Unforgettable drive to Pebble beach at Carmel CA

Saturday Apr 11 2009

Photos are here

Vivek said "Come let us drive to Carmel" . Carmel is a pretty beach town community about an hour and a half drive from Fremont. It was a bright sunny day . We set off in his car by 10:30 am.


Driving thro' scenic Santa Cruz mountains

We drove through a very scenic route thro' the Santa Cruz mountains (ghats) amidst dense jungle. The entire route is lined with trees and the spring season was so evident with lush colorful flowers blooming everywhere. I was repeatedly telling vivek excitedly "hey look at the flowers". Poor fellow he must have wondered "what is that??" being so impervious to all that flowery scenery and ofcourse focussing on his driving. The weather promised to be great bright and sunny.

Soon we hit the Pacific Coast road which runs along the Pacific Ocean and is also very scenic. The blue crystalline ocean is visible on this drive. Here vivek was very excited and kept pointing to me the ocean whenever it came into view. He loves the ocean I guess. We were heading towards a town called Monterey.

The ocean is visible at a distance

Monterey
We touched Monterey at 12:30 and we were both very hungrey. We parked the car at a very pretty looking hotel (inn??) . It had huge pots over flowing with flowers (real not artificial) , benches, water fountain , a large sit out facing the ocean.

Huge flower pots

Pretty Coffee bar by the sea

Pots over flowing with flowers

But we were in for a disappointment. It was a coffee bar only. So we walked on the road along the ocean looking for a place to eat something.

Monterey is such a beautiful town and on this particular sunny day was decked up in flowers flowers everywhere that one can spend days just walking here. The ocean appeared pure blue and Vivek said it is so deep here that whales and dolphins have been spotted. There is a boat ride to do just that but we did not take that for want of time.

We saw groups of very young and not so young people preparing for scuba diving. Though it was sunny and bright it was also very cold and windy. This chilly wind is a characteristic feature along the pacific coast.

We located a small pizza joint called "Pelican Pizza" having just 2 small tables and 8 chairs. We ordered Pizza and sat in this small quaint Pizza joint. When the Pizza arrived in a large aluminium plate it was hot ( back home we would consider it very poor to eat in this type of aluminium thali) , huge ( half of a 12" diameter circle pizza) cut into 4 slices, covered with nice green veggies, jalapinoes( spicy green chiily - I just love that). Vivek enjoyed the Pizza so much that he kept on saying " THIS is the tastiest pizza I have ever eaten" - Note the emphasis on THIS here. He must know with his vast experience of living on Pizzas in his early student days at UIUC. I have never been a Pizza person but I really enjoyed this one. The whole thing costs as little as 7$ for both of us. We were so full and happy. We thanked the owner .

American salesmanship
In America I observed that most of the eateries are owned and run by one person with may be one or two more help. They are very warm and nice to guests at their hotels. This kind of salesmanship is very obvious wherever we go. We will never come across a grumpy sales person. I think they may be trained for that. We Indians need to master this attitude. Ofcourse I have experienced the same warmth in all the marwadi ( hailing for the state of Rajathan ) owned shops in Nidgi.

We then went to "Baskin Robins" a chain store selling ice-creams. They really have so many varieties.I selected a small size Pista icecream with roasted almonds and Vivek picked up 2 large scoops of "Strawberry cheese cake" icecream for himself. Eating our icecreams we leisurely strolled on the pathway on the road along the beach. At many places you could go down to the beach but I dreaded the ice cold water. It was spring time and the beauty of colorful flowers on the road was so thrilling. I was so engrossed with all this that I missed my balance and came crashing on the road with my icecream.

Monterey has a very huge and world famous aquarium of marine animals but we did not go there as Vivek said there is so much to see and so little time.

We got into the car and drove to Pebble beach.

17 Mile Drive
We did the popular 17 mile Drive 17-Mile Drive at Pebble Beach.
Most of this place is privately owned by a company called Pebble Beach Company ( 1,600 employees) which owns The Lodge at Pebble Beach, The Inn at Spanish Bay, Casa Palmero, The Spa at Pebble Beach, Pebble Beach Golf Links, The Links at Spanish Bay, Spyglass Hill Golf Course and Del Monte Golf Course. These resorts and golf courses are world famous.

There is an entry fee. ( I think it was 10$) In this circular route, there are 4 famous golf courses by the sea, many vantage points for scenic views of the Pacific ocean and the drive itself is very beautiful amidst dense woods with houses here and there. Vivek said if u own a house here, it proves u have arrived in life.

The golf courses were vast green expanses on hilly terrains in some places.



