Pictures of "Boron" and "Sindoor-khela" from our neighborhood Durga Puja on Dashami :-)
Flickr Album
Flickr Album
Sunday, October 25, 2015
Shubho Bijoya from a troop of monkeys @ our terrace
BaNdor r baNdrami
Today morning a troop of monkeys came and greeted us "Shubho Bijoya" :-). There were six or seven of them - jumping, dancing, thinking, eating, playing, chasing each other -- so funny. They were sitting first on our neighbor's terrace, then they came to our terrace and jumped on to our mango tree.
So these gray lengurs are our distant cousin (Thanks to Pokai for pointing it out).
Here are the photos: Flickr Album
Today morning a troop of monkeys came and greeted us "Shubho Bijoya" :-). There were six or seven of them - jumping, dancing, thinking, eating, playing, chasing each other -- so funny. They were sitting first on our neighbor's terrace, then they came to our terrace and jumped on to our mango tree.
I never looked up the name of these species before. Now browsing pictures on the Internet, I think they are black-footed gray langur. They are also known as Northern plains gray langur (Semnopithecus entellus) or Hanuman langur which are the species of primate in the Cercopithecidae family.
So these gray lengurs are our distant cousin (Thanks to Pokai for pointing it out).
Wednesday, October 21, 2015
Traditional House Puja @ North Kolkata
Historical anecdotes always fascinates me and if it is about old Kolkata, then it's magical. I can listen to these old stories for hours. Surprisingly, on Maha-Ostomi I had an unique chance to visit some of those very traditional old pujas with WB tourism. The tour was fantastic. It was like going back to those old time and revisit our old Kolkata. There are few famous house-puja in North Kolkata (Uttor Kolkata) that are still carrying that old traditional style puja. They are also known as "Bonedi barir sabeki puja" (traditional house puja). We started the tour around 8am and finished around 1pm.
First we visited Rani Rashmoni's house at Janbazar (central Kolkata). It was started around 1780. Padmamoni Dasi and her husband Rajchandra Das were the main organizers. This puja was sanctified by Ramakrishna. He performed this puja in special "Sakhibesh" attire. Bhog is cooked with holy Ganga water.
After that we went to Chandra bari. Bharat Chandra, the head of this family, came to Kolkata from Nadia in 1781 to avoid "Borgi invasion". "Ganesh Chandra Avenue" was named after Ganesh Chandra who was one of this family members. Goddess Durga is decorated with "Daker Saaj" and it is an "Ekchala" thakur. The "Thakurdalan" was really gorgeous.
Chattubabu-Latubabu's house was next. This puja was started in 1780. Ramdulal Deb, ancestor of two famous Babus - Ashutosh Deb (Chattubabu) and Pramath Nath Deb (Latubabu) started this puja.
As a tradition, a "Neelkantha" bird (a model bird was kept inside) was set free on the day of immersion.
Next was Khelat Ghosh's house. It is one of the important "Bonedi bari"-r pujos. Many legendary musician came here and performed at this place including Ravishankar. This puja is 166 years old. The "Thakurdalan" is one of the largest of such structures in Kolkata.
Finally we arrived at "Shovabazar Rajbari". Raja Nabakrishna Deb started this puja in 1757 to commemorate the victory in the battle of Plassey by Lord Clive. This puja is performed according to the "Brihadnandikeshwar Puran". "Daker Saaj" was totally awesome. This "Rajbati" organizes two different puja at two different addresses, almost next to each other. We were given coupon for "Bhog" here. What a delicious lunch to end our trip :). The "Bhog" consists of - luchi, chholar daal, dhoka, pulao, paneer curry, chatni, papad, laddu and jilebi :) ... yessss a total yummy meal !!!
This was an amazing experience. Especially during Durga Puja, visiting those old "bari"s in Kolkata undoubtedly added a special showcase in my memory.
Here is the album: Flickr Album
First we visited Rani Rashmoni's house at Janbazar (central Kolkata). It was started around 1780. Padmamoni Dasi and her husband Rajchandra Das were the main organizers. This puja was sanctified by Ramakrishna. He performed this puja in special "Sakhibesh" attire. Bhog is cooked with holy Ganga water.
After that we went to Chandra bari. Bharat Chandra, the head of this family, came to Kolkata from Nadia in 1781 to avoid "Borgi invasion". "Ganesh Chandra Avenue" was named after Ganesh Chandra who was one of this family members. Goddess Durga is decorated with "Daker Saaj" and it is an "Ekchala" thakur. The "Thakurdalan" was really gorgeous.
