Monday, October 29, 2007
Point-Reyes
I had this feeling of the traveler in me getting a bit fidgety, as it was a long time since he was treated with what he loves.
Travel.
The gap may be only 2 months in time, but the stress levels we have passed through, will tell you a different story.
It was a very refreshing feeling that we eventually got ourselves away from the Run-of-the-Mill activities we were doing for the past 80 days or so.
There are few moments in your life, when you just want to close your eyes and just let the experience take over you. It was one of so many of such moments when you had the first look at this amazingly awesome Place called “Point Reyes”.
Point Reyes, also known as Point of the Kings, is about 35 Miles north of SanFrancisco Downtown, on the Pacific coast. This sylvan peninsula, which is precariously joined to the main land North-America due to the movements of Tectonic Continental Plates, probably millions of years ago, is said to be continuously ‘Drifting’ north over the ages, will interest you in the mysteries that has intrigued the humans and will probably continue to do so in the future as well. Point Reyes has been declared as a National Seashore, by the Government of US in the late 1940s, and is under the protection of the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, from ever since.
We (Srini, Raj and I) started the from Srini’s home at 8:00AM in the morning from Sunnyvale, after packing up the essentials. We took the I-280 instead of the regular I-101, for the fact that it was much ‘free’ than I-101. The drive was as magnificent as it gets, which lead us through a contorted maze of the splendid shoreline Highway # 1. We had brief photo sessions at the various Vista Points, on our way to the destination.
We have reached the Point Reyes Visitor’s center by 11 O’clock in the afternoon. The visitor’s center had all the information about the place, its history, its geography and the traditions of the inhabitants who lived there in the past, in the form of exhibits, brochures and Documentaries. After going around the Information Center, equipping ourselves with the knowledge about the to-dos and not-to-do’s in the park, we started the exploration.
En-route to the McClure Beach, there were these expansive grass lands called ‘the Historic Ranches’, with life stock grazing idly in the sun. The pastoral panorama of the green lands was a treat to the eyes. The cherubic landscape that spread itself in thousands of acres untouched by the ‘Civilized’ world would only make you wonder in awe, about the aesthetic sense of The Creator Himself. Each of these Ranches had a section of its area, allocated to the people who take care of the cattle and the place itself. It was 12 in the noon, by the time we have reached the McClure beach.
To go to the beach, one has to pass through the 1 mile trail, in between the hills that separated the beach from the pastures. The trail leads us into the sandy beach, where the high tide of the pacific was already catching up, as the Officer at the information Center already told us. It is amazing to see the shackles that hold us back in the name of civilization and ‘being dignified’, were immediately broken by the urge to unleash the kid in you, when you see such a thing of beauty. The silence of the place was only disturbed by the lashing of the Cold Pacific waters on the Rocky cliffs that looked over the ocean. After a photo session with some action packed episodes of chasing the Sea Gulls and racing with the waves, we returned to the parking lot and moved on to our next destination, the Mountain Vision.
After a 30 minute drive from the McClure beach, we have reached, what was the highest point in the peninsula, which almost gave us the bird’s eye view of the whole area. We quickly had a sumptuous lunch, with whatever we brought from home. Then we moved on a trail that led us into the woods, which showcased a wide variety of life forms, mostly trees and birds, though we were a tad unlucky to spot any bigger mobile life forms (Or should we say lucky???). After basking in the sunlight for a while, we moved on to the last of our destinations, The Light House.
The Light House was another 30 minutes away from the Mount Vision through the Francis Drake Boulevard, which was named after the great British Sailor, who according the relics, is the first to go around the world on a ship of his own. It is believed that the Legend has stayed for a brief period of some 60 days in this peninsula, on his voyage around the world.
