The Wild West

Burf ki baarish

2009-01-09T17:38:00.011-05:00

Some snaps from the trees around State College after the ice rain we had day b4 yesterday... (click on the pics for the best view of ice formations)

The Sin City From Air

2009-01-04T21:25:00.006-05:00

Long time since I posted anything here... Actually had a very hectic last month of the year.. So first of all ... heres wishing u a Happy new year!

Recently saw some snaps of the sin city (Las Vegas) with the brightly lit Eiffel Tower restaurant .. that deceives u to thinking u were in the city of light (paris). I also remembered having seen a couple of posts on a friends' blog.. highlighting the fountains @ Bellagio and the interiors @ the Venitian... amazing city I thought.. but as I hovered over the city for some time .. thanks to a delay in landing the flight on time .. I got to see a different Vegas .. something that nobody else had shown me so far...

Barren mountains with no hint of life in the near vicinity

Makes you wonder if the earths gravity failed for a moment and the flight was attracted towards mars! :D

But then ... no alien would probably construct asphalted concrete roads in mars.. hmmm...

now! that seems like some remote human civilization .. or is it ?

and there we enter the city... have u ever seen a corner of any city ?? ah there!! I did...

and this was a more "rounded" border of LV

and for those of u who cant beleive its the same LV with the casinos herez the proof.. a strip of the "strip" of the sin city...

Airports in 2008

2008-11-12T12:07:00.003-05:00

As I am travelling back from San Jose I was comparing the San Jose airport to the old Bangalore airport (guess its got something to do with "silicon valley" again... beleive me .. its not any better than that.. another thing in common between the two silicon cities is that San Jose is about to have a rennovated airport too!). That said.. I also wondered if I had the right to comment about airports and I started counting the airports I have seen in 2008... and I was pleaseantly surprised by the number!!! Here is a list of the airports:

State College (SCE)- all through the yr for obvious reasons
Washington DC (IAD) (in March to attend ASPLOS conference in Seattle)
Seattle-Tacoma (SEA) (in March, May, July, Aug.. for ASPLOS conference and MSR internship)
New York (JFK) (in May on my way to Bangalore)
Mumbai (BOM) (in May on my way to Bangalore)
Bangalore (BLR-old) (Landing in Bangalore in May)
Bangalore (BLR-new)(Departing Bangalore in June)
Paris (CDG) (On my way to Seattle for internship)
Detroit (Treavelling to State College to move into a new apartment and return to Seattle)
Cincinatti (CVG) (Return from internship)
Cleveland (CLE) (Return from internship)
Philadelphia (PHL) (To give a talk a GSRC symposium, San Jose)
Las Vegas (LVS) (part of GSRC and ICCAD conference trips to San Jose)
San Jose (SJC) (GSRC and ICCAD conference trips)
Phoenix (PHX) (return from San Jose - GSRC trip)

Add to this growing list.. 16. London Heathrow airport that I will pass through as part of my December India visit!!! :)

Happy Deepavali

2008-10-26T22:45:00.006-04:00

Deepavali is here ... and after a long time... we had a wonderful festival celebration ... apart from the great food (obbattu and basundi for sweets!) it was obvious that we celebrate it with lights! So here are some snapshots of our celebrations:

Happy Deepavali to all of u!! Have a blast!

Fall Again

2008-10-17T21:24:00.008-04:00

I cant beleive it myself.. its my third fall season at State College... Decided to celebrate with some more colors on my blog...

More Reflective Splendors

2008-09-22T22:15:00.002-04:00

Home chweet home

2008-08-31T12:39:00.007-04:00

Came back home today ... its been only a month since I last came to state college (to move to our new home).. but it seemed like eons since I was last here. I must concede that I was missing everything about state college ... most importantly Ramya :)

Feels so nice being back home ... feeling cozy on my couch .. and wow! what a welcome I received! It was beyond my imaginations that the house in which I had dumped all the furniture .. just a month ago could be turned into such a sweet home ... everything in its place .. clean and neat ...all clothes arranged well in the walk-in closets... beds well made... I know .. very very unlike me ... to keep it that way... but it does make me happy too .. to see it that way :D Apart from all this .. there were sweets .. all of them that I luved .. Lindt Lindor swiss chocolates that melted in my mouth .... yummmm .. Thanku so much .. sweetheart :)

Some pics of our chweet home ...

Living room

Kitchen

Dining hall

Master bedroom...

and the guest bedroom

Idiosyncracies of preeminent researchers

2008-08-17T03:06:00.003-04:00

Here is an excerpt from a commendable repository of explicatory comic strips illustrating the superlative benefits of ostentatious and intimidating writing skills in research. I would also like to bring to the notice of the reader that such writing skills are a universal trait cultivated by individuals implicated in research for more than a couple of years. It is further fostered by supplementary and reciprocal inter-subjective interactions with other concurring and prejudiced researchers. However an excruciating verity is that, researchers perpetually affected by such an idiosyncratic mannerism construct sentences that are utterly oblivious to any associated connotations.

didn't get what i mean ? check this out!! ;)

Lakes and Rocks

2008-08-13T00:11:00.004-04:00

Mount Cephern (Icefields parkway)

Notice the building in the middle of nowhere .. I luv such places !!

A better view...

The best view I have ever had...period. No picture can do justice to the view of Peyto lake one gets from Bow summit on a bright day.. with the star shaped emerald colored lake and never ending range of snow capped mountains in the background.. its just amazing!!

Lake Maligne (Jasper national park)

Emerald Lake -Yoho national park ... btw .. these pics were taken @ 9:30 pm!!

Gimme the Power

2008-08-08T03:00:00.004-04:00

Mt Rainier.. Is it deriving some power ?? or dissipating its own ??

a better view or proof...

This is some mountain along the Icefields parkway... now is that a live volcano .. I saw ??

Life on Ice

2008-07-30T00:37:00.003-04:00

Life on ice fields parkway, the more common ones first...

and then the rare sight!!.. the Grizzly bear couple!

