2018 Year end Shutdown Road trip to Arizona

Beginning of December we thought of going on a family road trip  for a week at least on Christmas shutdown, as my daughter also got 2 week school winter break. On family demand we decided to go some where.  my first option was Grand Canyon and i was bit skeptic about weather conditions in grand canyon, from my past experience i had very heavy snow experience  inside grand canyon and on the way to grand canyon. So, kept an eye on grand canyon weather forecast for Christmas period 5 before and after.  two weeks before the Christmas there was snow showers (1+ inch at least) near grand canyon region on Christmas Eve night to till Christmas  some time. 

I thought  of driving on CA-1 from San Diego to Bay Area stopping and doing lite day activities on the way reach bay area in 5 days. must stop is Slovan, Ca for Christmas Eve and Christmas celebration is must in list.   Decided 2 days before the trip thought of deciding it.

last week of the year in office was pretty much a sort of hell for me, i pretty much did not sleep for 2 days, work. work, work...some how i finished my commitments by Friday noon. the rest of the day was some follows and making notes to remember myself after i come in first  week of Jan.   

Friday night i was exhausted and slept too early, got up next morning before sun rise and decided we leave as soon as we pack and dump everything in trunk and be on road. i checked weather conditions in grand canyon and decided we go to Grand Canyon, as my daughter did not visited any national park outside California. we started packing  for the trip and almost till 1PM we still packing, packing. finally we gave up and decided lets dump and lock the house. 

by the time we left house it was 2 PM and lost another an hour and  half for picking some desi snack, quick lunch and pick dinner  from the same place. Finally we were on I-15 by 3:40PM we hardly has an hour light left.  i don't prefer to drive in nights, so i decided where ever we will be by the time of sunset, look for  near by accommodation and call the day off. 

We started driving on  I-15, then to 1-8, as soon pine valley is crossed, my daughter started asking "Are we there" and "when we will be in hotel".  I-8 drive till was fun after mount laguna pass, it was down hill till it was dropped to sea level. It was sun set by the time we reached Mt  laguna pass and decided to stop at next coming place and it was El Centro, CA. I Am happy we left home and covered 2 hours at least.  Just after sun set on west, we started seeing Full orange moon on towards east. we were debating what is it, is it a MOON or some Advertisement board, crazy, but finally concluded it is a moon, as it full becomes dark moon is turned to while. it was beautiful drive watching color fun moon, driving in not hot or not cold breeze. surprising  my daughter and my self were walking in El centro without jacket still we feel warm air outside. we liked the place instant. we never experienced this type of nice weather in any of our winter trips. we always struck in snow and few ski trips became adventurous, waiting for avalanche to clear always in shivering weather conditions.

El Centro shopping, it was like a holiday shopping  we bought tons of dresses, pretty much for our daughter from Burlington. we were there in Burlington for more than 2 hours thanksgiving and Christmas combined shopping is done here. we liked the place and it is bit different vibe in shops. 

Year end Christmas break, 10 days shutdown. 

EC2WC: San Diego, CA To Pittsburgh, PA (PART-01)

I have been thinking of two long road trips for a very long time. one is Mexican Border to Canada Border. And another is Coast to Coast road trip. I have done Mexican Border to Canada Border trip in summer'2016. It was very memorable and adventurous solo trip. Now, i started planning for next road trip that is pending for a long time.

Finally I got an opportunity to drive to East Coast from San Deigo to Pittsburgh, PA. After working in California for almost 13+ years, thought of relocating to east coast for a change. Got a project in Pittsburgh, PA. Being school break and I promised my daughter a road trip in summer break,  used this opportunity to go to Pittsburgh on road. it was not my initial idea of coast to coast road trip plan. I really planned to go one of the beaches in east coast or drive to till Acadia National park, camping in national parks.  it turned out my  base is going to move to Pittsburgh in a month. I kind of fine to split in coast to coast road trip in two parts, first one is to drive till Pittsburgh. next one Niagara Falls to Florida driving along Atlantic Ocean cities. Mostly I will do in summer time(coming years).

it is around 2500 miles and 37 hours of drive from San Diego to Pittsburgh. maps suggested 3 routes as follows
   1. san Diego to Arizona to New Mexico to Oklahoma to Missouri to Indianapolis  to Ohio to Pennsylvania
2. CA -> Utah ->Colorado ->  -> Iowa  -> Illinois -> Indianapolis ->Ohio  -> Pennsylvania
3. CA -> Utah -> Colorado -> Kansas Missiouri -> Illinois -> Indianapolis -> Ohio -> West Virginia -> Pennysylvania

