A Garden, A Beach, A Mountain

Time: July 24th, 2016

Place: Japanese Tea Garden, Stinson Beach, Mt Tamalpais

Company: Wife and Daughter

Highlights: Since almost 3 years we have been wanting to visit the Japanese Tea Garden but have been postponing for some reason or the other. Finally, considering it was a beautiful sunny day in SFO, we decided the time was just right for something that each of us wanted - Gouri (Japanese Tea Garden), Paavani (Beach), Harsha (Mountain Peak).

We left home (Pleasant Hill) at about 11 am and headed to San Francisco via Bay Bridge. Due to traffic, it was almost 1 pm by the time we got car parking and entered the Japanese Tea Garden. It was pretty pleasant and green all around. Not much of flowers but there were some Lily-pads and lotus flowers blossoming around many small streams and lakes. There were some nice tiny bridges made of stones and one specially curved ladder like bridge which was famous for photos. Pagodas and other Japanese art was strewn around the place. Soothing and nice - it was all over by 1 hour.

We headed out and had quick bite at a 'Meals on wheels' Indian food truck. Then we walked back to the car, which was almost a good mile away. Our initial plan was to go to the Mt Tam and then relax at the beach for the sunset but daughter was insistent that we go to beach next. So be it. We headed towards Stinson beach, which seemed to be the closest to Mt Tam. Alas, we were stuck in the traffic for a good one hour, and by the time it started moving, it was already 4 pm. We went through the Golden Gate Bridge and finally reached Stinson Beach at about 4:45 pm.

Much to our surprise, Stinson Beach was magnificent. Not all beaches in California is as good as this. This beach has extremely nice soft sand and one can spend hours on it, simply lying down. The waves are super awesome, especially because it is shallow for a long distance away. The ocean itself was very cold. So we satisfied ourselves by standing a few feet inside to get our ankles washed up by the waves and also we walked along the beach just at the place where the waves were losing steam. Felt nice and good - especially because the weather was just perfect. We were fortunate enough even to see a whale going past the swimmers and Paavani had a nice time building what she called the 'Rao Mountain'!

Meanwhile, we had all but decided to ditch the Mt Tam trip because the fuel gauge suddenly was showing just 2 gallons (what with all the hills that we had to climb to get to the beach) and the upward drive to mountain was surely going to consume all the fuel. The trip to Mt Diablo was fraught with similar scenario and we didn't want to risk one more mountain top driving with so much of anxiety. Even in this case, the nearest gas station was 15-20 miles away and even to get there, we had to go up (and down) some hills. Hence, considering the Mt Tam trip was off, we spent nice and relaxed time at the beach.

However, just as we left the beach and headed back home at 6:30 pm, we saw a road towards Tamalpais State Park, and on an impulse, we decided to take that road. Within a few minutes, the gauge dropped to 1.5 gallons. Still we continued on. After 4 miles, we saw the road to Mt Tam peak - 4 miles away. We decided that we will continue on until the gauge drops down to 1 gallon. Finally, when we were just a mile away from the peak, we decided to park the car on a pullout and walk the remaining distance, which shouldn't be 20-25 minutes away. The gauge was still showing 1.5 gallons - which was good because we had a good 15-20 miles for the next fuel stop.

We started walking at 7:20 pm and thought we will reach at about 7:45. However, the road kept climbing and climbing, and the peak seemed very far away - which is common in all mountain hiking. Thankfully, the wife and daughter were up for it, and we kept on walking. Soon enough, we reached the parking lot. However, there was still 0.3 miles with an elevation gain of 230 ft pending. It started off easily from the parking lot and then it became all rocky and gravelly. But daughter and wife enjoyed it a lot. It didn't take long for us to be at top. 

The peak was gratifying, the hike was well worth it, and we were extremely happy. With all the tension of the fuel, the sweat on the brow during drive without fuel all seemed worth it. The view on the top was super awesome. It shows rolling mountains and the cloud that gets condensed from the ocean near the city of SFO is practically happening right in front of our eyes. As the sun set, the orange rays shone super brilliantly and the sky slowly turned to pink and it was as if we were on an airplane. 

