First driving adventure in Freeway !!!

Aaah it's been quite sometime since I visited this part of the world, well .... "The Blogging World" !!! So, life's just been keeping me pretty occupied these days.

So, the last time I was full of talks about SFO and our craziness we did there. And talking of all the drive and fun we had there, I just feel like sharing here my nail biting experience about my first drive ALONE in the freeway here at USA !!! Well .... I really need to mention that driving in the United States ain't definitely as simple as driving back home in India. Now unlike India, you have the cops with their cars patrolling in the roads every other minute and just not that, to make things worse, there're also radars enforced on many roads that detect your speed when you drive, which then, gets notified to the cops if you happen to violate the limited speed mentioned for that particular road. There are cameras on many intersection signals too and auto sensing speed detectors fit under the roads as well !!! And if you violate any of the traffic rule and you get unlucky, then ??? Well then, it's very simple !!! The cops would happily put lights behind you and chase you until you stop and give you a TICKET and all you've got to do next is shed all your bucks from your pocket to pay off that ticket price, which really is heartbreakingly costly !!!! huh !!!

So, with all these petty knowledge and all the homeworks done before I started actually driving on the roads of United States, I took my car that evening like any other day. It was a routine that my friend and I went to the gym in the evening which was about 3 miles from the same apartment where we stayed. That very evening my friend could not accompany me to the gym, though I had another visitor with me who was none other than my husband. LAF was very close to my husband's work place. Hence, the plan was that I dropped him back at work and then take the very next right turn after an intersection to reach LAF. It was all I had to do and was that simple.

So, I got on the road to Michelle Dr after dropping my husband at work and drove until I crossed the 1st intersection. It was evening 7:00 PM with no day light saving then. So, the day got dark pretty soon. There were no street lights near to the right turn too which could lead me to LAF. So, I could hardly see and due to this I missed that right turn that I had to take. What did I do, I wondered ???? I didn't know what to do next!!! Moreover, I was in the rightmost lane that read RIGHT ONLY. I got into a slight state of panic and I did very well understand that I could neither take a left nor a "U" but with no choice left have to take the Right at Jamboree. This was new to me and as instructed by the road sign, I complied with it and took the right at Jamboree and drove down the road. I was panicked !!! I had never driven down that road and it was totally unfamiliar !!! I reckoned, there was no use panicking and I tried to cool my head off and decided to stick to the lane and look for the next intersection and try taking a "U" if possible to get back to Jamboree and then back to Michelle. So, with my head steady and cool I pressed more gas and literally sped in the speed of the traffic not knowing absolutely where that road would lead me. Jamboree was a wide and a very long road. After a point the speed limit read 60 and I obeyed to follow the speed and pressed more gas.

It is generally that within the city the maximum speed limit is 40 and in very few places it is 50. And in the freeway the usual speed is 60, though in few places 65. Now, one can always move with the speed of the traffic, not very much recommended though, as long as you don't block the traffic because of your slow driving, for which too you are awarded a TICKET. So now, with the speed limit reading 60, I calculated that I was definitely on a freeway and there is no choice for me except to follow the road. I decided to find the forthcoming exit and somehow reach back to Jamboree and back to my required destination.

As I drove down the road, to my surprise, I could not see any visibility of a signal for at least 3 miles since I took my right turn there !! Finally, after driving for quite a distance I could find an intersection with a signal from far and learned that it was the Main St. Thinking back, I judged that the fwy must have converted to a hwy because one finds a signal only on hwy and not on a fwy. So, discovering a signal there, my sixth sense ordered me to take an immediate right there. Not knowing where I was still heading to and having no more choice left again, I took the right at Main and still hoping to find a place to make the possible "U" to get back to Jamboree, I continued in that road. Ohh look at my luck !!! I did find an immediate signal in about 0.3 mi but to my dismay there was a "NO U TURN" sign there !!! Now, this consecutive right and left turns really started giving my nerves those shivers that I had tried to avoid all the while. So, what could I do more ??? I had to take that left turn at the Von Kaman Ave. After I took that turn I decided to no more rely on any signal and thought of an alternative of entering a shopping complex to get to the other side of the road back to Main St. Could I ever believe what my eyes saw this time ???? After I came out of the complex to get to the other side of the road I saw the "ONE WAY --->" sign in Bold. If you could ever have heard of consecutive bad lucks, then this, I sure would say be a living example !!! Obeying the traffic signs again, I took the right from the complex and drove until I found the next intersection of Morse Ave and Von Kaman Ave. That indeed gave me quite a bit of hope !!! Aaah yesss, I thought, I didn't have to drive long enough !!! I got that definite hope of getting back to my destination soon !! So, no sooner I got the Protected Green lights for me I thanked my luck a million times and took a safe "U" safely returning back to my roads. Came Von Kaman and then came the Main and I could very clearly see the Jamboree too. Not thinking twice I took a Left on it, when I got my Green !!! The thought and transition of finally heading towards my destination, very delighted and confident, I called my husband immediately to share this little adventure with him. Not knowing what luck had in store for me, I drove with all the excitement and parallelly talking over the phone. I felt something weird about the road suddenly !!! As I drove, I suddenly found that the road started getting much broader, than what I encountered while going on the other side, with quite many exits showing up too. I found the green directional boards on the top reading I-5, 261, Jamboree Only/I-5. What on this earth was this, I wondered ??!!! Recollecting my memory, I found that I hadn't seen this while going on the other side and my mind which was clear all the while suddenly started getting terribly perplexed. With the use of my little common sense I obviously stuck to the Jamboree Only lane and felt, though, I surely must have left some exit behind. This is not what I expected ???? I thought I was heading in the right direction ??? What happened ??? How did the road suddenly change ??? Did I miss something in all the excitement of returning safely ????? My mind started asking a million questions/second now !!! Where could I have gone wrong ??? Being on the phone and telling my husband the route that I was following I somehow felt I was lost indefinitely this time. I had no clue where I was and found that I ended up on a toll road now. I was horribly panicked and due to that I failed stopping to pay the toll charge too and drove ahead lost in the road where I had never in my life come to. The road went broader and there were at least 4 lanes on either partition of the road. Now, this was indeed getting too much for me to handle and I was almost in the verge of tears and asked my husband for directions. I didn't know what to do. My brain stopped working. I even Jumped Red while taking a left on the Irvine Blvd. I found, I was making all kinds of critical traffic violations !!!! Though I was very much lucky enough to not get my picture captured while jumping red nor were there any cops who cited me and stopped me for a ticket, I must say my luck indeed favored me a heavenly great deal in such chaotic situation. After I got on to Irvine Blvd, life started getting a little simpler for me as my husband started directing me over the phone and finally I hit the Red Hill Ave.

Seeing Red Hill Ave was such a major relief to me. But heyy, with all these terrific situations on the road I had in the last 1 hr, did you think I would have gone back home and pondered about the whole scene ????? Nooh !!! I didn't want to get back home !! ;-) And definitely not !!! I had all the courage and I started fresh again from San Juan I and went on my usual route to LAF smiling all alone in the car and wondering about my situations and imaginations lining up and thinking what would have happened if the cops had caught me ??? Or what if I was chased for not paying the toll charge ??? And my imaginations going a little more weird and wondering what if I never stopped even after the cops chased me ???? Hee heee !!! ;-) Nevertheless, I was still smiling and wondering how very unlucky could I have got to have missed that initial One Simple Right Turn to Very Very Lucky to not being caught in the hands of Cops even after Jumping Red, which definitely is a terrific traffic violation and a life risk too just not only to me but also to other people driving on the road !!!

It was a definite Bless and a Bliss to be safe and have one of the very energetic workouts that evening at LAF !! Ohhh .... really ..... trust me on that !!! And one MUST really need to have such menacing adventures in life, I say !!! And that's because 10yrs down the line one could always humor about it and giggle about the fun parts of life one had had !!! And hadn't I missed that initial right turn, could I have been sharing my little crazy nightmare here ???? hee hee ;-)

Love :-)

Fun @ Vacation !! SFO - Day 3

The third day !!! We had reached the final day of our stay at San Francisco !! Well indeed, we had to head back home to Tustin but there were still few more important places to be visited here. So we packed our baggages and set off on our journey early in the morning for our final trip around the city. Do you remember me telling that there's something exciting and funny about these roads of SFO ??? And bet, I really liked 'em a hell lot and woah woah woah it's the excitement you get while driving down those roads or when you go up those roads not knowing what lay down can just loosens the screws of your nerves !!! (see picture above) You might just get one of those mini feelings of going on a 6-Flags ride !!! Ooh no !!! I ain't exaggerating at all !! That's the picture above taken by me when we were inside the car ready to go down the road for one of those crazy road adventures !!

And in this photograph, please, I am not on top of any tower, but it was again of the very same road that you saw above and was taken when we were just at the edge of the road and were ready to have a great fall down !!!! Wooaoahhh !!! And that indeed was a Great Fall and one of a Steep kind, ehh !!! WOWW !! I wondered !! What a Crazy funny drive it is !!! ;-) And on the far behind could you see the huge water body ??? Well, that's the "Pacific Ocean", you see.

So with all those little adventures we had on the roads of SFO we were more excited to visit the Globe's most crookedest street called the "Lombard Street". (picture above) Ooh yes !! Do you remember me talking about that ???? Yeah, it was en route to the down town of SFO. The "Crookedest Street" indeed is supposed to be the most crookedest street of the globe. No !!! I ain't joking !! Have a look for yourself at the picture above !! So now, since we were all charged up with the small falls and fun on the roads of SFO we definitely wanted to have some more fun down this crooked street as well !! And so we drove down that street from the top and woah woah woah ....... where are we going ?????? Haa haa haa :-) believe it or not it was mischievously funny going down on those multiple "S" turns down the road !!! So after we came down that road we definitely wanted to capture some memories of this excitement so we drove back again to the top intersection of Lombard Street, parked our car and lazed around that place taking couple of snaps here and there all geared up for more craziness that awaited us for the day !!!

So after we got all tired running around the crooked street we set off for our next target place to be visited which was the "Coit Tower" which was just a few miles from the crooked steet. We hung around the coit tower and from there, also got a manageable view of the Beautiful "Bay Bridge" (picture above) as well !! The Bay Bridge is said to connect SFO with Oakland and the East Bay. We could have got a better and much beautiful view of the same in the night but unfortunately lacked time to stay back till the evening :-(

Hence, after spending a considerable amount of time at Coit Tower we headed towards our next visit at the "GG Bridge". The GG Bridge again looks tremendously beautiful in the night !!! But alas !! We couldn't get the view of that too.

Ooh yes, during the drive towards the GG Bridge we happened to cross the streets again of our first venue of visit of the day and I did not want to miss that spark of opportunity, sitting inside the car, to capture this wonderful picture. What was that ??? It was again the stretch of the Lombard Street from the other end of the road !! (see picture above)

So we drove towards the GG Bridge and passed through it (picture above) reaching the end of the bridge. We parked our car at the parking space available near the bridge and roamed around that area trying to learn the beautiful architecture and getting our little brains to analyze the sublimed engineering that lay in the construction of the bridge.

Took some pictures (picture above.), had some mischiefs and walked on the pavement for quite a distance. It was a sunny day though pleasant. So after all the routine of being a visitor to a place we took our car and started driving to our next venue which was the Muir Woods. So as we were heading to our next and the final destination at SFO, we took a little diversion from the usual route and drifted a little away from the woods continuing our drive on the freeway 1 ending up on an awesome scenic drive to the Muir State Park. Ooohh dear .... I MUST confess here that of all the places that I had visited in SFO, I certainly liked Muir Woods or would I say The Muir State Park the best. During this drive when we halted at the place to capture this magnificent scene of Nature in our memories and photographs, I actually went into an oblivion and the poetic thoughts started abiding in my head for sometime. The Mountain's bottom met the Ocean and every time the waves hit the feet of the mountain I felt as if the Ocean washed off the feet a Great King of this Earth. This was one of the few imaginations I had when I had a glance of this place for the first time. NO !! This ain't an amplification at all but I am just trying to portray what exactly was going on inside my heart when I was there and then, I just couldn't defy my brain and my heart to take my eyes off this beautiful scene that nature could ever gift Man.

Being all submerged in the beauty of the nature my husband and I also did not stop being adventurous and took quite many photographs sitting and standing on all the possible edges of the mountain rocks.

And here are a few photographs of this scenic place which I certainly feel is a must see.


It was truly intriguing being in a spot of this kind and overall in SFO with mind full of adventure and fun. I would say a vacation not only relaxes one's brain but also refreshes it making it more imaginative and the coercive way to look into the various aspects of life simply diminishes.

And that's why I just love vacations and until I take my next vacation and scribble and share some more of my fun with life, lemme wait till that comes .........

Love :-)

Fun @ Vacation !! SFO - Day 2

Ya, it was the 2nd day of our tour full of travel and adventure and another day to enjoy discovering the mysteries that endured in this city !!! Ohh did I talk about mystery ???? Indeed !! Well, what's so very mysterious about SFO ?? Ladies and gentlemen, on our second day we happened to visit a place that got me all puzzled about the "Gravitational Field Theory" and all that "Laws of Physics" had to tell which the great Scientist "Sir Isaac Newton" had discovered once, when, it was believed that he saw the apple falling from a tree. He had proved that the Earth's gravitational force is the same at any part of the world. Now if I said that it could be proven wrong, then what would you answer me back ??? "Oooh Rubbish !! How could that be ever possible ???" Right ???


Well well well !! That's the mystery we happened to discover !! Since the first day was quite a day full of activities with bike ride uphills etc. on our second day we drove from our hotel, hitting a place called "The Mystery Spot" located a little away from Santa Cruz inside the woods of Redwood Forest (picture above). We were quite perplexed as the Laws of Gravity didn't seem to work here and I wanted to reason them out desperately !!

We had a guide who took us around the place to show for himself that every law of gravitational science would go hay-wire. During our tour, at one of the spots our guide asked us to stand opposite to each other before a small house that tilted quite unusually towards the steep of the mountain. There was something very unusual that happened within me physically when I stood there, which, I had never experienced before. I looked down and saw and found something which scientifically is not possible, yet happened !! I wasn't able to stand straight ??? The edge of my elbow had a weird tilt from my body towards the left !! I wondered how on earth could this be ever possible ?? There was an angular lilt of about 45-degrees !! (see the picture below) For a minute I tried to convince myself that it could be because we were heading uphill but my brain debated with me back and I stood wondering the possibility of this fact !! This was strange and it was just not that, at various places we could see the visible difference of heights which, to this day had not been unproven since 1940.
Many researchers had come to unsolve the mystery that lay behind this gravitational pull. Some said it was due to some Meteorite and some said due to the flow of carbon-di-oxide !! Whatever, the mystery still persists and no one is still able to resolve it !! ;-)

So until my head spun about all the mysteries of Santa Cruz we started heading back to San Francisco towards a very scenic drive along the coast of California called the "17-Mile Drive". We halted at few places near the rocky shores (picture below) and took few snaps to take back some nice memories.


The whole drive along that coast itself was called the 17-mile drive. There were quite a many view points where we could stop by and have different view of the majestic ocean which fell on the right hand side of our drive along the coast. One of such view points was the "Lone Cypress Tree" (picture below) where we halted and relaxed our muscles for some time.

Though there were quite a few more places to halt by we found the day falling and getting dark. Towards our way back to our hotel we diverted our route to Sunnyvale to have a grab of home food at the famous "Saravana Bhavan". Oooh ..... how can one forget the authentic taste of home food away from home and we definitely did not want to miss that. Now, we not only had our dinner but also started our 2nd day with a breakfast grab at the "Komalas" at Sunnyvale as well !! Aahh .... so THAT you call being a perfect "desi" even if you are at out of your "DESH" !! ;-)

Fun @ Vacation !! SFO - Day 1

Oooh So was I talking about the SFO trip the last time ??? Well ..... Yes, ask me about the trip and I would be spell bounded !!! The time at SFO just flew and before I could realize it was Sunday and we were heading back home !! The weather forecast said it would be pleasant at SFO for the three days and we were indeed greeted with a beautiful weather when we reached there. We had planned well in advance & there were huge print outs of places to visit, the map directions of places, decisions on scenic drives, the calculations on freeway I-5 or the 101, the activities available to freak out and etcetras and etcetras !!
So, we started from this place called the "Union Square" and had a wonderful tram journey (picture above) to a place called the "Fisherman's Wharf". After reaching "FW", we hired 4 bicycles and rode down the coast till about the famous "Golden Gate" and halted then and there, on our way, at many a place to take couple of pictures to take back home some souvenirs ;-)

Ooohh but, we were quite unfortunate to have not gotten the beautiful view of the famous "Golden Gate Bridge" (picture above) as the day was pretty foggy. Down the shore we visited few places and one of which was the "Pier 39" where we had our grab for our little stomach which starved quite so much after all the bicycle ride we had done !!!One of the things that really attracted me towards the city was its streets that went steep up-and-down (picture above) not allowing the driver to see what came ahead on the other side of the road whether you went up the street or when you drove down the steep !!! It was a real fun I must say ;-) Ooohh you must actually be there to experience a drive of a kind !! Talking about the streets of SFO, then I must absolutely mention here without forgetting that during our Tram Journey, we passed by and had a glance at the famous "Lombard Street", which otherwise is called the most "Crookedest Street" of the world !! So did we drive there ?? Oooh yes, definitely but on our third and the last day at SFO, way back home :-)

A New Day

Ooohh, I'm back again. Couldn't restrain myself from the curiosity to get back to my first blog and find how it looks !! Do I need to change some words ?? Or did I actually misspell in all the emotional exitement ?? Well, whatever you call but I guess ...... naaahhh .... forget it ....

Aaahh, yes it is !! It does is this feeling of missing something when it is all new & fresh and your brain's all wanting to see it again and again until your mind is completely occupied with that new thing !! Strange ain't it ?? May be a feeling of wanting to have a look at that new thing's creation and to reform it and perhaps to modularize it and make it look more organized ???? Hmmmm .....What so ever ......

So, this another new day had been just good for me. There's been talk in the air about Kanna and I and Don and Lorraine going to SFO and I am all hyped about it. Going to be another Long Weekend plan and it had always been fun being around Don and Lorraine. One of the very few very energetic, enthusiastic and adventurous couples I have come accross. It's going to be Thursday tomorrow and we should be leaving by 4:00 PM PST and we've plans about returing back by Sunday night 'cos all have work by Monday. So, this's gotto be another fun-filled weekend ooohh ..... after that "Yosemite's" 5 day trip !!!!

So till I come back again to look at this page of mine ........ All I say is ......

Love

Simplicity should be life !!

Dunno just what to write as this is my first write up in the world where all of you can read what wanders through my mind ......

I just think every time .... wonder how my mind is able to think just all the possible things of the world !!

I was more of a secretive person once, say, long long ago. But as the saying goes "Time and tide wait for no man" and it's that time that changed me to be what I am today. OR should I say it's the people around me that influenced this development in me ?? Well, may be yes !!

So, what do I write now ??

Lemme see ... Well, I donot have anything much to say right now or probably I may want to have that emotional space to express the feelings of me. But, aaahh yes, now I just wanted to lay my hands in writing in the most open public world and probably some other day, some more things will linger around my little head and I will jump down here to scribble that .....

Love