I took option 3 due to two reasons one is Utah and Colorado  on I-70 is very scenic and second very easy to remember from my home till Pittsburgh. No need to remember lot of map along the route. it became very simple to remember, my house is very next to I-15 in San  Diego, so from I15 to beginning of I-70 from west drive till 30 miles before Pittsburgh on I-70.  I split 9 hours for each day pretty much. if everything works according to plan, it won't be fun in Life. my current project manager did not allowed me to leave till I did not get any spare day to spend day in between or small detours to go to Moab or Rocky mountains even though it was very few short miles away from these very nice national parks.  As road trip to Pittsburgh is confirmed, my family also joined me in the journey. 

Southern CA trip with extension to Grand Canyon at Chirstmas time (2008/2009)

Our first family road trip and we can also count it as our first long trip alone. especially my first driving away from bay area, until this trip i never drive more than 50 miles from Sunnyvale/Santa Clara. We are bit excited and afraid of little bit about my driving to be safe side i bought GPS.

One of Lakshmi's cousin's family came from east coast, They flied to San Diego and drove to San Francisco middle of the week. While they were returning from San Francisco we sort of decided to align their itinerary as they also traveling the same places as we planned in the same order as first to Las Angeles(1day) mainly Universal Studios then to San Diego ( 2 nights) 2nd day evening leave to Las Vegas ( 1 night) and leave to Grand Canyon for 2 nights. after that its just return journey if needed thought of stopping in the middle of the way. 

we started (lakshmi and myself) in our own car, initially lakshmi's cousin also wanted to come in our car, But luckily changed her decision in the last minute as it turned out to be that was our last good-bye after that we never met again. it sorted of become bit interesting, we stick to the same order to visit and they changed little bit first they went to SD and next day to LA. Interestingly through-out the trip they is heavy rain only when we are in driving or either in hotel room. 

We left home late after noon from Sunnyvale, thought of driving CA-1 as our relatives want to drive CA-1. we stopped at few places along CA after Montreal and Carmel, it started picking up the rain then once its pouring then we straight drove to one of my long friends Raghu ram Loya, he stayed at Ventura. he asked me to stop at his home before i headed to LA. I thought why not, as it i was driving through Ventura. we were there in the night. we had long chit chat finally slept thinking of long day ahead for next day.

Morning we woke early, we left their home in the morning we were in universal studios on time(may 30 mins after opening) we parked the car and took pictures at universal studios globe at entrance.  

 Then grabbed a park map to mark which ones we are interested and marked the order based on timings and routes.  we went to few rides and few shows, i think lakshmi enjoyed a lot as it was her first trip to any studios at least i visited once at Ramoji and universal studios once before this trip. i knew what i can expect. She liked general coach ride a lot, as it has lot of small attractions at every corner. But we would have more liked it if we watched lot of hollywood movies and serials.

After sunset we came out of Studios and traffic was horrible we were struck for more than 2 hours just get on to HWY I-5, we drove to san diego. it was around 10ish when reached another friends home, Saravanan, he is my MTech classmate. night after some chit-chat we fell to sleep instantly when we were in bed.
Next morning we had very nice south-indian breakfast, while having breakfast Saravanan found an ad who is selling Sea World tickets on craigslist. we went to his place i was 10 mins drive from his home, we picked two tickets less than actual price. Then finally we were in Sea World, it was first tome for Lakshmi. i visited when i was bachelor. As Saravanan and Thendral, Saravanan's wife are frequent visitors to sea world, we were guided everything went very smoothly i don't think we missed anything. we left Sea World after sunset, took some rest at home before went to dinner at restaurant, Annapurna on MiraMesa Blvd. It was opened very recently and there were not many Indian restaurants specific to south indian by that time(it was 2008/9) period and food was really good. rest of the night we talked a lot about college life , Hyderabad life and about our M-Tech friends. it was very late by the time we slept. Next day was easy on driving need to go to Las Vegas spend night there.  