Golf course by the sea - Sprinklers at work here

Golf courses on hilly terrain along the Pacific Ocean

The ocean is visible thro out and there are many beaches on the way. At one place the ocean is called Restless Sea as the waves here clash in different directions with great force and the sea appears restless. It is a dangerous spot.

The spring season was very evident with flowers covering the whole landscape and painting it in such pretty stunning shades of bright colors.

Spring in air

Once we completed the circular 17 Mile drive we headed to Pebble beach. The sand is pure white fine powder. It is difficult to walk on the beach sand as it is hilly and your feet sink deep with every step. It was difficult to go down to the beach and even more difficult to climb back for me with my knee pain. The Pacific coast is always chilly.

Pebble beach

Carmel-by-the-sea
We drove around the town of Carmel which is a beach community . Vivek explained that it is a rich man's abode. Many celebrities own property here and it is extremely expensive in the range of 100 million $ upwards.

Driving thro' the town of carmel

We saw a yellow Ferrari parked on the roadside and vivek was so excited to see that.
It is his dream to buy one I think.

Ferrari Close-up

After a fulfilling day of being so much at peace with nature, the sea , woods, hills and the flowers of the spring we drove back home once again along the scenic route via Santa Cruz mountains.

Visit to Stanford University

Standing in front of Memorial church

Arches and Pillars everywhere

March 29th 2009 Sunday First Visit to Stanford University

Photo links are here

Sunday evening around 5 p.m Vivek said let us drive to Stanford university which is about 20 miles from our house. We were going to only spend an hour or two. This is my preliminary visit and I am surely going to spend a day there. There is so much to see.

We drove to the university quadrangle thro' a picturesque drive famously known as "Palm drive" as the road is lined with palm trees on either side and does remind u of IIT Mumbai entrance.

One only dreams of Stanford. I could never imagine my dream will come true but it did. I wish I had studied here but I am consoling myself that atleast I am visiting this great place.

The sprawling lawns, rows and rows of huge trees, pillars and arches carved of yellow stones

I have collected these facts about this great univ. from their website

On Oct. 1, 1891, Stanford University opened its doors

Jane and Leland Stanford established the university in memory of their only child, Leland Jr., who died of typhoid fever at 15. Within weeks of his 1884 death, the Stanfords determined that, because they no longer could do anything for their own child, they would use their wealth to do something for “other people’s” children.

They donated more than 8000 acres of their farm land

Approximately 16000 to 17000 students + faculty strength

Stanford Univ. is mainly responsible for the birth and sustenance of the Silicon Valley. Most of the entrepreneurs (google for e.g.) are Stanford alumni. The alumni list is world famous personalities.

Appr. 36000 $ per year fee

Original research on issues that are of fundamental concern to human welfare and progress is the main objective of the university. Many path-breaking inventions and discoveries are credited to the research here

Many Faculty are noble prize winners

There are more than 4,500 externally sponsored projects throughout the university, with the total budget for sponsored projects at $1.060 billion during 2008-09

The university is a self-sustaining community with:

• With more than 49 miles of roads
• 49-megawatt power plant
• Two separate water systems
• Three dams and lakes
• 88 miles of water mains
• A central heating and cooling plant
• A high-voltage distribution system
  
• A post office
• Stanford also provides or contracts for its own fire, police and other services.
  
• Designated a Gold-Level “Bicycle Friendly Community,” Stanford boasts more than 12,000 racks for bikes and 11.7 miles of bike lanes.
• The award-winning transportation program includes the free, 39-bus, 13-route Marguerite system running on biodiesel; the 7,000-member Commute Club; free passes on Caltrain, VTA, Dumbarton Express and AC Transit’s Line U; Zipcar; commute planning; charter services; and a bicycle program.

There are more than 670 major buildings at Stanford that incorporate 13.1 million square feet.

Ninety-five percent of undergraduates live on campus, as do about 52 percent of graduate students and 30 percent of faculty members.

There are 850 owner-occupied housing units for faculty on campus,

628 rental units for faculty and staff.

Stanford is one of the most energy efficient institutions among California research universities.

• There are about 43,000 trees on the Stanford campus
• The Coast Live Oak the most common.
  
• Many of Stanford’s picturesque redwoods, cedars, Canary Island palms and eucalyptus trees have survived a century or more of drought, flood and change.
  
• There are more than 800 different species of plants on campus.
  
• The inner campus includes :

1. More than 1.4 million square feet of shrubs
2. 190,000 linear feet of groundcovers
3. 1.2 million square feet of lawns
4. 2,300 automatic irrigation valves.
5. There are 23 fountains.

