Visiting Starved Rock & Matthiessen state parks from Chicago

So, finally, we made quick plans to go over to the Starved Rock state park, IL for the long weekend. by the time this plan was getting finalized, it was already past 11 am on Saturday morning. so, the scope was reduced. however by reviews of this location, it felt like all was still not lost.

I made quick reservations at the Hampton Inn Suites in Peru, IL for the family. The whole of Saturday went away chilling with the family and little bit of packing to prepare for the trip next day.

Starved rock is around 70 miles from Naperville, and takes about an hour to reach.

Map showing different routes from Naperville to starved rock state park

Starved Rock state park to two different entrances of Matthiessen state park- one which leads to all the trails, other is closer to the river basin.

There are a few different approaches to get to the destination and it's your call. We took the state highway 71 initial and joined I80 for last 8-10 miles of the journey.

Experience at the Starved Rock State Park 

Overall it was an excellent experience. a different one. as well as, not so different at the same time.

I will explain!!!

The state park is run very well in terms of how the visitor centre is organized, how the trails are marked and labelled, access to clean water, restrooms, all the creature comforts of a restaurant, excellent ice-creams in searing hot days, clean trails, most of the hikes up to the canyon tops are wooden pathways, and so forth.

It makes for a great outdoor activity with the family.

By the roadside. An old water gauge and the cornfield early morning.

You can see people with all sorts of fitness levels out there. There were big families moving as a group and then a lot of people moving around with their pets.

headed towards the first Canyon at starved rock [French canyon]. not much crowd as i took the photo strategically :-)

French Canyon

It was good but not very different from a usual trail I would take at Naperville.

Why? The trails didn't have stretches which challenge you in terms of the hike, or surface etc. in this sense of the hiking the difficulty levels were 'easy'. As long as you pack lighter, can generally walk and have enough water with you, you can keep going.

The views are nice overall.

Somewhere deep in the Starved rock state park

Starved Rock state park: so many great opportunities to take pictures

Starved rock state park | WildCat Canyon

Starved Rock State park | wildcat canyong rocks

These beautiful colored rock formations

Starved Rock state park | Somwhere near the St louis Canyon

Starved Rock State park | st Louis Canyon

The complete path is pretty clean although, after the initial part of the trail, there are no trash cans on the trail, as well as limited restrooms.

There is also a wide variety of flowers, trees, critters which can be seen on the trail.

I didn't see many distinct birds there, but maybe I need to spend more time there to start seeing those things around.

Canyons and waterfalls

Starved rock park offers a total of 13 miles of trails to explore. 

Within these 13 miles, 18 canyons are hidden and the state parks website claims that mostly 14 of these canyons have waterfalls running just after a good rainy season.

During our visit, we were told at the visitor centre, only one of the canyon [St Louis canyon] had the waterfall going and other places were dried up.

Based on the timing of your trip, this can change. however, I do recommend to re-prioritize your trip based on the canyons where the waterfall is still running. 

Its a site for sure!!!

Passing note: to set the right expectations, these waterfalls are significantly smaller in size and marvel than the ones you may have seen at other 'actual' waterfalls.

Options to eat

Within the state park, the visitor centre has a restaurant which offers most of the standard needs. they also have a souvenir shop which was pretty good. however, we didn't buy anything from there.

There are multiple vending machines located here as well.

The major parking outside offers big parks around the area for people to barbeque and probably during the holiday weekend hordes of people were here for that purpose alone too.

if you are looking for serious eating options, nearby towns of Peru and La Salle are your best options.
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We covered the first day with our packed lunch and ate during a break in the grounds outside of the visitor centre.

in the second half, we prioritized our approach and went down to the St. Louis Canyon. This canyon is just right around the corner from the main entrance to the starved rock. You need to come out to the main road, and drive about 1 mile. fairly easy to spot.

St Louis canyon was similar to the other canyons we covered [french canyon, etc] but the view was nicer, and it felt like a bigger canyon overall. it had the waterfall going for it, and just the formations and colours of these sandstone rocks were amazing.

Park's website says that it is open until 4 pm, however, we, noticed that its pretty much open and you will not get into trouble unless it's already dark. as long as the weather is good, the light is good, I didn't feel you would see much issues.