When we got up in the morning next day, it was drizzling a bit, when started late around 10 by the time we were on car it was heavy rain. after crossing Escondido there was bit of traffic on HWY I-15 at times it was stand still. From Barstow to all the way to Las Vegas heavy traffic, after passing 127 in I-15  it was snowing there it was bit surprise for me i didn't know it snows there. until NV state border traffic moved very slow after mountain pass it was far better But as rain still continuing most the vehicles were moving less than speed limits. By the time we were in Las Vegas it was dark, as sky was filled with dark clouds it became dark way before sunset time. after checking-in to one of the casino's we took some rest before we headed to Vegas strip. we took transport to go to other end of strip from Sahara.  

we were at MGM and Bellagio most of of the time, as we both were not big time fans of casinos we played a bit on slot machines walked inside the bellagio and treasure island casino when we sort of tired, we slowly walked to Sahara by the time we were at casino it was almost 2 in the night. Again i was a bit uncommon phenomemon in vegas to get snow. initially it snowed a bit and as night fell sky was bit clear of clouds. 

on the way back to hotel room, we purchased some hand gloves and woolen cap to Lakshmi as it is going to be chilly at grand canyon.  we searched for a hotel to reserve a room before go to bed, luckily i found one inside the grand canyon park at south rim. 

Next morning we got up not too late, then we did not waste anytime to fresh up and with 15 mins out we were on road after checkout from the hotel. It was out first time trip to Grand canyon, after googling i came to know south rim is the best place to visit for first time visitors. first thing we did as soon as we came out from hotel parking lot, filled full tank and picked something for breakfast and coffee. we went to lake mead, it is the largest reservior in the united states created by Hoover Dam,  spent sometime there before Hoover Dam stop. At Hoover dam we took long break walked on both sides Arizona and Nevada of the dam.  There was a bridge construction going on to by-pass traffic away from dam that also shortened the distance. 

Next, we drove on hwy 93 without a break, at Kingman we stopped at subway before i merge onto I-40 towards Williams, AZ. There was snowing a lot in I-40 after Kingman, many cop vehicles were stand by to the side of interstate and snow clearing machines ran just before we were there, we saw salt/sand spilling trucks quarter mile ahead of us. it helped us to drive fast even though there was snowfall. after Williams, on why 64 we stopped at gas station to fill the tank and to buy some winter gear for Lakshmi, as what we bought at vegas not holding the cold temperatures and before leaving the gas station we picked some snacks too. there was heavy snow on both sides of the road till grand canon. we see few struck on roads near entrance of the south rim. we were extra cautious while driving we were very slow and most of the time we drove in the middle of the roads within previous vehicle marks till Maswik lodge. 

On the way to lodge we saw a deer very close, few feet away from door, we waited for deer to cross the road. it did not have any fear of vehicles and it was busy with its own business.  It was very chilly outside, our first priority was check-in to lodge and sit warm. 

It was almost dark, by the time we park our car and get the room. we did nothing rest of the day except after some rest we stopped at restaurant at lobby. we were not fully comfortable in eating American food whole day, we both ordered burgers and fries. 

Next day morning, when we came out we saw our car is fully covered in snow and all remaining water bottles inside the car was fully frozen, luckily we took few water bottles inside the room previous night. we went to lobby to enquire tour packages, then we came to know sunrise tour but missed it. we booked sunset and next morning sunrise tours. Then took shuttle bus to roam the south rim view points rest of the day. we took our own time at each place.  First we went to Desert view then we stopped at almost all points shuttle stopped, we spent lot of time at village plaza we were at Maswik lodge before evening for sunrise tour, it was very nice views with evening sun rays on one side of canyon walls and snow on tops of canyon it was very beautiful to just stand there and watch.

But as we came from bus tour we needed to rush with few minutes at each spot.  we came to desert view again and we were there till the sunset is over then we came back to lodge. we got bored of eating non-endian food for few days we wanted to eat rice. we prepared rice with electric cooker in lodge, we had rice with pickle and curd for dinner.  Electric cooker was very hand for us so that we could prepare when ever we need rice.  we were in bed watching movie on TV went to sleep not too late as next morning we need to get a bus for sunrise tour. 

We got up and took very warm bath and came to lobby before our schedule time. Sunrise tour was really worth especially when there was lot of snow and ice on roads. we left driving head-ache to drive we just enjoyed the views. 

We were at lodge around 8, we had breakfast before we leave the park. before 9 we were on road, we wanted to go Death-Valley National Park before we go home. 

