Omaha - Ganesha Temple

The first Friday after we reached Omaha was a Good Friday holiday weekend, so we took the opportunity to go to the temple, which is about 15 mins away from our home.

We were happy to discover the beautiful temple which welcomed with a nice Om Rangoli in the front, It has a nice Gopuram with traditional Kalasam on top. When we entered, the inside was was very serene and calm with the big Ganesha in the middle. Felt very nice as we went around to pray to the other Gods around. Ganesha, Muruga, Shiva, Perumal which are more of South Indian idols were in the traditional form like in South, and the other gods like Rama, Krishna, Durga and all were in marble more with a North Indian look and feel. Overall felt very nice visiting the temple and to begin our exploration of the city from here.

Address: 13010 Arbor Street Omaha, NE 68144
Website: http://www.hindutemplenebraska.org/welcome.aspx

East Brunswick (NJ) to Omaha (NE)

We started on a very interesting and adventurous trip on Mar 30th 2012 Friday, from East Brunswick, New Jersey to Omaha, Nebraska in our Mazda MPV. By the time we finished doing the last cleaning before we handed over the keys it was already evening at around 4 pm, It was a nice sunny evening and we then went and handed over the Comcast Modem in their office and headed towards Omaha, NE which was about 22 hours and over 1300 miles away from the starting point in NJ. We planned to stop at Pittsburgh after visiting the temple there, but we realized we cannot do it since we have started late. So we thought of driving as much as we can and halt at a comfortable place in Pennsylvania. We filled up the gas and kept driving, the initial stretch of 1 hour was a busy traffic on the Friday evening, after we reached PA it was lesser traffic. It was a bright day and quite pleasant with a chill wind, so the drive was beautiful with the first few leaves and flowers looking beautiful on the trees around.

The roads were getting narrow in PA, and we reached a little mountainous area with a lot of winding roads and clock reached 8pm, so we thought of halting around after we crossed the two long tunnels in the mountains of BlueMountain and the Tuscarora Mountain . We halted at a nice Quality Inn Hotel, took some rest for the night. The little one Akilangandhi with us were also excited and having fun with us. He liked the Dora, Elmo, Mickey...Videos played in the newly set DVD player in the car, which his father specially got it ready for the drive so he is comfortable.

We then began our day with a nice continental breakfast at the hotel and then headed our way, we crossed yet another tunnel, the Tuscarora tunnel all these tunnels on the Pennsylvania highway. The road after that was a very winding way for more than an hour, we were happy that we did halt at the right place, because this was looking quite a tough drive in the day light and would have been even tougher in the night. After about 2 hours drive we reached the Pittsburgh Sri Venkateshwara Temple. This was the first Hindu temple built before about 35 years and the wet and beautiful morning made it look beautiful. It was in a small hilly area and this again looked a tough way in daylight reminding us that all happens for good and that we are making this route in the daylight, though it was a cloudy morning. We had the nice VenPongal prasadam there and the nice Darisanam after the Ashtothara archana. Akilan also enjoyed the temple atmosphere and the Prasadam. We picked up some lunch from the temple itself, since the Puliyogre and the BisibeleBath was really inviting to our noses and headed our way again. The morning had become even foggy and the visibility was very less on the way. There was quite less traffic but now the roads were slowly getting more of a straight one. Thus allowing to see more of what is ahead... We reached a rest area where we hogged our lunch and the yummy BisibeleBath gave us more enthu after which we continued our journey.

Akilan dozed off after some time and we now switched to hear some melody Ilayaraja songs and just kept our senses busy by having some or other interesting conversation and heading our way. We hardly took about 2 other halts in the rest areas and my husband Chidam (Chidambaranathan) kept driving while we enjoyed the various snack items we had picked up from Indian store in NJ. We wanted to cover as much distance as possible since the day was becoming brighter and sunny and giving us more enthu, It looked more beautiful and very very less traffic and those straight and wide roads, with just the trucks here and there made the journey more peaceful. We crossed PA, and reached Indiana, Illinois(Chicago) and reached Iowa, and by now it got darker as we hit the 8 pm mark and also there were some drizzles. Now we were also very exhausted and decided to halt at whichever good Choice Hotel we would find. We saw a nice Comfort Inn hotel on the way and took the exit for that, but then we took a turn to enter that and realized it again took us to the highway and we were back heading further, so we thought of taking the next one, again the same thing happened, where we thought we were entering the Quality Inn Hotel but this time again we hit the highway. It had also started pouring, and we were now feeling very tired and just wanted to halt and take rest at wherever we stay, now there seemed to be no inns around and the road was just going on and on leading us just miles after miles. We were traveling more towards the destination but now we were both worried about the darkness, rain and also the tiredness felt more because of these reasons. Akilan was fast asleep , and we felt at least he was not going through what was worrying us. We even thought we may just keep driving and reach Omaha, NE this way. Then suddenly we saw some exit which would take us to a Motel 6 Hotel, and we thought we would just somehow make our way there, This time we figured out that we should take the way ahead in the exit, but should take a left or a right after we enter the exit, only then it will lead to its entrance. But oh my this one was not so exciting, place, but ya were so tired and went ahead to enquirer if it was available, and wow there was just one last one, and we just quickly did the formalities, entered it, got freshened hogged the Puliyogre, some fruits and stuff and feel asleep.