Chattubabu-Latubabu's house was next. This puja was started in 1780. Ramdulal Deb, ancestor of two famous Babus - Ashutosh Deb (Chattubabu) and Pramath Nath Deb (Latubabu) started this puja.
As a tradition, a "Neelkantha" bird (a model bird was kept inside) was set free on the day of immersion.
Next was Khelat Ghosh's house. It is one of the important "Bonedi bari"-r pujos. Many legendary musician came here and performed at this place including Ravishankar. This puja is 166 years old. The "Thakurdalan" is one of the largest of such structures in Kolkata.
Finally we arrived at "Shovabazar Rajbari". Raja Nabakrishna Deb started this puja in 1757 to commemorate the victory in the battle of Plassey by Lord Clive. This puja is performed according to the "Brihadnandikeshwar Puran". "Daker Saaj" was totally awesome. This "Rajbati" organizes two different puja at two different addresses, almost next to each other. We were given coupon for "Bhog" here. What a delicious lunch to end our trip :). The "Bhog" consists of - luchi, chholar daal, dhoka, pulao, paneer curry, chatni, papad, laddu and jilebi :) ... yessss a total yummy meal !!!
This was an amazing experience. Especially during Durga Puja, visiting those old "bari"s in Kolkata undoubtedly added a special showcase in my memory.
Here is the album: Flickr Album
Monday, October 19, 2015
Kolkata pandal-hopping on maha-sasthi
Durga puja is like new year to us. We, the bongo-sontans*, plan everything for these five days. There is absolutely no comparison between Durga puja in Kolkata and anywhere else in the world. After 12 years finally I had the chance to do pandal-hopping on maha-sasthi day of Durga Puja. I got down at Kalighat by metro and started walking. It was a really awesome experience after so many years. It took me about five hours to cover my area of interest and finally ended up at Jadavpur thana. The entire walk made me so nostalgic. Weather was not so bad, little humid though. Mudiali, Seba sangha, Gorchha, Madox Square, Hindustan Park, Ballygunge cultural, Tridhara, Ekdalia, Singhi park, 95 Palli, Jodhpur park, Babubagan, Selimpur and others were among those. Theme based puja now a days is very popular. Decoration was gorgeous. I also tried to take a peek at the tallest Durga in Deshpriya park, but due to huge crowd the police closed it for public viewing. Smell of the street foods, road side merchandize stalls, sounds of dhaak, exciting faces of teenagers - everything was just so Kolkata-ish :) It was an one-of-a-kind experience that took me 12 years back in time, reminding me of those college days in Kolkata - our ever-special kollolini tilottoma.
*bongo-sontans = bengali-kids
Here is the map:
Here is the album: Flickr Album
*bongo-sontans = bengali-kids
Here is the map:
Here is the album: Flickr Album
Wednesday, September 9, 2015
Voyageurs NP and Porcupine Mountains SP
Day 0 and Day 1
Labor day long weekend is the last long holidays before Thanksgiving. This time I thought I would visit Minnesota. So I planned a trip to Voyageurs National Park. It is about 10hrs drive from my place. As the name suggested this park is primarily built for accessing through boats. As I could not do much of the water activities, I thought a visit to a very popular state park in Michigan - Porcupine Mountains State Park (a.k.a Porkies) would compensate that :)
I did few hiking trails in Voyageurs. Most craziest things were colorful mushrooms. They were everywhere. I was really fascinated by their gorgeous colors. Not many ppl actually were hiking in those trails, so I enjoyed the serene beauty of mother nature. It has been raining during that week, so the color of the leaves in the trees, color of the moss and of course the smell of the soil after the fresh rain were spectacular.
To my surprise, two of my old friends (who now live in Minnesota) agreed to join on a very short notice. They brought a bbq kit with them and after our hike we enjoyed bbqing in a picnic area. Oh! yes, it was lamb :)
I camped in the Echo lake area. As usual I got there when it was dark :P When I started to put my tent down, it started to drizzle. After an hour that drizzle became a thunderstorm. My poor tent somehow survived the whole night (I was surprised). I never realized that it could rain so hard !! This national park has five pack of wolves. So sleeping inside my tent with thunderstorm outside and listening to wolves howling -- it was quite an experience !
Next day I met Tim, Bret and another friend of them. They were from northwest side of Minnesota.
Tim and Bret were actually taking preparation for their upcoming marathon. I also met with the only bar owner in the town, Dan. He was very nice and kind enough to let me use his telephone to make a call.