After taking pictures all around the peak, we started heading back. Just as we got to the car parking lot, the sun set and quickly the hills started getting enveloped with darkness. We still had a mile to walk/run to get to our car before the jungle came alive. Even so, when we were walking on the road, we suddenly stopped on our tracks - because a deer was intently watching us from a ravine, still as the mountain itself. Soon, its offspring joined it. There we were, in the middle of a jungle, all by ourselves, and two deers looking at us. No one else anywhere nearby! Quick pictures, and we started half running, half walking to the car. Paavani helped a lot by running too but I carried her the last few yards and finally, we were safe in our car. It was 9 pm.

I was pretty confident that we could reach the fuel stop - especially because it was mostly downward drive. Still, I drove most of the distance in neutral. The road was very winding and curvy for almost 30 minutes. Paavani slept off soon enough. It was about 9:30 pm when we finally got to a fuel stop. Fuel filled, we wanted fuel ourselves! We headed to a nearby Subway (first time after almost 2 years!) and had a Veggie Delite. Rest of the journey was uneventful but pretty fast! By the time we arrived home, it was 10:45 pm.

It was extremely tiring although it started very relaxing at the garden. The traffic jam itself was tiring, the beach was again relaxing. The fuel issue caused lot of anxiety but the East Peak of Mt Tam was gratifying. Just like the roads in Mill Valley, the day was full of up and down - and we were glad we had done all that we had planned to do. It just seemed the perfect day for everything - A Garden, A Beach and a Mountain!!

8th Year Anniversary at Alaska!!

Time: July 3-7, 2016

Place: Alaska (Anchorage, Kenai, Denali, Fairbanks, Arctic Circle)

Company: Wife and Daughter

Highlights:

Preview: This trip was planned solely to overcome the slight repentance of our previous trip to Alaska and also to close some unfinished business! Visits to Arctic Circle, Glacier & Denali National Park were sorely missed since it was winter then, and hence Summer of 2016 was slated to check these items off our bucket list! It took about 2-3 weeks of research, planning and ticket-booking. What better way to celebrate the soon-to-be 8th year wedding anniversary other than at Arctic Circle, eh?!!

Day 0: Had planned for car parking off airport but when called up, found out that there was no self-park option available and only option was valet-park which costed about $100. So, changed plans last minute to take BART. Only risk was that return flight was scheduled to arrive at 10:45 pm and last train leaving SFO was at 11:45 pm. So, if there was a delay in that last leg of journey back home, then we would be stuck! Anyways, took the risk. Left home at noon, caught the 12:25 train, and reached SFO at 1:45 pm to take the 3:20 pm flight to Seattle. On-time. 1 hour lay-over. Next leg to Portland. Going back the way, huh! On-time. Finally, flight to Anchorage. On-time. Three flights with 2 lay-overs is way too much but it was cheaper. Reached ANC at 11 pm. Got rental car, drove to Anchorage Downtown hotel. At midnight, it was still bright! Room was super-cool and decorated royally. Paavani enjoyed it a lot, and declared it as her official Palace!

Day 1: After breakfast, we checked out from our hotel at 9 am and headed south to Portage Glacier along the road that hugged the beautiful Turnagain Arm. There was a cruise at 10:30 am which we had planned to be in. However, on the way, our little one got motion sickness and we had to stop over. We were 3 minutes late! Although it concerned us at that time (because we had a lot planned for that day), it didn’t impact us in anyway. We spent the next 1.5 hr lazily relaxing, looking at scenery which was magnificent. Snow-capped mountains, a glacial lake (Portage) and wonderful air that surrounded us. Also had a bit of snack – sorta early lunch.