The next day morning felt so fresh and good, and we came out to see a beautiful bright morning at 7am, in Iowa Atkinson.

When GPS showed us that we were just 4 hours away from our destination, of wow again we felt so good, that we would reach well before noon at Omaha. That gave us the extra feel that again all happens for good, and now we can reach well on time to head into our new place. We filled ourselves with some good coffee and breakfast at a McDe, and also filled car with gas, and headed our journey, we just kept going the broad roads just crossing the few trucks and the travel felt quite easy with the least traffic on the way. When we were about and hour away that is where we started seeing few cars, and the name boards to Omaha made us feel good that we were nearing our destination. On our way we called our parents to find our the good timing to enter the new place and realized we should reach there after 1.30 pm, so we decided to go to Wal-Mart or some shopping center there and pick up the required grocery stuff to enter into our new place..
We then reached on time to meet our Rental office, did the paper work, got the keys and yes on time entered our new apartment which is really a nice place, and felt good about the selection online, and ya now we were home again. First became fresh and then yes did our Pooja and had our home made food, The next important thing we needed was internet which we had earlier had made arrangements to have it when we reach, but there were some configuration to be made to get online. We had the hour long calls with the customer care and got that set up so we could call our parents and inform that yes we reached Omaha, NE and by now we were so exhausted that all we wanted was a lot of sleep, but yes we felt just great to be all safe and good by the blessings of our elders and wishes of all our loved ones.

Flushing Ganesha Temple

Sri Maha Vallabha Ganapathi Devasthanam is in the Queens borough of New York, and is more than 40 years old, started in 1970. So it one of the older temples in US.

We were blessed to visit the place on 2010 Vinayakachathurthi day, on 11Sep.... After doing pooja at home we drove in our Corolla towards NY, starting our drive on NJ turnpike, then crossing the Goethals bridge, following the Verrazona bridge, and then on the Queens Brooklyn expressway, and crossing the busy roads on Queens in Flushing we went towards Kissena boulevard and parked our car after the 1.5 hours drive on the side streets along the independent houses after we reached 45-57 Bowne Street, Flushing NY 11355.

Ganesha was looking very nice with the Pushpa Alankaram specially done for the day, Shanmukha with Valli and Deviynai on his beautiful peacock with Vibuthi alankaram, Siva and Parvathi, and all the gods around all made the place so serene and beautiful.

We felt nice doing the pooja there and then went to see the praharam, Dhwaja stambam, and the different ganeshas in the praharam. Took photos there, and had the nice food served on the auspicious day.

There are Raghavendra temple right opposite to the ganesha temple, and LakshmiNarayan temple on the nearby road, and Saibaba Mandir on the adjacent street, all are very near by and walkable, and can visit all to have nice darshan.

We left from there and headed back home and reached back around 5 in the evening, the whole day was a nice day, little tiring with walking around, but felt good.

Philadelphia - Liberty Bell

Visiting The Liberty Bell in PA is of equivalent importance as that of the Statue of Liberty in NY. Historically both of equal fame. The bell symbolizes the liberation of slavery and forming the constitution.

The Bell is in display , which has a crack. Ideally first we should go to the Visitor center and collect the pass for the Independence Hall tour. Note that none of these have a cost for the ticket. After that can go around first to the bell, then the Constitution Center, this has a cost to the ticket ($12), so can go by choice. Then can visit the Independence hall and the George Washington first Presidential Office. The carpenter's hall is also of importance where the first papers where signed where US was born, where 10 states were united first. The first Supreme Court, and the other Presidential offices are all one after the other. The nice clocks on the buildings are worth noting. The stretch to walk from the hall to the Constitution Center is also nice an can take some snaps.