Here is how we did it:

• We reached the parking of St Louis canyon around 3:45 pm. 
• Then walked 40 mins to the canyon. 
• Spent an hour at the canyon. 
• Came back around 6 pm. Quite a few people were around there at that hour as well.

Experience at the Matthissen state park

Next morning we were planning to return back to the starved rock park, but my instinct took the turn for the better. reading about the Matthiesen park, I figured its better to spend some time there before heading back.
We discussed the plan, agreed and after a good breakfast, strong tea, and packed bags we left for the Matthiesen state park.

and boy, was this decision right on target!

unlike the Starved rock park, Matthiessen park is quite different.

It's not as popular, which means not too many people show up and throng.

There is no fancy visitor centre!

And there is an entrance[on the river side] which I suggest you avoid if you are not interested to go to the river and rather are interested in the trails and sandstone rock formations. Refer to the map.

We got to the parking after trying to find our way, around 10 am. and there were just 10 cars at the location.

It was pretty chilled out.

my wife on the bridge leading to the lower dells

My daughter at the lower dells with her stone tower

Finding the way through the rocky pathways of upper dells

We began walking which is when I realized that portions of this trail are kept well, and have wooden stairways. however beyond a certain point, as you begin going through the lower dells and upper dells, a lot of the way is unpaved, uncharted, mostly rocky and watery.

You have to find a way for yourself in most cases.

and that's the cool part of all.

We loved the feeling of being alone in so many portions and

This park has much better views. most of the waterfalls were nicer. the hikes were little more challenging and felt much more natural. Views were significantly much more beautiful than the starved rock page.
If I plan to revisit this place in fall, I would probably start with the Matthiessen park first this time and spend more time there.

Where to stay for Starved Rock and Matthiessen Parks:

The first question to ask yourself is do you need to stay overnight? Due to the close proximity to Chicago, I realized that we could have easily done a day trip and return the next day if we needed to. We just preferred staying over the night.

If that is the case with you as well, there are a couple of options. You could stay at the lodge inside the state park. This looked like a good option.

secondly, there are a lot of camping group options here, for those who would like to camp at the location. find information on camping here. 

And if you are like us and looking for hotels around, then Peru, IL is the nearest location to find all the usual hotel chains to stay. Peru also has all the major restaurant chains for food, and everything else and it's around 7 miles from starved rock state park.

Some tips from our hiking experience:

1. Dress appropriately. the feeling of hot or cold significantly changes when we walk with a bag for a long time, hence dressing appropriately to the weather is the key. light clothing which lets your body breath is important.
2. Carry water. Can not be emphasised enough. water is the #1 resource during the hike.
3. Carry what you need. no reason overloading bag with hundreds of things which you don't need. plan well. take only what you will need.
4. plan your hikes based on your plan for the day. before you begin, figure out if you want to get back for lunch to the visitor centre. choose your trails accordingly. You can also break down your trip based on different parking spots around the park which may be closer to the trail you are looking for.
5. Pls, do not litter. carry your trash. 
6. pls, do not put unnecessary graffiti on the rocks. they look much more awesome without your name on them or tell us when you visited or who you loved at that time.

Useful information Summary for making travel plans:

• Starved Rock state park official site: https://www.starvedrockstatepark.org/ 
• Matthiessen state park official site: https://www.dnr.illinois.gov/parks/pages/matthiessen.aspx 
• starved rock state park trails map: http://www.starvedrockstatepark.org/activity/hiking-trails/trail-maps/
• Matthiessen state park trail map: https://www.starvedrocklodge.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Matthiessen_TrailMap.pdf
• Starved rock camping information: http://www.starvedrockstatepark.org/activity/camping-picnics/
• Complete trail map for starved rock: https://www.starvedrockstatepark.org/wp-content/uploads/17x11WelcomeMap_July2018.pdf 

So, what do you think? Have you been to this park before? how was your experience?

or does this blog make you want to visit these parks? Do write in your comments and let me know.

Visiting the starved rock state park and Matthiessen State Park during 2018 labor day

Matthiessen state park | lower dells | shot with: Samsung galaxy Note 8

We had our plans squashed for a long drive inside Michigan, and we relaxed with the thoughts of staying home, lazing around, a casual trip to downtown Chicago for taking photos.
however, with Saturday moving fast, the once discovered and browsed thoughts of starved rock park crossed my head.

