!! An expensive place on the whole for no reason!! Overall a busy street full of people from all walks of life…

The next day, we left early to visit Pearl Harbour. It was more of an educational tour and taking us back into the time when the bombing took place. The articles, relics and the movie depicted what happened that very morning at 7.10am. The Arizona vessel still lays in water and in spite of so many years, oil still oozes out from the battleship. They have built a memorial right on top of the ship and have listed the names of all the soldiers that died when the battleship was bombed that day. We also visited the blowfin submarine all set to attack Japan, however it was never used. It makes us wonder how these people must have spent their time in these tiny winy cabins.. where all they could do after work was sleep or use the loo. All their stuff had to be in a trunk. There was no room for closet, table or chair!! We also visted the battleship Missuri where the peace treaty was signed between America & Japan. Currently this battleship has been decommissioned. We were kind of bored coz too much of education in one shot is hard to digest!! Anyways.. we decided to visit the Polynesian Cultural Centre and have some relaxed time.. with Fiji’s, Samoan’s, Tonga village ppl… There are three more.. you can see them in the snaps :) It was a long drive but pleasant.. coz on one side, were huge green mountains and on the other side were the beautiful beaches of Kaneohe Bay! We spent about three hours at PCC and it was totally relaxing... We got to explore the cultures of all the polynesian islands up close and have some fun at the same time! At the end of the day, more than 100 artists put up a performance at the "Horizons" Show. It’s a thrill to watch. Most of these artists are students studying at a near by university and they get stipends for working here.. that’s how they fund their education. It was about 11pm by the time we got back to our room.

We decided to take it easy the next morning and spend few hours at the Waikiki beach before we had to head out for the airport. We went for a long walk on the beach… did some jogging and after loading our lungs with all the fresh air, we stopped by Seattle’s for a nice steaming coffee and a toasted bagel, of course with cream cheese… Hehe after the long morning walk we didn’t mind the calories ;-). The stores were open by 8AM and after visiting a couple of ABC’s we headed back to our room. We left for airport to catch the 1 PM flight and reached Maui at 1.45pm. We got a fantastic view of different islands from the air... Make sure you sit on the _left_ side of the plane on the way to Maui, and on the _right_ side on the way back... One of the best tips we got from the gate agents. For once it was good to ask for directions ;-)

In Ohau, our vacation wasn’t as relaxing as we had expected... hence we were eager to get to Maui…

REACHED MAUI

Having picked up the rental car, we shopped for Groceries @ Walmart, Safeway and went to Lahaina. The closest safeway is in Lahaina Cannery Mall, 5 min drive from Kaanapili & 10min drive from Napili. We had to pick up the passes @ activity warehouse for the various activities we had booked. The town was really cute, small shops all lined up, color sarongs swaying and people walking by in no hurry… We spent sometime under the Big Banyan tree.. The tree had room for everybody.. size didn’t matter ;-) hehe. We reached our hotel Napili Village at about 7.00pm. In spite of a relatively busy day, the moment I saw our small kitchenette, I was all geared to cook a nice desi spicy meal.. We finished the food in no time and then went for a walk across the Napili beach. The low rumble of the waves, light winds swaying the coconut trees and with niranjan by my side, hmm.. It was perfectly romantic. Felt like a typical M & B setting…

Sunrise @ Haleakela Crater

http://picasaweb.google.com/manasi.niranjan/SuriseHaleakelaMaui/photo?authkey=R7gzMjyAJU8#s5032675755925347378

