Siddarth Family Adventures

Suba and Mahesh visit SF

Mon, 04 May 2026 12:32:10 +0200

A gallery here:

Sisters hanging out together

Sid visits Tokyo, Seoul, Beijing and Shenzen

Sun, 12 Apr 2026 08:34:59 -0700

A gallery here:

Waking up in Tokyo

Spring Break 2026 takes us to St Louis and Kansas City

Sat, 28 Mar 2026 09:56:31 -0700

A gallery here:

Hello St Louis

Mexico for Christmas and New Year 2026

Mon, 22 Dec 2025 20:02:21 -0800

We planned a trip to Mexico city and Cancun for winter break. It was nice to have Parents come along on vacation after a long time. A relaxing vacation, we took it a little slower, partially for Parents, but mostly because a lot of days were holidays and things were just closed for the day.

Mexico city was filled with culture and food. Museums, historic sites and a variety of restaurants (and cuisines) and lots of neighborhood walks. The La Condesa neighbourhood is truly nice.

Thanksgiving

Tue, 25 Nov 2025 16:28:16 -0800

We spent a few days in Brentwood, to celebrate Thanksgiving with Dilip, Lalitha aunty, Nikhil and my parents.

We also had an small celebration for Aaravs 15th Birtday. Some photos for posterity.

Happy Birthday Aarav!

EuroVelo

Tue, 30 Sep 2025 16:50:17 -0800

A long discussed dream bike trip through parts of europe finally became reality this year thanks to Josh and Mike Shantzis hosting us in Europe.

Here’s a travel map that I live updated as I was on the trip, to give you an idea of what my trip looked like.

Enjoy a full gallery by clicking the image below.

Bikers ready to bike

North Carolina

Sat, 19 Jul 2025 21:10:28 -0700

We travelled to the Raleigh-Durham area of North Carolina to visit Purni’s Family. Seeing Lalli Peddamma and spending some time with her was the focus of the visit, but we had the pleaseure of also seeing all the members of Purni’s family in NC.

Thanks to Radhika and Vidhyadhar for hosting, feeding and entertaining us. We had a lovely visit with Ravi and Meera, and a quick drop-in to see Dwija and Bharath after a long time.

Colorado Springs and Rocky Mountain National Park

Wed, 16 Jul 2025 18:26:39 -0700

With Purni just having started a new job at Paypal, we decided to trim down our usual summer vacation to just a week. Kavitha had mentioned wanting to vacation with us, so decided to combine forces ane meet in the middle… of the country :)

The first half of our trip was in Colorado Springs, about an hour south of Denver. And the second half was in Estes Park, right outside the gates of Rocky Mountain National park.

India Trip Dec 2024

Fri, 04 Jul 2025 17:24:00 -0700

Chennai Paati’s 75th birthday gave us an occasion to visit Chennai last December. We managed to pack in a trip to Kodaikanal for old times sake, and had a wonderful opportunity to reconnect with old friends from school and college.

A galley of photos is attached.

No place like home.

Interlaken: Part 2

Wed, 31 Jul 2024 16:09:37 -0800

On our penultimate day in the interlaken area, we visited the Lauterbrunnen valley, which is famous for its scenery, waterfalls, and a popular destination for people to skydive, basejump etc.

Staubbach waterfall

Group photo time

Walking through the valley

Taking in the views

Cousins

Interlaken: Part 1

Mon, 29 Jul 2024 16:09:33 -0800

Our first day in Ringgenberg, and in the Interlaken area, we decided to see the area from the local ferry / cruise service, which rungs in a zig-zag loop around lake Brienz stopping at Iseltwald, Oberreid, Giessbach, Brienz, and then looping back with some more stops at Boningen and Iseltwald Ost.

Enjoying a first dip in the lake.

A view of the lake and mountains from Iseltwald

Enjoying our lake cruise

Zurich

Thu, 25 Jul 2024 08:40:15 -0800

Rhine falls Klausen pass Lucerne and Pilatus

After a long day of flying, some adventures in finding where we’d be staying due to address mixups, foreign driving conventions and new surroundings, we finally reached our apartment, and were ecstatic to see Sanjana, Suba and Mahesh after a long time.