We came out of the park slowly then till Williams we drove very cautious, we used toe and hand warmers  to get warm in the morning temperature. by the time we reach Williams sun was fully up and outside it was warm, out warmers became too hot in the gloves and shoe. we stopped at the same gas station for a small break and also to remove toe and hand warmers. 

Then we straight drove to death valley passing hoover dam, las vegas without stop when we were 10 miles away from Creech Air force Base, we were in dilemma if no gas station there, we will be stuck after that there is no near station, we did not wanted to take risk, we drove back 5 miles to fill full tank before continuing the drive. 

But while passing the air base we see few gas stations but we did not lose more than 30 mins of extra time by going back for gas. we were in death-valley before evening, 

We did most part drive-thru  just before sunset(may an hour before sunset) we talked about where o stay, after discussing we decided to go home if i am comfortable to drive. with small break in death-valley at Artists Dr. we decided to leave, we drove on up hills on 190 while sun is setting it was direct sun while driving most of the up hill driving i did with bit of sun glare and slow driving till it merges into 395 south. Sun was fully set when we were on 395, still 6 hours of driving left. we drove all the way to home past 1AM with one break at BakersField another one in the middle when we stopped for gas. 

Seqouia and Yosemite camping in 2014

Finally i took time from my marathon work to update my blog and complete most of the pending pages. 

I wanted to take Arshiya (Gingiri) to camping, when she is still kid. we started taking her to outdoor trips(mainly taking to national parks when she was less than an year old( i think we started taking her 5 - 8 hours drive long trips after 6 months). They were not in US for an year after 1 yr, she enjoyed her whole 2nd year with grandparents and cousins. 

They were back in 2014 and fall season of same year we did camping in Sequoia and Yosemite back to back within a couple of weeks.  3rd week of august 2014, we went to Sequoia National park for camping. we got site at lodgepole and it was 2 night trip with extra leave on following Monday.  these two trip i want to see how Gingiri cope up and whether she is onto outdoor/campings.  It bit different at campgrounds, we will not get all the comforts of our home, specially the cozy bed and blankets. 

we tried our best to make her comfortable by carrying her toys, lot of blankets, we even packed all India food supplies( rice, vegetables, milk).  we have one burner stove top, we started real cooking ourselves with this trip. 

Until then we always went campings with friends and in groups. even though we cooked a lot, we never really used propane stoves, every time we cooked on campfire rings. this trip was lot of challenging for us to understand what works and what won't work. what Gingiri likes food wise. how we can manage food for Gingiri and i will put ourselves as very very amateurs by that time.

All our driving schedules are planned based to Gingiri sleeping routines so we can drive long distances with break. When she is awake we knew we could not more than 2hours without break and break will not be quick ones like it used to be for both us when we did long road trips. we started just before noon from north of San Diego, Rancho Bernardo , and yes we hit the traffic badly when we crossed grapevine we were pretty much an 2 hours  behind the schedule including lunch break at Lebec rest-area on I-5 north around 12 miles before Grapevine.  I was kind of hopping to reach before enough day light is left so Gingiri can play.
After lunch, we filled the tank at Grapevine and straight to CA99 then took CA65 and east CA198. just before leaving Visalia, we stopped at grocery shop/super market. we purchased food supplies(soda, vegetables and egg) and also filled the gas one more time before entering sierra mountains.
Finally we were at campground way before sunset,  we  put a tent in nice flat ground even though campground is rocky area.  Restroom and dish washing places are next to our campground otherwise we need to walk bunch of times back and forth. Once we unload from the car and dumped all sleeping bags, pads, blankets... everything in the tent..zipped everything.  Then next big thing is fire, while i was working in fire we let Gingiri play within our eye site, one BIG rule we kind of decided before the trip at given time one person should be watching Gingiri  Bot should not work at the same time.  While I am busy with tent, campfire setup unloading Lakshmi watching Gingiri.  Campground and surrounding are heaven for Gingiri at that age. She played a lot on the ground. After burner is turned on, i handed over to Lakshmi then Gingiri and myself are at campfire chilling out. 

we prepared proper Indian dinner rice and curry. I took very long time for us with single burner. first day was far better as we prepared most of the dinner at home and at campsite its just heat them except boiling milk for Arshiya bunch of times. Milk was our backup plan for Arshiya(we knew she would be totally fine just with milk, But we did not wanted that). even reheating seems to be took very long time. next to our site one Chinese group around 12 to 15 people just before sunset. we were just starting when they stopped their vehicles. they worked pretty fast one group took care of tents, one group fire the coal, they made sort of plate to cook using aluminum foil. within 30 mins they cooked everything for everyone, they started eating. we could not even finish half of our dinner cooking. 