And having found the opportunity .. I dared to go within 5-10 ft of a wild animal in the wild for the first time in my life :)

Icefields Parkway

2008-07-23T22:52:00.005-04:00

Beyound all doubts, the Icefields parkway connecting Banff and Jasper national parks is the best scenic drive that I have driven so far.. for more reasons than one!! Herez a glimpse of the road alone .. all the lakes, waterfalls and wildlife u see as u drive the following posts..

Icefields parkway is a 230 km drive from lake Louise to the town of Jasper.. all along the road and on both sides of the road are glaciers or their remnants ... long long ago the whole place was covered by ice and now the glaciers have left behind an impressive footprint on the landscape, carving the hard rocks as they retreated and leaving behind steep topography... the glacial melts have formed a plethora of lakes.. of different colors and sizes all along the road ... and summer is the "cool"est time to visit the place coz thats when the wild life in the park can be spotted all along the road!

Checkout the power of ice!!!

More lakes... Moraine Lake

2008-07-22T21:26:00.002-04:00

Ek Gilahri

2008-07-21T20:36:00.004-04:00

Be there @ the right place @ the right time

2008-07-19T21:44:00.007-04:00

Photography, as I discovered is all about being at the right place at the right time! The very fact that I was @ Banff satisfied the first condition.. but checkout the difference in the snaps of the same place (Louise lake in Banff National Park) at 5 in the morning (the first 4 pics ) vs 4 in the evening (the last pic) to appreciate the significance of the second part of the condition!!

British Columbia highway 93 in Kootenay National Park

2008-07-15T19:46:00.005-04:00

The Canadian Rockies

2008-07-14T17:04:00.006-04:00

Its been a long time since my last post now.. was busy with lots of things .. getting used to a totally new and kinda special research environment at MSR and "entertaining" the family people (my in-laws in a place where I landed a week b4). It was all fun but not much to post about. Most places I went to in the last month have been a repeat of those I had been to last summer.. and most of them (mountains, rivers, waterfalls, lakes, parks, downtown and even fireworks) don't change with time :P.

Last weekend, however, I'd been to this amazing (god damn gorgeous) collection of parks collectively called the Canadian Rockies. Its a collection of four (4 that I had been to and some more) national parks of Canada. Banff and Jasper National Parks in Alberta (State) and Kootenay and Yoho national parks in the state of Bristish Columbia). Was again a 10 hr drive each way (hmm .. i've become a pro in long drives now :) )

The whole place was just soooooo scenic that probably every pic that I took was worth a post. and probably thats what I'll do from today .. a post a day !!

I'll probably start off with the "second order" beautiful pics from the collection .. so as to give some warmup time for u guys ;)

Here r the pics for today, of whats called the "Castle mountains" in Banff national park

Unadulterated Love

2008-06-06T02:45:00.002-04:00

The epitome of unadulterated love...

Seems like even the kids of our ancestors are better than us !

Some more "lovely" actions

Some PP to capture the essence of it all !!

Singing for the child

2008-04-27T18:17:00.003-04:00

Thy tender hand, and in those pure black eyes
That sweet child's face, those lovely strands of gold,
And in thy smiles and loving, soft replies
I find the whole of love.

The monkey in me

2008-04-23T19:37:00.003-04:00

Why NOT Maldives ?

2008-04-21T18:59:00.013-04:00

Imagine a young couple on a romantic trip to a secluded island (Ocracoke island) with America's best beach...

and finest sand...

with more birds than people...

in a typical laid-back European village setting...

and yet complaining ..
"its not as shallow.."
"its biting cold... can't swim in it..."
"There are no facilities for beach side activities..."
and what not!!!

It happens only to those unfortunate couples who had very fortunately been to Maldives on their honeymoon. As far as enjoying other good beaches is concerned .. its end of the world to them!!! :(

lights

2008-04-16T12:00:00.003-04:00

Lamp shade 1

The SUN...

Lamp shade 2

Glowing Globules

2008-04-06T19:07:00.005-04:00

Continuing my experiments with photography ... this time I didn't have to stand by the side of the freeway! managed it @ home in front of the tap in the kitchen sink ;) Some cool photography coupled with lil post processing ... never thought it was this easy :)

Sense of Speed

2008-03-29T14:02:00.010-04:00

I had prolly exhausted all kinds of still photographs ... So tried to give some sense of speed to them. In an attempt to make new experiments with the camera... tried out an amazing photography technique called panning where u capture moving objects as though they were still in the frame with a blurred background...there r no post processing tricks here... its only photography that matters!! result is here for u to see...

Kahan Kahan se chale aate hai….

2008-03-19T15:07:00.004-04:00

Its amazing .. how a search engine like Google provides directions to millions who would otherwise ruin their time scampering around... all over the internet!! But , many a times it also takes u places where u least intended to go ...

Over the last month or two.. I've been noticing a sudden surge in the number of users visitin my blog (like around 600 each month is high for me .. I'm not google/yahoo to expect more :D).. and its always interesting to know how they landed here... and even more interesting to imagine what they were actually looking for!!

Here is an analysis of the most recent search strings that led to a first/second page hit in Google to one of my posts ...to quite a few (un)fortunate guys around the world!! and my thoughts about what they might have been looking for...

capital-calling restaurant (from London) - Should be a hungry tourist looking for a list of restaurants in London thru a travel guide in London called "capital calling"

wild west 1800 / wild west 1800 united states / life in the 1800's old west / dogs in wild west 1800s (from different parts of US) - history student trying to answer his assignment :D .... dogs in wild west .. is definitely the funniest one!!

name of assorted flowers west (from Singapore) - a singapore based gardener curious to find some funky names to improve his business !!

honing photography skills (from Stockholm) - Poor amateur chap .. no photography tips here!!

lonely kids in america (from CA) - Am sure its some poor immigrant parent worried abt his kids

how camouflage help u (from Romania) - some teenager... trying to know what camouflage is... notice the "u" .. as though he is sending an sms or chatting with Google god!

adige bhatta (from New Jersey) - definitely a karnataka lady (desi in NJ) .. bored of cooking for her hubby ... has gone to the extent of checking out the second page in Google to hire one!