There is a model of a Lord like person sitting in the Carpenter's hall with whom we can take a photograph.

Corning Glass Museum and Niagara Falls

We chose to visit the Niagara falls on the US Independence day long weekend, which falls on the July 4th. In 2010 this was on a Sunday so the observed holiday on Monday, gave the long weekend a good 3day for itself.

We made the preparations in advance by making hotel reservations in Quality Inn, which was about 6 miles from the falls, which is about 10 mins apart.

Corning Glass Museum
Corning Glass Museum which is on the way to the falls, was over first destination en-route. We started our travel at about 8am, though we had targetted for 6:). We reached the museum in the noon, about 5 hour journey with a stopover(4.35 actual). We learnt that the factory is now closed down and cannot visit that, and that a shuttle would take us to the museum from the parking spot. So we first had our lunch :) and headed to wards the museum entrance. Glass works invited us, and we were all excited to explore more. The ticket issuer told us that there is a show just about to start.... wondering what it is we headed in that direction. We saw a live demonstration of a glass bowl being made, that was truly interesting , where from the basic raw material glass is blown like a bulb, the spreads itself and when he shakes it takes form. Also he was saying they break and put back into the 1000 degree heat again to repeat the demo the next day :)
We saw few other demos of glass breaking and Optical Fiber , where light flows through the thin cable allowing for instruments like cell phones to operate.
The main part was still there.... the glass museum collection.... wow so many many glass wonders.... from about 1000B.C to today's latest prism beauties.... we saw all the tiffany works and also were lured to buy some Glass beauties home. We wanted to see more, but the thought that we should reach Niagara falls before dark made us move on.

Niagara Falls
Time to Niagara Falls is about 2.40 hours, but it took us about 3.30 hours with some stop overs to fill gas, get battery for ipod accessory etc. We checked in to the hotel, quickly freshened up, and drove to the falls. Nature is always beautiful, and Niagara is a real beauty of nature. We were surprised to see the fireworks this day already, since we expected to see it only the next day which was the Independence day, we could not find spots to park, so we just stopped our car in a junction and watched the whole show, the whole city was busy watching any way. Wow, it was too good, it was almost for an hour, though we missed the part from 9 to 9.20, we did see the best part.... My parents and Akilan! also saw the whole show in awe, while we were busy capturing the show in camera and handy cam and also enjoying watching it all.
We then went and parked in a good spot, right next to the red coach inn.... near the falls entrance. It was easy to walk down to have a night view of the falls. It was about 11 and we headed to our vehicle to get back to get some rest, but the heavy traffic, delayed an hour and we reached late. The pizza buy took longer again and we had a real late dinner, and then caught up with our sleep.

Early the morning, we got up a little late, and got ready and reached the falls at about 11 !, got the tickets for the Discovery Pass which covers all the interesting places there, Maide of the Mist, Cave of the Winds, Aquariym, IMax Show and Discovery Center, and we went for the Maid of the Mist first. The wait was long again in the queue, but the beauty of Niagara int he American falls, Bridal Veil Falls and the Horseshoe falls made us forget the time we took to see, and by the time we finished the tour we were half wet, so were our camera and handy cam, We then went to the prospect point, while Chidam and my parents took turns with Akilan since it was not advisable to take him in the slippery steps.... Wow what was a superb experience to go up to the Prospect Point to have the falls shower on us.

We then had our Pizza snack :) resting on the grass and seeing the beautiful birds, and went to the Cave of the winds in the Trolley. The wait there was 2 hours!, but again wow, what a experience to literally stand below the Bridal Veil falls and also see the falls right above us. The way back to come out took about an hour, which was something we did not get excited about. The trolley drive on the way back, made us realize that there was more of the beauty of the falls to be visited from the Terrapin point, the three sisters falls, etc, which are more nature interesting, and our time can be really spent well if we plan for those as well.

This already took the major part of the day, so we thought we can get our parents to the IMax show, but again the shows are every hour, 3,4,5,6, and we were late again for the 7 o clock show, so we went to get our things to get ready for the fireworks view and had our parents settle down to view the falls, We were waiting for the fireworks to start but it all started at about 10, and was for a very short time. We were a little disappointed, since we could have actually visited the show or the Aquarium in the meanwhile.

We were very tired by then and we headed back to hotel. The next day we knew is going to be all travel, so we got ready relaxed, and Chidam wanted to get as much sleep so that he can be comfortable with his driving. He took us back safely home squeezing some stop overs to get himself fresh. Cayuga lake route, with the Seneca Falls etc, were ones which we missed, but had a stopover at the Butter Milk falls, the water was very scarce there so not much for us to see, also there were people crowded to get their swimming plans. We reached home at 9.15 :) just about when darkness was spreading that summer night.