Our first full day in Switzerland, we decided to drive to Rhine Falls, which is a short drive away from Zurich. The falls were very scenic and we had reservations to ride a cruise and see the view from the middle of the Rhine river.

Lofoten

Sun, 21 Jul 2024 14:25:28 -0800

A 3 day stay in the Lofoten archipelago was our last stop on our Norway leg of summer. We wanted to experience a day without a sunset, but unfortunately, the timing of our trip made that not possible. The best we were able to experience, was a few days with no darkness. The sun did set, for a few hours between ~12.45am and ~2 am or so, leaving us in twilight for those brief few hours.

AndalsnesTrondheim

Fri, 19 Jul 2024 18:01:55 -0800

Leaving Stryn, our ultimate driving destination was Trondheim, where we were to catch a flight to the Lofoten Islands. The drive was too long to accomplish in one day, so we had a planned stop over in the town of Åndalsnes. These were days filled with quite a bit of driving, and with pretty, but not as spectacular scenery as around the Jostedalsbreen area.

I really enjoyed this picnic. The Location was amazing

More ferry crossings. We never paid for anything while taking the ferries.

Stryn: Visiting Glaciers and Fjords

Tue, 16 Jul 2024 11:25:29 -0800

The drive from from Bergen to our AirBNB near the town of Loen was ~ 5 hrs long.

Some noteworthy highlights along the way included our first ferry crossing, some amazing views of mountains, some nerve wracking driving in the Rain (for Purni), some amazing waterfall views, and a lovely stop for Thai food for dinner in the cozy town of Byrkjelo ;).

Our first Car ferry crossing. The Black SUV in the front right is ours.

The first of many waterfalls

Sheep graze above Byrkjelo with a view of Stardalselva valley behind

Oslo and Bergen - Norway Trip part 1

Sun, 14 Jul 2024 15:44:12 -0700

Oslo is the start of our Long summer vacation to Norway and Switzerland.

We reached Oslo really late at night on Saturday the 13th, having spend the whole of Saturday on flights. We thankfully made our connecting flight despite some delays in SFO and managed to arrive in Oslo around 11pm.

Preparing us for long days right from the start

We woke up relatively early on Sunday, with a mission to get our vacation started and our Jet lag kicked. It was a rainy morning, but a spectacular breakfast buffet at the Clarion hotel set us all up for a good start to the day.

New York City - Spring Break

Mon, 22 Apr 2024 21:00:43 -0700

A short 1 week trip to NYC for spring break this year. We were originally set to visit for Thanksgiving last year, but plans had to be resheduled.

We spent Sunday in Central park, meeting MK, Shan and their 2 kids - Sarah and Alisha.

City view from Central Park

Meeting Mk's kids for the first time.

Sydney

Sun, 23 Jul 2023 20:53:52 -0800

The last week of our vacation was in Sydney. Rohit and family were back from attending a vacation in India and we had aligned our time here to be able to overlap with them. Murali thaatha and Banu Patti had also made the trip to Sydney, so it was a nice occasion to be able to see them after such a long time.

Purni was also working this week, so our schedules were more relaxed to accommodate her availability as well as to give the kids a slower pace for this week.

Cairns and Port Douglas, with access to the Great barrier reef, and the Daintree rainforest

Sun, 16 Jul 2023 17:49:31 -0800

The second leg of our Australia Vacation was to a more tropical destination. We chose to stay in Port Douglas, close to Cairns, giving us easy access to the Great barrier reef, as well as day trips to the Daintree Rain forest

Day 1: A market day, and a drive down to Cairns Botanical gardens

After a travel day, we planned on a light day. There was a Sunday morning market scheduled downtown, So we made that the first item of the day. The market had lots of touristy wares, arts and crafts, and we window shopped mostly, with the occasional gift purchase. The weather was lovely and it was a nice way to spend a sunday morning.

Sunshine Coast: Maroochydore, Kondalilla, Noosa, Rainbow beach, and the Great Sandy

Wed, 12 Jul 2023 08:42:10 -0800

Trying a different strategy to our burning hot Italian summer from the 2022, we thought visiting somewhere cooler might be a good idea for a summer vacation. Australia has been on all our bucket lists, and the added incentive of visiting Rohit and family in Sydney sealed the deal.

