Weekend Getaways and Activities in Bay Area

Although I haven't explored a lot of the gold country, here I list a few places I visited for weekend getaways and some adventure. I keep updating this list from time to time to add more places to it.

1. Yosemite National Park: This place also known as the crown jewel of California is definitely worth a visit atleast once every year. Summers, you can enjoy the waterfalls in the valley, camping and exploring the milky way in the night. The valley has some of the clearest and amazing views of the night sky.
2. Sequoia National Park: If you want to see giant trees ( you wont know how tall trees could be until you visit this place), this is the place. Beautiful and away from crowds, nice hiking trails and viewpoints. Has World's biggest trees. After returning from this place, i bet the typical trees we see everyday will appear as if plants compared to the giant Redwoods in Sequoia.
3. Big Sur Coastline: Just drive along the Highway 1 Big Sur coastline to see some of the vast romantic expanses of blue Pacific cuddled between small hills. Some of the most luxurious dining and living is available on this Coastline if you are upto it. Perfect for a drive on a clear day.
4. Big Basin: This state park is about redwood trees with nice hiking trails and picnic areas. Ideal for a day out. Stop for a coffee in the beautiful Saratoga downtown.
5. Los Altos downtown: Small and pretty, lots of local coffee shops. Good for spending the evening, window shopping and sipping some coffee other than starbucks.
6. If you want to see the snow: in winter on a rainy day just drive upto the hill of castle rock state park. If you are lucky you will get to see snow there.
7. Sausalito: A small and pretty meditteranean village on the other end of the golden gate bridge on 101N. Has some wonderful and rejuvenating views of the Bay.
8. Santa Cruz boardwalk: A getaway for evening, beach and a boardwalk if you want to play some games and do some stuff.
9. Clock Tower, San Francisco: You can go around the ferry building, or just around that area, or take a cruise from ferry building to Sausalito.
10. Half Moon Bay: You can see a beautiful sunset on this beach. Nestled in the hills, a nice getaway for a day. The downtown is also worth seeing by a casual walk.
11. Walk the Golden Gate: On a clear day you can walk or bike on the golden gate bridge for a nice exercise and some great views of the bay.
12.Mount Hamilton- Lick Observatory: If you are in a mood for some adventurous driving then a 12 mile winding road only 12-13 feet wide for both lanes leading to the summit of Mt Hamilton, where the world's largest refracting telescope is housed in an observatory might be a nice destination for you.
13.Palomarin Trail, Point Reyes- This Hiking trail has spectacular views of the ocean on one side and hills on the other. You can also see the Stinson beach in the distance.
14.Bike the Bay- This can be one of the most rewarding experiences. Rent a bike from Fisherman's Warf and bike along the Bay , Marine Drive, over Golden Gate into Sausalito. Its an over 10 mile bike with beautiful views of the bay. On the way back you can take a ferry back to Embarcadero.
15.Breakfast Sunday in the city (San Francisco): How about a nice lazy Sunday brunch in the city. A nice hash brown sandwich at the family run Art's Cafe or Mama's cafe can give your Sunday the right lazy start that we all need once in a while. The city is always buzzing with life, and there is nothing better than a Sunday brunch there.
16. Mt. Madonna, Hanuman Mandir: Want to do some yoga or meditation to elate your spiritual powers? Mt Madonna center is the ideal place, nestled in Gilroy hills away from noise, traffic and crowd.
17.Uvas Canyon Park: Beautiful state park, with lots of lady beetles, waterfalls, rolling green hills, creeks. Perfect for pikniking and some short hikes.

Quarter Life Crisis

Maybe everybody goes through it. Thats what i have concluded after talking to some my friends who are also as confused as me or maybe even more. I think we can call it Quarter life crisis and I would put it as, it happens to the thoughtful twenty-somes who like to retrospect, circumspect, plan ahead or just think too much. Here i list some of the symptoms of this disorder (maybe).:

1. You think you were much happier as a student as you had lesser responsibilities. Since now school is over , you have to be responsible whether you want or not which makes you think you are growing older and soon going to be one of those colleagues at work swamped with responsibilities of work and family. This is what you always feared.

2. Did i make the right choice in my career? Most of the days at work you think, did i think i would be doing this one day in my life. All these years , was i preparing to do this or i might have been much better off if i would have made the other choice. Should i continue with this. Is this what gives me happiness. The usual fight between happiness and being practical. Doing what you like is one thing and doing something from which you can earn a good livelihood is another. Now its time to be practical? maybe.

