Spectacular Niagara Falls

Two days in Niagara and my mind is blown away by the sheer beauty of the falls. All the time, effort, money and hardships (yes, loads of them but don't want to dwell on those for now) we endured to reach the place were absolutely justified.

I booked a tour on Viator that took us to all the important places. It picked us up at 1.30 pm from our hotel on Rainbow Blvd and took us to Goat Island. This is a small island in the Niagara River between the Horseshoe falls and the Bridal Veil falls. Our first stop was Cave of the Winds behind the Bridal Veil Falls. We were given sandals to change into and made to stand in line waiting for our turn. After a 45 minute wait, we got into the elevator that took us down the cave which had access to the Bridal Veil and American Falls. Ponchos were handed out to us as protection from the water. I will not be able to do justice in describing the magnificence of the falls. Take a look at the pictures to see for yourself.

We then walked over to see the Horseshoe falls photographed below. Again not much to describe but to visualize and soak in the sight.

Our tour guide then led us to the Maid of the Mist falls. It being a Memorial Day weekend, there was almost an hour and a half wait time. After a tiring wait and what seemed like eternity, our turn finally came. The elevators took us down towards the boats. 600 people on board at a time! The moment we started getting close to the falls, I was speechless. The stunning view, double rainbow and the cool water spraying on my face made for a moment that I will forever cherish. I was so grateful to have been given a chance to be at that scene made me incredibly happy.

Our last stop was the whirlpool located in the Niagara Gorge. This whirlpools flows anti clockwise during normal flow but during the winter months changes direction.

This was one of the most tiring but truly satisfying trips I have ever taken. If you do not care much about the history and can manage transportation on your own, then you don't really need to take the tour. It is much cheaper if you go on your own. 

Walking Tour in San Francisco

Union Square

It's quite funny that despite this blog theme being San Francisco Bay Area, I have not posted anything about San Francisco! Time to change that now. Last week, I decided to explore some of the popular neighborhoods in SF through a walking tour. Similar to the one I took in Seattle, this one was very informative, fun and gave me an insight into the history and culture of San Francisco.

The tour was called 'The Whole Shebang tour' and was conducted by Foot! I discovered it through an offer on Goldstar.com which helped me save money. The tour started at Huntington Park in Nob Hill at 11.15am. My friend Anu and I took the Caltrain from Santa Clara station at 8.45am and reached SF station at 10am. Right outside the station, there is a bus stop for Bus 30 which dropped us two blocks away from our destination.

Kurt, our tour guide was very funny, knowledgeable and friendly. He told us about the important personalities that shaped and influenced the city, cable cars, rail roads, Gold rush, the devastating earthquakes and ensuing fires in 1906, eccentric characters like Emperor Norton, buildings that survived the fires and those that were rebuilt. We also saw some spots where scenes of the movie 'Vertigo' were shot. He took us through the Fairmont Hotel and The Westin St Francis Hotel to see the architecture and relayed some interesting stories.

From Nob hill, we walked to Chinatown and saw the main entrance of Chinatown, old temples, Fortune cookie factory and also got to taste some yummy dimsums in one of the local restaurants. From there, we continued towards Union Square followed by a walk through North beach-the Italian neighborhood.

In front of Chinatown entrance

The tour ended at Washington park after 3 hours and walking 30 blocks. Apart from all the information, the tour also had trivia quizzes with prizes which added to the fun. Overall it was time well spent! I highly recommend this to anyone who wants to get a taste of SF's uniqueness and rich culture.

Church near Washington Park

Pinnacles National Park

Our most recent day trip lead us to the Pinnacles National Park in Soledad. Until last year, it was known as the Pinnacles National Monument and it is now the newest National Park in the US. Ancient volcanic field led to the formation of the famous rock spires, talus caves and canyons. Popular activities are rock climbing, hiking, camping and bird watching (we did spot some condors).  The Bear Gulch caves are home for the Big eared bats which rest there in the winter and raise their young ones during late spring and summer. We did not go to that side of the park so didn't have a chance to see them. Always a good idea to check the status of the caves here before making plans to visit.

We left Sunnyvale at about 11am on Sunday and it took us 1 hour 45 minutes to get to the West entrance of the park. Note that there are two entrances to the park namely the West and the East-they are not connected to each other through the park. This means that one has to drive outside the park to get from one entrance to the other. So it is important to know beforehand which entrance you need to take depending on the activity you plan on doing. The East entrance is about 85 miles from Sunnyvale while the West Entrance is at a distance of 105 miles.

We took Highway 101 S followed by Highway 146 E which took us right to the Park entrance. It is quite a windy road with several one lane stretches which makes for challenging and interesting driving.