As we approached our destination, we have observed something which you do not see on a regular basis. The change in the weather was rather abrupt and the shroud of the cloud of fog was something we did not even think an hour ago. The fog intensified as we move towards, what could be called a different world in itself. It’s not exaggeration when I say, “A different World” for it indeed looked like a different World from the one we had seen just an Hour Ago. The Hazy surroundings were reminiscent of one of those Hill Stations back Home in India. The wind was strong, though not strong enough to spoil the fun of visiting the place. It was 4:30 in the evening and looked rather too dark for that time. The foggy cold winds, which we later learnt, were due to the phenomenon of hot landward winds hovering over cold blue waters of the pacific. The local weather station claims to have recorded an annual average of 2000 hours of fog. For this very reason, they say that the Hollywood thriller ‘The Fog’ was shot in its entirety in this place.
It was rather unfortunate for missing the visit into the Light House, as it was already closed by the time we reached there. The Light House was set up in the mid eighteenth century to beacon the oncoming ships, which could otherwise easily be wrecked, due to the poor visibility through the fog. The history states that almost a 100 ships wrecked at this very point due to this reason.
Apart from being the windiest point in the whole of the Pacific coast in North America, it also provides the visitors an opportunity to look at the Great White Whales, which migrate from Baja to Alaska every year during the winter. The water bed of this place is clamed to be one of the richest, with a wide variety of the Sea Lions and other Sea mammals.
We took some snaps at the premises of the light house, before we started back home, with an intent to comeback to this amazing place which indeed was a 'Point of the Kings'.
P.S: Find the photos here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/ravikanth.talagana/PointReyes
Travel.
The gap may be only 2 months in time, but the stress levels we have passed through, will tell you a different story.
It was a very refreshing feeling that we eventually got ourselves away from the Run-of-the-Mill activities we were doing for the past 80 days or so.
There are few moments in your life, when you just want to close your eyes and just let the experience take over you. It was one of so many of such moments when you had the first look at this amazingly awesome Place called “Point Reyes”.
Point Reyes, also known as Point of the Kings, is about 35 Miles north of SanFrancisco Downtown, on the Pacific coast. This sylvan peninsula, which is precariously joined to the main land North-America due to the movements of Tectonic Continental Plates, probably millions of years ago, is said to be continuously ‘Drifting’ north over the ages, will interest you in the mysteries that has intrigued the humans and will probably continue to do so in the future as well. Point Reyes has been declared as a National Seashore, by the Government of US in the late 1940s, and is under the protection of the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, from ever since.
We (Srini, Raj and I) started the from Srini’s home at 8:00AM in the morning from Sunnyvale, after packing up the essentials. We took the I-280 instead of the regular I-101, for the fact that it was much ‘free’ than I-101. The drive was as magnificent as it gets, which lead us through a contorted maze of the splendid shoreline Highway # 1. We had brief photo sessions at the various Vista Points, on our way to the destination.
We have reached the Point Reyes Visitor’s center by 11 O’clock in the afternoon. The visitor’s center had all the information about the place, its history, its geography and the traditions of the inhabitants who lived there in the past, in the form of exhibits, brochures and Documentaries. After going around the Information Center, equipping ourselves with the knowledge about the to-dos and not-to-do’s in the park, we started the exploration.
En-route to the McClure Beach, there were these expansive grass lands called ‘the Historic Ranches’, with life stock grazing idly in the sun. The pastoral panorama of the green lands was a treat to the eyes. The cherubic landscape that spread itself in thousands of acres untouched by the ‘Civilized’ world would only make you wonder in awe, about the aesthetic sense of The Creator Himself. Each of these Ranches had a section of its area, allocated to the people who take care of the cattle and the place itself. It was 12 in the noon, by the time we have reached the McClure beach.
To go to the beach, one has to pass through the 1 mile trail, in between the hills that separated the beach from the pastures. The trail leads us into the sandy beach, where the high tide of the pacific was already catching up, as the Officer at the information Center already told us. It is amazing to see the shackles that hold us back in the name of civilization and ‘being dignified’, were immediately broken by the urge to unleash the kid in you, when you see such a thing of beauty. The silence of the place was only disturbed by the lashing of the Cold Pacific waters on the Rocky cliffs that looked over the ocean. After a photo session with some action packed episodes of chasing the Sea Gulls and racing with the waves, we returned to the parking lot and moved on to our next destination, the Mountain Vision.