Next early morning or should I say midnight, Mountain Riders van came to pick us up @ 2.30am. We were going to see the sun rise at Haleakela Crater @ 10,000ft elevation. Our guide Jimbo was chatting all the way and it was amazing to see how anybody could be so fresh in the morning. After reaching the summit, we were given coffee & muffins. We must have had coffee & muffins for the first time in our life at 4.30 in the morning… hehe… It was freezing out there and extremely windy. Having worn multiple layered clothing wasn’t really enough.. but they provided us with wind cheaters so we could stand @ the observatory deck for so long… We were shivering, teeth chattering.. but we refuse to step back until we caught the glimpse of the sun.. The sun took its own sweet time… but that’s where lies the beauty of sun rise…!! Sun rose over the clouds, right over the crater…. The view was so amazing, it just couldn’t get any better. There were 10 of us as a group who planned to bicycle down 38 miles from the summit, all the way from an elevation of 10,000 ft to sea level! We started out @ 8 am with mixed feelings... It was a bit scary and adventourous at the same time.. We had never thought in life that we would bike downhill for 38 miles… Initially, I braked and braked and drove slowly so as to not dash into our guide who lead the group. We were asked to form a line, keep a distance of 20ft between us and follow him. Since I was a bit nervous.. I was made to stand first in the line :-). For the first 12 miles my concentration was only on the cycle and I just forgot to look at the surroundings and the breath taking views around me.. But post 12 miles, I was comfortable.. and then the ride was a bliss.. I felt like a bird who just wanted to fly & fly… Niranjan felt the same.. We took 2 halts, one to take some nice lovey dovey pics.. and 2nd for breakfast at a small town (Piai).. very close to the base. Our last stop was at Piai beach where the entire group hanged out for sometime and then we were dropped by their van to respective hotels. We were so excited and charged up after the ride that nothing sounded impossible… hehe.. We were sleepy coz we got up early.. but we would have messed up the whole evening had we slept.. so we decided to take a submarine tour[Reef dancer] to watch the coral life near Lahaina Harbour… We were hoping to see something dramatic.. like a shark or something.. but that didn’t happen. Saw a lot of corals, tiny winy fishes and sea urchins.. Ofcourse when we were on the deck.. we got to see a turtle as well.. but it was so shy.. that it dissappeared in no time ;-). Hanged around in Lahaina town for some time and then headed back to our hotel in the evening. We were dead tired so just ate and slept.

Drive thru Heavenly Hana

http://picasaweb.google.com/manasi.niranjan/RoadToHeavenlyHana/photo?authkey=HKCAFizh7SE#s5032572818444161938

The next thing we looked forward to was drive along the Heavenly Hana road!! We got up early and headed out towards Hana. The weather was perfect and so were we!! To our luck, we happened to catch a glimpse of whales along the coastline. Our 1st stop was again at Paia beach just before the start of Hana. We got to see plenty of surfers and it was amazing to see how these people ride the huge waves.. Don’t know, whether I can try something like this.. but would love to!! It was perfect place to take snaps.. so did no kanjoosi in taking snaps :-). We asked a elderly person to take our snaps with the huge waves in background.. Just before he clicked.. he asked us.. "are you happy?" And our faces beamed with happiness and we heard the click!! That snap came out really well.. and I luved his question.. “Are you happy ??? “ brings an instant smile to your face... doesn't it?
We continued with our trip from there.. We purchased a audio CD which basically guides you thru the drive. You just cant miss any scenic must see points with this CD. Road to Hana was windy… It basically has 600+ turns. Don’t worry, I didn’t count.. someelse did that and gave it as a note in the CD brochure.. ;-). The forests, the waterfalls, the sea.. waves, flowers trees.. it seemed liked God has specially favoured this place interms of its natural beauty!! Variations in green were so refreshing.. that driving thru this was a heavenly… No wonder they say.. ROAD TO HEAVENLY HANA!! I don’t want to write more coz I wish you all visit Hana and see the beauty for yourself.. Its too hard to express… somethings are just meant to be felt and cherished!! (But do look at our pictures to get an idea :)
Anways getting back to our drive, we reached Hana town (very small place) at about 5pm. Checked in @ Aloha Cottages, dropped our bags.. and headed straight to tne Hamoa beach.. It was a 5 minute drive, but well worth it.. To our luck there was nobody and so we had the beach to ourselves.. Humming “Sagar kinare dil ye pukare, tu jo nahi to mera.” we had as much as fun we could in the waters… After sunset, we headed back to our room. Made uttappas.. hehe desi food rocks anytime.. and ended the day, watching the bright stars with a sip of brewing coffeee… hmm…
The next day, early morning we headed back to Hamoa beach, just in time for the sunrise.. To our surprise, there was no one other than us, for a minute we felt we owned this beach.. Sunrise was amazing from here.. and I got to do a bit of modelling as well.. You can see that in a couple of snaps :-). A nice morning walk by the beach was just perfect and truly memorable. We then came back.. packed stuff, checked out and drove ahead to see the 7 sacred pools. These seven waterfalls finally merge into the sea… We actually got to have fun in one of the pools. The water was cold and it was freezing.. but in 5 minutes we were ok!! This place was perfect for a Liril ad!! But we thought lets have Lifebouy ad!! ;-) So Niranjan did a the photo shoot!! :-)
Sun was at its peak by then.. and we were tired in the scorching heat so did a small trail and headed back to Maui… Took a last view of the lush green forests, flowers & waterfalls. We stopped by whaler’s village @ Kanapili on our way back.. The whale museum had a lot of information on how Lahaina became a whaling hub, how they caught whales during those days.. and how risky it was etc. We then hanged around the stores.. and also got to see polynesian dances performed by group of very young girls.. they looked really cute!!.