My Son AkilanGandhi's First Birthday - Photo Album

Click the below link to view my son, AkilanGandhi's First Birthday photo Album.

AkilanGandhi's First Birthday - Photo Album

Note: Internet Explorer recommended. Click the right bottom edge to flip the Album pages.

Atlantic City

Atlantic City is about a two hour drive from home. We had actually been to this place few weeks after coming down to NJ. So, we had taken the bus from Twin Towers Bus Station, East Brunswick which goes to Atlantic City. We were staying in Studio 6, East Brunswick at that time, and it was the last week of February 2008, so it was one of the cooool days.... Still we decided to explore this place.

To get to the Twin Towers was itself a long process, we got ready and thought why not walk our way to the bus station, and then had to come after walking half way, since we could not find a pathway to walk. Actually this happened a week before, and after being very tired, we dropped the idea to go that day. The next Saturday we decided to take the cab and were all ready, when suddenly an alarm, oh ! that was the smoke alarm which went on loud for a long time about half an hour, so we had to wait for it to settle down, then called the cab and headed to the Tower Center Bus Station. After this interesting start, we boarded the bus, the ticket was a round trip, which had fixed return timings as well. One thing which made us laugh to ourselves was , we felt we were the youngest, and all others were old, guessed that they are making use of the pocket money they get to play / spend in the Casinos.

We reached Atlantic City, and started walking the streets looking for Casinos, we ended up more in empty streets with smaller buildings, looks like we went in the wrong direction, then we walking back and came to track, and there were so many casinos out there.

We started exploring one by one, and actually we realized we should carry our passport there so that the bus money gets returned back almost which we can even use for playing there :)

The Atlantic sea / beach has a nice bay walk, which is also a fun thing to do there.

We collected some toys from Jumbo Jungle there....

Pomona Temple

Pomona Temple

This temple is in Upstate Newyork , It has all forms of Vishnu with Sri Ranganatha as the main shrine. Rama, Krishna, Narasimha, Padmavati Thaayar, Randal, Tirupati Venkateshwara, Lord Anjaneya are all big deities here...

Brahmotsavam is celebrated in a big way here in the month of June-July.

Lancaster Trip....

Lancaster can be synonymously referred to as the Amish County, where the Amish people have retained their traditional life style as it is. They seem to be believing int he natural way of living, while the whole world is become all dependent with Gadgets.

Their main livelihood, is Dairy, Poultry, and farming. This reminds of man in yester years. They are self sufficient. They are living it that way to prove it, where they use minimal equipments for life. One room school, Buggy rides in horses, children going bare foot, girls in attire which is not too luxurious but good and neat for for the climate all symbolize the self-sufficient life. There would be atleast one person in each occupation in that city.

Greenery, abundant nature, corn fields, horse carriages, or even horse riding are common events when we go around. There are lots of "Bread and Breakfast Inns" where they host paying guests. We too stayed in one such Wanner Family guest house, there were 5 bed rooms, and we were 5 families, all my colleagues stayed there as one big family for 2 and a half days :) So much fun with all kids and ladies having their talks and the gentlemen having theirs. Singing, Dancing, playing, icecreams, snacks were all fun in the night. The creek running by the house, the corn fields and the Cow shed were interesting, we got to see the corn being all harvested in acres of land in minutes. We also got to see the interesting way in which cows are milked with some equipment to maintain cleanliness and timing correctly. The whole process where the corn becomes food and the remains and the cow dung again becoming manure again showed how the Amish people make sure they are able to make use of the daily life useful for each other. The final crushed corn stack become the fuel generating raw material. Wow, we were zapped at the whole thing.

Buggy rides were interesting and of course the tourism part..... Strasburg Rail road, where the Rail runs on Coal and Steam, was interesting to go around the Corn fields for about an hour.

Choo Choo barn was also very nice to see the miniature of the life in Amish County, nice workmanship on the details in the miniatures. Circus, Fun fair, Road, railways.... all were very nice.

NJ Travel Interest....

Bridge Water Temple
One of the places we visited first after buying our Corolla. Nice to visit the temple, one is praying to god, another is seeing a lot of people of likeliness, belonging to our land back in India. Spending a couple of hours here on a special occasion like festivals, birthday, etc is all very nice.
Lord Venkateshwara Shrine, looks like the one in Tirupathi....so is all the more special, its about half an hour journey from home, but the distance does not stop us from visiting often.