I began the exploration and eventually figured that it would be totally upon me if I still dont make plans for a place barely 65 miles from my places.

It can be a day trip.
It can be a 1-day trip.
It can be a family hike.
it can give us an opportunity to get out of the home.
It can give me an opportunity to do something with my family over this extended holiday.

So, off did we go on Saturday morning. I made reservations at the Hampton Inn, Peru which promised to be better than the lodges at the park.

A photo blog of our trip is coming soon.

Keep watching this space.

Photo story from renaissance fair, wisconsin

A week back we went to attend the Renaissance fair. the fair is held in Kenosha, WI and it was around 70 miles away from Naperville, IL.

I got to know about this place through my photography meet up the group a month earlier. The event is supposed to be a congregation of a lot of people dressed up in the costumes from really old times.

At the event, the fair is pretty much a recreation of an old town in England- Bristol. They set up the town with jesters, town halls, shops, shows and so much more so as you feel transported back in time.

The cast and crew members dress up as various artists and dawn those looks and characters extremely seriously.

Also, the event encourages people coming in to dress up in a similar fashion by publishing various themes in advance. for example, the theme was steampunk on Sunday of our visit. (you can find more about special events here)

It was a fascinating place which really transports you back in time, enchants with elaborate dresses of the performers, street performance and all the acts taking place there.

Characters & dress up

During the day, there is a queens parade which is the highlight of the day and goes through a couple of times. all the characters you will see dawning their roles in different positions can be seen at one time via this parade.

The street jesters, the old judge, the wise men from the city, the crooked minister, the battalion of soldiers, the senior ministers, the king and all the artists of the kingdom of Bristol take part in this parade.

 The dresses of each of these characters were pretty elaborate. Right from the heavy gowns, extremely detailed & heavy headgears, actual leather accessories was just a treat to watch.

The day of visit the temperature was hovering around 91F and I asked some of the visitors and artists on how were they doing under those heavy dresses.

Most of them smiled and explained that after being miserable for first 30 mins, are have gotten used to this pretty much.

Visiting the Arlington cemetery, Washington DC

I have been to the Washington DC metro area a multiple number of times. its all about the govt building and amazing structures, excellent and also the best in the world museums which are an absolute delight.

JJ Astor Roof top rotating restaurant in Duluth

I recently went on a business trip to Duluth, Minnesota and stayed at the Radisson hotel in the downtown area. For my meetings, I had looked up for JJ Astor restaurant, which sits at the top of the Radisson hotel and is supposed to be a spinning restaurant.  I had been here once before for a business dinner and was looking forward to spending time at this restaurant during the daytime and getting some views.

Falling in love with the beast- my bmw x5

This is not a BMW sponsored post. This is just my love for the vehicle which I have owned now for close to 1 year and 4 months, and my love for its capabilities and its true colors grows stronger.

As it is said, every relationship will get stronger or weaker as time passes by, and the tests the time puts you through. Either you come out on top, or you realize it was not meant to be.

Books I read in 2017

2017 has been a good year for me, in terms of advancing my learnings and spending some quality time with the books. This year, I have made a lot of travel happen, and some of that time has been spent with books.
One major change which happened initially was my switch to kindle. I began reading books on kindle and it is a fantastic medium to carry books in a small package. The most valued feature is being able to add notes to your books.

Walk around Riverwalk in naperville during fall

Fall is the best time of the year, and generally, We get out to seek outdoors and enjoy the colors all around. I had an excellent walk a few days back through the yellow trees and I had captured them here if you missed my previous post.
This time, it was a Thursday afternoon and the day was beautiful. The sky was clear blue with no clouds. It was like you get up in the morning and see such glorious day and it brings a smile to your face. golden sun rays, a light wind which makes all the colorful trees dance and then the light streaks shining through them. my bird feeder swinging lightly and a couple of small birds swinging on it and feeding.
On a day like this, During the afternoon I had an hour of time where I could sneak out. Since morning, working on my standing desk and huge windows by them, I was craving to go outside and soak in this beautiful day.
So, Dipti and I decided to take a quick walk outside. My plan was slightly different. Instead of our typical loop around the suburb, I wanted to check out the river walk area in the Naperville downtown.