There are some Ranger led hikes at specific times and I was keen on attending one such walk that was being conducted at the Balconies cave accessible through the West entrance. Hence, we decided on driving there. It being a 'Free National Park Entrance Weekend' the parking lot was crowded and so the Rangers were following a 'one car out and one in' method. This resulted in us missing the Ranger led hike.  After a brief 15 minute wait, we were allowed to the parking lot. The main parking lot near the picnic area was full so we had to park at the overflow parking area. A short ten minute walk took us to Chaparral.

The easiest hiking trail is the Balconies Cave trail. It is a 2.4 miles loop with an elevation of 100 feet. We covered it in 3 hours as I had to slow down considerably for the ascent. We walked through the Balconies Caves which was a thrilling experience. The caves are dark and one needs a flashlight to find your way through it. There are parts of the caves through which we had to crawl, crouch and even squeeze our way. At one point, there was a small trickle of water flowing through the rocks. It was refreshing to wash our faces in the small waterfall after walking in the sun for so long. Once out of the cave, the incline begins and there is very little tree cover to keep out the sun.

Walking through the Balconies Caves

By 5.30pm, we reached back to the parking spot tired, exhausted but satisfied after a good days workout. We stopped for coffee and some frozen yoghurt on the way to recoup our energy. We made it back to Sunnyvale by 8.30 pm with sore muscles and great memories.

What: Pinnacles National Park
Where: Please use the following coordinates in the GPS or online map for directions.
For the East Side of Park (Pinnacles Visitor Center): 36.493545, -121.146646.
For the West Side of Park (Pinnacles Visitor Contact Station): 36.477352, -121.226114
When: East Entrance is open 24 hours and the West Entrance is open between 7.30am-8pm

Fees: $5 per vehicle

Fun Times

February and March have been very happening months. I did a variety of activities and enjoyed each one of them thoroughly. As there are too many things to write about and not enough time for all, I'm combining them all into one post.

First up was Cirque Du Soleil. It is essentially is a circus with extremely entertaining performance-acrobatics, dancing, stunts, gymnastics, live music and astounding visuals. This was my first time viewing it and I was completely enthralled by it. This show is a must-watch!

Cirque Du Soleil Stage

Then followed a nice long walk with friends in the Shoreline park in Mountain View. Nothing better than strolling in the warm afternoon, soaking in the beautiful surroundings and chatting with friends. I intend to do this more often. Good for the body and the mind!

With Friends in Shoreline Park

Picnic in the park was next on my schedule. A group of twenty girls with a potluck meal met in a park in Palo Alto Downtown. We played Uno (a card game) in the beginning and as the group grew bigger, we switched to more fun activity-talking! There was so much variety in food and I was thrilled that all but one dish was vegetarian. I baked garlic pull apart rolls which was loved by everyone.

Potluck in Palo Alto Park

Garlic Pull Apart bread rolls I baked

Picnic was followed by a hike with Bay Area Older Adults (similar to my previous hike at Uvas Canyon). This time, the location was Rancho San Vicente-a private land which has been acquired by the Parks department and is still not open to the public for hiking. So I was very fortunate to be able to hike in this park. Like last time, it was an amazing experience walking along the beautiful trail, listening to the hike leaders talk about the wildflowers that were blooming and conversing with the seniors. It was quite a steep hike and since it was an unshaded path, the sun was beating down on us. We stopped at the top of the small hill where we could get a view of the Calero Lake. We had a small picnic lunch to replenish our energy and then headed back down. It was a fun and informative session.

Picnic lunch at the top of Rancho San Vicente

View of Calero Lake

I also managed to catch a quick coffee meet with friends on one rainy evening. It was a short meeting but was fun nevertheless.

The most recent activity was quite strenuous yet equally fun. It was rock climbing at Planet Granite. It was a two hour activity of which the first hour was belay lessons, instructions about rules and safety precautions. The next hour was rock climbing and belaying with a partner. I attempted rock climbing twice and managed to get only halfway because of low strength as well as fear. It was a new and fun experience but I'm not sure I'd want to do it again.

Me tying the knots with my belay partner Nirmala

Rock climbing

Mt Hamilton

My latest trip took me to Mt Hamilton in Santa Clara which overlooks the Silicon Valley. On top of the mountain stands the Lick Observatory.

The Lick Observatory

We were a group of 7 who met at a Subway parking lot in San Jose. Packing a sandwich for lunch, we headed on our way. Driving along Highway 130, our first stop was the Grant Lake. To stretch our legs & to get a better view of the lake, we walked along the small trail for about a 100 meters which was a pleasant walk. I hear there is a much longer trail with an elevation of over a 1000 feet which gives a very nice view of the lake but we did not go on that trail.

The Grant lake

Continuing on Mt Hamilton road which is a 19 mile windy road we saw many bikers and motorcyclists enjoying the drive. It is said that the road has as many as 365 curves! One cannot drive faster that 25mph. The scenery along the way is beautiful. Since we went just at the beginning of spring, there was greenery everywhere. The road is usually closed when it snows at the top.