It was totally dark when our dinner was ready. First, we fed Arshiya then we ate with turns. Gingiri cooperated a lot in campground and sleeping in tents.we slept after 11 i guess after cleaning all utensils and packing everything in bear lock container.

Next morning when we get up, Chinese group almost packed everything and they were about to have breakfast and leave. i was amazed at their speed. when we finished our breakfast it was almost noon, then we took Gingiri to General Sherman Tree hike, We drove to parking lot behind the main road. it was bit challenging to get a parking spot. Gingiri did not let me or Lakshmi touch her while walking on downhill, she wanted to do her own. downhill was sort of OK not much overload. hiking back was very tough, this trip i did not bring my DSLR so i don't have extra weights. while coming back to campground we stopped at general store, we bought burger and fries from food court before we left we also took care of showers.  Rest of the day we did not plan anything, it was simple cook dinner for all 3 have dinner and go to sleep. it looked like we spent hours and hours just cooking, everyone else just spending fraction of time what we took.

Next day, when we got up we just brushed and packed everything left campground. we stopped a store for quick bite. there was a road working going on inside the park that year. we were stopped for a while. Then releases the traffic, as soon as car starts i observed hard to brake. with few mins i stopped at one turn and stop because of hot brakes. we stayed there for an hour may be. Park Ranger came stopped and i explained the scenario. he helped us to get back to lodgepole general store, that where his office was there. Then i called Wuksachi Lodge to get a room. we were lucky there is only room left, immediately i reserved the room we took all the luggage, took park bus to get to hotel. After check-in and waited 30 minutes to  settle Arshiya and Lakshmi and then left the room to take care of car breakdown. i went to the store to call to AAA to get some help. i was not successful at the sunset the same park ranger saw me calling from public phone, he jumped in to help me.

 He is very nice, i was invited to his office i called to AAA from there. they are not responding to me properly. he saw the whole drama for an hour. he thought something is wrong. He took in-charge talked to AAA agent on-behalf of me, it took almost one hour to get towing confirmation from AAA. At least he said, he is not surprised why it took for me for ever just to inform AAA and get help to towing in the park.  Problem was there are unable to locate the place what we are saying. luckily i was AAA premier member so i need to pay anything for unto 100 miles of towing. Finally i got a confirmation from towing company from three rivers, CA, he said he will tow the vehicle after 10. at that time i am not sure where to park the car, So i requested him to tow to parking lot and next morning i called AAA again to tow from hotel parking lot to repair center. After bit struggle, i got the the same towing vehicle and it was almost  12PM by the time i was at repair center. i requested them to complete the fixes by end of day. They did their best from the moment i dumped the at shop. within an hour they found the couples of issues, they ordered the parts and told me they may not finish by closing the day.   i went out a bit for having lunch after 2 hours



i came back and sat in the small office, luckily i got the laptop and i am in in my world browsing something. trying to figure out all combinations if car is not fixed. approximately by 4 or 5PM i was told, they will be done fixing the car by 6 before they close the shop.
I was flattered for their service, very quick and very very economy compared to San Diego repair shop. I thanked them a lot before leaving the place, next moment i went to gas station and filled the tank and picked up Chinese food from  Golden China Buffet. food was OK i picked lot varieties including fried rice. I was not sure what they are going to eat. i reached the hotel when there is slight light left.

It became an adventurous trip for whole family. Arshiya is very co-operative. I read an article about surrounding vibrations and its impact on child, seems KIDs will recognize all vibrations to their surroundings  and behave accordingly. It is scientifically proven too.

Mean while Lakshmi took a bus from hotel to general store at lodgepole station with two bags full of dresses to get laundry done. Mainly for Arshiya sake. she connected the iPad to power, leg her watch until she is done. After iPad is ON, its almost like she is not there.  She was bit late at the laundry, she did check the bus timing and last available bus to Wuksachi lodge. When they are out from laundry, they a lost bus in the park But it will not go to Wuksachi Lodge. they got down half a mile away from hotel room, while they are struggling walking with all the luggage, one out-of-service Bus was passing by them, Bus driver stopped for both, he stopped at the hotel. World is beautiful and with full of even beautiful people.  we could not know it until we face them.

