Tahquitz Canyon - connecting with the past

The last day of our Palm Springs trip was spent visiting various canyons.

We saw the Palm canyons (no waterfalls unfortunately but a great natural oasis and a pleasant walk through a canyon that goes for 12 + miles), Andreas Canyon and Tahquitz canyon. By the time we came to Tahquitz center it was almost 3 PM and they said we have to do a 1.8 mile round trip hike and be back before 5PM when the entrance closed! So only myself, Balaji and the oldest of the four kids made it on the hike. The rest of the group said "pass". We did make it through (with photo time) in almost an hour and a half.

The canyon and the sights were amazing. You get to see Palm Springs between the mountains as you go up and the streams are on one side all along the walkway.

The Indians had figured out that there was a waterfall which fell into a flat rock and made a natural swimming pool out of this place. Truly breathtaking falls and pool. The water was 2 to 5 feet deep and ice cold but extremely refreshing. We saw little kids swimming in this pool of fresh melt ice water! They had come prepared in swimming gear with the adults.

This place is strongly recommended provided your kids can handle it. Older adults will have a tough time in this hike because you go up rock steps, some of which are almost 18 to 24 inches tall. You have to lift your knees pretty high to get on the steps one at a time. You also need to pick the right weather do to this hike as it can get pretty hot up there.

Overall, strongly recommended if you hit the palm springs area.

Thanks to Balaji for snapping a few pics with me in them! We now have at least a few pictures with me in them. It was also suggested that yours truly was camera shy before because of extended-tummy-itis and now have changed. Well, time will tell..

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Cabazon Dinosaurs - Photoblog

The original target location for the long weekend trip was to see the Concrete Dinosaurs of Cabazon. We wanted to go someplace where there was something for the kids and something for the adults. Websites told us that the Dinosaurs of Cabazon which were as high as 70-80 feet took 10 years to build and they were built with the help and consultation of top paleontologists and included a museum of sorts which educated kids..

We sure had some surprises!

Cabazon must be one of the windiest places in the US! We were almost lifted off the ground the minute we set foot on the parking lot. The high winds, the mountain backdrops and the large dinos in the middle of palm trees set an eerie stage that make it look like they could have walked the very area.

Very lifelike and life size dino's greeted us miles away. The kids and adults had fun posing in front of the dinos, climbing on whatever they were allowed to climb...

You could actually go inside the dino by climbing stairs and the belly of the beast was actually a gift shop! The surprise in the place was not the dinos but the propaganda. There was not much of the original paleontology or science left. Apparently the dino museum is under new management. Right wing creationists have taken over the place. So all the old posters have been replaced by laminated powerpoint slides and new boards which talk about how God created man and dinosaurs and they all lived at the same time.

Guess there are a lot of people who are offended by being related to monkeys! The kids were reading the boards and had too many questions which were funny.

I guess we can call ourselves creative evolutionists?! We teach our kids that god created everything. At least my grandpa taught me that when the celestial beings (Deva's) did a sacrifice many things came out of god including different castes of humans, the sun, the moon, the stars, wind, fire, water, animals, birds etc. etc. which gets passed on to my kids thanks to occasional temple visits, India trips, slokam learning and Amar Chitra Kathas! So there was no issue with god doing the creating part.

As people who are very open to evolution, genetics, DNA, carbon dating, archaeology and paleontology, ie., science in general we believe that the dinosaurs were there a long long time ago before humans were there and were wiped out long before we showed up and evolved into modern day reptiles and birds. The new displays at the dino museum pretty much questioned all of the above!

They even sent T-rex to church which was hilarious!

Guess we all have to get ready for Sarah Palin sooner or later or accept these alternate realities because money can buy everything.. especially science!

Next thing you know the sun and planets will be going around the earth, which happens to be flat and the likes of Kepler, Copernicus and Galileo will be turning in their graves!

As for Watson and Crick, well let us leave those poor souls alone!

Still strongly recommend the Cabazon dinosaurs. You should have no problem if you are into right wing creationism and want to go to church with T-rex!

Otherwise, be prepared to answer questions to your kids. At least they get to know there are people who believe in things that are different and that is a good thing.

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Palm Springs - Long weekend trip

We went to Cabazon to see the life size stone dinosaurs and followed it up with a trip to Palm Springs over the Memorial day weekend.

There are over 800 photographs to check and edit and after an almost non stop drive back yesterday was too tired to even wake up and go do Yoga this morning.

Did a quick glance through all the photographs for one good snap to share for this post and here it is..