View from the top of Mt Hamilton

After a 45 minute drive, we reached the Lick Observatory-the world's first permanently occupied mountain-top observatory that houses the 36 inch telescope. There is a small museum inside the observatory with various images and a few artifacts. Since I wasn't too keen on it, I just took a quick glance through it. There are washrooms, a gift store and a nice open air space picnic area where we ate our lunch.

Picnic area behind the Lick Observatory

36 inch telescope at the Lick Observatory

One of our group members who is very familiar with the area gave us interesting historical information about the place. Back in the day, when the observatory was being built, horse and mule driven carriages were used to carry stones from the bottom of the hill to the top. In order for the animals to be able to walk the steep hill, the roads had have a low steep grade. Hence the windy and sinuous road. He also pointed out  an area near the Grant lake which had the brick kiln for the observatory. Another story he shared was of the plane that crashed into the main building of the observatory during 1939. Luckily there was no fire or damage to the telescope and the staff was not in the building as they were attending a conference elsewhere.

I loved this spontaneous trip with a group of lovely people.

Uvas Canyon Hike

Another interesting event organized by the Bay Area Older Adults non profit was a hike in the Uvas Canyon Park. Since I had some free time at hand and wanted to volunteer, I decided it was a perfect opportunity to spend some time with the seniors and also get some workout in the outdoors.

I carpooled with my friend and organizer of the event-Anne-along with a senior member Sally. We started at 9am and it took us about 45 minutes to reach the Uvas Canyon Park. After Santa Teresa, it was a scenic drive. It felt as though we were magically transported to the country side. It only made things even better as the weather was lovely. The sun was peeking out and there was no threat of rain.

The hike was led by the Santa Clara county park docent Heidi and a volunteer Kate. They were very knowledgeable and engaging. We learnt about the different plants that we encountered along the way-Madrone, Manzanita, Oaks, Ferns, Lichens, Periwinkle, Honeysuckle, mushrooms and more. We also came across lady bugs and banana slugs!

Heidi briefing members

Lichens

Lady Bugs

Banana Slug

It was a moderate three mile hike with one 200 foot ascent and descent along the waterfall loop. Since it had rained recently, it was a good time to see the falls. There were 3 waterfalls-Black rock, Basin and Upper falls. Since we were hiking along the creek, the sound of the water flowing was very soothing. There were tall, shade trees which kept the sun out. All along, we witnessed lush greenery, birds chirping and water flowing. The docent mentioned that exercising outdoors is much more beneficial than indoors as we are exposed to natural colors, shapes and sounds. She also mentioned that being near water brings out positive thoughts in people as water has negative ions which attract positive ones. I'm not sure about the scientific basis of this but from my experience I can completely relate to it. My mood was uplifted and all stress dissolved. Talking to the seniors while hiking made it even more interesting and felt less like workout and more fun. In the end, we were all sweating from the hard work but were so happy and energized.

We had a small picnic lunch at the end of the hike which was perfect as we had worked up quite an appetite after the hike. We drove back home refreshed and enthusiastic.

What: Hike
Where: Uvas Canyon Park in Morgan Hill
Cost: Free

Galaxy, Nebula & Star Cluster Viewing

I volunteer at a non profit called Bay Area Older Adults which conducts informative, stimulating and interesting workshops, lectures and fun activities for older adults in the Bay Area. I recently attended one such event which was open to volunteers and absolutely loved it. It was Galaxy, Nebula and Star Viewing. 

16 inch telescope-Foothill College Observatory

At 5.30pm, we gathered at the Foothill College Observatory located in Los Altos. The observatory has a semicircular dome and a 16 inch computer-controlled solar telescope. 

Foothill College Observatory dome

Telescope

Our host for the day was Rick Baldridge, a senior engineer who works for companies that design and build satellites and spacecraft systems. He is also a member of the Peninsula Astronomical Society. He enthusiastically shared very interesting information about the galaxies, stars and space in general. 

Rick showing views on the computer

We watched the planets Mercury, Uranus, Neptune and Jupiter. We also saw the double star Epsilon Aries, the Orion nebula, the Crab nebula and the Alcyone star from the Pleiades open cluster. Most of these celestial bodies appeared as tiny shining dots in the space. It was amazing to note that these objects which I was viewing were located hundred and thousands of light years away. Since this was my first experience, I was overwhelmed and intrigued by the technology and information that we have about space. There are similar sessions conducted every Friday and Saturday which are free and open to the public. It is a humbling and informative session and I highly recommend it.

What: Galaxy, Nebula and Star Viewing
Where: 12345 El Monte Rd, Los Altos Hills, CA 94022
When: Friday 9pm-11pm and Saturday 10am-noon
Cost: Free

(P.S. Apologies for the poor picture quality. They were clicked on my cell phone in the dark.)