Here are the pictures from the park Flickr Album
Day 2 and Day 3
Next day I drove another 5.5 hrs to reach Porcupine Mountains State Park in Upper peninsula, MI. This is a state park right next to lake superior, the largest of the great lakes in North America. It was five already, so I quickly put down my stuffs in the designated camping spot and started hiking so that I can see some waterfalls.
The campground was beautiful. It is in the west side of the park and called Presque Isle campground.
But again thunderstorm came to sing with me but this time with a larger musical band. Around 2am in the morning I discovered that I was floating with my sleeping pad inside my tent, water everywhere. I was cold too. So I had to abandon the plan to sleeping inside the tent for rest of the night. Instead I went and slept inside my car :)
Next morning I did few hikes. Among them, Lake of the clouds was really pretty. Around 3pm I got really hungry and was looking for food inside the park. But I was unable to find a place to eat. I planned to drive a bit outside (towards Silver city) and discovered an awesome roadside food stall "Curbside Kitchen". Foods were delicious. This was a homemade food joint that run by Nancy and Bob, who were super nice.
After that, I went to the beach along the superior lake and Iron river. The color of the water at the junction were really cool. Then I went inside the park again and did my final trail to the summit peak observation tower to take a look at the park from high above. It was very beautiful. I could sense that the fall has started and the color of the leaves will begin to change soon. Undoubtedly, this park will be a gorgeous place to witness the fall colors. I got back home around 12 am and with my leftover lunch I finished the day with a great dinner :)
Here are the pictures from the park Flickr Album
Labor day long weekend is the last long holidays before Thanksgiving. This time I thought I would visit Minnesota. So I planned a trip to Voyageurs National Park. It is about 10hrs drive from my place. As the name suggested this park is primarily built for accessing through boats. As I could not do much of the water activities, I thought a visit to a very popular state park in Michigan - Porcupine Mountains State Park (a.k.a Porkies) would compensate that :)
I did few hiking trails in Voyageurs. Most craziest things were colorful mushrooms. They were everywhere. I was really fascinated by their gorgeous colors. Not many ppl actually were hiking in those trails, so I enjoyed the serene beauty of mother nature. It has been raining during that week, so the color of the leaves in the trees, color of the moss and of course the smell of the soil after the fresh rain were spectacular.
To my surprise, two of my old friends (who now live in Minnesota) agreed to join on a very short notice. They brought a bbq kit with them and after our hike we enjoyed bbqing in a picnic area. Oh! yes, it was lamb :)
I camped in the Echo lake area. As usual I got there when it was dark :P When I started to put my tent down, it started to drizzle. After an hour that drizzle became a thunderstorm. My poor tent somehow survived the whole night (I was surprised). I never realized that it could rain so hard !! This national park has five pack of wolves. So sleeping inside my tent with thunderstorm outside and listening to wolves howling -- it was quite an experience !
Next day I met Tim, Bret and another friend of them. They were from northwest side of Minnesota.
Tim and Bret were actually taking preparation for their upcoming marathon. I also met with the only bar owner in the town, Dan. He was very nice and kind enough to let me use his telephone to make a call.
Here are the pictures from the park Flickr Album
Day 2 and Day 3
Next day I drove another 5.5 hrs to reach Porcupine Mountains State Park in Upper peninsula, MI. This is a state park right next to lake superior, the largest of the great lakes in North America. It was five already, so I quickly put down my stuffs in the designated camping spot and started hiking so that I can see some waterfalls.
The campground was beautiful. It is in the west side of the park and called Presque Isle campground.
But again thunderstorm came to sing with me but this time with a larger musical band. Around 2am in the morning I discovered that I was floating with my sleeping pad inside my tent, water everywhere. I was cold too. So I had to abandon the plan to sleeping inside the tent for rest of the night. Instead I went and slept inside my car :)
Next morning I did few hikes. Among them, Lake of the clouds was really pretty. Around 3pm I got really hungry and was looking for food inside the park. But I was unable to find a place to eat. I planned to drive a bit outside (towards Silver city) and discovered an awesome roadside food stall "Curbside Kitchen". Foods were delicious. This was a homemade food joint that run by Nancy and Bob, who were super nice.