Mercer County Park
This is a nice bog park where there is lot of greenery, boating, lots of open area to play. Taking a stroll with the baby, or having them play on the grounds is all interesting.
One of our office Summer party we all came here, also there are open tented areas for conducting parties for a cost.

Guruvayoorappan Temple
This is in East Brunswick itself, it is nearer than BridgeWater.
Guruvayoorappan is the main deity, and the Srinivasa Kalyanam with the shrines from Tirupati was a special event. We found this place with great difficulty, but it is a special place giving a lot of peace. Waiting for the gopuram to be built.

Durga Temple
Have been here once during 2008 navratri. It is a nice north indian type of a temple. It is in North Brunswick. Heard that here there is lot of nice Prasadam distributed.

Apple Picking
There are lot of orchards where we can pick our own fruits and vegetable during the right season. We had been to Battleview Orchards to pick Peaches and Apples. Apples were in bunches in the trees and that was amazing. Peaches were all the more tasty. This was a very interesting day.

Sharadamba Temple and Bushkill Falls

Sharadamba Temple, Pennsylvania (Sringeri like). For more information, please visit Sharadamba Temple website.



This temple I happened to notice in one of the web sites, and with the information which said it is on the way to Bushkill Falls, we planned to go here. On a June mid Saturday morning, we set off with our parents, my husband and my son AkilanGandhi to the temple.
On the way we picked-up my husband's cousin Kannan from the hotel, who had just crossed three days after coming to US, and my niece Bindhu
(Bindhu & my mother) from her home also and headed to the temple.

The temple is located in a beautiful place surrounded by woods and beautiful picturesque places. There is a lake going by but taken up and commercialized by resort owners. We entered into the temple to see the beautiful shrine of the goddess. Silence is strictly maintained, and we entered into a peaceful mode, hearing the chanting of the priests.

It is a very well maintained and serene place. We all did Archana, and did our Pradakshanas. We heard that there is a old temple nearby, so went to the place, and heard there is lunch around 12.30 Noon :), with one hour left for that, we went to see a creek , but with no parking space available there we came back after spending the one hour driving up and down, for lunch :) Gave Akilan his baby food and for us Bisi bele Bath and Bagala Bath(curd rice) was sumptuous and tasty. After changing to comfortable clothing and footwear for trekking, we headed to Bushkill falls.

Bushkill Falls,Pennsylvania For more information, please visit Bushkill Falls website.


At the entrance we purchased the tickets $10 for adults and $9 for my father (over 62 years), and decided we will take the adventurous Red Trail (click to view the map), which leads us to the Bridal Veil Falls.

We walked through the beautiful green woods, saw the creeks and abundant nature, walking through the wooden steps, bridges, natural ups and downs and took lot of photos and video shot. We saw the beautiful falls which was spread in parts towards the end in different stages, and our photo shoots continued, with my Dad all excited capturing photos everywhere. All of us like the long walk, we did not feel it was that tiring because of the feast of nature that our eyes were enjoying.


We took small rests now and then and reached the end and quickly wanted to get back since we had planned for another temple. However we could not locate the address so a little disappointing we dropped back Bindhu and Kannan in that order and got back home at 11 PM! in the night.

Click here to view interesting video clips about Bushkill Falls, Pennsylvania

Longwood Gardens

Longwood Gardens ....2008
Heard about this place from a friend of mine, and that it is good for a one day trip, and good for novice US driving. So, we started for this place in the Spring of 2008 which was last week of May, when we were very new to driving, after about one month of buying our Toyota.

It was about a 2 hour drive to the beautiful gardens, we got the tickets which was about $16, and entered in about 11, we had had a light breakfast, thinking we can find something on the way. So first we wanted to grab some energy to continue the garden walk. Chidam got a nice lemonade which was so refreshing and Pretzels and come cookies, that was a good one to keep us going, with the energy that we collected, we started walking the garden.

Wow, so beautiful, very huge than Lalbagh, and so nicely maintained, the indoor and outdoor gardens all were beautiful. The Roses were just buds, since it was still Spring. But we guessed after a couple of days, or weeks it should be blooming.

So many plant varieties, fountains, greenery, it was all beautiful. Well maintained lawns and meadows, all belonging to the Longwood family! We enjoyed the whole day there and when we were tired, thought we can head back home. The long drive which was new to us was interesting and we liked it so much, we captured it all in our handycam and Camera to cherish it longer.