The only relevant one...

travertine terraces (from Texas) - probably .. just the right place .. to see some nice pictures of yellowstone. Its unlikely the guy was checking out anything else..

Framed

2008-03-05T02:37:00.013-05:00

With a lil free time after my presentation got over... I had been to this very scenic place called Stevens pass (a part of cascade loop) and took a different route during return in order to cover another extremely scenic place called Snoqualmie pass... The raw pics posted here would probably not do sufficient justice to the beauty.. so, tried out using this recently downloaded trial version of a framing software... and just so that I could test the s/w i have included 5 different frames!! :)

Light in the Night

2008-03-02T23:54:00.006-05:00

Night view of Seattle waterfront
from
Bell harbor international conference center

Top view of Alaskan way
from
Pier 66 / Bell street pier

White Out

2008-03-01T17:25:00.008-05:00

Was flying out of State college after a really long time and this was for the first time ever I was flying out during winter... The white-out almost all the way from State college ending just before Seattle made a very "cool" (pleasant) sight!

The first 4 pics are from State college...

The left top corner of the white patch in this pic (below) is where I live... btw the entire white patch is the golf course !!

There was a really beautiful patch of natural art.. I would say somewhere over.. Illinois or Iowa.. I think its as beautiful as it can get with as lil snow as this...

But the best was yet to come.. This was somewhere over the place that never fails to impress a nature lover.... even from 36000 ft.... The Yellowstone region!!

Ski-lled

2008-02-24T21:55:00.006-05:00

There were some serious doubts cast on my artistic skills over the last coupla posts... just wanted to hit back with this and say .. have a look at my ski-ing ski-lls... this time

and no comparisons necessary ... without even waiting for the votes, the so called "Dictator" can declare .. the winner is ...

Applause.... thanks

Sketching competition... call for vote

2008-02-16T17:21:00.011-05:00

Have a careful look at both these sketches and decide on who wins ??

the girl

or the kid ...

Now that u've made ur decision .. FYI ... I sketched the kid and Ramya sketched the girl... and now I'm sure .. no one will vote for me :( !!! But then .. i'll be the ultimate winner for bringing out the better side of my better half !!

Sketched

2008-02-15T11:44:00.006-05:00

Vegetating @ home for the last month or so .... due to the ruthless winters .. it was -16F (or -26C) last week with 50 mph winds... believe me its gonna be out of ur imagination if u haven't experienced it ... (I'd been out in shorts and a T-shirt for abt 25 secs.. just so I could claim this ;)) .. That meant my camera was not put to use ..and I'd nothing to blog abt.. and from nowhere I came up with this idea of sketching... It was eons since I held pencil in my hands .. but I managed to get a decent one done (atleast by my standards :))

Happy Sankranthi

2008-01-14T22:03:00.000-05:00

Happy Sankranthi to all! The biggest thing we miss on every festival is the food... and thank goodness! Sankranthi has its unique recipe "pongal" really easy to try.

and what better occasion to put up some more pics straight from our kitchen..

Gulab Jamun

Samosas...

Rave Idli

Veg Puffs .. yes!! home made..

Dhokla.. kinda Maharashtrian idli

Shavige

Puris

and guess what .. this is not puri.. its chapathi/roti!!

Capital Calling

2008-01-02T10:53:00.000-05:00

Staying within 4 hours drive from the capital of the country ... a visit to Washington DC was long due... Some free time at the end of the semester and a weekend prediction that says "sunny"... probably not worth waiting any longer.. so we decided to go on a two day trip to DC and Baltimore. A good old friend joining us made it memorable!

Capitol .. not half as elegant as Vidhana Soudha ...

White House .. . Nothing about it is specially appealing but for its age (for all that hype.. u know!!) .. considering Raj Bhavan is about as old (or may be 50 years younger.. all the same!!)...

Lincoln memorial ... This one is good .. but is a mere "copy" of a Greek Doric temple (Very similar to "Arcopolis" or "Parthenon")

with a "Lincoln inside" label...

Washington Monument as seen from the Relfection pool (cant hold myself from comparing it to Qutb Minar which is 400 years older... but should I ?? naaaaah!!!!!!!!)

Bult hold on .. there was something really beautiful that was spotted in this pool...

First Night

2007-12-31T21:52:00.000-05:00

Thats the name of the New Year's eve event @ State College. Musical and theatrical performances in downtown churches, indoor and outdoor resolution sculptures, and art workshops were arranged all around the downtown. With temperatures of around 21 deg F (-6 deg C) and free Hot Chocolate and Hanson's Kettle Corn... the atmosphere was all electrifying! First Night State College is well known for its outstanding displays of carved ice. Mega sculptures carved in ice exhibited on roads ... it was a treat to watch .. and its all here for u ..

Pennsylvanian Elks...

Eagle...

SS United States.. the fastest US streamliner built in Penn State .. in 1952

Dragon...

A Tractor...

George Washinton...

And finally... "The King" on his Ice Throne!!!

Happy New Year Everyone!!!!

Oodles of Snow

2007-11-18T13:21:00.000-05:00

Fall is almost gone... and I got a lil busy at just the wrong time.. to post more from fall splendor... and even b4 I could realize it ... winter is here ... its not only me whoz so confused with time.. but weather is as confused as I am... coz its crazily snowing even b4 the end of fall...

Partial fall color and snow in front of my apartment

in front of other houses too...

But soon the winter took over completely and covered all of it..

There was some greenery spotted around the house, mainly due to the pines in the golf course ...

But otherwise it was the typical winter trees all around with
"void branches"

It got really windy at times

but who would not be enthralled by the pristine beauty of white snow ? Anyone would be beguiled by a white carpet welcome like this one to dare the scary winds.. atleast I was...