After a 30 minute drive from the McClure beach, we have reached, what was the highest point in the peninsula, which almost gave us the bird’s eye view of the whole area. We quickly had a sumptuous lunch, with whatever we brought from home. Then we moved on a trail that led us into the woods, which showcased a wide variety of life forms, mostly trees and birds, though we were a tad unlucky to spot any bigger mobile life forms (Or should we say lucky???). After basking in the sunlight for a while, we moved on to the last of our destinations, The Light House.
The Light House was another 30 minutes away from the Mount Vision through the Francis Drake Boulevard, which was named after the great British Sailor, who according the relics, is the first to go around the world on a ship of his own. It is believed that the Legend has stayed for a brief period of some 60 days in this peninsula, on his voyage around the world.
As we approached our destination, we have observed something which you do not see on a regular basis. The change in the weather was rather abrupt and the shroud of the cloud of fog was something we did not even think an hour ago. The fog intensified as we move towards, what could be called a different world in itself. It’s not exaggeration when I say, “A different World” for it indeed looked like a different World from the one we had seen just an Hour Ago. The Hazy surroundings were reminiscent of one of those Hill Stations back Home in India. The wind was strong, though not strong enough to spoil the fun of visiting the place. It was 4:30 in the evening and looked rather too dark for that time. The foggy cold winds, which we later learnt, were due to the phenomenon of hot landward winds hovering over cold blue waters of the pacific. The local weather station claims to have recorded an annual average of 2000 hours of fog. For this very reason, they say that the Hollywood thriller ‘The Fog’ was shot in its entirety in this place.
It was rather unfortunate for missing the visit into the Light House, as it was already closed by the time we reached there. The Light House was set up in the mid eighteenth century to beacon the oncoming ships, which could otherwise easily be wrecked, due to the poor visibility through the fog. The history states that almost a 100 ships wrecked at this very point due to this reason.
Apart from being the windiest point in the whole of the Pacific coast in North America, it also provides the visitors an opportunity to look at the Great White Whales, which migrate from Baja to Alaska every year during the winter. The water bed of this place is clamed to be one of the richest, with a wide variety of the Sea Lions and other Sea mammals.
We took some snaps at the premises of the light house, before we started back home, with an intent to comeback to this amazing place which indeed was a 'Point of the Kings'.
P.S: Find the photos here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/ravikanth.talagana/PointReyes
Monday, October 08, 2007
People and You
I have been thinking about this for quite sometime and I thought I would blog it before I forget it. The first question that one asks you after you tell them that you have watched a movie, is “How was the movie?”
Let me tell you, ideally, the question should be, “How did YOU like the movie?”
Because, there are a number of movies which are very good but YOU do not like it or you like a movie but is not “GOOD” though.
The problem with people (Or may be, I have a problem with people..:D…) is that they give a definition to the so called “GOOD” movie as the one which is liked by many. But as you can see, “many” is not all.
Ultimately it is you and only you, who should be satisfied when watching a movie and it doesn’t matter anymore than a zilch, that a movie is GOOD or not. It boils down to a choice that you make, that you either be happy seeing a BAD movie and liking it or feel sad watching a GOOD movie and not liking it.
Let me tell you, ideally, the question should be, “How did YOU like the movie?”
Because, there are a number of movies which are very good but YOU do not like it or you like a movie but is not “GOOD” though.
The problem with people (Or may be, I have a problem with people..:D…) is that they give a definition to the so called “GOOD” movie as the one which is liked by many. But as you can see, “many” is not all.
Ultimately it is you and only you, who should be satisfied when watching a movie and it doesn’t matter anymore than a zilch, that a movie is GOOD or not. It boils down to a choice that you make, that you either be happy seeing a BAD movie and liking it or feel sad watching a GOOD movie and not liking it.
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]