There were 4 hummingbirds outside the kiosk on top of the Palm Canyon parking lot. Two of them were doing aerial acrobatics and Kissing? Was lucky enough to get this shot.

and yes, finally got the 70-200mm f2.8 L to close out the camera bag! This picture was taken with that lens set to 200mm.

There are some really cute pictures of our own two hummingbirds, which will be posted later!

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Mendocino Coast

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).

The glass beach is strongly recommended!

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Check List

Thanks for all your comments!

A follow up to Wish List...

A day with my dad where he gets to talk and I get to keep quiet for once

Check

Although it was a very emotional and tired dad who mostly gave me the "life is short, make sure you do this after my time... blah .. blah.." bit and I listened and then gave him a retaliatory lecture on why life is what happens when you play with grandkids at this age.. Yep Sujatha Ramesh was right on the previous comment. I do not stay quiet for long.

A day with my grandpa and grandma, put my head on her lap and sleep for a minute, even if only a minute, just like when I was a small kid, put my ear to grandpas tummy and listen to rumbling noises and giggle
Check

I could not say bye to my grandparents this time. It was too difficult. My grandpa keeps falling down into his imaginary chair and hurts himself one too many times a week. He has good days and bad days. Happened to catch this on one of his good days!

a trip to kapalishwar temple in mylapore with grandparents, share a goli soda with my brother, a paalgoa for each of us with a transluscent paper with the kapali temple on the paper in bright red, some kaara sevai from the ambika appalam depot, a stop at RUBY stores to buy a chandamama or champak, watch grandma bargain with the vegetable vendors

Check check check check .. . hmm lets see.. went with my mum and aunts, uncle , different people, different days and times (10AM, 4AM, 8 AM, 9AM) to see the "utsavam" where they carried the gods on various vahanams. You will get the complete Kabali Kovil Utsavam series over the weekend! here is a sample ..

a trip to the marina with my brother and sister and some soan papdi from the cute bell jar

No beach trip. Did buy some Soan Papdi from grand sweets for Jr. and the little one though

a jackie chan movie at alankar with my brother

Right now the only thing my brother is watching is angio scans on a CD. this has to wait for better times or just wait for time...

So do the next three things. Mom walks and stands enough in hospital waiting rooms. She was sooo tired after the trip to the utsavam on the "ther" day, it was hard to watch.

walking around the srigery mutt temple behind my mom

perform topaz blade surgery on my sisters dolls with my brother as assistant surgeon

watch my dad bargain with an autorickshaw driver for 15 minutes for a trip that might take him only ten

Dad does not have his bargaining voice back yet. He also cannot pull off that brick walk away from the auto with the "if you dont come down to my price, I am walking.." dialogue. My dad almost tangos with the auto driver.. it is a dance and the drivers do the sequence of negotiating in this weird way almost to humor themselves. This time every auto driver in the stand told me "enna saar.. appa-vukku attack vandhudche..avara romba miss pannarom saar!" and I went WTF? he is my appa, you guys talk as though he is yours! Guess the man touches peoples lives in ways I cannot understand.

fold clothes from the clothesline on the terrace and watch the kites

Check . No kites in April. fold clothes I did!

eat pori kadalai from Kapali kadalai Nilayam and savor it one rice grain at a time, and marvel at how some pori tastes a little bland, some a little salty and once in a while that single grain of arisi pori just tastes perfect!

Check. A full post on that later..

etc.

etc.

etc.

Some of these might come true soon in some form or other. The rest will be retreived from permanent memory, savored in otherwise sad times, and be neatly tucked back in, for the sights, sounds and smells of a time long gone are still in the head, with definition better than any blue ray disk can offer, better than any photo or video ever stored.

Life takes you places, but sometimes when it takes you to the same place, there is a certain magic to it!

At one point when the plane was half way across the pacific ocean, it felt like a "trishanku sorgam", neither here nor there, halfway from parents, halfway from kids.. too many words, too many emotions, tears that came from nowhere while sitting in the middle of a sea of people at 35000 feet, tears that could not be put in words or in the right context, because every thought as a parent came with an instant contradiction as a child and it all stopped after letting go of the whole thought process and just giving into the fact that not all questions have good answers. Not everything is right, or wrong.

Some decisions take you far physically, others take you far mentally. Have known people staying in the same house without as much as saying a word to each other for decades and people who care for each other very much living on opposite sides of the globe. All of us make choices and live with them and find brilliant ways to justify our day to day actions, from brushing or not brushing our teeth to deciding to have children to relocating to far off places.. and to everyone and nobodys bewilderment, life does go on.

All said and done, felt the magic. Still feeling it inside.

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