To give u a comparison between peak fall and winter .. here are two pics of the same place .. (albeit from different angles)... i guess it still gives u a feel of the difference...

Two Minutes

2007-11-14T13:14:00.000-05:00

Out of Bangalore (India) for a long time ?? .. months/yrs ...????

Missing eat-outs, fast foods, restaurants where u could walk in and order idli vada sambar ... or masala dose ?

If u r one of those thinking it'll take ages to prepare a masala dose @ home ... u r "wrong"!!!

All that it takes is 2 mins! Don't believe me ?? find out for urself.. this is how we make masala dose at home

Served with chutney ....

it just got better...

pile one over the other .. two mins each .. u know ?? ;)

and have fun :)

Reflections

2007-10-22T17:26:00.001-04:00

Fall colors add a new dimension to reflection photography. This one is so close to one of the imaginary pictures that would pop up in my mind when ppl talked about a "foreign" country (when I was a kid) ....the other being snow covered mountains!!

The swans in the pool beats even my imaginary world!! or probably i'm deprived of such creative imaginations ;)

and all these in a place thats so closely connected to India!! it can't get better... all these pics are from a lake in Iskcon temple (Palace of Gold) @ Wheeling, West Virginia.

Visit to a Choclaty World

2007-10-20T21:41:00.001-04:00

Being the chocoholic that I am ... it was a dream come true as I had been to "Chocolate World" at Hershey famous for the popular brand of chocolates with the same name... and specially for the Hershey "kisses".

Chocolate world has a very informative tour about exactly how chocolates are made @ Hershey.. starting from how cocoa seeds are selected ( a mix of seeds from Ecuador (south america) and Africa!!)... fermented... broken.. powdered...

to make solid bars of chocolate.. yummm !!

and how they are further melted and mixed with milk to make milk chocolate... mouth watering! ain't it ?

how chocolate is refined and conched (no pic of conching here)....

to get these delectable stuff... i just luv them!!

specially when melted chocolate runs over roasted almonds...

broken almonds

or better.. if its whole... yummmmm...

and finally packed...

As you would've imagined by now, I couldn't resist the temptation for any longer.... I got myself.. more than a KG infact 1.25 KG of chocolate finally!!

Colored Clouds

2007-10-16T22:14:00.001-04:00

Splendor of Niagara at night

Maid Of The Mist

2007-10-14T10:52:00.000-04:00

Having visited umpteen cascades in the west, a visit to Niagara which is only about 240 miles from my place was definitely on the cards.. We had to make it before winter set in.. coz we didn't want to freeze in no mans land (neither US nor Canada)...

Also, the first time ever I got so close to any international border .. so much so that pedestrians are allowed to cross through the border...

And a beautiful bridge separating the two countries...for most ppl who drive to cross the border

...and in between is a special gift from US to Canada, as a token of appreciation of a long lasting friendly relationship (unlike our neighbors).. Its this view.. of US falls from Canadian side (as seen from the Maid of the Mist boat ride...

The USP of this falls is not its height or width but the sheer rate at which water is pushed down.... more than 200,000 cu feet per second!!!

and to top it all .. u get an easy access point to a top view of the falls to check out how the falls is formed... which is also rare in most other falls I have seen..

and not to forget .. the ever lasting rainbow at the falls to add to its beauty...

Welcome Fall

2007-10-07T19:05:00.000-04:00

Late this year ... nevertheless, its coming .. its almost here .. the "fall colors" have started appearing and here are some pics from the first appearance!

Not the best photographs .. most of them are shot during a drive.. and btw .. some of them are shot by my dad too!!! donno exactly which ones.

Fast & The Furious

2007-09-18T14:30:00.000-04:00

Its 11th Aug ...I start a long journey towards Yellowstone on my new Hyundai Elantra...

That had the lowest odometer reading (not too long ago when I got it in mid june) of all the cars I have driven in US...

But me ain't impressed coz it wasn't half as gud as its elder bro Honda Accord!! who happens to be my slave too ;)

But then I happen to drive thru some tempting roads in eastern Washington...

Racing thru the left lane at increasing speeds leaving the "right" ppl far behind

reaching the deserted state of Montana where the speed limit is 75 mph (roughly 120 kmph)

Have had enuf of following the rules since I came to this country!! Time to break free ;)
Crossing 100 mph (160 kmph) for the first time....

Reaching 110 on the way...

and finally the highest that an Elantra would probably ever reach on any road .. 120 mph (193 kmph)!!! on my way back...

I had the drive of my life!! :)

Assorted Flowers

2007-09-17T07:32:00.000-04:00

A recent post from V has prompted me to find these assorted flowers from various places.. most of them which i'd never seen earlier.. or were too gorgeous and colorful ..to be held back from posting

If any botanist is out there .. i'm not too sure if this is a flower .. but i would classify anything with petals as one!

Back To School

2007-08-30T19:59:00.000-04:00

Feels so nice to be back in school .. suddenly feeling i'm 15 yrs younger...coming back from Microsoft with lotsa old ppl (where most ppl are in their 40s-50s)... talk nothing but techie stuff or company hierarchy and politics... to a place with 80% students 20 and below.. young and full of enthu. Its so refreshing to find so much energy back again in the atmosphere!!

Time and again I have felt it would be so nice to be in a univ than any of the top 10 from the Forbes' list... just wonder why Forbes doesn't consider univs!! (more importantly .. designation of grad students ;) ). Of course .. that does not go to say that I didn't enjoy my time at one of the top companies from the list.. I loved all the free unlimited drinks .. thats never to be found at univs...I did enjoy my own room (guess MS is one of the few companies that provides private 10 x 10 x10 offices.. for all full time employees.. and some lucky interns like me!) where I could surf the whole day .. and be very productive and efficient in deciding the best place to visit the following weekend!!

