New York Trip 2008 With My Parents

At last my parents, I, Shusmita and Ahyan went to New York this summer. It was my 4th New York trip, the last time I came was in Winter 2007, not so long. The tough time was to get the proper air ticket at a very short time and getting leave from office. The good thing was we visited Niagara Falls in Buffallo and Washington D.C with Kakku (my Uncle in New York).

Reno, Lake Tahoe & Yosemite Road Trip

The 22nd to 24th August weekend, I took my parents, wife and son to a road trip to Reno/Lake Tahoe and Yosemite. We started at Friday afternoon for Reno. My parents were amazed to see the big Grand Sierra hotel having casino, mall, theater inside. Saturday morning we drove for Lake Tahoe and missed the first cruise trip that we bought for 2 PM. But we could marginally catch the 2:PM Queen Marina cruise instead using that same ticket. This 2 and half hours cruise was relaxing to us.

It gave hard time to me to get out of Lake Tahoe and reach Yosemite as we started at 5 and mobile GPS was showing confused directions and eventually died out of battery. I got the 2 iPhones just a day before this trip and so I still didn't have car charger with me. We reached Yosemite after midnight where Ezaz was already there with his parents and family. On the way we lost directions in Tioga Pass at midnight and I enjoyed the uncertainty and the adventure. We roamed around a little in Yosemite the Sunday morning before coming back to Fremont at night.

Shasta Dam/Burney Falls/Lassen Park Trip

I took my parents to further north in California in first weekend of August. Shahriar and his parents joined us from Klamath Falls in Shasta Lake and Dam in 2nd August Saturday. That night we saw Sundial Bridge before going back to Holiday Inn, Redding hotel where I booked 2 rooms for us. The next morning we say Burney Falls and Lassen Volcanic Park. One the way back home I lost roads in Mount Shasta and the car fuel went down with no mobile or GPS coverage for a while. But at last we have returned safely with an approx 700 miles trip. It was a good one! Here are some of the pictures - http://picasaweb.google.com/shusmita/ShastaTourWithBabaMa010808

Amitabh's The Unforgettable

The last weekend of July was usually full of events. Saturday (26th July) morning Nitol, I, Shusmita, Ahyan & my parents went to San Francisco Zoo with Shahriar, Sochi, Safwan & Shahriar's parents. From there, we went to Darbar restaurant in San Francisco for lunch. Then we went to the world's crookedest street (zizag in Lombard street) in San Francisco. It was a quite a risky route while climbing over to the zigzag entry point rather than the zigzag road itself. As Safwan was crying Shahriar had to leave for home at that time without going to the crookedest street. From there we went to Golden Gate Bridge vista point. From here the view of the bridge, San Francisco and Alcatraz Island was quite clear.

The very next morning, we (the same group as the last day) went to Santa Cruz to take the one hour Santa Cruz Steam Train journey to see the giant Oak, Sequoia and other trees. From there we drive to Hayward Pakwan for the famous Sunday only buffet lunch where Ezaz, Shaki & Mahi also joined us. Everyone liked the various dishes.

We went back to have a quick rest before Amitabh's The Unforgettable show in the evening. Ahyan threw up several times when we tried to feed him and hence we started a little late for the show. Nitol, Shahriar & his group all we reached Oracle Oakland Arena about 7: 30 PM. But the show started way after 8 PM instead of the scheduled 7 PM, so we didn't miss anything. It was a privilege to see Amitabh performing for us. Of course Abhishek was good, Ritesh performed well, Aishwarya and Madhuri were amazing and Prity Zinta sweet while Vishal & Shekhar were rocking. It's a lifetime opportunity to see them all with my parents. A really good memory to be cherished in future.