New York 2010

Though have seen so much of New York, it was still very exciting to go back and see again on 12th June 2010. It was all the more interesting to visit the place with my parents and my baby, they were seeing it for the first time.... We had suddenly decided to go over just the previous night. My husband did the study to check the bus timings and place from where we can start, so we decided to leave as early in the morning and to Transportation center in East Brunswick.

We had a good breakfast, Semiya Upma, wishing that it would give us some energy to start the long day, and drove down to Transportation Center, with all the necessary packaging :) for baby and for our day snacks, I got nice scolding for carrying so much, since others had to carry those too :) We realized that there are no buses on weekends from Transportation Center to quickly headed towards Tower Center Bus Stations, since the bus was at 8.25 AM, and it was past 8. My hubby quickly dropped me to get tickets while he helped my parents to get down with my son Akilan, and I got the ticket and waited praying that bus should not come till he parks and comes, and he just made it in the nick of time, and we made it sharp at 8.25 AM, we started with out Handy-cam and Photo shoots, and it all started with a nice bright morning.

It took about 45 mins to reach Port Authority Bus Terminal at New York City, and we got down wondering where the elevator(lift) is, so that we can get down easily with the Stroller and other baggage.... Of course all were scorning me for the luggage.... My parents were avoiding the escalator and still had to take it in a couple of places, and made it to the exit. We came out to the busy world of New York City, in Time Square, and decided to explore more of it later the day, so went towards the Subway Station to take the Metro Train to the Statue of Liberty. We were giving few information for our parents on the way and they were zapped at the busy and tall buildings all over already. After he purchased the tickets in the vending machine ($8.25!) per day per person, fun pass, we went looking in the map for the train number and went right there after inquiring an officer and boarded the train.

We got down in Wall Street, and suddenly we were in front of New York Stock Exchange and the Federal Building, wow we had not seen this before!, after seeing costliest corner of the world, showed the Trinity Church to our parents, and went looking out for the bull. We landed at the WTC remains and the new construction, and the went towards the Bull, took some snaps and then towards the Statue. Oh my, what a long queue....saying this, I went to get tickets, and the others stood in the queue, Realized the waiting is more than an hour and also we crossed the timing to go to the Crown and even the Pedestal, and waited in the queue, as we neared the entrance, we realized there was an airport like security, so we put all metallic stuff - belt, watch, mobile.... in a bag and then put all inside, and we and that got scanned.

Finally we were in the Cruise, "Miss New York", and headed towards the Liberty Statue, Lady Liberty always is charming, My parents were all excited, my father was wondering the technical details, which we later collected back at home in Google to realize it was all Copper and the golden tinge has changed to green because of the chemical reactions of the sea breeze, and the huge tons of steel and concrete also which forms part of the construction and all that....., My mother was liking the cool breeze the cruise drive, Akilan was looking around and the busy world, which was new to him, My husband was reminded of the earlier visits we both had and of course me too.... We landed there and had our photo sessions, and went around the lady, tried giving Akilan some snacks, and went around.... Then we sat down to have our lunch which we packed from home, hoping now the weight of our single baggage would be divided among us :) We got back after some shopping in the Cruise to the Battery Park, this time, my parents and me went up the cruise, while my Akilan and his dad were relaxing down. Oh the breeze was so nice. We reached the shore and went towards the subway station, disappointed going up and down looking for elevator, the stroller carrying exercise was not easy, Chidam was taking the trouble all the time....

Finally we got in at South Ferry Station and reached Bryant Park Station, and got out..... Wow, the bright and busy world again, we started explaining the concept of Avenues and Streets, and of course the tall sky scrapers were self explanatory to my parents, all astonishing them. Then of course Grand Central Metro Rail Station in New York, oh what a great train station, with its tall Ceiling, bright Chandeliers, the central Four faced, Opal Clock, and more than all the busy movement all over.... We came out again and showed were i earlier worked in ABN, and then went to United Nations to show where my husband worked for United Nations. Then we walked back....(my parents (legs) were so tired), still made it back to Times Square, of course all along the photo sessions, video sessions, and showing places like Fifth Avenue, Empire State, Chrysler Tower were all happening, Mc Donald's Hot chocolate, coffee and Fries gave a little refreshment before we continued to Times Square, and we liked the interesting change there, where we can literally sit in the middle of the road, yes this change was nice , there were chairs and tables where people can relax looking at the busy world, We realize we were already about half a day long there and now it was time to head to the bus station.