Our rough plan for this vacation was:

A week in the Sunshine coast
A week in Port Douglas, visiting the great barrier reef and somewhere more tropical
A week in Sydney, with friends, family and more Urban experiences.

A collection of video clips from this part of our vacation.

Miraya Turns 5

Sat, 10 Jun 2023 21:10:43 -0700

We attended Miraya’s 5th birthday party at the Hillsdale mall. It was in a really cool play area in the mall, and we were hard pressed to catch sight of the birthday girl, who was too busy running around with her friends and having a lovely time.

Busy running a gelateria.

Little Mishka was fast asleep at the start.

A lovely cake.

Enjoy the pictures!

Filoli Thursday

Thu, 08 Jun 2023 15:36:12 -0700

As part of a week of fun activities with the boys for the first week of their summer break, we visited Filoli Gardens in Woodside.

We had a chance to wander their gardens, and enjoy a picnic dinner while being serenaded by a live irish band. It was a lovely day, and we had a great time.

Please enjoy these pictures.

English Lavendar in Filoli.

PointReyes

Sun, 28 May 2023 15:57:39 -0700

We took a long drive to visit Point Reyes over the memorial day weekend. The weather ended up not co-operating, and it was overcast and we even experienced some light drizzling.

We started out a little later than ideal, and hunger started earlier than our arrival at the beach, so we stopped at Samuel P Taylor State Park and found a nice picnic bench among the trees to enjoy a lovely picnic lunch

Christmas in LA

Sun, 25 Dec 2022 16:18:55 -0800

Purni made a trip to India, to spend some time with her Mom. The boys and I split our christmas break between grandparents in Brentwood and the Schpoks in LA

Not wanting a super long drive, we made a half-way stop in Pismo beach. Although we missed the sunset (cough) lazy boys didnt want to go out (cough), we enjoyed the boardwalk at twilight and a brief walk the next morning to get donuts. A cute beach town overall.

Diwali

Sun, 23 Oct 2022 21:21:27 -0800

We hosted a small Diwali gathering, our first in a few years. It was nice to hang out with Anu, Kiran, Mira and Sanjay, Dilip and Lalitha Aunty. Akshaya, Rohit and Prithvi made an appearance too.

Enjoy the photos.

Happy Diwali!

London

Fri, 12 Aug 2022 16:18:55 -0800

Since London was home base on our trip to Italy, we had a few days before the vacation and a week after with Suba, Mahesh and family in London.

Our recovery from Jet lag from flying to SFO to LON was filled with playing with Bubbles, eating way too much of Subas yummy cooking, and the occasional evening walk with Bubbles to the nearby Firs farm Wetlands and Park.

What better way to recover from Jet Lag than video games with the cousins

Bubbles Walk time

Venice

Thu, 04 Aug 2022 09:09:00 -0800

The waning few days of our Italy trip felt slower. The group of us seemed to have our adventure batteries drained, and so, it feels like we did much less. Venice seemed to respond, by offering us less to do. The city seems less of itself, having too much tourist shopping, and too many tourists replacing the locals, and local life here. What remains is almost movie-set like, with only an old facade left behind.

CinqueTerre

Tue, 02 Aug 2022 19:18:08 -0800

Tuesday - Kayak trip, or a lazy relaxing day on the beach

Tired from our hot days in Florence, and the long day of travel, everyone wanted to have an easy day, and just relax on the beach. I, wanting to do a little more, had made plans to go kayaking with a local guide.

Delicious breakfast pastry

After a morning stroll for Coffee with Purni, I made my way to the beach near new-town and checked in with Chiara. Being just early enough let me sample some local baked goods, before setting off for an almost hour-long paddle to the nearby town of Vernazza. With us were 2 other couples (from Spain, and Belgium if I recall correctly). Our journey there gave us a chance to check out some sea caves and admire the coasts. Chiara was a great guide and answered our questions about the local history with some interesting details.

Firenze

Thu, 28 Jul 2022 09:34:31 -0800

We seem to have traveled from the frying pan of Rome, into the fire of Florence.

Taking the train

Thursday - A hot apartment, evening walk, and Dinner

We arrived in Florence in the late afternoon, and took taxis to our apartment for our stay.

