There has to be a God because man is not smart enough to create such diversity in the landscape and its inhabitants!
A picture sometimes stands as a reminder for an entire trip...
This picture does it for us!
Will update this post and pictures and videos over the next few weeks.. Have 1200 + rough photos to edit and check out!
Tonight we sleep when it is dark outside. The last four days it was light out till Midnight!
Here is to life..
The traveling Narayanan's went on one of their most adventurous and eventful trips in recent memory over the last four days.
We went to Alaska.. saw Glaciers, Grizzly's, natures beauty and wonders at its finest and to just round it off.. we encountered another one of natures anomalies on our return flight from Anchorage to Portland enroute to San Jose.
A guy for reasons we don't know decided to open the exit door while we were still way above the cloud line. We heard a hissing sound and a lady screamed "Someone please help.. someone help now!" and a bunch of passgengers set about securing the door and tacking the guy.
After a few tense moments the guy was on the ground restrained and we made a speedy landing and watched as the cops took the guy away. He seemed to be calm and collected as he was taken out.
Why someone would want to do that is beyond me.. why want to take a bunch of others with you if you have a death wish?!
Like a fellow passenger told me after we came out "the good news is that we are all still here!"
To the alert lady (as most of us were sleeping!), and the folks and crew who held the door and restrained the crazy dude, many THANKS from the bottom of our heart.
There are heroes all around us! There are 10 heroes for every idiot! At least that is the lesson we are teaching our kids today after this experience. They were both disturbed, as were the adults for the second flight.. they kept watching the exit rows for action.
This puts a lot of things in perspective!
The rest of the pictures and videos can wait. Time to get some much needed rest...
We went on a day trip to Pinnacles National park (Monument as it is called) with the cousins. The weather report said 85 F and we thought it would be nice weather to go on a 2+ mile hike and maybe another 2+ mile hike.
The park website promised interesting views, including a network of bat caves.
The first trail to Bear Gulch was great. The rock faces were really colorful..
we got to descend into the caves through narrow crevices and the temperature drop was a palpable 30+ degrees. There is water running under those caves and it is really cool down there!
It was not easy to take pictures without a tripod but the bouncing lights off the water and rocks did make for some interesting pictures!
We were hit by 106 F heat as we exit the caves through a near vertical staircase carved into the side of the caves. It truly reminded me of the Batman movie when we looked up towards the exit!
Poor bats, no wonder they are blind. We were blinded for a few seconds when we went from nice cool darkness to scorching heat and bright sunlight!
We went on to see a beautiful resevoir which was abuzz with all types of dragonflies!
and one type of butterfly in the 100's or thousands! This guy posed for me without realizing it. Caught him with a 400 mm Zoom (which is why the background is all Bokeh'ed out).
It was an enjoyable trip. Next time we shoud hit it earlier in the year when peak temperatures are closer to 70's or 80's. The park pamphlet promises views of great falls and rock formations, but guess those are longer hikes and will have to wait till the adults are in better shape. The kids seem to be doing fine with the trails.
Even the little one managed to walk for 4 hours with a countable "daddy, please thooki(carry) me!" instances.
Will definitely recommend this place for day trip.
ps. Apparently the caves will be closed soon for bat baby season.. so check before you go.
pps. Take a flashlight. It is dark in those caves and another visitor in front of us said they saw snakes in the caves which is not surprising. We used one flashlight and one iPhone app to navigate the caves. Two or three flashlights would have been better.
Copyright © 2012, Sundar Narayanan. All rights reserved.