We were on time to catch the 8.30 PM bus back home....We were all tired, but nice memories, and a beautiful day withe a beautiful weather supporting us, was all in our minds, as we relaxed back at home the remaining part of the weekend.

Virginia, Washington DC, Baltimore

Day 1 - Luray Caverns, Virginia

Memorial Day Weekend of 2010 (May30, 31 and June 1st), we took off towards Virginia Luray Caverns, after celebrating Akilan's birthday on 29th May.

On a nice sunny day, we started at 7.20am from home and it was a long drive of about 5 and half hours, and we had not been on such long drive before. We had packed all stuff for food, stay etc and everyone at home were commenting am probably carrying half the things from home, but with a kid and elders, just wanted to be careful in advance.

We had some snacks on the way while driving and halted once to fill gas before leaving New Jersey, and then only in Virginia. We crossed Baltimore, Maryland, DC, and entered into Virginia looking for the Skyline Drive which i was excited about instead of the normal route. Then we found the entrance, purchased the $15 entrance for the car, which is valid for 7 days :)?, and then started driving our way, it was somewhat similar to a Kodaikanal route on a day in summer. There were a number of overlooks and we stopped at few of them to catch a glimpse.

We stopped at one of the resting areas in the drive, had our lunch there, and headed again. We reached Luray Caverns entrance at about 2.30, where a long queue awaited us. Quickly i got down and stood in the queue while Chidam went to park the car. But then realized should get the ticket in another building and then come and stand in the queue. Was wondering how long the queue would be there and realized there was nothing like a queue, so got the tickets quickly (23 for the whole tour), and came and joined back in the queue, I was told one hour waiting in queue and one hour for the tour approx,... It was so hot and was relieved when Chidam came to help in standing in the queue while i went to wet my throat and to freshen up Akilan's diapers....
We then got into the caverns, wow.... was the word to start with, it was so chill.... the 98...% pure air and chill environ along with the beauty of the stalagmites of limestone enthralled us. My parents, Akilan also enjoyed along with us, we walked around to see the beauty of nature hidden in these caves.... These stalagmites grown 1 inch i 102 years?!, the still dripping water in some places which we realized has a mirror image and not a real stalagmite the other way also was an interesting surprise to us, even in the darkness we tried to capture the beauty in our handy-cam and camera.... We almost ran out of battery :)
On exiting after about more than one and half hour....we came out to do some memento shopping... and then went to the next section where lot of old caravans were displayed, interesting to see those cars....from Ford, to Benz....to....
Then got out to see the museum, a quick route, and then realized the botanical maze had another fee, also with the fear of getting dark before we reach our night stay, we headed with our tired legs, more than us, our parents our very tired, ....so got onto to the car, and took then normal route which was also beautiful , liked the ups and downs and reached Northern Virginia, Chester ville , Chantilly, to check in to Spring Field Suites of Marriott at around 8.30pm. Akilan was so execute that he all over the place, while we took turns to freshen up to start our dinner and then hit bed by 11 to have a good sleep and rest for a more interesting journey the next day....

Day 2 - Washington DC

After a good days rest on the night of Day 1, and a refreshing breakfast, we started from the hotel by 8.30 towards Washington DC. We were advised by one of our friends to park on 14thStreet - Constitution Avenue, and we found a place in fronts of Washington Memorial(the tall pillar), since the marking was not very clear if we could park there the whole day, also since we saw a lot of events for the Memorial day, i went to check with a mobile tourism center if it was fine to park, she directed me to a police office the road, before crossing i saw two other officers (looked like some army office by attire) and inquired if it was fine, they said they were not sure, so can ask the same traffic police across the street, i crossed the road and asked her and she said the general rule is on holidays and weekends can park there for no charge, but she was not sure!!?? and i could take a chance, and I can only confirm with MPD department.... I thanked ! her for the information and we decided to take the chance and parked the vehicle and went towards Washington memorial in memory of the first president of US , George Washington, which was a tall pillar, then the War memorial with a pillar and indication for each state and the armed forces like army navy, coast guard and there were some nice fountains there...., and the Lincoln memorial has a majestic statue of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president and very famous president . All these are in same line and also we could see the Capitol Building from there as a nice view.
We were already tired walking....and knew this is just the beginning.... We walked towards the white house wondering where it was :), and then located it and was very happy we saw it from the gates :) and took photos.... we thought this was already too much for the morning session and decided to have our lunch, and came back to see our car safe, thanks to Washington memorial which was a nice location landmark for us. We had the lunch which we had prepared and got from hotel :), in the Washington Memorial, with the remaining charge left in our cameras and us too ! :), we walked towards Capitol Building seeing the museums we should see on our way back.... We realized that some of them like the Arts museum was closed for Memorial Day ?!, and saw Air and Space open, and went into that, since food (baby food we were carrying), was not allowed, we had to take turns and see this, while one of us waits with Akilan and our emergency food baggage outside. After this we walked towards Capitol Building and saw a botanical garden, this was a very nice one we thought after seeing only buildings so far :), it was a indoor botanical garden. Finally we walked across to the next building which was the Capitol Building, This was a beauty which we had seen is so many movies and also TV Serials.... Took lots of photos and video shots, and my parents were already exhausted, we too!, and sat down to refresh Akilan with some snacks in the meanwhile. Came see another Sculpture museum, modern art type, in a open garden, walked in to see a big pool of water where people were resting their legs there, we also got excite to do that and all our legs were in there, including Akilan :) Then started walking to see what other museums are there, we entered into the museum of Natural History, It was nice, but too much walking while we were tired.... We decided now we cannot walk any more except to the car, and we felt a little lost there, so asked direction tips from an officer there, and headed to see the Washington Memorial which was hiding behind the buildings. Very happy to see that and walked towards it once we caught the glimpse. Once we reached the hotel after the half an hour drive, we all required that freshening shower and a quick dinner, and hit the bed for the next day to start....

