Day 3 was for the return journey to Phoenix. Given San's back and our attempt at being nice to my SIL we decided to drive to Phoenix but stay overnight near the airport and take the first filght back in on Memorial day morning to the bay area.
First stop on way back was the horseshoe bend. It is a mile walk from the parking lot. San walked slow and steady. It was 8 AM and already hot. We should have visited this place during golden hour. The direct sun and shadows did not make for great pictures. The place was way too crowded. I tried to sit on the ledge and San starts screaming as usual. So doing yoga poses on the edge was ruled out!
A short video clip of horseshoe bend..
After the walk back from Horseshoe bend I was asked to "hit the gas"... and that I did. There was some volcanic crater on the way back towards Sedona. Just before going to the exit, we decided to keep driving .. lunch was calling.
We took a good 20 minutes to find parking in Sedona. Then we had a nice Italian lunch at Sedona Pizza and Pasta. Excellent food and excellent service on a busy day!
Walked around a few stores along the busy street, the ladies did some "shopping" and we were on our way back towards Phoenix.
We had an early but amazing dinner at a place 5 minutes from the airport and close to our hotel. Indian Delhi Palace food was mouth watering!
After stuffing ourselves we went to sleep early. We had to wake up at 3:30 to make it to the car return and catch the first flight out. The car rental place is not close to the airport. There is a train ride from there to the airport!
We made it back to the bay area and San was still in decent shape and declared her back was no worse than when we started. That to me was a success. The SIL seemed to have had a good time as well.
This was a new place for all of us and it was a good trip overall given we took an extra nights rest.
We have so many places to visit that I doubt we will hit Page again anytime soon. If you have not been to Antelope canyon, definitely see it in this lifetime.. plan and visit!
Glad that this trip was captured in this blog finally, over the next long weekend!
A month ago, there was a planned hike in Yosemite. Three days before the hike, San tore a back muscle and was in ER. So there was a "veri" to get back and do that hike. The replacement day was yesterday (without knowing there was a Cricket world cup final that India would play in!). Then again, permits are permits and plans are plans.
So four of us started at 4:45AM and made it to Yosemite non stop. Given I was driving this time, wanted to be "comfy" and went in my chappals. Once we parked at the trailhead and everyone went to change to their hiking shoes, there was a horrible realization. My shoes were left at home! They did not make it to the car.
There was a palpable disappointment on the faces of my fellow hikers and San turned into a navarasa nayagi that would have made Padmini give her a pat on the back. Me... I was just sad to let them down like this.
A decision was made that I would hike to all the waterfalls as planned in my chappal and if at any point it gave way or my feet became a problem, I would make it back to the van and sit out the rest of the hikes.
The first hike was to Wapoma falls on the side of the Hetch Hetchy reservoir. It was a six mile round trip. The Bata chappals made it. Even led the way on the return without stopping so as to not let the group down.
When Chappals become shoes, rocks can become benches!
Started this hike at 8:45 and came back at Noon. Then we drove towards Vernal falls. Took us an hour to get there and another 20 minutes to find parking. Started hiking at 1:30 PM and the plan was to see how Mr. Bata does at the top of Vernal and make a call to go to Nevada or turn back and go to Bridalveil on the way out.
Some pictures from this hike..
Nature picture galleries..
portrait format photos..
THis was the first photo from the reservoir.. the still water and the reflections were motivation enough for me to keep walking!
San's smiling face was added motivation. She had calmed down and decided to temporarily forgive me till the return journey. . . it was like being granted bail. Gladly accepted that.
No shoes does have its advantages when trying Yoga poses on rocks, but that is about it for advantages
Wapoma falls is awesome! Glad we made it this time..
It was not easy to hike up Vernal as it was wet and slippery with the mist. At one point just went barefoot which was better! We got treated to amazing views and thoroughly enjoyed the waterfalls.
We had seen a dead snake on the Wapoma trail which started a discussion about my open feet. It was decided that hiking shoes might not make a difference and I could always use the slippers in my hand as a defense mehchanism..
we saw a live snake on the Vernal trail and there were no jokes this time. Just glad to have not stepped on this one! Bata might protect your feet from the ground, but not this.
this would be a good place for a bench.. that was my thought.. might be iced out most of the year.. still..
The rainbows created by the mist were just amazing!
The next picture is nothing special.. but has an inside joke for our family.. it is left in this post as a memory jogger..
Saw a group of desi kids from Mountain View posing with an Indian flag. They told us India had won the game. Thanked them for that update as we had no cell signal since 9AM! The flag was borrowed and a photo was taken!