I was feeling very hopeful that the colors around there must have turned magical as well, and it would be a treat to watch the downtown show through the fall colors. In a 5 minute drive, we were walking at the bell tower in the downtown.

Fall foliage in the Riverwalk area:

The colors to my surprise were not fully developed everywhere and there were a ton of greens around yet. Some of them were starting to turn light yellow and generally the maple tree was the only showing colors here. Not very different from my experience in other places. The fall season has been different this year. however, the water was gushing through and the sunlight through some golden leaves was magical. We soaked in the flowing waters standing on the bridge connecting the bell tower and the Riverwalk.

Fall colors in naperville

One of the streets in naperville, looks beautiful with fall colors all around

The fall is here in all its glory. In the midwest, especially around the Chicago area where we live, I often hear from people that the lake(Lake Michigan) ensures that fall colors come in earlier here. I have no way to agree or disagree to that.
All I can confirm is that this year, the weather didnt continue going down, which has led to some change in patterns. the fall has come in slower and suddenly sped up in past few days with mercury dropping finally.

happy diwali to all

Diwali lights. Some of my favorite shots from Diwali night #lights #diwali #diyas #lantern #naperville #love #pictureoftheday #rangoli

A post shared by saurabh mittal (@isaurabhmittal) on Oct 22, 2017 at 9:11am PDT

We had a fun filled diwali this year with a lot of activities at home and fun decorations. I took off on the diwali day, and spent time with my wife, dipti on setting decorations at home and preparing for the diwali pooja in the evening.

We had bought fire crackers to burst in the evening and it was super fun for umika to enjoy all of this with her friends.

I leave you with some photos from diwali. Hope you had a good time with your family and friends during diwali.

How has using a standing desk changed my work life and health (with photos)

I have now been using my standing desk- from autonomous. The buying decision was a bigger hustle than using it. there are multiple options in the market which makes it difficult for the end customer to decide on what will be the best solution for them. these products also sell across a wide range of price brackets.

Trip to Niagara falls from Chicago

During the labor day holiday weekend, we made a road trip from Naperville, IL to Niagra Falls, NY and it was a wonderful experience.
The road trip was fantastic for a couple of reasons. It was going to be time out when I would get to plug off from my routine work which has been pretty packed. Secondly, I was travelling in from California, so there was this anticipation of completing a business trip and getting into a fun family trip.

Getting close to the falls from the boat tour

Some details on travel:

Distance between Naperville, IL to Niagra Falls,NY: approx 580 Miles.
Major routes:- Shortest is the one which goes north via Detroit through Canada. We took the one which keeps the journey through united states, crossing through Cleveland.
Time to destination(one way): 9 hrs
Number of breaks or minutes of stoppage: 3 breaks totalling to 45 mins.
Place of stay: used AirBnb to find a place, and stayed at the lavida cottage which was a good 20 mins drive from the niagra falls. We rented this place for 2 nights where we were 2 families living in. Excellent location to stay as long as you are not looking for good place to eat outside. the location was in a small town with not many options to eat, however, it was perfect for us.

My friend and me at the niagara falls. Side view.

Things to do at Niagra falls:

1. The small town we stayed at had tons of farms, lone beaches and countryside to see. if you stay in a vicinity of such a location, you need more time than a day to explore everything. We were pretty short on time.
2. With our situation, we focused on taking it easy. On our second day, we went to Niagara Falls and spent a full day there, without trying to cover different places etc. With kids, we took it pretty easy and had a big lunch followed by ice cream treat and looking through all the touristy shops selling souvenirs there.
1. Ticket to the boat tour of Niagara falls.
2. Enjoy the gushing water power from the side of the falls. I envy the view which you may get from the canadian side.
3. Enjoy helicopter ride and the bird's eye view.
4. A plethora of Indian food to feed yourself. I rate that food 2/5
5. A Couple of really good ice-cream parlours around.
6. Crowds and prepare for a long queue on holidays especially
7. Lots of souvenir shopping. 