I should appreciate and thank MS for all the time and infrastructure they provided me for planning and executing all these visits and even more so for paying me to do all this!!... I visited a few places around.. Mt Rainier, Mt St Helens, Mt Hood, Olympic National Park(Hoh rain forest, hurricane ridge, lake crescent etc), Yellowstone National Park, Redwood National Park, Oregon Sand Dunes National Recreation Area, Crater lake, downtowns of San Francisco, Portland and ofcourse Seattle... Columbia River Gorge (lotsa waterfalls including Multnomah), snoqualmie falls, silverlake falls, beaches in Oregon and CA!!!! and some of them twice .. so that I could take Ramya around when she was there on a free trip sponsored by MS!!! Not only visiting these places.. but also drafting most of this blog abt these places, organizing all pics taken at these places and even making a map of places visited!! So herez the map...(its interactive just in case u r interested in the details)

PS: btw, I also worked on and in fact completely owned a component for correcting some broken power management system of USB devices on Vista and my code is going to ship in a month.. and be running for sure on more than 50 million Vista users with updates enabled.. and further down on lots more in Vista SP1!! MS rocks!!!!!!!

The Other Face

2007-08-24T19:45:00.000-04:00

There is more to yellowstone than just hot springs.. there is the famous yellowstone canyon, there are plains and waterfalls! Some snaps of the other face of yellowstone:

Yellowstone Canyon

Lower Waterfall

Upper Waterfall

Yellowstone River Basin

Do remember the small herd of animals in the corner of this pic.. u'll see more about them later..

Travertine Terraces

2007-08-18T20:31:00.000-04:00

Undoubtedly the BEST feature of Yellowstone national park.. is the travertine terrace of mammoth hot springs.. Its so attractive .. that every person who explored this feature in the early 1800's has named it his own way.. some call it the main terrace or upper terraces.. some call it the canary springs, some call it travertine terraces...

All of this is formed by underground water table getting heated by parts of dormant yellowstone volcano.. and the rising steam dissolving lots of calcium carbonate on its way up.. The mineral rich boiling water that flows out.. quickly deposits calcium carbonate forming grand marble laid terraces.. generously painted from the palette of colorful thermophiles (micro organisms that use the heat energy of hot water as their source of energy!), filamentous algae and cyanobacteria. The result is strikingly unique!!.. Enough of desciption.. is what u would be saying by now.. result is here for u to see... Click on the pics to get the best view

Celebrating Independence Day with Colors from Yellowstone

2007-08-15T01:19:00.001-04:00

Chosen colors (tricolor) from yellowstone hot springs to celebrate 60th Indian Independence Day..These might not be the best out there but is perfectly suited for the occasion. Also note that these springs at Norris, Yellowstone are extremely dynamic.. so, may be... it was shedding just the right colors to celebrate Aug 15th!!!

Saffron, White and Green .. jai hind! :)

Reflective Splendor II

2007-08-14T12:32:00.001-04:00

Just want to make sure that I post most of the "ordinary" stuff before posting anything from the "Palette of Thermophiles" coz I am sure once I start posting the range of colors from Yellowstone hot water springs ppl would lose taste for any such reflection photography.

Weather was just perfect for a visit to this huge park that requires you to walk atleast about 20 miles on boarwalks and mountain trails by the end of the day.... Bright day... clear sky... temperature in high 50's (about 10-15 deg C ...finally got used to the 'F' scale :) )... all in all, a wonderful day and place for nature photography.

An ice cap on that would have definitely added to the beauty of it.. but its too much to ask for .. on a day as beautiful as this.. in mid Aug.. The best time to get snow covered mountains here would probably be some time in mid june.. but then .. u never know what impact the snow and lower temperatures would have on the color of the thermophiles in the hot springs! Btw the park is closed from early Nov to late Apr due to inclement weather and excessive snowing.

The waters of Swan lake where the moutains were reflected were not half as clear as the rest of the springs in yellowstone, but the view was splendid!!

1800..

2007-08-13T01:46:00.000-04:00

...miles in less than 46 hrs.... thats the distance I drove during this weekend..

Some more details and facts:

i) Where to ?

Yellow Stone National Park, Wyoming

ii) How far ?

790 miles to the northern entrance (the nearest one).. about 160 miles loop inside the park.. one time zone away :)

iii) How long a drive ?

12 hour drive each way ... Thanks to long stretches of uninhabited regions in eastern WA and large parts of Montana...where I was the only guy within visible range of about 20 miles radius...( more importantly..no cop ;) ) ... This was shortened to 11 hrs each way...more on this later...

iv) How long was the visit ?

15 hours spent at the park(including driving in the loop).

v) Why only Yellow Stone ?

coz ...believe it or not ...therez only one Yellow Stone in this entire universe!! :)
coz its a scenic wonder,
A large natural chemistry lab, geology lab and microbiology lab.. all squeezed into a forest
A wildlife forest (I mean it.. u do see "wild" life... not dogs. period.)
A photographer's paradise with colors from out of this world.. (or should i say from inside the earth ?)
Its US' first (always interpreted as world's first by ppl here) national park, established in 1872.
It has lakes, mountains, river, canyon, water falls, wild life and above all some of the most colorful hot water springs and natural geysers!

If there were any better place within drivable distance .. I mean less than 3 days of drive!! I would have chosen that instead!!

(the start and title look similar ? but I have been innovative.. I have been creative in coming up with my own style of writing and my own different title!! u see .. all the numbers are different in my case.. If u feel thats absurd.. you can check this video or this.)

For pics .. check out the next few posts..

Picturesque

2007-08-08T22:34:00.001-04:00

Quite some time now since I posted anything lush green..a picturesque landscape... after all thats what is "at its best" all over WA... wall paper stuff is what I am referring to here..You would be surprised to know that most of windows wall papers (infact almost all Vista wall papers) come from either Washington or Oregon state. Most of coastal pictures are from Oregon while anything green u see are from WA. Here are two such pics .. basically my attempts to get atleast my own wall paper.. first from WA and second from OR coast... the second one is currently my Vista wall paper.. coz I luv its simplicity

Flying Colors - Last Edition

2007-08-07T22:23:00.000-04:00

In continuation of an earlier post (!camoflauge) featuring how the colors of butterflies make them distinctly visible on any background and hence easy to spot for a quick pic...