Day 3 - National Aquarium, Baltimore

We got up a bit relaxed, got our things together after a good breakfast, checked out and headed out towards the aquarium which was about an hour and half journey in Baltimore. We were a little confused to find Parking, and found a Pier V Parking, which was very very expensive, but went ahead and parked to later realize that it was about $24 for four hours of parking!.
Got the tickets for the aquarium which was about $30 for one person, and went it to realize the beauty of sea water, so many varieties of fishes, Frogs!, Jelly fishes, what a beauty, Sharks, and so many more of the sea world.... Really a nice world of sea....Akilan also was enjoying tapping the glass partitions to try to catch the fishes:) The Dolphin show was good, but we probably expected a little more :), The 4D immersion theater was startling to my parents, and Akilan almost started crying by the noise of the crowd, we sat through the whole show though.... and once we finished by about 3.30 in the afternoon, and decided we should now head towards home so that we reach before it is too dark.... It was about 2 and half hour journey towards home, this looked long and tiring of all. Chidam was pulling himself and got us back like a beauty.

Overall this was a very nice trip, which we were looking forward so eagerly since we stepped into US, and was happy to see all of them and realize it was really a great trip and nice places to visit.

Maintaining Vehicle - How to Adjust Clock

Had to adjust the clock during Daylight Saving in March and November

1. Make sure the clock is shown on the panel.
2. Press the Function button on the left of the Pioneer panel till it displays the clock.
3. Press the function button again and hour would blink, change it accordingly.
4. Press the function button again and minute would blink, change it accordingly.
5. The time is set now.

Note if Hour does not blink on using the function button, press the center of the volume dial to see if that happens.

Driving a Four Wheeler in US.....

Step 1 : Get a Driver's Liscence
Step 2 : Get an Insurance
Step 3 : Get a Car and Start Driving
Step 4 : Maintaining a Car
Step 5 : Timely Inspection Check
Step 6 : Oil Check

Precautions to avoid getting a ticket
Care 1 : Check mirror adjustment before starting
Care 2 : Watch speed while driving


What to do if a ticket is given, before and after ....
Ticket is the warning for a mistake made, or a minor type of punishment given for violating any traffic rules. This could be points, which would affect insurance in increase in insurance, or it could be a penalty by money, or it could be a vist to a civil court even.

ToDo 1 : Firstly when we are driving if we observe a police car signalling at our car, then we need to stop at the shoulder and put on the Parking lights.
ToDo 2 : Have to put both our hands on the steering wheel and wait for the traffic policeman to walk and come to our car.
ToDo 3 : He would explain or question the reason for stopping, and have to just answer to his questions or show the required documents he has asked for and react accordingly.

ToDo 4 : If a ticket is issued then have to check the consequences, if any payment has to be made then need to do accordinlgy.
ToDo 5 : In cases where we need to notify insurance we need to call insurance and inform once we reach home.
ToDo 6 : If required approach a attorney in cases where it is a accident and accordingly handle the situation with the advice of the attorney.

Venturing into Driving in the US....

Step 1 : Get a US Drivers Liscence
Step 2 : Get Insurance
Step 3 : Get a Car
Step 4 : Maintain a Car