Bridge between USA and Canada

Observations at the Niagara Falls:

1. There are a ton of hotels right beside the falls. If booked in advance that is a good spot too, however, you will miss living in nature or countryside feel for sure.
2. For some reason, it was a sea of Indians at this spot. where ever you see, there is an Indian restaurant (Punjabi, Gujarati, and whatnot). Never had this feeling other than oaktree road in NJ. I felt like I was somewhere in India.
3. I haven't traveled to Canada yet, however, I didn't realize before that Canada comes one bridge away at this place. you can literally see the Canada mainland, hotels, people, businesses right across from here. if you have authorization, you could literally walk your way into Canada or vice versa.

Overall it was pretty good trip for us. I wish we planned for additional 2 days to spend more time there. May be for the next time.

Trip to the mountains of Himachal Pradesh [lots of photos]

View from Naddi

Recently on my trip to India, from Chicago, I had an opportunity to spend longer than anticipated time. I traveled to the northern plains of Punjab, to a city called Nabha. The time during June-July-August timeframe is not the best time to be visiting this part of the country. In fact the whole of North India is going crazy through the summer heat, and then as the monsoons start to come in, the weather gets sticky and even worse. During my stay in the mid-july, the heat was not so bad as it was with the humidity factor. I digressed. 

Since we stayed longer, it was a good opportunity to plan a trip to the mountains. in the neighborhood, there were couple of good options to get some respite from the heat.

Either plan couple of days trip to Shimla-Kufri and further up region. second is to go towards Kangra-Dharamshala and up to mcleodganj. There was another option to head towards manali-leh but that is a trip which we planned and postponed for next trip. I want to do the leh trip properly and hence want to fully prepare and plan for it.

The family voted for the Dharamshala trip and since there are 4-5 devi temples on that way, it sounded like an awesome pilgrimage trip for the entire family.  We had done the exact same trip some 27 years ago, so we all were looking forward to the trip.

While i blog about our entire 4 day experience of this trip, you can scroll down to the summary section, for direct access to summary details on staying, expenses, planning etc. If you want to keep reading my commentary and how we spent time there, pls continue reading.

Pre-trip planning

Most of the pre-trip planning included packing, getting a good car on rental. My preference was for a Toyota Innova with captain seats, which makes it much more roomier and comfortable experience. Also the 3rd row gets much more comfortable. We were going to be 4 adults and 1 kid, so this configuration would work very well.
The other important thing for pre-trip planning was getting enough drinking water bottles for the journey. Potable water is a key item, and probably the only 'must' take item on my list anywhere during a travel.
With clothes and everything else packed, we were excited for the start of the trip.

Trip day 1

The plan for this day was to leave by 7 am. Our driver arrived just in time however he had not brought the car roof rack for luggage. It was going to be impossible to fit all the luggage in the car, without it so we let him go back and lost atleast 30 mins in overall. As the luggage was loaded, we were ready to roll by 8:15 am.
Our journey was going to be taking us through punjab and then straight into HP. the route was going to be via fatehgarh sahib- nangal-una and then into the 'devi' temples.

Since we started a little late, I was already feeling hungry. Part of travelling in Punjab is good quality food on the highways. I was expecting the same on the way. We made our first stop after crossing kiratpur sahib at the zamindara dhaba on the road. even though the family had taken breakfast from home, i still got a tandoori parantha, with butter here. The food is amazingly fresh and tastes amazing. The cardamom tea on top was just something. We spent around 40 mins here, finishing our breakfast, and topping off with cardamom tea.

Our next stop was going to be Chintapurani devi. Overall the length of this whole journey is around 300 kms one side, upto Mcleodganj. So, you comfortably reach Chintapurani devi temple in around 5 hrs. The roads are pretty good within the punjab region. once you enter HP, the roads are good but small towns coming across tend to slow you down. I was quite impressed by the overall road quality through out the trip, and especially in the mountains.

Arriving at Chintapurani temple

On this day, there was a long queue at the temple. we were travelling during 'sawaan' and were arriving just a day before the major day at the temple. so, it was fairly crowded, but everyone was talking about 'tomorrow' and its potential craze with devotees. it took us around 1 hr to be in the queue to get to the inner sanctum. The crowd was going crazy around the inner sanctum and it was a complete pushing, shoving, pressing of people going on. I was literally squished and it was hard to keep umika from getting squished too. THis is one thing about the temples and devotion in general which i have never understood. How do people get so desperate? what is the purpose of going to the temple if there too the same business has to be carried out? sorry, I digressed for a bit.