Soon enough, we were on board the cruise to see the Portage Glacier. It was a short ride on the boat, and we were in front of the massive glacier. It was bluish at places (since it reflects blue color alone) and vast. We could hear the water gushing underneath the glacier although we could not see it. Finally, a dream of 2014 got fulfilled this day! When we missed to see glaciers in Alaska, we went to Glacier National Park in the hope of finding any glaciers there but it was not to be. This one seemed so easy to access and wonderful too. The cruise spent almost an hour in front of the glacier and we could take pictures in all angles until we were fulfilled.

Back from the cruise at 1 pm, we headed to Seward and Kenai National Park thereon to hike to Exit Glacier. We reached Exit Glacier at about 2:30 pm. There were multiple trails but we chose the 1-2 hr trail that took us to the edge of the Exit Glacier. We were even closer to this glacier than Portage. Here too it was bluish and we could see the water flowing underneath the glacier. The best part of this trail were the ‘Year boards’. Each board represented the year at which the glacier originally existed, and how it had receded. In the last 1 year, the glacier had receded almost a mile! We spent time until about 4 pm and headed back to Anchorage.

We encountered a road accident on the way back and were stuck for more than an hour due to a traffic jam. By the time we reached Anchorage it was almost 8 pm. Thankfully, Tontu slept all the way from Kenai to Anchorage – 3 full hours! It saved us from a few hundred “Are we there yet?”s! Went to Bombay Deluxe and ordered a take-out dinner since there was a huge queue (because it was one of the few restaurants opened on the July 4^th Independence Day). Food was ok-dokey. Had a quick dinner and headed back to airport, returned the car, checked-in with Alaska Air for our 11 pm one-hour flight to Fairbanks. It was an uneventful flight except that it was completely sunny on a midnight!  

Upon reaching Fairbanks, we took one more rental car and drove to our Travelodge hotel. We retired at 1 am in the night (for the second consecutive night!) and it was still sunny outside. We wanted to experience this Midnight Sun and done! Apparently the Fairbanks folks can experience night not until mid-August!

Ok, to recap all that we did today: Saw Portage Glacier, Exit Glacier and the Midnight Sun at Fairbanks. Drove really fast (since we had to cover too many places and we were halted by the accident and the motion sickness incidents) and was extremely lucky not to have got caught by the hiding cops!

Day 2: We got up at about 8 am, had breakfast, and left to Denali National Park. There was a forecast of rain all day and hence we had no hopes of seeing Mt McKinley. Reached DNP at about 11 am, had quick lunch, and visited the Visitor Center to check what we can do. The Visitor Center itself was awesome. Spent about half hour there.

Unfortunately the Savage Road parking lot (up to which automobile was allowed) was closed out because of a bear-human interaction, however we were allowed to drive but return back without parking there. So, we continued on our way, inside the DNP. On the way, we saw a moose and its offspring. Took enough pictures of it and continued on. We guessed where Mt McKinley was, but could not see it clearly since it was a cloudy day (Luckily it didn’t rain the entire day! Thank God!!)

We drove all the way to Savage Trail, took a U-turn, and headed back. The serenity of the place was nice and pleasant. We headed back and came back to US-3 (George Parks Highway) after a quick pit stop at Visitor Center. Parked our car at the road-side and hiked a small trail called Parks Highway Bike Trail. We especially spent a long time on the bridge that crossed the Nenana River, taking a bunch of pics. The gushing force of the glacial river (from Nenana Glacier) was a sight to see. It reminded me of the many rivers in North India where snow-melted rivers flow down from Himalayas. It brought back memories from my 2004 trip to Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri.

After spending about an hour on the trail, we headed back to Fairbanks. It was a nice easy drive. We returned the car back in Fairbanks airport, took a cab back to the hotel and retired to bed early to be refreshed for the long day coming up.