Stanford has a 70-acre shopping complex with five major department stores and 140 retail stores. It is one of the nation’s leading super-regional centers in revenue and sales per square foot.

Well I am awe-inspired by all these massive figures and am looking forward to my next detailed visit.

San Fransisco Visit to Zoo and Beach

I understood what is peacock blue color

Cooling Ducks and freezing me

Spring is in the air

March 28 2009

More Photos of this day can be viewed here


On a bright sunny saturday afternoon Vivek drove me to San Fransisco. This was my second visit. It was always a pleasure to go out with Vivek as he too enjoys the process of travelling like me. He never tires of driving.

We visited the zoo and spent some time at the Beach watching Sunset over the sea. It was a magical day though the sun was blazing, the sky was clear , it was ice cold at the beach with a icy wind blowing

Some part of our drive looked like a scenic hill station with a lake view

SF Looks like a hill station in parts

while a large part of our drive miles upon miles was along the awesome magnificent Pacific ocean looking absolutely blue with foaming white waves lashing at the shore .

The magnificent Pacific Ocean at SF on a bright sunny afternoon

The San Fransisco zoo that day had loads of visitors lots of children and even young parents with babes in arms and grandparents with kids, young teenage couples too. Everyone was out to enjoy the sun shine. The entrance was 15$ per person. We could not find a place to park, drove around a lot in search of parking space and ultimately parked the car along the edge of the ocean and walked over to the zoo.

Sleeping Beauty

The zoo initially seemed unimpressive but later on as we went around I rather began to love the place. Having seen the St Louis (Illinois) Zoo this seemed less magnificent in comparison.
The flora was stunning with very huge tall trees and rare floral blooms.

We met a cute American old lady who offered to click our photo together and said she had been to India 5 times and she loved India.

The cute American lady clicks us together

My experience of the American people has always been endearing and I simply love America. I told her the same and she was so happy. Ultimately only human warmth lasts and all differences of caste, creed, religion, nationality dissolves into nothingness if only we recognize that inter-human relationship is the only important and happy thing on earth..

Sun sets over the sea

The zoo closes at 5 p.m so we had to leave . We drove along the beach and vivek said he will take me to a strategic point for viewing sun set over the sea. We parked the car at a nice high view point and sat inside the car. vivek went to sleep. I sat enjoying the chill and staring at the ocean. The ocean instils a sense of absolute peace in me.

We were waiting for the sun set for more than an hour. It was worth the wait and as the sun went down, I felt like walking along the ocean. So we walked around.There were huge rocks in water and the waves lashed them with fury. The setting sun painted the sky in varying shades of red, yellow and orange.

The chill in the air was unbearable. As soon as we got inside the car to drive back home, vivek switched on the heater and the heat was so welcome.

It was another unforgettable day in my California visit

Click here to view more photos of this day

First Visit to Golden Gate Bridge

My First visit to the famous San Fransisco City

More photos are here

Drive to San Fransisco

Saturday 21st March I got up excited as we were driving to san Fransisco. One has heard so much about it The weather was chilly, cold, rain showers and some sun shine. The drive was scenic with distant hills and winding roads plenty of greenery pretty houses and great many cars.

Golden Gate bridge

We drove thro' downtown san fransisco and then to the Golden Gate Bridge. Oh it is a gigantic absolutely stunning massive structure - a suspension bridge over Pacific Ocean on one side and the San Fransisco bay on the other sopporting a six way traffic and two pedestrian walks on either side. allowing ships to pass underneath, Surrounded by hills....m.m... How do the Americans manage such gigantic perfect structures ( I am reminded of the St. Louis Arch, Down town Chicago's towering sky scrappers, Signature Lounge - the Hotel on the 96th Floor).

We parked and walked on the golden gate bridge for an hour or more. It was a very very chilly windy cold wet day and fog drifted in and out of distant bay. It was drizzling. People were walking, cycling and skating. Even toddlers were moving in their prams. I noticed aged American ( my assumption) couples looking cozy and enjoying a good time together. How nice !!

I could spend days and days roaming here and drinking in the scenic beauty of the ocean and the rolling hills . What was disturbing was the deafening sounds of cars upon cars wizzing by. I wish we had discovered silent movements for fast cars....

We then drove for 15 KM thro a hilly terrain ghats in rain and it was absolutely beautiful. Th ePacific ocean lay to my left but a thick fog covered it so no luck to see the blue ocean. Wereached the scenic town of Stinson Beach town.