The temples inner sanctum was small, but beautiful. the weather was much nicer now, in comparison to punjab. soon after the 'darshan' [ the glimpse of the deity], everyone calms down and settles down to their own business. its amazing to see that. There are tonnes of people who come here for blessings, some wishing for things and some thanking for getting what they wanted. I came to click pictures, go to the cold weather of mcleodganj and have a family trip after may be 10 years. My mother told me that the rush of people which we witnessed here, will not be seen at all other devis as chintapurani devi's saavan is most popular one. I felt better as we headed back to our car, scouting for lunch and respite from the crowds.

At chintapurani temple, there is ample parking spaces which are dedicated, and charge a fee of around Rs 100. the walk from there to the temple is about 10 mins through a filled up market with restaurants, all the articles for sales, toys, kitchen items and what not. Its a pretty busy market. Near the temple, most of the shops sell Prasad. you can leave your shoes with the shopkeeper from where you buy your Prasad. that's their business model.

Travel from chintapurani to Jwala ji temple

The distance from chintapurani temple to jwalaji temple is not much. its approx 34 kms and taxes about 40-45 mins of driving by road. the road is busy but good. and the traffic dropped significantly on this route. Mom was right, and it felt like there were very many few people travelling on this route.
At the temple of jawalji, the parking was available in good numbers. it was crowded at all. infact it felt the very opposite. the walk from the parking to the temple is a good 10-15 mins walk, although it is a completely covered area so there is no worry of rains etc. secondly, it has market on both the side so there is interesting stuff to see, observe all the way.
The jwalaji temple is built beautifully and very open area. there were only a few people around so it gave a good opportunity to observe things closely. The temple is named after the 'jwala' or 'streak of fire' which have come out of stone and continue to be lit for years. In the inner sanctum, you can see that in at least 6 different portions. It's just amazing. You may believe the detailed stories behind, but you can't keep yourself from being fascinated by all of this.

After the darshans, we explored the different parts of the temple and then came out.

Chintapurani temple

Jwalaji temple to Kangra devi temple

It was around 5 pm now. we started from jwala ji, and headed towards kangra devi temple. the approx distance here is 38 kms and takes about 45 mins of driving. the roads are good and travel is pretty comfortable. by the time we arrived at kangra devi temple, and found the parking, the sun had started to go down. We were also tired but decided to complete visiting the 'kangra devi' temple and call it a day. the temple is in the middle of the city, and thronged by stores all around it. There was very little crowd at any of these places, and it was like direct walk-in without any waiting periods.

After this, we were all pretty tired. We decided to head back to the car, and look for a hotel. The driver already had some reiki of the place by talking to other drivers, and shopkeepers and had found out that the best hotel in the town was Hotel Grand Raj So we headed that way, to check it out.

upon arrival, true to its name the hotel looked great.  we looked at the rooms and were fairly satisfied. after booking two rooms, we checked in to freshen up and relax a bit. The hotel has an excellent restaurant on-suite and also a pretty large bar. It has enough parking for its purpose and can easily take in 100 cars. green lawns and a ton of breathing space makes this a great place to stay.

Trip day 2

on Day 2, we got up early but were in relaxed mood. We all sat in our balcony and got tea served there. The mountains were right in front of us from the balcony view, and it was amazing. It seemed it rained last night, so it was damn outside, but beautiful.

View from the balcony in the morning

Umika, my daughter near the reception of grand raj

The second day, we were going up to the chamunda devi temple, which is a short drive away[ approx 40 mins]. we started around 10 am after finishing our breakfast.
The day was beautiful. it was still not cool in the morning but not hot either as it was back in Punjab. I was longing for the 'cold' weather I was seeing on my apps back home.
As we arrived at the temple, and parked, I started taking walk by the bridge and my first grand glimpse of this place was breathtaking.I could see straight for miles, with white puffy clouds engulfing the mountain range and then the river flowing through, with gushing clear water among the huge rocks. A magnificient view.

My first view from chamunda devi temple bridge

We visited the temple, and it was reliving the experience. The last time we had visited this temple was approx 25 years ago when I was probably 8 years old or so. It was a great experience looking at how significantly some of the things had changed, and how much population has taken over the surroundings overall. We stayed at the temple for around 3 hours, looking at different things, playing a bit with the cold water and the gushing stream.

That's me, at the chamunda devi temple

Aghori sadhu- Chamunda devi temple

I was also excited because now we were going to finish our temple touring and head towards mcleodganj. This was much more exciting to me.
From chamunda devi temple, the ride is very beautiful and interesting. The ride to mcleodganj is not long[perhaps an hour] but its an ascent and you gain altitude very quickly. the roads well done, circle through the cantonment area and is very well gaurded. Through the serpant roads, you would also get a view of the HPCA cricket stadium here.

Summary of the trip

Vehicle: Toyota Innova with captain seat, best suitable for our family of 4 adults and i child with a driver.
Total distance: 650 kms up and down.

Itinerary & coverage

Day 1 journey: Nabha- Fatehgarh Sahib-Nangal- Una- ChinataPurani- Kangra- Hotel Grand Raj.
Places Covered: Chintapurani temple, Jwala ji temple, kangra ji temple.

Day 2 Journey: -Chamunda devi temple- dharamshala-Mcleodgang- Halt.
Places Covered: Chamunda devi temple, Dalai lama temple, Namgyal monastery, Markets

Day 3 journey: Mcleodgang- Dharamshala- Baglamukhi temple- halt
Places Covered: Dalai lama temple, naddi, bagsu falls, park

Day 4 journey: Dharamshala- Kangra fort (skipped)- Nabha
Places covered: HPCA cricket stadium at Dharamshala. We were told that we cant get access to it, but on some research found out that gate #2 is always open to visitors and there is no fee to go visit the stadium. Of course you cant go on the field but get a great view of the stadium.

Hotels where we stayed [costs included]:

1. Hotel Grand Raj, Kangra (1 Night). Priced around Rs 4500/night/room. Fantastic hotel. I will recommend everyone to consider this hotel in this area.
2. Hotel President Inn, Mcleodganj (1 Night) Priced around Rs 4300/night/room. Good hotel but nothing spectacular in terms of view. One major handicap is that this hotel doesn't have overnight parking place, so the driver had to park in the nearby parking which charges a steep price of Rs300/night. We settled for this as we search around and since it was a busy weekend we were finding only cheap and shady type rooms available. Hotel President Inn is pretty good in its amenities. Rooms are fantastic.
3. Hotel Pong View, Kangra (1 Night) Price around Rs 2500/night/room. Excellent hotel and right on the way back.Excellent location and beautiful views from the room. Good food and room service. Highly recommend. Walking distance to the main market of Kangra.

Some photos from my trip to West palm beach

West palm beach has always had a special place in my heart. This was my first destination in the states 7 years back, and played an important role in my professional and personal journey, both from travel, photography, learning, networking & making new friends.

Recently I traveled to West palm beach after a long time. after and before work, I did get the opportunity to get out of work and visit some of the cool places which I have a special liking. Juno beach and its pier, local restaurant (Yard house) are some of my favorites.

I hope you enjoy the photos. As I visit next time, I will capture more of my favorite places in west palm beach and share.

All the photos here are from my phone camera, Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge.

This was a beautiful morning. the temperature, just right. As I walked along the shorelines, I wanted to see the beautiful sunrise. however there was a thick cloud cover, so it was doubtful. However the surrounding was so pretty and calm, that sunrise is not the only thing to be enjoyed. After a while, it became clear that we won't see the sunrise. however the 30 mins I spent sitting before the sunrise and little after, were some of the best times. Soulful, peaceful and mindful.

On my way back to my hotel, 

Standing Table: decision made

My Current Standing desk

I work from home mostly, or I travel. From the past two years, I have tried and tested many ways at home to adopt a standing desk approach.

It always works great. The days, I have used my standing desk hacks, are the best days overall. I may be super busy but it makes things so much faster for me, because I don't have to exert myself to stand up, and instead I am already on the move.

The problem in this whole equation for me has been finding a good solution for a standing desk.

Books I read during 2015 & 2016

here is a partial list of books I read in 2016, and a complete list of books I read in 2015. The two years have been extremely worthwhile in reading and listening to some of the greatest folks in the world, be it from the field of sales, motivation, athletes or army. the learnings from their lives have provided with so many lessons, that I can't thank them enough.

If you are interested do read about why i feel reading is such an important hobby for anyone looking to do better in life.

Belur- Temples which talk to you- part 3 (Final)

I hope you have followed my previous posts on Belur temples and our trip there. If you have missed those out, it should be worth checking out some amazing photos from there in my posts here, and here.  

Not much to talk in the last post of this series, however, I would ask you to visit my previous posts and read more about our experience. I would leave you with some more photos from this trip to relish. 

Do tell me what you think about the photos? Have you visited this place before? How has been your experience? what the most interesting temples which you have visited before. Love to hear your comments.

The Photos on this post should not be used for professional purposes. If you would like to use them without modification for blogging or informational reasons, linking back to this blog & mentioning credits is necessary. 

Things I love about Alpharetta, Georgia & will miss

After spending two years in Alpharetta, Georgia It's time for me to move out of here. I am moving to Naperville, IL which in my initial research should be a very similar and beautiful city. 

Major difference being the snowy Illinois weather compared to the extremely cold of 20 degrees down here in Alpharetta, GA [Pun intended]

I have really loved Alpharetta for many reasons. Although I have spent time in Florida, New Jersey, Minnesota and few other states but Alpharetta, Georgia has been really close to my heart. I want to share some reasons for why I love Alpharetta so much.

What I love about Alpharetta

1. Great schools: When I moved to states, my daughter who was 5 year at that time was going to be coming with us. Her school was a major factor in deciding where we would live. I would happily sacrifice being closer to the office for finding a place with better. Almost from the get-go in my research Alpharetta came on top in terms of school in Georgia. Naturally, it became the first choice for me. Other cities which I have found out by living here, and have good schools are Johns creek & Cummings. My daughter finished her Kindergarten from Creek View Elementary school and it was pretty good experience overall.
2. Green patch: I read about this some time back, but Alpharetta is known as the city of trees. that's pretty amazing. But you have to come down here to believe it. Alpharetta is heavily surrounded by trees. When I first moved here, it reminded me of those beautiful resorts of Karnataka or Kerala where you can sit by the window and hear birds chatter and there are expansive green covers everywhere. but, here we were not living for 1-2 days and driving back but it is the way of life. As I reconnected back to living in the green cover, I realised how much have a missed it in the concrete jungles of Bangalore. there are a ton of trails around here, however, my most favorite is been the greenway trail which is a huge one, beautifully maintained and thronged by walkers, runners, and cyclists.
3. Great location: Another aspect which you would love being in the Georgia region is its proximity to so much around you. Florida is 4 hours out. If you want to touch the beaches, you can drive towards Florida down south to Panama city beach or Pensacola or you could drive longer towards clearwater and its absolute delight. you could go towards savannah, charleston or Myrtle beach which are not too far as well. Up north, you have smokey mountains, Chattahoochee forest reserve and you are not out of options to go around.  Overall quite pleased with the location of Alpharetta.
4. Secure, safe and good neighbourhood: In my two years of being here, not even once I had to be bothered about going outside late in the night, or being concerned about any particular areas. I travelled a lot, and the neighbourhood has been pretty safe with a good mix of crowds around. 
5. Good food joints: if you are looking for Indian restaurants, you won't be disappointed. There are tonnes of those here. some of them are madras chettinad, Bombay flames, Chennai express but our all time favourite being Inchin Bamboo.

Things which are not in favor of Alpharetta:

1. Public transport: Like a typical suburb it is not crowded at all however, the public transport is really close to zero down here. Unless you are driving you living at apartments just by the food store, moving around will be a challenge. however, thanks to the weather here, it is normally not a problem. but if you are coming from place like NY, CA where you have used a ton of public transport, Alpharetta has its challenges.
2. Train connectivity to airport/downtown: Covered as above, but there isn't any train connectivity from Alpharetta. Marta only runs up to North Springs station which is good 5 miles from Alpharetta. See the Marta Station map here.
3. Night life: Alpharetta has some decent restaurant but is a typical suburb, with not too much going around late evenings. So if you are a bachelor and like to be near happening night life, Alpharetta is not the best place. You are better off being near the downtown for that.