And finally .. to let you know that butterflies are not always colorful. On a day, not as lucky as the ones on which the first two were taken, u could find this... transparent, colorless one!!

Grizzly Bear

2007-08-02T17:52:00.000-04:00

Grizzly Bear - the special native of western US.

! Camouflage

2007-07-25T21:21:00.000-04:00

The title of the post if u observed starts with a ! ("negation of" operator) .. coz I really failed to find a proper antonym for "Camouflage" which was what I intended my blog title to be .. for today... The best antonyms found from answer.com, thesarus.com are reveal, divulge, contrast (close .. but not really) .. Does anyone know a better antonym ????

Here are some pictorial hints to help u!!

Here is something I picked from the web just to give u an idea of what i mean by camouflage... imagine a butterfly camouflaged like this!! (btw.. hope u can spot the chick there!)

Falcon

2007-07-24T21:54:00.000-04:00

One final post from the world of wild birds

The Raptor

2007-07-20T22:36:00.000-04:00

True To The Name

2007-07-19T20:24:00.000-04:00

After a slow week with very few posts.. here I am back again with a bang.. This time, true to the name of the blog, here is something straight from the wild....what better than the national emblem of the United States, the Bald Eagle.

PPl here are very poor at a few things...

They can't count... counting 575$, given as 5 100's, 3 20's, a 10 and a 5 $ bill, is "impossible" for the most qualified and competent accountant here.

They simply don't know how simple the metric systems of units are... They use pounds, miles, gallons, acres, Fahrenheit. Thank god there is no such complex unit for time .. they would have used it for sure!

They cant name things properly... They call a game which is played only with the use of hands, head and shoulders... everything but the foot as "foot"ball. And no surprise, they call a beautiful bird, full of hair and feathers as "Bald" Eagle. You can see for urself.

The Lonely Kids of US

2007-07-16T10:18:00.000-04:00

Kids in USA are a hell lot different from what we get to see in India.. They are taught to lead a completely independent life from day 1 (or atleast year 1). U can spot 2 yr kids in the airport carrying a tiny backpack (sometimes larger than them) with their baby food, a water bottle, video games/toys. The part I hate most about the way americans bring up their kids is that... the tiny lil kids.. less than an yr of age are pushed/pulled around in trolleys .. without they ever getting the love and warmth of hugging their mom !! its like they r training the kids to stay buckled up .. as they ought to... when they r driving (which is how more than 30% of average americans time is spent). I feel like talking to the kid to let know .. what it is missing for life !!!

U probably would never find a kid in India... all alone.. roaming around in a remote area as u can see here...Not great photography .. but depicts what I just said

He is all alone.. even if he falls.. up to him to get going again.. i know what u would be thinking.. "what was I doing ??" .. oh common!! I was busy with my cam.. no time for helping the kids... learning to be an american in america!!

Grab Them From The Sky

2007-07-13T20:16:00.000-04:00

Can you grab them ??

Day Three

2007-07-12T21:33:00.000-04:00

Its day three .. and still counting.. here are the butterflies for today..

(u got to click on this to appreciate the detail of each and every line on it)

Not so good shots.. of the same

Flutter of Color

2007-07-11T21:45:00.000-04:00

Day 2 of Butterfly Week... here are the fluttering colors for today:

The Flying Colors

2007-07-10T21:34:00.000-04:00

Flowers have been filling the colors in this blog for quite some time now. So, I thought its time to change the monotony.... In search of "flying colors" I went ....and captured these forever in my cam

They go fluttering by
On colored wings that catch the eye.

On wings of orange, and silvery blue,
On wings of golden yellow, too.

They float in the air,
Making their homes everywhere:

The rainforest, and prairie land,
On mountain tops, and desert sand.

Returning home every spring,
Beautiful flies on the wing!

If you failed to guess what I am talking about....have a look at the pics below...
(Again.. for best viewing.. pick and click on the pic!!)

So, the rest of this week, I am gonna call for a "Butterfly week" as I am gonna post some of the good pics I could get... of a variety of butterflies.. one at a time!

Effortless Sightseeing

2007-07-09T20:51:00.000-04:00

The last two weekends have been spent in more of driving and less of photography. Last weeks escapade to SFO was a mere 2100+ miles (3360 kms) in less than 64 hrs!! So, unlike the first 2 weeks, I have spent far lesser time hiking or on photography. Most of the sightseeing I have been doing overthe past two weeks are "window-sightseeing" trips along the roads of western US! Some roads on which I would like to drive again are here... If any of u guys are visiting CA, WA or OR these are the "must drive" roads.

US-101, in all the three states with a wide range of choice for a nature lover.. The mountains, greenery (Olympic National Park, Redwood Forests are the highlights), sand dunes (National Recreation Area in Oregon), beaches (plenty of coastal vista points) and the Golden Gate Bridge.

On the way to Olympic National Park

The Golden Gate Bridge - A part of US-101

The Drive-Thru Redwood Tree in Leggett, CA on US 101
(A part of Redwood National Forest)

I-84 (Columbia river gorge scenic biway) in Oregon en-route Mt Hood calls for another risky drive... u tend to look more through the windows than the traffic ahead of you.

CA-1 along the coast is yet another wonderful drive...

PS: most of these are not the best roads in US... nevertheless they make the best drives :)

Fire In The Sky

2007-07-05T11:35:00.000-04:00

What better can I find to post on 5th of July other than the July 4th Fireworks ?

It was so mesmerizing that I had no time and patience to look at it through the lens or the display of my camera! It was like .. catching a shooting star.. if I spent any time on photography I would miss it .. Here are some good ones that I could get.. You can enlarge it as much as possible.. but nothing like enlarging it to sky-size.. and viewing it in its full size (one half of visible sky)

Some interesting formations.. best viewed large.. and live ;)

Awesome Threesome

2007-07-03T20:50:00.000-04:00

Ferns and mosses are typical of tropical rain forests in South America, Africa, Southeast Asia and lets not forget "Gods own country" Kerala. For snow capped mountains you would probably visit.. Switzerland, New Zealand or our own Himalayas in India/Nepal. For a beach, you would probably go to Maldives or Seychelles. Now, how about a days trip to a sample from each of these sets! You leave in the morning.. and have your morning walk in the wilderness of a rain forest.. and by noon when the sun is terrible on u .. get to the shade of eternal stretch of snow covered mountains....and for the sunset you have a stroll down a beach!!! get back to bed at night.. wake up early the next morning.. and start wondering.. if it was all .. merely a good dream... pinch yourself once.. feel the pain... and u realize.. u had been to "Olympic National Park" !!!! Yes this is what you get...

The Hall of Mosses at Hoh Rain Forest

Snow capped Olympic mountain ranges at Hurricane Ridge

Beaches on both your sides at Dungenness Spit as you walk into the sea

(Dont mind... the scattered broken logs, its not poor maintenance.. its "natural reserve" in US terminology, nevertheless .. you could be rest assured that the stroll along the beach would be as peaceful as it could get )

And again its not only the greens and the whites.. if you are satiated with them all through the day...you have some bright and striking colors too.. but again .. Its Olympic National Park.. You only get packages.. so herez a 2-in-1 again!

Panorama

2007-07-02T22:22:00.000-04:00

Panoramic views of some breath taking views .. click on each and keep scrolling your window horizontally....

(For some reason.. blogger does not display pictures in their full size if they are too large! so bear with half a window of display)

Mt Hood

Crater Lake

Reflective Splendor

2007-06-29T10:26:00.001-04:00

Photography of reflections is one of the toughest parts of it...

i) Find some water body which is perfectly still.. if not .. the reflections get disturbed..
ii) An angle wide enough to get all interesting stuff covered in the reflection.
iii) A good angle to avoid any glaring effects from sun..
iv) Most importantly, find some appealing scenary causing the reflection!

Getting all this together in one pic is next to impossible.. but my best attempts here:

No wide angle to cover all the interesting parts in a reflection..

lots of sunlight.. and water is crystal clear.. but not still....

Not as good as it appears when it gets reflected!

The Flower Power

2007-06-28T18:45:00.000-04:00

Disclaimer: I am not an expert in taxonomy of flowers.. and definitely not an expert in giving the right names to colors.. So, what I call orange.. u may call pink ! ;) Whats more important to me are the flowers themselves and how beautiful they are.. so, I don't want to be talking too much abt it... the pics speak for themselves!

So lemme start off with a lavender flower..

and a purple orchid... hope i got it all right upto this point :)

This is WHITE.. I cant get it wrong!... and I'm pretty sure this is a variety of rose (open for debate...)

I call this orange...

and this one pink!!

Three Words

2007-06-28T02:25:00.001-04:00

CUTE...

INNOCENT...

and ROMANTIC!!!

Just 3 words for the three best shots I could get at Kerry Park. By the way .. I had actually been there to get this one...

Heavenly Abode

2007-06-27T10:23:00.000-04:00

Bored of staying confined in a hotel room for too long..no matter how posh .. how elegantly stylishly luxurious with its interiors.... it is still a cell like room from outside!! So, I went in search of some houses with exteriors that would suit my choice and here are a couple of them I found interesting.

The first one I chose as my winter guest house, given that it would remain equally green in this evergreen state... the water may just be frozen.. which i feel only adds to the beauty and here it is

For the summer, I would probably choose a simpler one.. with a simple entrance

I don't need a red carpet.. this would do...

And again, I do not want to miss the colors... So some trees like these by the side of the path way

Leading to the house....

Located here!!!
(best viewed large by clicking on the image)

The H2O Effect

2007-06-26T18:44:00.000-04:00

Want to know what H2O does to images ?

(View enlarged images by clicking on these pictures
in order to appreciate the difference)

Now.. see the same flower without it ...

Even worse.. imagine this place.. without H2O :)

The Missing Colors

2007-06-25T20:49:00.000-04:00

I have noticed that most of my posts have been missing the essential ingredient of an attractive photo blog.... the multitude of colors of nature! Most of my blogs so far have been in green, white and blue. I realize that I have been trying to cook sweets without sugar... (not to discount the fact that Washington is the evergreen state of US .... so in a way green represents WA).

But, from now on .... I will make sure I add the right quantity of sugar.. So, atleast for the next week.. my blog shall contain.. one colorful post apart from the waterfalls and mountains. To make up for the lost colors.. I shall post some colors thats have been prominently missing so far..

Is there anything better than red roses that I can start with.. to depict the colors ? probably not... So here are some red roses for the rose lovers...

How about some yellow ?

And pink.....

Honing My Photography Skills

2007-06-24T09:53:00.000-04:00

I have started realizing what difference photography can make to the appearance of the object... Here is a waterfall, pretty much ... similar to the ones I posted earlier... in its appearance to the naked eye ... the only difference being my honed photography skills !

Over the past week.. I have visited so many waterfalls.. that I can now post a waterfall a day!! I am contemplating on having a theme for the posts over the next week... which would accommodate every place visited and every object photographed over the past one week!

Simple Solutions to the Puzzle

2007-06-21T23:05:00.000-04:00

Some simple yet concrete solutions to the "mountain and the sky" puzzles posted earlier here. It must now be easy to trace where the mountains end w.r.t clouds!!

About this pic.. sorry about the poor clarity as this one was shot while the aircraft was descending towards the Seattle Tacoma International Airport.. and was cutting through the clouds.. The moist window and moving flight... resulted in a poor image.. Yet.. I hope it provides the right solution to the puzzle!

Another interesting pic from the flight is here:

Fauna Of The Wild West

2007-06-20T22:07:00.001-04:00

Here is a small collection of the fauna of the wild west that I could capture in their natural habitat. This one was the toughest.. had to take atleast about 8 shots before getting this one!

A curious look... as though my camera was an AK-58 manufactured specially to aim at it.

Spain in western US..

Gubbachi :)

A cute lil squirrel posing for me...

This was the easiest one. The bird flew on to my window assuming it would get the entire strawberry cheese muffin for itself (which was btw the only source to keep my demanding tummy happy). I was about to get buckled up... I had to stop with the belt half way towards the buckle.. and quickly grab my camera.. forget about focusing and get this shot!

Sky is the limit

2007-06-20T10:49:00.000-04:00

Here are some simple puzzles. Your job is to trace the boundary lines between the mountain and the sky !! keep trying...

PS: These are images of Mt Rainier ..as visible to naked eye (on the day I visited)... and haven't been digitally modified to reduce the difficulty of the puzzle ! [;)]

The Rainier Cascades

2007-06-15T21:37:00.000-04:00

The cascades of Mt Rainier are unique as most of them are found right next to the road or some of them are actually right below the wheels of your car. I am also planning a visit to the Northern Cascades National Park, but the scary part of the plan is that no water fall in that place seems to be accessible without a 3 mile hike through slippery rocks making it practically impossible to cover more than 2 of them over a weekend inspite of the park itself being home for more than 30 cascades.

Up here, we could easily stop over 5 of them as we drove up hill towards Paradise Point (Most popular view point on Mt Rainier). Most of them are not called with names .. or to be frank I do not know them ;) The first one is here:

The next was the most surprising one! As I drove through the road, we could hear a distinct sound of water gushing through some place.. looked all around.. simply could not find any water fall anywhere around.. surprisingly no tourists around too! After we drove about 1/2 a mile more... we found that we were actually driving above this fall :)

This is the cutest one .. about 20-25 ft... but really cute.. sorry about the poor clarity.. it was a desperate attempt to get the effect of a smooth surface of water in the pic .. with manual settings and slow shutter speeds.. this way i found out how shaky our hands are at the age of 25 ;) the next time I shoot this.. I'll have a tripod!

This is the most popular falls in Mt Rainier..called "NARADA" falls.. yes its an Indian name! Did u know it means "uncontaminated" or "pure" ? I felt embarrassed enough to find this out from a board in a remote corner of US ! Anyways.. unfortunately for us..the trail to Narada falls was closed due to a fresh landslide.. The best we could see was this

The best snap I could take without a tripod was of another cascade nearby:

Lake Alder

2007-06-15T18:23:00.002-04:00

Lake Alder is the first among many lakes we got to see at the base of Mt Rainier. Engineers in US have this strange habit of constructing dams for lakes in hilly terrains to effectively harvest rain water at a much larger scale than we plan to do by collecting water from terrace drains ;).

Here is how the one on Alder looks like....

The lakes do not tolerate this inhuman (or shud i say human ?) oppression imposed on them and decide to vent out their frustration by waging an invasion on the poor and helpless flora neighboring them, like the barbaric invader Alauddin Khilji, who beheaded the beautiful harmless idols at Belur.

The result is here for you to see...

Yet another lake on the way....this time serene and peaceful without a dam

Exploring the Mystic Peak

2007-06-14T13:57:00.000-04:00

A view of Mt Rainier from SR7. A splendid 30 mile drive from here takes you through innumerable lakes, water falls, snow capped hillocks and an interesting gift shop (which I'll cover in another post). This view of the mountain behind the lush green meadows and the grazing cattle.... the moment I saw, I pulled my (actually Microsoft's) Chevy Cobalt over to the shoulder of the busy road, flashed the emergency lights and set out with my cam to take this pic.

A closer view of the peak.... still about 10 miles of driving left. There was actually a beautiful stream flowing below the trees (not in the pic) making it a much better view than seen here, but this is the best I could cover without getting myself squashed between the cars on road

There was a small stretch of the road where we couldn't get a glimpse of the peak. This is what we would see.. This one, I shot from the moving car, single handed, as I was driving ;)

And finally.. after a 2 hr drive, we are all set to enter the National park. The entrance reminds me of the entrance to Jurassic park

A Needle's Eye View

2007-06-13T17:00:00.000-04:00

Spectacular view of Mt. Rainier in the background of
Seattle's Skyline from Space Needle.

The skyline, the turquoise waterfront and the majestic Mt Rainier, all add to the amazing view from 520 ft above the ground atop Space Needle. Could u believe that the mountain is 60 miles (96 kms) away ? !! The view was so awe-inspiring on this clear and bright day, that I spent about 3 hours here, having a coffee and enjoying the view. Was also waiting for it to get dark so that I could get some snaps of the lit skyline. Unfortunately, the sun was a good 20 degrees above the horizon at 8:00 pm when I waqs forced to return! The sun sets after 9:15 during the summer here.

To give u a better picture of where the space needle stands relative to downtown Seattle, its the distinct tall tower to the left in the pic below. This snap was taken during harbor cruise, which is an hours cruise around the Seattle harbor. I was told by the guide of the cruise that this kind of a clear view of Mt Rainier is available for about 5 days an year, when there is neither any haze over the peak nor any clouds in the sky. Until recently, Seattle had the dubious distinction of being the rainiest (wettest) city in the US. The rainiest city close to rainier mountain!!

The Space Needle was the second tower in the world to host a "revolving restaurant". Yes!!, it revolves to provide a 360 degree view of the city and the sea, as u have a romantic candle light dinner at a height of 520 ft. Wouldn't it make an amazing first date ??!! (just perfect... specially for a gal who wouldn't have to incur the brunt of the bill ;) ). The revolving restaurant is clearly visible in this one:

This would prolly be the first and the last post to feature steel/concrete structures. Lots of pics featuring nature at its best in the west .. to follow!