C'est moi

One of the best things about being in a place like Bay Area is access to opportunities. No, I am not talking about Silicon Valley, I am talking about opportunities to getaway every weekend. One such weekend destination is North America's second deepest and alpine lake, Lake Tahoe. At an elevation of 6225 ft approx. Lake Tahoe, is easy to get to, and gorgeous as heaven. It has two seasons - gorgeous summers and snow-clad gorgeous winters. My nephew is visiting from the east coast and instead of doing a trip to the city again, this time around we planned on a day trip to Big Sur, the past weekend to Lake Tahoe. Not that these two places are not the usual to-do's but at least I hadn't been to either before. We live in the south bay so its about a 4 1/2 hr drive keeping in mind a pitstop since we were traveling with a toddler. Up until Sacramento and Folsom, it was just a regular drive through the US cities but once we hit the hair pin turns and mountainous terrain of Eldo...

The day I The day I was like WTF?: As I sat on the throne synonymous for quality personal time, e coli layered gadgets, political cogitation, and optimizing your mobile phone space, I took a deep breath much like the gorilla in the cadbury ad as Phil Collins went about the air tonight, and broke into "mmmmm... yeh duniya yeh duniya pital di, yeh duniya pital di" Yes, I did that! The day I fractured my leg: The top rope belay systems were in place, I was free climbing with minimal support somewhere deep in Yosemite when I spotted a tiny lamb stuck in between. Heeding to the animal lover in me, I reached out and tried to help him/her down but instead fell to my fate of a fractured leg. Sounds heroic right? A little bit like me? I mean seriously I totally could've been in that position. Nope, thats definitely not how it happened, I went down a smoothened stone slide in a children's park pretending to have fun with my son. As we approached the bottom of t...

The first time S mentioned a trip to Hawaii, I was excited but it never happened, the second time I heard of us going to Hawaii, I was still excited and it never materialized so when the third time Hawaii came up, I said 'Sure, we'll get right on that!' I just got back and boy is my son relieved! Not because he didn't have fun wading at the pool never wanting to get out or playing with his sand toys but because on our last day we also dragged him along damn close to 4 year old, 10ft, 1000 lbs bottlenose dolphins, and took him on a 1500 ft altitude helicopter ride amid waterfalls and active volcanoes. So you know how much screaming was involved - I am sorry Nahale (Dolphin) & Mr. Pilot. You have been traumatized for life. The trip was planned for our 5th anniversary by the one I shall refer to as my 'better half' just for the sake of this post and making this trip happen. I like to keep that title for myself usually. After overpacking and under plan...