The quaint Little Hotel in Stinson Beach

We ate in a small cute hotel with a girl serving us with as much energy as a flitting butterfly in a garden of colourful flowers and a tall man with flowing hair who resembled to me Jesul christ. and the hotel was full of Americans .

Sausalito Beach Community

We then drove back thro scenic hill way thro' the absolutely picture perfect beach cum Hill station town of Sausalito. vivek said we will come back here another day. So much to see and so much to do and so little time in this world.

We drove thro' down town san Fransisco called Union square which housed world famous Brand stores. I shall be back here for loads and loads of shopping later. ( window of course)

Steep roads and dipping roads

Back home .. such an unforgettable day of beauty and wonder..

Read more about Sausalito here

Some information on Stinson is here

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Some facts from internet:

• The Golden Gate refers to the opening of the San Fransisco bay into the pacific Ocean or the other way round
• connects city of San Francisco on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula to Marin County
• Four years of construction
• Cost of $35 million
• Opened to vehicular traffic on May 28, 1937
• 4200 ft. long 1.7 miles
  
• 746 ft. tower height
• Always painted ORANGE
• The weight of the roadway is hung off of two cables that pass through the two main towers and are fixed in concrete at each end. Each cable is made of 27,572 strands of wire. There are 80,000 miles (129,000 km) of wire in each of the two main cables;[23] the total is sufficient to go around the world 5.79 times. The bridge has approximately 1,200,000 total rivets.
  
• The Golden Gate Bridge is the most popular place to commit suicide in the United States and is one of the most popular in the world

• More info here from Wikipedia ofcourse
• Official Website of Golden gate bridge
• Frequently asked question about GBS

My Family

Well I just wanted to give some interesting links here

My brother R V Eswaran has his web site called Unclesadvice.com - a must visit for us

My son Hari works for QED Baton who have recently opened a branch in Santa Clara

Krishna my dear nephew has founded a Software testing Co called Zen Test Labs

It is a small world anyway

From California

America - The vastness of it all

I have been in vivek's house in Fremont now for almost a week . Every time I come out what strikes me is the vastness of everything in America. The complex is sprawling with so much of greenery, lush grass slopes, winding pathways, nice swimming pool with lounging chairs, tables and chairs to relax, lots of car parking.

America is truly a land of cars - cars cars everywhere - of everyshape, size, color, make.

There are huge ( by my std . i believe actually these are smaller ones by US stds) shopping complexes with cars and more cars.

When I come out into the street ( actually it is highway running close to our house) there are hundreds of cars zipping by. Like the sound of the sea when we walk on a beach I hear the roaring of cars as I walk on the sidewalk.

The highways are vast broad and huge



The roses on the side walks and everywhere are huge too unbelievably healthy, slighly fragrant, rich in color.

The American lady at the mall was of a huge size too and towered over me .

The varieties of all types of items are huge too. Clothes upon clothes in the hangers at the malls, rows and rows of food items stacked in malls , shelves after shelves of drugs in the drug store, rows and rows and rows and rows of cosmetics, chesse, bread- the American canvas is truly a vast canvas

The fat cat strolling in the complex is huge too and looks like a baby tiger. The squirrel is bushy and when it runs looks like an Indian cat.

The TVs discuss economic downturn in USA and the losses are also huge like in billions of $. The guys at the loss making ING were paid bonuses for billions of $ which caused a huge national debate ..

Truly a vast country !!

Photos of our home, housing complex and street is here

I have landed in San Fransisco

Dear All

Here is sharing with u my second time USA visit experience

Photo Link to Mission Peak and Google Campus is here

14th March 2009
A red letter day in my life I have landed for the 2nd time in USA but this time it is San Fransisco California ( last time it was Chicago )

Korean airways
The flight by Korean airways was not commendable at all , crammed seats, crowded and jam packed look, waiting at the toilet ques, awaiting for something to be served. The only saving grace was the bevy of pretty air hostesses and their absolutely charming warm smiles and fine skin.

Seoul Incheon airport

Incheon AIRPORT

The sprawling Seoul airport was state-of-art stopover and was very impressive - huge duty free shops and more than 100 gates for landing and takeoff, spic and span look, pretty young charming girls in the shops, plants, sofas, free internet terminals, everything was of the highest std.

Incheon AIRPORT

I just checked out some items at the shops one neck piece was 300+ USD and I told the girl at the counter mine cost just 3 $ in India. She immediately called her colleague and shared that with awe. A bag was 500$ the same one in shopper's stop Pune I had seen for 10 to 20$

Pakistani Co-traveller
The gentleman sitting next to me was huge in size and filled the whole seat and half of mine too - like his hands and legs filled everywhere. In the end turned out to be a nice person offered me his window seat while landing and also his share of the free takeaway pair of socks and a tooth brush the KE so generously gave us ( I suppose that was instead of the food they did not serve - like wear a socks , brush ur teeth and be satisfied - ha ha ha ) He just strengthened my belief that all nice people across the world are same.