The apartment was at the top floor of a 4 story building. A narrow, dark set of stairs, and no elevator, meant several trips by everyone to haul our heavy bags up. The Apartment had a nice layout, with a living / dining area and a sleeping area above in a loft, and 2 smaller bedrooms down a hallway. Allegedly, there was air conditioning, but the 3 split A/C’s spread across various rooms were no match for the Sun shining right above us, or the 100 + degree heat outside.

Rome

Mon, 25 Jul 2022 01:46:57 -0700

Monday - Fly to Rome, Walk to Trevi Fountain, and Indian food for Dinner

Our Rome vacation began with an early morning cab ride to the London Stansted ~~Zoo~~ Airport. After the insane queues to check in and check our bags, we walked into the Airport for some nice breakfast at a Lebanese joint. Our flight to Rome was uneventful and even had some nice views of the alps on the way there.

SeaRanch

Wed, 11 Aug 2021 14:53:59 -0800

We drove from Arcata to Sea Ranch for our final leg.

While mostly uneventful, The stretch from Hwy 101 around Leggett along Hwy 1 to the coast, took us through the mountains. This stretch was twisty and windy and we had lots of sharp slow corners. We really counted the every single mile till we were done with that stretch.

Once along the coast, we made good time. Memories of Ft Bragg, Skunk Train and past visits to this part of California were fresh in our minds. We though stopping by Glass Beach would be a fun event for the Kids. Biy were we surprised. Glass beach is no more. All the glass that used to be there has been carted away by the handfull by people collecting the sea glass, despite all the posted signs. That was quite the let down.

Arcata

Sun, 08 Aug 2021 16:55:23 -0800

Sunday - Drive to Arcata

We had a driving day again. We were headed south to California along coastal 101.

After packing up and loading the car, and making the bumpy ride out of the Bandon beach house for the last time, we headed south.

Port orford

Our first stop ended up being at Port Orford, where the views of the water enticed us to stop and stretch our legs. The boys didn’t want to leave the car, or walk too far, so we stayed pretty close to the car. Some pictures later we got back on the road.

Bandon

Tue, 03 Aug 2021 16:45:44 -0800

Tuesday - Ashland and Drive to Bandon

Our journey for the day takes us from Ashland to Bandon, Oregon, a 4 hr or so drive in all.

We planned for a brief stop in Ashland, to see if we could buy some souvenirs, but it was too early and most of the stores we wanted to visit were closed on Tuesdays. Tejas had a great time chatting with the owner of American Trail about all the amazing art that was on sale in the store. The lady said that she was a former teacher, and she patiently answered all the questions that Tejas had. After some more shopping, some coffee and snacks, we started our drive in earnest.

Ashland

Thu, 29 Jul 2021 14:29:17 -0800

Thursday - Drive to Oregon - Burney falls, Jot dean ice cave, Lava beds national monument, Oregon

Our destination for the day was our cabin near Ashland oregon. Taking I-5 would have been the quickest route, but road trips are about taking the path less travelled, no?

Purni had heard good things from a friend about Jot Dean ice caves, and Lava beds national monument was also near there. We planned a route to visit both those spots.

Redding: We visit Shasta Lake, Lassen Volcanic park and Whiskeytown lake

Sun, 25 Jul 2021 21:46:57 -0700

Sunday - Drive to Shingletown. Stop at Winters CA for lunch

We had an uneventful start to our vacation. We packed up the odyssey with all our things and set off around 9.30 am. We had no specific plan for lunch, but Aarav had scouted out a “Black Bear Diner” around Vacaville. We came up on Vacaville a little too early for lunch, so we extended the drive a bit more and ended up in Winters CA, and the lovely Putah Creek Cafe for some late Brunch.

Kirkwood

Sun, 20 Jun 2021 10:36:16 -0700

Purni had been wanting to celebrate my 40th birthday with a weekend trip somewhere, and the weekend happend to co-incide with the wedding of a past Nest colleague and Friend (Kelly) near Tahoe, in the Sierras. We decided to combine both things and make a long weekend of it. We rented a dog friendly Airbnb in Kirkwood for the weekend.

Thursday was spent driving to Brentwood, and cooling off there, before leaving later (to avoid the 100+ deg heat) and heading to kirkwood.