Last few days..

http://picasaweb.google.com/manasi.niranjan/Maui/photo?authkey=KYxiV188TvM#s5032600052831787970

The next day we were supposed to go snorkelling but due to winds and rain..the cruise cancelled the snorkel trip.. For the next four days, we found ourselves very relaxed and in no hurry to get anything done for that matter… We went whale watching, were lucky enough to see the whales breach.. They are magnificient mammals and we all use to clap when they breached!! Hehe.. It was like a show for us but actually the male whale was busy vooing the female whale!! Unke Pyar karne ka andaz sahi laga… :-) We also visited the Maui Ocean centre, It had so many fishes, sharks & turtles. Their world was so different that we seemed like intruders there.. Opps I missed one of our adventures!! We did the zipline by Skyline tours.. You are basically hung with a pulley around a cable.. and all you need to do is look at the depth, think about the yourself.. make a last wish if any.. and jump.. Hehe don’t get scared.. In a few minutes, you glide to the other end. They had 5 such ziplines.. basic intermediate.. advanced … the final one was MINDBLOWING!! It was 185 ft in depth and 400 ft apart!! You basically “ARE HANGING IN LOOSE” You have to see the pictures of these. We also attend the luau @ Royal Lahaina. Food may be not that interesting for some of us, but hula and other dances were interesting. It was a relaxed evening with a sip of Mai Tai here and there.
Besides this, we spent a lot of time @ Napili beach, 2 min from our room. Be it swimming, snorkelling, boogie boarding, reading a novel, lazing on the beach mats, watching the stars or sitting under the tikki’s in the night sipping wine!! Each and every moment was relaxing, comforting & it just felt peaceful. Cooking was also fun in the small kitchen. We never realized how each day just passed by.. On the last day, we spent our last few hours on the beach and left to the airport to head back to Pheonix…

I thoroughly enjoyed penning down everything.. It was reliving each and every moment again...

ALL WE CAN SAY IS THE EXPERIENCE IN TOTALITY WAS AMAZING & WE HOPE THAT WE CONTINUE TO VISIT MAUI WHENVER POSSIBLE!!

IT WAS, IS & WILL ALWAYS BE A DREAM VACATION!!

Last but not the least.. flora & fauna @ Maui.

http://picasaweb.google.com/manasi.niranjan/Flora_Fauna__Maui/photo?authkey=lg49Tz4JpbQ#s5032789237551242530

I shall end my first blog on this pleasant note!! ALOHA & MAHALO!!

Ps: Found the following websites quite useful..

http://wizardpub.com/ : "Maui Revealed" very informative book..

http://www.napilivillage.com/ : Napili village, moderatly priced cozy clean place, with full equipped kitchen, 2 min away from the beach.

http://www.travelhawaii.com/ : Activity Warehouse, Good place to book all your activities and very reasonable deals..

http://www.hawaiiweathertoday.com/?p=319 : Check out the weather info. Glen provides a very good service and also replies, if you have any specific questions about the weather.

http://www.mauibeachguide.com/ : All the info on beaches!! where to park.. which are safe etc.

http://www.sidestep.com/travel-info-t0015010008-walking_tours_maui_hi : Walking tour around Lahaina town.

http://www.mauihawaii.org/restaurants.htm : All the info you can get from ok to expensive restaurants in Maui