The sad story
The young looking lady sitting on the other side had a shocking story to tell - she had just lost her husband y'day !! and she was travelling alone and imagine no one even came to the airport to pick her up. He had lost his job , could not pay rent, borrowed a lot on credit card, and might have even committed suicide she is not sure .. his body was discovered after 15 days locked in the apartment. She had no children and so many problems !! I gave her a shoulder to cry that is all I could do and some comforting words. May she get the strength to live a happy life from now on. Suddenly I felt my life was so rich with such loving people around me - my 2 sons their wives, my sisters and their family, my parents, my brother and his family, so many friends and relatives to heal and console us in our time of need..

First look at San Fransisco



First picture of San Fransisco

The aircraft was flying low over sea ( called San Fransisco Bay) I thought it would touch the water and Lo and behold ! It hit the runway - that means the bay was touching runway !! I wonder how the water does not enter the roads when it is almost at the same level..

Touch down - The craft flies so low almost touching the bay

My entry into USA was indeed so pleasant as the immigration and custom clearance took hardly 10 minutes. The baggage was out as I came out and there was no waiting anywhere. No one asked any questions and I was out in 15 min. flat. This is the kind of system I want to see in place in my country back home in India

Vivek's home
My first look of vivek's home was indeed pleasant the house is very tastefully done up with so many artefacts and there was a certain warm Indianness about it.

Vivek & Vidya live in this house now

It is a rented 2 BHK apartment but so comfortable as there were so many closets everywhere - this is one thing I always miss at home. Vidya was preparing for a very tough certification exam on Mon 16th Mar. and was worried as the passing percentage was 85%.

Pretty walkways outside vivek's house

Weather
It was chilly for me at 10 degrees C and I was jet lagged too not having slept for the last 24 hours.

Visit to WalMart
Attended a first birthday party of Avneesh vivek's nieghbour at Udipi Palace Hotel with their Indian friends - The day ended so nicely with a visit to the Walmart . I am still dazed at the massive size of the store with so many deals and offers.

Sun 15th March - Mission Peak and Google campus
It was a bright sunny day with a chill in the air and we drove to Mission Peak and around. vivek says these are very expensive residential areas with houses overlooking the hill range. we climbed part of the way and promised ourselves we will be back to complete the climb. Lots of pretty photos taken here.

Mission Peak Hills

I read warning of "encounter with Mountain Lions face to face "- It said try to appear larger, talk in a loud voice, look straight into the eye, retreat slowly giving it time to escape and if attacked fight HARD.. I just prayed that we don't get a chance to try all this !!

google - Here I come
Vivek drove me to google campus. I was surprised by the number of buildings and the vast area across which the google campus was spread. Very well maintained greenery too. I had imagined one glassed building. Here it was like telco in Pune on a vast land area.

vivek@Google

It was so beautiful and vivek took me inside one of the buildings where he works. There were so many cafeteria - coffee bars, fruit outlets, lots and lots of sofa sets to lounge around, Massage chairs ( I sat in one it was fantastic and a tickling experience) , books.

Massage chairs and sofa sets

I was so proud of vivek - How it is to work in such a nice energizing atmosphere. There was an air of extremely intelligent management at work here. There was also beauty everywhere.

I just loved the place. I repeatedly asked him " Can I get a job here?? " He asked me " for what u want to work here? " I said "for food and massage and toilet" Ya the toilet was state of art with a control panel for rear wash, front wash, seat warming, temperature control, drying etc.. .The door had a paper pasted with some Coding hints !! This means as u r sitting in the toilet u can be reading some useful professional stuff - that much for efficiency.

Vivek printed out a Visitor's pass sticker for me and told me to paste it to my dress - what a way to do away with employing a security personnel group - Compare this with how we enter a big co. in India - we write in a register and we are issued a visitor pass. There is a group of security personnel employed for this purpose at least 3 persons at any given time

The availability of food was the best part of working in Google ( ofcourse that is purely my opinion ) I ate 2 seedless sweet oranges, one crunchy apple and drank a cup of coffee. I felt I deserved them as my son was working for nothing less than 16 hours a day for this great Co.

I saw for the first time in my little life "Chewing-gum Dispensor"

We drove a lot across Mountain View , shopped at indian stores and came home tired and hungry.

Love you all Take care.