They were really hungry, as soon as i was at hotel, Lakshmi fed the rice to Arshiya and whatever she want to eat from what i bought. it was OK compared to last night dinner, a day before we went restaurant at  Wuksachi, food is really awesome But Lakshmi and Arshiya could not enjoy much because of they were not get used to eat non-indian food.  This trip was a wake up call for me to get Arshiya comfortable to eat some non-indian foods otherwise it will come a night mare for me. As i am avid lover for traveling and camping. I definitely want to do as many trip to different places with family and take Arshiya to many places to get experienced.  

Because of last minute glitch in the trip, Lakshmi did not feel happy at the end of trip. we were talking while we were driving back home. She wants to do one more camping trip for at least 3 days for coming labour day weekend. 

Yosemite 

As our last camping trip was messed up at then end because of car break down, we planned Yosemite trip to make it even. i could not get any camp site for labor day long weekend, instead what i planned i worked in holidays and took compensation days off in the middle of week.(my Manager in Cymer, San Diego was very sweet person). I took 3 days off from work in the middle of week followed by labor day weekend.

It is also 8 hours drive pretty much from our home. we started in the morning reached the Yosemite valley by evening. we went on easy rest of the day just played with Arshiya after tent is put on.

 Next morning, we need to move to different site diagonally, as we couldn't  get all 3 days in the same  site. we moved all our belongings to new site, our neighboring site tenet offered help but as it is diagonally adjacent we politely said we are fine.

second day was just roaming in the yosemite valley floor, visited mesuem in the village center.  we took the bus we stopped at few places in the valley. by sunset we were at curry village and want to eat there from pizza deck and coffee corner as it would be quick. we picked pizzas one cheese mainly for Gingiri and we also took showers at curry village before we goto camp site 

next day we went to Tanya lake on 120 east before Tuolumne meadows. it was one of the our favorite place. i have been to this lake more than 6 times. we let Arshiya play at shore of the lake. she played in the water until Arshiya was shivering a bit for cold air. 

Summer weekend/Day Trips

we did few weekend/Day trips in summer this year. we started weekend family camping in 2nd week of June. First one is Lassen Volcanic NP. 

Lassen volcanic Manzanita Lake Camping:

It was supposed to be 2 night trip, we are supposed to be in the park before sunset.  We left home around 2 on Friday in 2nd week of June, We were in traffic for more than 3 hours on 880 north and 580 W.  It took more than 3 hours to get to I5 from our home. Generally it will an hour drive more or less. Till Tracy, traffic was moving not more than 20 miles at most, sometimes it is like 5 mph and more of the times it is like bumper to bumper traffic.  At tracy we thought we can take break and rejoin the traffic. 

After rejoining the traffic was almost same but it was moving at slow pace may around 20 not sure. we never really stopped. Once we were on I5, it was little better relatively. Till Sacramento, i keep on seeing the same cars, sort of race to reach destination.  We crossed Sacramento just before sunset, Then i decided instead of going directly to campsite, i wanted to stop at Red Bluff or Redding for night stay. We were driving based on day light,  from one of my previous road trips i kind of strongly following not to drive after full dark. When we were 15 or 20 miles away from Red Bluff, Arshiya wanted a break, we stopped for a awhile on roadside to stretch our bodies a bit.  we left may be 10-15 mins of day light.  we reserved a hotel room in Red Bluff and we barely reached before it becomes full dark. 

We prepared food for late lunch, instead we had burgers for late lunch at tracy when we took for first break. Luckily, we need not to go out for dinner, we were so tired when were in hotel room. we just wanted to sleep. 

Next morning we got up by late i think around  8 i guess. it was almost 11 when were in car and about drive to park. It was an hour and 10 mins drive to campground. when enquired about park conditions at the park entrance, i was bit surprised to know Park roads are not open fully. South gate is open till Sulphur works and west/north gate is open till devastated area only. More than 3/4 of park is still covered with snow. 