Brentwood and Miraya turns 3!

Sun, 30 May 2021 11:08:33 -0700

We decided to get togther and help celebrate Miraya turning 3!

Archana and Family drove to Brentwood, and we went with them to G&S Farms to pick some cherries. We picked a really warm day to do so, with temperatures close to 95 degrees, but we survived, and managed to pick almost 40 lbs of delicious cherries across several varieties.

Miraya, Archana and Sudarshan

Miraya absolutely enjoying herself

The boys had a good time too

We came back to the Brentwood house, and after a lovely lunch and some indoor relaxation to escape the heat, we had some home-made birthday cake to truly make it a Birthday Celebration

Winter Recital

Sun, 20 Dec 2020 15:57:40 -0800

Aarav and Tejas had their piano recital last sunday. All remote because of covid, and everyone participated via zoom. We all gathered in the living room and watched on the big TV.

Some pictures from that day, and the full performances recorded at home are below.

Aarav grew a whole bunch this year. He was super excited to get a chance to wear his suit again, but, he’s outgrown it already :-O

Thanksgiving and Aaravs Bday

Fri, 27 Nov 2020 11:12:23 -0800

We spent thanksgiving weekend with parents in Brentwood. it was relaxing stay-cation.

The Avarakkai (Indian broad beans) in the backyard continue to produce in copious quantities, so we harvested and cooked a couple of pounds of that. Every day was a fancy meal, and resting to recover from it :)

Aarav turned 10 on the 27th, and we celebrated it with “Elai Sappadu” for him, with fresh vada, payasam, and other favorites. He certainly enjoyed the experience.

Diwali 2020

Sat, 14 Nov 2020 17:53:26 -0800

We celebrated Diwali together as a family. Purni made Gulab Jamun, as she always does, and we had sparklers and other diwali snacks.

Tejas casting a spell with his sparkler wand

Why settle for one, when you can have two

Enjoy the gallery.

Pescadero Beach

Sat, 17 Oct 2020 22:23:33 -0700

After months of smoky air, we finally started having clear air again. Taking advantage of the nice warm October weather, we decided to visit Pescadero beach this past Saturday.

The boys had fun playing in the sand, and making sand castles. We explored a nearby lagoon and saw a starfish. Tejas and I explored a small cave, and we all enjoyed some quiet walks on the beach, all while being able to be 10+ ft away from anyone, since it was not crowded at all.

Yosemite Day #3: Tuolomne meadows, Tenaya Lake, and Glacier Point

Sun, 26 Jul 2020 11:06:06 -0700

Our last full day in Yosemite was planned to be a full one. The original plan was to go visit Tuolumne meadows, but we had tacked on the stop at Tunnel view, which we had been driving past, but never stopped in, as well as the trip to Glacier point for a dinner picnic, after I talked to everyone about my experience the previous evening. A discussion the previous evening of whether to reschedule things for the day led to near unanimous opinion that we should keep the drive to Tuolumne. Also the kids had clearly expressed a desire for no hiking :D, so hiking was off the menu.

Yosemite day #2: Mariposa grove, and Glacier Point

Sat, 25 Jul 2020 11:05:48 -0700

On Saturday, we had planned to drive to Mariposa grove and visit the beautiful trees there. An evening trip to Glacier point was also in the plans.

After breakfast, photos, and hanging out, we packed lunch for the day and headed out.

Miraya and Archana

Miraya, Aarav and myself

Yosemite Day #1: Valley and Mirror Lake

Fri, 24 Jul 2020 11:05:32 -0700

We finally got a chance to meet Miraya in the morning, and enjoyed socializing with Archana and family over breakfast. The amount of food that we had all collectively brought was so excessive as to dominate most of the mornings conversation topics.

We finally get to interact with this kutti on our vacation

On Friday, the plan was to make a visit to the valley and try a short hike to mirror lake, since the trail there was paved, and should be stroller friendly for Miraya. We drove down to the valley floor, and parked in Curry Village, and started walking towards the mirror lake trailhead, taking in the views on our way.

Yosemite - Driving There

Thu, 23 Jul 2020 11:04:59 -0700

Even though #Covid19 cancelled all our travel plans for the year, we still wanted to have some time with the boys this summer, so they can have summer memories, and have a feeling of having had a summer vacation.