Day 3: Up at 5 am, we had requested a cab at 5:45 am to drop us off at Northern Alaska Tour Company by 6. Checked-in for the tour, we were given instructions and off we headed 200 miles away to the Arctic Circle. The guide seemed very youngish but she was super cool, and gave us all a very homely feeling. She had lots of short interesting stories to share and her art of narration was very nice. She also had a very good knowledge of Alaska and its history.

And so began the day – with Alaskan history, of the quest for gold a century ago, how folks started settling in Fairbanks, and on the way we saw some machinery that was used for Gold mining a century ago, now defunct. Soon we entered Dalton Highway, the 400+ miles gravelly road, and she started using the radio unit, a commonality on this highway to communicate with nearby drivers. She even mentioned how truckers communicate to one another and what fun it is to listen in at times! At milepost 1, we all took some pics and continued on. We spotted a moose and she was too fast for folks to spot it, so people asked her to go back. Thankfully there was a side road where she could head back, and most folks spotted the moose. However, there was no side road now to head back towards Arctic Circle, and hence she had to drive quite some distance to get back on.

Our next stop was in the city of Joy. She narrated the story of Joy and how she came to stay in that place, which got named after her. There were too many mosquitoes every time we got down the bus (which was very comfortable by the way) and hence we had some bug repellants as well bug zappers. So each time we got on the bus, we used to zap at the pests. It is astounding why anyone would want to stay in such a desolate and god-forsaken wilderness, where it is too cold in winters and too many mosquitoes in summer! Anyways, it was nice to see Joy’s little shop and her children’s lemonade spot for truckers.

Off we went on and stopped next at a favorable spot for Trans-Alaska pipeline. We had done this last time we were here but this was a different spot. She had more news to share on this and it was all very interesting. She even put on a video about how the pipeline came into existence and it was very good.

Our next stop was at Yukon Camp, which was just past the Yukon river – the only bridge to cross the Yukon river in US. It was a nice information that the guide shared that no one can stop on the bridge, and if they do, the loud speakers will boom to shoo them away, because the pipeline goes right underneath the bridge and anyone stopping on the bridge is deemed a terrorist! Folks picked up lunch at Yukon camp but we had brought our own. It was a very brief stop and we continued on.

Our next stop was Finger Mountain. It is a small mountain shaped like a finger and there was also a short trail that goes up another small mountain to give a 360 degree view of the Arctic wilderness. After this, very soon, at about 1:45 pm we reached the Arctic Circle. 

The guide made a grandiose enterprise out of it, she put on a red carpet and even distributed cakes. We spent the next 20-25 mins taking pictures, and just to soak it in. There were some nice information boards indicating how Sun never sets beyond this point in Summer and how Sun never rises beyond this point in Winter.

At about 2 pm, we started heading back and our first stop was to experience the Arctic Tundra. We took a short hike on a cross road and entered what seemed to be normal vegetation. However, much to our surprise, the guide started pulling the vegetation out and, lo and behold, there was ice underneath! She made us all feel it and it was incredible! The whole place where we were standing was actually ice. Upon the ice was vegetation. The vegetation insulated the ice and kept it cold during summer and opened up only during winter. Our hands were all muddy but it was totally worth it.

Our next stop was again Yukon camp but this time it was for a lot longer time. We reached about 4:30 and by the time we left, it was almost 6 pm. We first went to the Visitor Center to get some memorabilia. Then folks grabbed their dinner and ate at the same place, complete with desserts. We had our own food but we shared the table with them. Then we shopped some more at the local shop selling T-shirts, jerseys, etc. Once that was done, we walked over to the Yukon river bank and threw some stones. It was all very pleasant. Even Paavani enjoyed it a lot.

That seemed pretty much it for the trip. There was one another video regarding Alaskan Native Indian life but it didn’t seem very interested for me, so I dozed off a little. Paavani too. We again had a pit-stop at the city of Joy, and we continued on. We were slightly ahead of the schedule (planned ETA was 10:30 pm and we were almost at the destination by 10 pm) when we encountered a road block due to an accident. However, it was not long before vehicles started moving past the fallen truck. So, we did make it early. Upon reaching, we were all given Certificates for surviving the Dalton Highway and to have made it across the Arctic Circle.

After bidding adieu to all fellow passengers, we took a cab back to our hotel. Then we just relaxed and waited for the midnight again to experience the midnight Sun, since it was the brightest evening (no clouds) that we were in Alaska. More pictures and then we retired.

Day 4: The only day for which no activity was planned. So got up real easy like at about 8:30 am. Quickly went out to grab some breakfast. Then started packing and getting ready. We requested for a late check-out and checked out at 12 noon. We had our cab ready for the airport. Checked into our Delta flight back to SFO via Seattle. It was on-time. Had our lunch at airport. The flight itself was uneventful, and we all watched a movie.

At Seattle, our flight was delayed. That would mean we could not take the BART back home. Anyways. We proceeded to have a real nice dinner at Qdoba. Absolutely loved it. It was our first real meal since 3 nights ago in Anchorage at Bombay Deluxe. Tontu played at the play area in the airport. She had done this same thing back in 2014 when we were heading back from Fairbanks. Our flight got delayed by further 1 hour – thanks to a runway issue in SFO. So instead of departing at 8:30 pm, it was now departing at 11 pm.

This leg of the journey, we slept all through and it was over 1 am when we reached SFO. Took our baggage and pondered our next step. It was 2.5 hrs for next BART train to depart. Considering it was too late to go in a taxi (and perhaps not safe), we decide to spend the 2.5 hrs at the airport itself trying to sleep.

Day 5 (unplanned!): Although uncomfortable, we spent the 2.5 hrs somehow. We then made to BART, it somehow seemed painstakingly far to get to the SFO shuttle itself, and we were right on time to get on to the BART. As soon as we got in, the train doors closed and we were on our way. Reached at 5:30 am and we hauled all our luggage back to our home – another painstaking 10 minutes but thanks to Paavani who woke up and started walking (otherwise it would have been very, very difficult!). Finally, we reached home at 6 am – it was 17 hrs since we left our hotel room!

Overview: Price was cheaper ($500 per head) compared to our previous winter trip ($600 per head), surprisingly so, considering it is school break now. The Arctic Circle tour was pretty expensive (~$219 per head) but it was pretty cool and interesting. The rental cars & hotels in Alaska during summer is extremely expensive. Nothing below $100 per day. All in all, it costed over $3000 for us (a family of 3) for 3 days of active sightseeing and 2 days of travel.

The trip was very hectic, since we had to cover Anchorage and surroundings on 1^st day, Denali on 2^nd day and Arctic Circle on 3^rd day. We didn’t have much option on the 3^rd day but we had a few on 2^nd and quite a few for 1^st. So we had to pick and choose on things to do. As a result, we completely veto-ed Matanuska Glacier as well as some nice scenic spots along the road from Anchorage to Fairbanks. The railroad in Alaska also seems scenic but it would need a lot of time and money. 

We were lucky to have no rain showers on any of the days, especially because that was how it was forecasted. But still it was cloudy and hence we were unable to see Mt Mckinley – the highest mountain peak in North America.

One another thought that was haunting me was that perhaps a longer visit during March-April or September –October could have sufficed covering all parts of Alaska (that we covered as part of 2 separate trips in 2014 Feb and 2016 July) as well as a chance for Aurora Borealis. But I guess this is how it was meant to be. So be it.

We enjoyed the beauty of Alaska in all its glory – in two different climatic conditions. Each season had something great to offer that the other season cannot. Main purpose of our visit in Feb 2014 was Aurora - Check. Main purpose of our visit in 2016 was Arctic Circle - Check.

And we were back home safe from another adventurous vacation. Thank God for that. And to top it all - I may not so easily gift my wife diamonds on our wedding anniversary but I cannot say 'No' to a once-in-a-life-time "dream" visit to Arctic Circle! ;-)

Happy 8th Anniversary to us!