By the time we made it back down it was already close to 5PM. So we decided to drive and do the very short walk to Bridalveil falls and then drive out. Bridalveil did not disappoint. Just enough water to be amazing and not get us drenched.
Folks came up to me and said "that was cool what you did on that rock".. for once San didn't scream when I tried balancing on one leg on a rock..
The BYSJ 60 day challenge got a lot of talk time on trails is my guess.. which reminds me that it starts again tomorrow!!!
Had some well deserved tea and started driving back. Managed to drive the last 2 hours of the return once the feet calmed down.
Here is a video highlights reel..
Friends make everything special!!!
The feet are pretty roughed up from the walking in sandals and being barefoot but did not let the group down!
Call me waterfall crazy all you want. Happy to be just that!
The main highlight of the Argentina- Brazil year end trip was a visit to Iguazu falls. This was the bucket list long awaited visit.
After spending two days in Buenos Aires, we flew to Porto Iguazu airport (which is inside the national park) and had a taxi pick us up and drop us at an Airbnb. Porto Iguazu is a small place with a bunch of hotels, restaurants and shops mainly catering to the falls tourists. It was raining as expected and we were in the middle of the jungle in a small town. We had a good nights rest and were to be picked up at 7AM.
Our plan was ambitious. See both the Brazilian side and Argentinian side of the falls in one day. Iguazu means "big water" in the local language.
We waited to get a same day visa to Brazil at Faz Iguazu (Brazil means Portugese becomes the language!) at the gates and after a 30 minute wait we were waved through. We were dropped off at the ticket center for the falls with precise instructions from Martin (our driver for the day). He communicated with us using Google translate on his whatsapp the entire time while trying to improve his English. There were three stops. First stop was a jungle walk (optional) which I did with a sub group from the bus. Second stop was a boat ride to the falls and back which the entire family went on. Third stop was a vista point with a walkway to the edge of the falls (again I went alone).
The boat ride took us to the Brazilian side of the falls. We were all completely wet anyways after that boat ride. The walkway to the edge of the falls was unbelievable. There is no way to describe this in words or capture my emotions as I wandered through this place. So here are the pictures in slideshows..
and some pictures with us ...
After the walk to the vista point we got back on the bus to the ticket center, waited for Martin to pick us up. This place reminds you of the Antarctic penguins documentary where everyone is trying to find their chosen one in a crowd.. unfortunately Martin and us did not have any specific Yaadon ki baaraat type songs to call each other.. in a mad crowd of drivers trying to find their respective tourists, we decided to wait as opposed to get lost. Finally our driver found us and off we went back to the border.
It was interesting as the Brazilian side had no record of us entering that morning as their computers had an issue updating. So we waited as they made manual passport entries and finally let us go back into Argentina. That cost us another precious 30 mintues. Martin raced us to the Argentinian side of the falls where we were to take yet another bus ride, followed by open jeep looking vehicle ride, a walk down 500 steps, and a boat ride. Given the wet clothes, San and the little one decided to walk and see the falls. It was a 2 plus mile hike and they preferred that to getting wet again.
Jr. felt bad for daddy and agreed to join me. She later told me it was a great decision as she thoroughly enjoyed the boat ride and falls. This trip to the falls was 10X better than the mornings trip. The highlight of the falls is a place called the "devils throat" where water just gushes out. The Argentina side of the falls is a must see just for this. It is risky as we don't get anything but a life vest and the waters are turbulent. However, all is well that ends well.. definitely recommend going on that boat.
we got gopro videos from both rides. I also took videos using my iPhone and the SLR and have combined them into multiple clips..
The videos ..
Bus ride and walk to boat ride on Brazil side
Brazil side boat ride
Vista point walk on Brazil side
Argentina side boat ride including a visit to "devil's throat"
Videos we paid for and got.. again the Brazilian side was a lot less exciting and a lot more expensive..
Was not even able to find the video from the Brazil side. One reason why I should try to blog as soon as trip is done!
Jr. and me had to walk back a good mile and a half in rain to get back to the entrance and then we made it back to the Airbnb. We got some to go food at one of the local restaurants, rested for the night and were off the next morning.
We said bye to Martin.. good people come in many shapes and forms.. Martin, is "good people"!
We got to see the falls from the plane and it was magnificent.
also got to see some beautiful sights from the plane as we flew along the river..
There was still an evening to spend back in Buenos Aires near another airport and we were to fly to Rio from there the following morning..