After check-in to the park, we straight went to campsite, pitched a tent. it was our first visit to manzanita lake campground. instantly we liked the place. we did camping at sequoia, Yosemite few times. it was bit similar landscape with very less crowded, especially, in jun 2nd week very less crowd. if anyone want to enjoy nature with very pleasant and peaceful environment i suggest to visit Lassen Volcanic in shoulder periods of season. 

we went to Devastated area for a hike after small rest, it was 0.5 mile loop in sort of little cold breeze, we needed light jackets. when we stopped at parking lot, another surprise for us, specifically to Arshiya, there was snow every where and in some places snow piled up a lot on either side of the road. Unfortunately we did not prepared for any snow activities, as we were not aware of snow existing. i was kind of hoping i can show snow to Arshiya on peak of mountains. she played in snow for a quick, her dress got wet. when she got little shivering, Lakshmi got Arshiya out of snow. When Arshiya was playing, i went for a small walk on road alone. When i returned Arshiya and Lakshmi was at car.

Then we went to campground, first thing we did was collect wood for campfire. We have no specific plans for this trip, except get away from home for a night or two. we started campfire when enough day light is left. it was Lakshmi’s first experience to taste Indian homemade dehydrated curries. She did not expected the curries to taste that good and Arshiya’s favorite camp food is any dal with green leaves with chips. I was bit tense till the evening how to take care of camp food for Arshiya, especially. One of the agenda of this trip was to get some level of understanding on cooking indian vegetarian food while doing doing outdoor with family. 

While preparing dinner, to our next surprise, it started snowing very very thin flakes. we finished our dinner fast and all three sat around the campfire pit. within 2 hours snow fall picked up the pace. then we sort of said done for the day and wanted to go inside the tent. when we go to sleep    early (i could not remember when i was the last time i slept before 10PM).  we slept good in our cosy sleeping bag/blankets with heavy cushion on top of sleeping pads.  

Lakshmi was the first one we got up and went outside the tent. She asked to Arshiya to come out of the tent to see outside. It was like, in Arshiya’s terms, “winter wonderland”. it was really covered whole area with snow and snowfall continued till we left the campground. 

While driving back, we had discussion on the trip, Both Arshiya and Lakshmi wanted to come back to this place before school starts but for 3-4 days stay.  

Pinnacle National Park:

Pinnacle National Park camping was bit contract experience to our last trip, temperature was very hot.  It suppose to be 2 hour 15 mins drive from our home, instead 1 hour extra it took. we started at before noon i think,  we are there around 3:30 we stopped at general store for a quick information. I came to know about swimming pool at pinnacle park from park website. we checked general store and swimming pool timings then headed to campsite. camp site was open area on side. After quickly put tent in shady area and had quick lunch before we go to pool area.  We were in pool till past 6. 

Then we went for a quick hike at Bear Gulch Cave trail. we did not go to inside the caves as it almost becoming sunset and we could not find much crowd surrounding areas.  it was our first solo family hiking in woods and rocks with very less crowd(we might have seen around 10 people 2 to 3 groups) in 2 miles up and down hike. Even though there was enough time for sunset, it was dark on the trail. 

We hiked as long as Arshiya can comfortably hike, when she tired we stopped there did explored the small caves near by.  Then we returned to parking lot and started driving back to campground. On the way we spotted few deer and its cubs too, we stopped for some time watching them and sun also setting slowly from pinnacles peak.

This isolated park packs surprising beauty, with peaks formed by volcanoes along the San Andreas Fault that are distinct from the surrounding landscape. The park's namesakes are the eroded leftovers of the western half of an extinct volcano that has moved 200 miles (320 km) from its original location on the San Andreas Fault, embedded in a portion of the California Pacific Coast Ranges. it was interesting to know how it is drifted from its original area.

We were not allowed to do campfires in park when we visited. we were at campground watching top of the hills by binoculars, we also bought one for Arshiya from general store. she fully on top of it , finding all birds flying near the tops. thats one of her best time passing for rest of day. After it becoming dark we can see stars sleeping in our tent. we did not cover the top of tent for most of time. just before we to go sleep we covered and opened all tent  zippers for ventilation with mesh on. It was fun to watch stars with Arshiya and she saw few airplanes and thought they are moving shining stars.Next Morning as usual get up, pack up and drive back to home.

Mt. Diablo State Park :

I picked Diablo camping ground for next trip as i am not interested to drive too far and it is near to bay area within the out skirts of Dublin/Concord. We reached the base of Mt Diablo within an hour from our home. But it took a while to drive up even though it is not too far in distance to go to campgroup because of the hair pin trans, Long winding road with blind curves and lot of bikes, i need to extra careful while uphill driving with narrow roads and sharp falls. 