3. What am i doing, whats my purpose, all these questions might haunt you many times. you might always think, what do i actually want in life? You want to figure out that answer but you know its a very difficult thing to figure out.

There are many more things to list out but those are the ones at the top of my mind. .

Cooking Blues

There are many things which we are typically fond of which are also a part of our daily activities. For instance cooking. I am quite fond of cooking, trying to make new recipes and eating healthy and delicious self cooked food. Well its worth the effort since I am the one who has to eat it after cooking. But i wonder why once every couple of months it becomes a matter of just survival -cook something quickly to get done with it. Huh! , i am right now going through that time. Just till last week i was so enthusiastic about cooking , and now nope! just cook something in minimum time. although i am sure, it wont last long, i will soon be back to action. Maybe because these days I am quite busy due to work and non work reasons. And also maybe always cooking just for yourself is boring beyond a point. Last but not least maybe I am bored of eating my style, got exhausted with the stuff i cook and need some change for some time. In such times I am a big fan of chipotle burritos and Pizzas..sounds yummy..

Big Sur-Paradise on Earth

This weekend i spent a day and a half in Big Sur, the central coastline of California between Carmel and Hearst Castle. Fortunately it was a bright and sunny day and i started my Saturday with a delicious breakfast at River Inn. The Big Sur river just flows by River Inn Cafe. A very relaxing place to read or just sit and do nothing. Followed by that on highway 1 , i saw some of the most beautiful views on this planet ( from the little what i have seen so far). The huge Pacific is always seen on one side of the road, changing colors during the day and with the angles on the road. At one of the places near Henry Miller memorial library on the way to Pfeiffer beach, i saw a huge spread of white fog captured between the hills above the ocean. This was one of the most majestic sights. The water in the ocean sparkling in the sun was immersed in this spread of fog. It seemed like the land, sea and sky were blending into one another. Pfeiffer beach was a deserted and beautiful beach with hills on one side of the beach along with a few huge rocks. The ocean roaring through the rocks seemed eager to reach the hills, the tides were quite high. After Pfeiffer beach I saw some more scenic views on the historic highway including the Big Sur bridge on one side of a huge cliff above the ocean. Big Sur has a few state parks, but i didnt visit any of them this time. I havnt even explored one tenth of this beautiful expanse of land, ocean and sky, so have to go again soon!

Atlantis launch hopefully today

NASA is going to launch Atlantis (hopefully today , if everything goes fine) from Florida. The mission is to install the new European space lab 'Columbus' on the International Space Station. ISS is a joint project of 16 nations although US has been the major contributor so far. This is an astronaut mission today. It also reminds me of the Columbia disaster which happened on Feb 1, 2003 which had Kalpana Chawla among other 7 astronauts on board. Well how dangerous these things can get, but still man is constantly lured by the excitement of exploration irrespective of the accompanying dangers.

Space Tourism - Business or could mean something else?

Today morning i was listening to the news on CNN when they showed that Richard Branson of 'Virgin' along with some other business partner is going to launch a space tourism jet by the end of the year. The jet will carry 6 passengers to outer space along with 2 crew members. The price is targeted to be 200,000$ per passenger. Sounds like a great business plan for Virgin who are ready to invade the outer space. Well there are 2 sides to this. This program which will be a cup of tea for the affluent will enable people to travel to outer space. There are already 200 passengers from different countries who are signed up for the program. However the other side to this is that man has started putting his footsteps in space for commercial purposes. Where would it lead to? It has been seen in the past , that wherever man goes he brings with him pollution, acts which harm the nature and destroys peace. This is not too far if we dont stop our rapid invasion of space. I think space should be kept for research and exploration as much as possible and not for commercial use. This will help maintain the sanity and peace of space.

Tangy Honey Kissed Baked Potatoes

INGREDIENTS:
-Potatoes
-Honey
-Mustard Seeds
-Ginger
-Black Pepper
-Red Chillie Powder
-Turmeric Powder
-Salt
-Cooking Oil

RECIPE:

1. Peel the potatoes and cut them into small rectangles.

2. Take some cooking oil in a pan and heat. Once it is hot, put some mustard seeds in the oil.They will sputter. Now add some turmeric powder, ginger juice, black pepper and red chillie powder,salt to it. Mix them and heat for sometime. Now add one table spoon of honey to this and mix to form a glaze.

3. Coat the potato pieces with the glaze and spread them on an aluminium foil to bake.

4. Once baked, garnish them with coriander leaves. Serve hot. Enjoy the spicy and tangy flavor.