When we met Archana and Family for Miraya’s birthday at the end of May, I had pitched a group vacation with all of us, giving us all more time together than the occasional weekend visit. The suggestion was well received, so we all coordinated this trip to Yosemite.

Miraya Is Two

Sat, 30 May 2020 14:44:40 -0700

Miraya turned 2 this week! How much she has grown!

Purni, Aarav, Tejas and I, joined my parents in visiting Archana’s house in Foster city. We decided to make it a social-distancing-party, and spent the time in the nice outdoor space behind their house. The kids and Miraya enjoyed roaming the area, with Miraya zooming around on her bicycle, and Tejas and Aarav being kind older brother, and helping or accompanying her.

Spring and Covid

Fri, 20 Mar 2020 08:53:16 -0700

With shelter in place starting in the middle of March, we have been going out for walks more as a family, enjoying lunches and snacks in our back deck, while enjoying the birds and the scenery that it offers.

Walks are always made more enticing with pokemon go. Fitbits are adding an extra element of motivation to our exercise and fitness regimen.

We are trying to stay healthy, safe and sane. We hope you are too.

Siddarth Visits Switzerland

Sun, 23 Feb 2020 22:00:44 -0700

I had the good fortune to make a business trip to London and Zurich to visit partner teams for YouTube. This was slightly in lieu of Mobile World Congress, which takes place every year in February, and in Barcelona. But due to Covid19, MWC was cancelled this year. But my group of travelling co-workers decided to make the trip anyways, and stop in Zurich instead, to work with YouTube teams there.

Visiting Anu Kiran

Sat, 15 Feb 2020 21:39:12 -0700

We made a weekend visit to See Anu and Family. The kids had fun playing in their back yard, and enjoyed their hammock a LOT. Sanjay was a bundle of energy as always, and was super playful and fun to interact with.

We caught up with Anu and Kiran as well!

Sanjay and Mira, hide under their bed, and talk to 'OK Google!

Visiting Cambria with the Schpoks

Sat, 18 Jan 2020 02:01:58 +0530

We visited cambria with the Schpok’s, to celebrate Andrea’s birthday, and enjoy some elephant seals.

Some newborn pups lounging around with their moms

On our way back, we took a scenic drive via Big-sur along CA highway 1, with stops for lunch and scenery.

California coast in Big Sur

Enjoy the pictures

Hiller Museum for Adityas Bday

Sun, 12 Jan 2020 18:42:07 -0800

Siddarth and Tejas went to Aditya’s Birthday party which was held in Hiller Aviation Museum. We got to climb into the cockpit of a decommissioned aircraft, and look at the a collection of airplanes in the museum, after celebrating the birthday, and eating some Batman cake of course!

Best friends enjoying some coloring time together

El Corte De Madera Hike

Tue, 31 Dec 2019 16:07:35 -0700

The boys and I went on a short hike to El Corte De Madera Creek open space preserve. We had fun talking about random things, including comparisons of religions, surprisingly, and enjoyed a picnic lunch and snacks.

We spotted some Banana slugs on the way

Picnic lunch

Japanese Tea Garden & Lands End

Mon, 23 Dec 2019 08:40:49 -0700

During winter break, we visited the Japanese tea garden in Golden Gate Park.

At the Japanese tea garden

The next day, we also took a short hike to the Lands End Labyrinth with scenic views of Golden Gate Bridge and Marin.

Lands end labyrinth

Winter Concert 2019

Wed, 11 Dec 2019 15:30:53 -0700

Aarav and Tejas participated, with their respective classes, in the winter concert for the year.

It was a really foggy day that morning, and both Purni and I got a chance to go observe the boys interact with their classmates in line in the morning, something we rarely do anymore since the boys usually just get drive-through dropped off.

Aaravs group of friends

Tejas and his classmates

Glamping

Sat, 31 Aug 2019 19:10:24 -0700

As a gentle introduction to camping, we decided to do some “Glamorous Camping” in the foothills of the Sierras.

We rented a “Tiny House” in You Bet, CA and spent a couple of days enjoying each others company, while eating camping food, playing board games and enjoying the outdoors.

We went to nearby Rollins Lake, and rented a kayak to go onto the water. We made it out to the center part of the lake, but as fun as that was, the wake created by passing motorboats was unnerving to ride through. So we decided not to extend our rental past the hour. We enjoyed a picnic on the shore of the lake, and a cold dip in the lake, on a seriously warm day.

Eden Project

Tue, 06 Aug 2019 21:46:11 -0700

The weather promised a rainy day, so we had planned a mostly indoor day with a visit to Eden project. After some windy roads amidst a torrential downpour, we arrived at Eden project right as the rain was winding down.

Love that smile

The 2 major domes were a rain forest biome, and a mediterranean/temperate biome. We started with the rain forest, and were nearly boiled alive by the heat and humidity in there. We enjoyed spotting quite a variety of familiar plants from India (including Betel Leaf). But the crowds and the heat combined with our collective tiredness limited our enjoyment.

Tintagel Castle

Mon, 05 Aug 2019 21:45:57 -0700

Having enjoyed a day with shorter drives, we abandoned some plans involving longer drives to St Ives or back to Penzance, and decided to visit nearby Tintagel with no specific plan except to spend part of the day there, as well as to visit a beach in the latter half of the day.

The drive to Tintagel, while short, was quite fun for me as the driver. I enjoyed driving through all the narrow hedge bound lanes cutting across to the sea-side town of Tintagel.

Crabbing in Looe

Sun, 04 Aug 2019 21:45:40 -0700

With a beautiful day ahead of us weather wise, we planned to visit the port side town of Looe and try at hand at some catch-and-release crabbing.

We piled into the van, and set off, with a few stops along the way. Some plans to take a local train through scenic cornwall didn’t quite pan out, but we substituted with some stops for scenery instead.

First stop, with some sheep and a great view of rolling country side

The Duloe stone circle was billed on google maps as being a “Mini Henge”, and was on the way, so we stopped to take a look. My personal opinion is that it was billed a little too heavily :P

Minack Theater and Lands End

Sat, 03 Aug 2019 21:45:24 -0700

Our first day in Cornwall, we expected nice weather. So we decided to drive to the very end of Cornwall, and to visit Minack theater and then drive to Lands End.

After some shenanigans on narrow winding roads, involving playing dodge-em with lots of oncoming traffic, we managed to make it to Minack, and quite enjoyed the lovely views, and the outdoor charm of the hand built open-air theatre.

The theater stage being set up.

Porthcurno Beach

Exploring London

Wed, 31 Jul 2019 21:44:54 -0700

The Standard #1 tour of london involves …

Taking the tube to Westminster
Seeing Big Ben
Getting crepes from the vendor on the Westminster bridge
Walking over the Westminster bridge, to the london eye to enjoy a ride on the eye.
Enjoying a nice lunch at Wagamama in Southbank
Taking the ferry down the Thames to Black friars
Taking a stroll down to Tower Bridge
Touring tower bridge, and enjoying the glass catwalks
Taking the tube back home.

We did that :)

Edinburgh and Falkirk wheel

Sat, 27 Jul 2019 21:44:18 -0700

We were all sad to be leaving lovely Ballachulish, but our time there was up.

The plan for the day was to drive to Edinburgh, and make a stop at the Falkirk wheel on the way. In typical weather, it was pouring rain when we arrived at the wheel. There are ferries that take you up the wheel and on a short ride on the canal system that the wheel was built to support.

Split Journeys Biking and Souvenirs

Fri, 26 Jul 2019 21:23:14 -0700

Part I

(Where a Souvenir focused group makes a return drive to Drumnadrochit to ensure that no souvenir was left behind)

Sanju had been lamenting the fact that we missed the opportunity to buy loch ness related souvenirs at Drumnadrochit, so Suba planned a return drive, on this, our open day, back to the stores there.

Part II

(Where Sid enjoys a solo bike ride exploring the surroundings of Glen Coe)

Isle of Skye

Thu, 25 Jul 2019 21:22:42 -0700

The weather on Thursday was predicted to be sunny and pleasant, so the plan was to brave the long drive to the isle of Skye, and look around there. The drive, as usual, was billed as having spectacular views, albeit long at ~3 hours or so.