From wikipedia: On a clear day the Sierra Nevada is plainly visible. The best views are after a winter storm; a snowy Sierra shows up better, and summer is likely to be hazy. Lassen Peak, 181 miles (291 km) away, is occasionally just visible over the curve of the earth. Sentinel Dome in Yosemite National Park is also visible. 

But we are not lucky enough to view all the above mountain peaks as it was lot of haze in sky no clear view on any direction. We went to top of the mountain to view the surrounding from there, we could not spend more than 10 mins i guess because of lot of wind. Before we go to top, we wanted to view sunset from the top but after going there we changed our minds instead we wanted to watch from our campground, there is near flat area less than 100 meters from our camp site. we were bit unlucky to watch whole sunset as we dropped two indians with a dog from top of the mountain to group campsite on our way back to campsite. we watched final few mins of sunset.

Big Basin SP :

Big Basin campground was also picked as it near to bay area it is just 22 miles from Saratoga downtown. It also two night camping but we cannot make it as i have work on Friday night. I was not sure when we started but it was around 3PM when we were at park visitor center. we did late check-in and got registration sticker when headed to camp site. Almost all our neighbors were just came or started coming within 1/2 hour to 1 hour window. It is state park we found many Indian families apart from ours. 

Our standard plan for one night camping is to get up in the morning prepare lunch and pickup something drive-thru for a quick bite till we have lunch. we go there and have lunch or pitch a tent relax and have lunch. After having late lunch, we walked on a trail to general store as Arshiya keep on pushing us to general store. Then, started to attend ranger program. it seemed we misunderstood about ranger program and place to gather. we missed one of the evening program before sunset. with disappointment, we walked to General store to pick-up campfire wood and in addition to on-demand we also picked up ice-cream for Arshiya. 

we spent some time there near general store, visitor center and museum before we headed to campfire event before sunset. we were the first one to campfire center, Park Ranger was already there with some kids games and started fire in the large campfire pit. we didn't know she is providing marshmallow with long sticks to use. Arshiya played with some puppet show sticks and did some coloring before campfire started and small crowd gathered. I helped Arshiya to roast one or two Marshmallows. after watching few mins of video about the park, we left to the place. 

While i was making fire ready, Lakshmi and Arshiya went to showers, everything is ready when they returned. to my surprise Lakshmi bought batter to prepare "bonda"  or "punugulu" it is type of indian snack or lite food prepared with black lentils or urad bean. It fun preparing on top of  campfire ring. we prepared dinner one item at a time very relax, we had dinner very slowly. It was a fun day even though we did not do much activity except  spent some time at the tiny creek next to camp site, within 100 ft distance. 
The only problem we experienced there are lot of bugs mainly mosquitos, when have not seen this issue in previous campgrounds. even though we used bug-repellent spray they hit hard on Arshiya. 

Next day before we left to home, we went on a hike with park ranger. we hiking along with crowd for around 40 minutes before Arshiya gave up. Then we returned to visitor center and started driving back. Unfortunately while returning there was big traffic at Saratoga Downtown, a vehicle exhibition was going on, it took us almost 2 hours just to cross saratoga downtown from park entrance. it was suppose to be an hour and 15 mins to home. After crossing saratoga downtown, All three wanted a big break before to continue, i badly needed a coffee from Starbucks. 

Golden Gate:

It was half a day trip just go to Golden gate bridge stop there for some time walk on the bridge and come back, not any other activity is planned. we went there after lunch spent around two hours. luckily it was sunny day we can clearly see the blue sky.
Lot of traffic in san Francisco. we drove very slowly till golden gate, we enjoyed as we don't have any work planned. after more than an hour we reached parking other end of the bridge crossing golden gate bridge.
 I couldn't get any parking spot even after fe w rounds of whole parking lot. Then told Lakshmi and Arshiya get down and have fun, when they are done look for me/car in parking lot. Meanwhile if i get a spot, i would call and figure where to meet. 

i was circling the parking lot to get a spot, after few rounds i got a spot, we went for Lakshmi and Arshiya they were on bridge walked around a mile and planning to return to parking lot. i met them in the middle then we all came back to car. Then we went for drive on CA till the base of Muir wood national monument and drove back from Richmond-San Rafael Bridge watching sunset. 

Ano Nuevo State park:

Gregorio SB:

Lemos Farms at Halfmoon Bay: