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4/6/2009

First Hike of 2009: Rattlesnake Ledge

Last couple of years, we have always started with Rattlesnake as our first hike as it is perhaps the best view for a beginner’s hike. This year we thought different. So, we went to Lake Mason. But as luck would have it, it was all snowed out :) Hence, we fell back to the *tried and tested* rattlesnake hike.

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5/6/2008

Three Wonderful Years

I have not blogged for a long time. This is perhaps the best way to re-start it :) Yesterday (5/5) marked the third anniversary of a journey that Vini and I started on a journey together. What I did for the occasion would (hopefully) be written by her. I would like to share more about the wonderful evening that we spent together. This was supposed to be a surprise and what a surprise it was :). Anybody who has come to Seattle has visited Space Needle. I am no different. I have been up on the observation

deck so many times that I was sure that the last time would be the last time :) Imagine my surprise when we stopped at the entrance to this. Hmm.. could this be the place or was this just the place we parked. I am so happy that we stayed. The restaurant is called Sky City and this is just one level below the observation deck.

The weather was perfect ! the view was perfect ! Not a cloud in sight ! and the best part – I had the best companion that I could dream of. The best part of the restaurant is the rotation. On a clear day you could see for miles. We fell in love with Seattle once again. Of course the flip side is that we were looking out of the window for the first 15 minutes. It was mesmerizing. The really surprising part was the food. It was delicious. We are vegetarians and normally we have very limited choice (so was the case here too), but everything we had was yummy.

The place is pricey, but believe me- when you are having a special dinner with that special someone on a special day, you want the experience to be perfect. It was !! Thank you sweetie for making the evening so awesome.

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5/17/2007

Second Anniversary

05/05/05 was the most memorable day in my life. I got married to the most wonderful person. It has been an eventful last two years and this time it was my turn to try and make this day even more memorable. I tried and this is what happened....

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4/23/2007

Review: Tulip Festival

Dekha ek khwaab to yeh silesile hue..

When: 04/14/2007

Fellow travellers: Vinni, Nagu, Ruchir, Jyoti & Myself

Rating:

Photos: http://good-times.webshots.com/album/558736944kZTjRv

For More Information: http://exploremore.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!C8D8349FC4FE49CC!254.entry

Review: For those who don't know the meaning of the title, it is the starting verse of one of the most memorable song from one of the biggest blockbuster movies from bollywood. The movie was silsila. Well what has this got to do with the post? This movie was known, among other things, for shots of songs filmed in beautiful fields full of flowers and this was was exactly the feeling we got when we reached the tulip festival at Skajit valley (@ Mount Vernon).

Fortunately it was an awesome day. It was bright, sunny and not cold. What more can you ask for when we are going to see tulips in full bloom. We did get a scare for stretch of about 3-4 miles when it started raining. It was funny to see rain localized to such a small area. Well, we reached the fields and this year we visited the tulip town. It was actually much more beautiful than the other fields. Although small, it had more varieties of tulips and they looked gorgeous. It was the first time for Ruchir and Jyoti and they were in total silsila mood (as you would make out from the pictures). One really awesome thing we saw was a group of people flying kites. It was amazing to see them flying it in so much synchronization. we kept on wondering when will they get entangled, but boy! they were good.

A visit to tulip festival is not complete without ice-cream. There is this non-descipt ranch between the i-5 exit and the tulip town where they sell this delicious and HUGE scoop for $3. It must be really famous as we had to stand 40 minutes in line to get one :). Also, we could see the ill-effects of eating too much of it in lots of people around us. Not that I blame them, if the place was in close proximity to our home, I would be doing the same (and having the same result)

one thing to watch for is the traffic. It is brutal. I would advise to get bikes along, so that you can park at some place and then bike alon. Believe me, if it is sunny and tulips are in bloom, you would love it.

4/7/2007

Review: Hike: Rattlesnake Ledge

Date: 04/07/07

Hike Photos: http://community.webshots.com/album/558556039VYpBAA

· My Review: This was the first hike for the season and we were all very excited. We had planned and taken all the elements into factor. The group list now read Nishant, Vineeta, Nagu, Santy, Munjal, Deepa, Rohit, Aarti and Ruchir. The weather forcast was sunny. But alas! it is never that smooth. It was drizzling in the morning and people started dropping out :( At the end it looked like Vini and I were the only people left and we had to make a decision. So we said that now we are up, we might as well take the risk and we set off. Nagu joined us saying that he had been waiting for this whole morning. So here we go..

The drive to Rattlesnake ridge is beautiful. The whole North bend area is extremely beautiful. It was drizzling lightly but it was extremely nice weather. We reached there and were all set to go. The first picture is Vini & Nagu standing at the entrance of tail. The second one is me standing at the other entrance pointing at the two signs (making sure that we are at the right place). This trail initially used to be very strenous one till they changed it and made it more *friendly*. Either I am out of shape or they have not really made it easy :). by this time, it had stopped raining and the weather had actually become perfect for hiking. We kept on chatting all the way up. This is actually a well travelled hike path and after an hour of pretty enjoyable hike, we reached to the ledge. It is stunning from up there. Pictures don't do justice to the place. It is really awesome. There are three other hikes starting from the same place. Got to do those at some other day. But I must say that it was a perfect start to this year Hiking season.