More lovely countryside

After a brief stop to pick up sandwiches, the narrator managed to fall asleep, and missed most of the beautiful scenery until the next stop on the shores of Loch Duich, with views of the Eilean Donan Castle, and the nearby town of Dornie. Some pictures, snacks and coffee later, we continued our drive, crossing over the Skye Bridge, and onto the Isle of Skye.

Nevis Range Gondola and Mallaig

Wed, 24 Jul 2019 20:10:52 -0700

Since everyone was tired after a long day of driving and a late evening back from Inverness, we planned a lighter day. The weather also was promised to be a mix of rain and clouds. We decided to take a gondola ride up Aonach Mòr. Aonach Mòr, at 1221m (4006’) is near the tallest mountain in the UK - Ben Nevis (1344m / 4409’). The gondola ride up the mountain gave us great views of the nearby valley as well as the mountain biking tracks available on the mountain - perhaps an adventure for another time.

Inverness and Loch Ness

Tue, 23 Jul 2019 18:05:28 -0700

Second gallery

With the promise of good weather, we decided to drive to Inverness.

Beautiful views of rolling hills

With only a brief stop near Gairlochy for some nice views, we drove past the wonderfully named Loch Lochy (Lake Lakey? as the in-car joke referred to it as) to out first stop at Fort Augustus.

Rainy Scotland and Glennfinnan Viaduct

Mon, 22 Jul 2019 15:18:10 -0700

Tired from the journey, we woke up late and explored the house a little bit. We set out for lunch in the the near-by town of Fort William. Rain was predicted for the whole day, limiting our options.

River mill house, our home in Ballachulish

Since we did not manage to get tickets for the Jacobite train that runs from Ft William to Mallaig, we decided to, instead, go see the nearby iconic Glenfinnan viaduct which is made famous by a scene in the Harry potter movies. The rain deterred half the group, who stayed back in the car, but the other half braved a wet mile long easy hike to a viewpoint that gave us a rainy but spectacular view of the viaduct.

Rutland to Glencoe

Sun, 21 Jul 2019 12:16:48 -0700

After breakfast at the rutland inn, we packed up the car, said our goodbyes to family, took some last minute pictures and started the drive to Ballachulich.

Mahesh and Ravi anna, posing right before we departed

Here’s a map of the drive for the day, marked with the major stops.

Around 1 pm, we stopped at the Mainsgill farm shop and foodhall for some lunch. The boys really enjoyed the zipline and play area outside as well as gazing at the collection of emus, sheep, camels and cows that surrounded the farm shop. The light outside was amazing, and so was the weather, so we wandered around and enjoyed as much of the beautiful weather as we could, since heavy rain was predicted for the duration of our stay in Scotland.

Legoland

Sun, 23 Dec 2018 11:38:13 -0800

Aarav had been talking about going to Legoland for a long time. A recent visit by our new neighnours in Millbrae, added to our decision to plan a trip.

We planned a 3 night trip to san diego, with plans to stay at the Legoland resort, right next to the theme park.

We took an early morning flight to San Diego, getting us landing there by 8 AM. With a whole day in front of us, we decided to spend the day in the San Diego Zoo, which we had heard a lot of good things about.

Museum of Icecream

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 20:21:27 -0800

OK, so it turns out this place is more of a “Take photos in interesting place, and we’ll serve you ice cream too” spot, more than a tour through history of ice-cream, or try a zillion flavors or some thing like that.

An interesting way to spend a few hours, with color, and sensory experiences. Would recommend.

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Aarav enjoys the sprinkles

We all scream for ice cream.

Day1: Phoenix to Grand Canyon

Thu, 26 Jul 2018 17:29:31 -0800

Suba has been asking for these photos for a long time now, so here goes!

This is the start of our 2018 Phoenix → Grand Canyon → Las Vegas → Death Valley → Mammoth Lakes → Tahoe → San Francisco Road trip

Day 1 started with an early morning flight to Phoenix. We had a 12 passenger van rented, so we picked that up and started driving.

The road trip starts

Our first stop along the way was at Montezuma Castle National monument. It was a Super hot sunny day, so we did our best to stay hydrated, and stay in the shade. But we still didnt last too long, and wanted to return to the air-conditioned comfort of our van.