The last time we were there to take in the sunset at the glass beach in Fort Bragg, San was 7 months pregnant and it was going to be our last trip before Jr. was going to make her grand entrance.
After almost 7 years, we revisited Fort Bragg, the Mendocino coast in northern california (3 hours north of San Francisco) and a bunch of memories.
Had a great time with the kids. Now that all that non stop driving on windy roads for hours on end is over, it is time to literally chill with my girl Volini.
Leaving you with the panorama shots. Like the saying goes, a stitch in time..
Tried that one lying down on the ground under the bridge on the sand sweeping from left to right. Next time, have better ideas for this shot.. there are very few places where there is such an opportunity to be directly under the bridge to take a panoramic shot like that.. (just have to pick a cloudy day..)
Except for the botanical gardens which closed so early we saw all the main points of interest over the 25 or so mile coastline.
It was a strenuous trip but we made it back within two days and still had a day to recover!
We have some choice glass pieces to show for the trip as well. Here is a shot of the glass on the beach (all courtesy of old glass bottles dumped thirty years ago on the shore and letting the waves do their job).
We had promised ourselves a one day trip to Big Sur, when we had visited Julia Pfeiffer Burns park last Christmas. This week we finally made it. It was also a little anniversary treat.
We were all having a good time, until...
The little one decided to walk a 0.3 mile steep trail by herself. She would insist on holding my hand, her mothers hand as well her blanket wedged between her shoulder and head and walk the trail at the same time. Talk about having your cake, eating it too, and more.
Any attempts to lift her and walk, would end up in a wail, falling on the floor head first, a rolling action of the torso, with her butt held high in the air and legs kicking, all at once. A motion so complicated, yet executed in such a fashion that spiders, centipedes and other organisms with complicated body structures would dedicate temples in her honor.
We were at the bottom of a waterfall view point, when this tantrum (which I call Combo #1) started. I picked the little one up and started running. San, Balaji and the few other hikers present, were trying to find out what I was searhing for. It was a weird sight with a guy running around with a screaming, fighting kid on his shoulder, looking at the ground.
I was literally searching for "ground"! Combo #1 starts with "falling on the floor". When you are on a steep trail with rocks and roots everywhere on the ground, the surface doesnt provide the adequate banging cushion for a 19 month old kid! These manouvers were perfected on carpeted floors and the little one is still learning the concept of relative hardness.
Granted, it was not as glamorous as a Harrison Ford, Tom Cruise or Mel Gibson trying to find some field in a foreign location, to land their bullet ridden plane with the tail in flames. But I was in effect trying to do the exact same thing. Safely land the little one on a flat surface so she can start banging her head on the floor and teach the wild life at Big Sur a thing or two about showing displeasure. I kept running and finally dropped her on a wooden bridge. She promptly bumped her head on the wood, put her butt high in the air, did the kicking and screaming routine.
By this time, everyone in our little travel group caught up with me. I was expecting a pat on the back for saving the little one's head. But they did not understand why I even dropped her on the ground in the first place and gave me the "how cruel?" look.
They did get to see Combo #1 in gory detail multiple times as we walked back and have probably forgiven me by now.
I am still working on a video blog of all the different tantrum combos. The compiled movie will hit your screens sometime before 4th of July!
Here is the bridge, and the little one crossing it before she entered her phase.
And in other news, got the new camera on Friday, :) And in other other news, will get the lens only on Monday, :( !!! So the photo and video you see were all the work of the old S30.
A picture is worth ~ 1000 words A video is worth ~ 400 pictures (my typical 30 second clip that is!)
As a tribute to the lazy, I have compiled a video of the recent trip..
Warning : This Video must be worth approximately 75,000 words !
Things seen in video that were left out in photoblogs..
There is a store in downtown Solvang called Del Sol. All products in the store are made with a special compound that changes color under sunlight.. T-shirt logos, bangles, hairclips, caps, you name it !!
There is a wonderful Chocolate factory that sells home made ice cream .. must have when you go to Solvang!
The road to happiness (aka Route 1) with screaming kids + ARR hits + Ocean wind noise.. only the video captures it best..
We really enjoyed this trip. Hope you enjoy the video..
Better, hope you actually get to experience this someday!
In other news, the Digital Rebel XTi has been VETO'ed !! Apparently, this video is so good!! inspite of being shot with the S30.. so it is "Dream on, camera boy!!" for Daddy Narayanan..
We decided to go back on Route 1 (after stopping at several vista points along 101 and tossing and turning -- either go home before 6:00 to feed the kids or wing it and go back on Route 1 and catch some sites)
Finally route 1 it was.. the men pretty much voted for this. Balaji had already scoped out Limekiln, as a sure bet!
So, off we went without realizing that to get to the 100 foot falls, we had to cross the creek at four points, two of those without any sort of bridge.. just cross the rocks..
Needless to say, my shoes were wet after doing multiple trips across every crossing to ferrry the kids back and forth !
But it was all worth it..
There was this rock at the edge of the creek and baby wanted a break.. so I put her on the rock and stepped back to take a picture. I was reprimanded for the act (but it was deja vu for me...I had put Jr. on top of a wooden post at 8000 feet in Rainbow point, Bryce canyon two years ago). Luckily baby did not misbehave and was absorbed on some insect she found on the rock.
One "baby on the rocks" coming right up..
Finally, a picture of sunset on the way back ..
Being a metallurgist, I was disappointed that we never made it to the kilns, but that can always be done another day, when the kids can cross the creek on their own..
Here is a video of Dora the Explorer's at Limekiln state park..
I am working on a large video of the entire trip. Will post it later.
Saturday, May 30, 2009 at 12:43AM 
