Our road trip to round off 2015 had its first stop at Pismo beach. We had lunch at the pier and let the kids play in the beach and in the swing sets on the beach!
At first they were complaining about the "cold", but warmed up to the place.
The beach was beautiful but the temperature at noon was a lot lower than what we were used to seeing along the coast for last week of December.
The last time we stopped at Pismo beach was 10 years ago!
after spending an hour there, we moved on towards Santa Barbara...
On a last minute whim, we decided to go on a road trip down south to the Los Angeles and San Diego area. We started off with a stop at Ventura, visited the Bonaventura mission, beaches and then went down to San Marcos..
Had a wonderful dinner with friends in Old Town, San Diego, a place we are visiting after almost 10 years!
We started 2016 with a visit to the San Diego zoo! The smiling faces of the friends, kids and our first ever sighting of live pandas made our day!
Here's to 2016! May this year bring you the best of health and wealth!
As part of spending time locally, another activity suggested by a friend was ice skating in Central park in Santa Clara. We did not know that they had set up this small rink so close to home.
The kids had a lot of fun skating!
We were happy that those skating classes they took earlier this year were being put to good use!
It is great to have local parks set up rinks like this! There was nice music in the background and the whole festive atmosphere can be felt, thanks to the smiling faces of everyone around, especially the kids!
This rink will be there till Jan 3rd. If you have time to spend with kids who can skate, definitely worth it!
For the July 4th weekend, we decided to go on a day trip to Six flags with the cousins. It is 90 minutes away and in all our years of living here, we never visited this theme park.
It is a combination of Sea world, Disney's animal kingdowm and Universal all in one for a third of the price. Granted there are some give and takes for the price but the end result when you have a bunch of kids running around on a sugar high, a great place to spend the day!
We went in as soon as the park opened and stayed there till the park closed. Pretty much on our feet the whole time. Here are some pictures.
There was a seal show. The seals did a good job but the people in the show were too loud and annoying. The volume was too loud. Hope the seals dont hear the same frequencies we do at the same volume!
Then the little dolphin show. It was amazing. There was also another big dolphin show called Drench, but we missed it. The little dolphin show was better than the ones we have seen at Sea World.
These 4 female dolphins were so synchronized and trained. They did a hoola hoop on their nose, threw a ball up with their "hands" and caught it in their mouth.. amazingly well trained.
Then we moved on to land animals. The tiger show was something we have never seen before. Five bengal tigers, jumping across 10 foot concrete slabs, climbing up 20 feet in one leap..
and diving into water and swimming! Have not seen that one before..
The butterfly garden was beautiful. Lots of large and small butterflies, well maintained, multiple security guards to make sure folks did not have both doors open to let butterflies out.. it was nicely done!
This one was the size of my palm!
Then we saw "feedom".. a Bald Eagle that was rescued. She posed for pictures a good 50 feet away. Was happy to get this "portrait" of her. Truly majestic and regal! On a good note, the extender and lens are fixed and seem to work okay after the repair.
The highlight though, was the fireworks. In all our life we have watched a lot of new years, disney, 4th of July fireworks. This was the best. Nice seats on a gallery. Very decent crowd. Great view of the fireworks launching pad across the water. The quality of the fireworks was also great. It was very well organized.
Tried a slo-motion video of the first part of the fireworks on the new iPhone 6 plus. However not sure if it uploads as a slow motion video.. it is on my youtube as a separate video..
Was too tired to even take the canon out after the long day.. Sometimes the best camera, is the one you can hold!
Loved this day trip. It was really a pleasant day, less crowded rides, happy kids and parents after being on our feet the entire day. Cannot ask for much more!
Thanksgiving as a festival always eludes me. The whole Indians-Pilgrims-Turkey-Corn thingy doesn't strike a chord.
Since getting married though it has been a means to celebrate Sangeetha and my birthday at nice locations as this holiday falls between our two birthdays.
People tell me "this is a time to say thanks and be thankful for the good things in your life". If there is one thing to be thankful for in this life, it is family!
For the last 16 years we have mostly spent this long weekend with the cousins family at parks, theme or national..
This year was no different. We went to Yosemite Falls for two days. Got to see some wondeful sights, get way more exercise than we bargained for and had some fun times playing board games in a cozy cabin!
The pictures are promising so far..
San turns 29 again today! I am thankful to her parents for their first creation, who gave me a second chance in life and has made a better person out of me than I would have thought possible.
Sunday, January 3, 2016 at 3:44PM ;)
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