After that, I went to the beach along the superior lake and Iron river. The color of the water at the junction were really cool. Then I went inside the park again and did my final trail to the summit peak observation tower to take a look at the park from high above. It was very beautiful. I could sense that the fall has started and the color of the leaves will begin to change soon. Undoubtedly, this park will be a gorgeous place to witness the fall colors. I got back home around 12 am and with my leftover lunch I finished the day with a great dinner :)
Here are the pictures from the park Flickr Album
Saturday, August 15, 2015
Air & Water Show, Chicago
I went to the 57th Annual Chicago Air and Water Show (August 15 & 16, 2015) [official link]. Amazing skills were shown by those brave pilots. It was really an awesome show.
Here is the Flickr Album.
Wednesday, August 12, 2015
Seattle - Cityscape
Last week I was in Seattle. It is a beautiful city with an old touch.
The roads, markets, food reminded me of Kolkata. I roamed around the city and took some pictures.
There are so many interesting people all over the town. Musics and street foods were very cool !!
I really enjoyed my stay :-)
Here are the pictures: Flickr Album
The roads, markets, food reminded me of Kolkata. I roamed around the city and took some pictures.
There are so many interesting people all over the town. Musics and street foods were very cool !!
I really enjoyed my stay :-)
Here are the pictures: Flickr Album
Olympic National Park
Olympic National Park is located in the state of Washington, in the Olympic Peninsula.
The park has many regions:
Pacific shorelines, Alpine/sub-alpine areas, Temperate rainforest and Valley.
Here are the pictures: Flickr Album
The park has many regions:
Pacific shorelines, Alpine/sub-alpine areas, Temperate rainforest and Valley.
Here are the pictures: Flickr Album
Monday, July 13, 2015
Square Roots Festival @OTS
Old Town School Of Folk Music organizes this Square Roots Festival every year over the weekend (This year 10th-12th July).
Lots of music, musical workshops, performance, kids activities, foods, shops !!
Flickr Album
Lots of music, musical workshops, performance, kids activities, foods, shops !!
Flickr Album
Wednesday, July 8, 2015
Saturday, July 4, 2015
Independence day celebration @ Chicago
4th of July Fireworks display at Navy Pier. We gathered at Adler Planetarium's ground to catch sight of it :-)
Here are few pictures: Flickr Album
Here are few pictures: Flickr Album
Friday, July 3, 2015
Wednesday, May 27, 2015
Great Plains @ Western South Dakota
I was planning to go to Badlands since I moved here in Chicago area. But somehow it was not happening. But this time, I got company and we drove to South Dakota finally.
Our goal was to visit Custer State park, Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse and of course Badlands NP.
We saw lots of wildlife both in the state park and in the national park as well.
We had to face rain and cloudy sky multiple times but due to crazy light and shadow setting some of the pictures turned out very interesting.
Here are the picture albums:
Also check out Abhishek's album on Flickr : Album
Our goal was to visit Custer State park, Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse and of course Badlands NP.
We saw lots of wildlife both in the state park and in the national park as well.
We had to face rain and cloudy sky multiple times but due to crazy light and shadow setting some of the pictures turned out very interesting.
It was a long drive but paid off really really well :) Badlands is a beautiful gorgeous national park and perfectly justify its name :) [ I am giving it a nickname - "Bindaas Badlands"].
We camped for 2 days - one night at state park and another night at Badlands. Both campsites were very nice and well equipped. There was light/medium rain in the night while we were at our tent trying to sleep. In fact rain sound was rather relaxing and helped us to sleep well :) [or we were extremely tired, who knows ]
On the second night of our camping we had to eat outside of the park. There is a tiny city [population is only 67] called Interior. We went to a local bar [Horseshoe bar] and owner baked us a pizza :) and there were 7 people in that bar [ so ~10% of total population :P]. We met two other persons there - Martina and one of her friends [Carmelita ?]. They informed us about a good breakfast service in the park and we had that in the next morning and that was pretty good.
We reached home at 3:30 am after a 12-hour drive :) Altogether we had to drive 2000+ miles in this trip :)
Here are the picture albums:
Custer State Park: Flickr Album
Badlands National Park: Flickr Album
Also check out Abhishek's album on Flickr : Album
Tuesday, May 12, 2015
Mount Mitchell State Park @NC
Blue Ridge parkway is one of the beautiful driveways in the East coast. We went to Mount Mitchell State Park/Black mountain area last week. We camped one night at the state park and another night at Curtis Creek (in Pisgah National Forest). Weather was wonderful.
We met two very interesting persons - David and Dennis.
David is an adventurer, photographer, blogger and nomad (according to his card). He is traveling with his motorcycle.
Dennis volunteers to host in Curtis Creek campsite. He practically lives there with his family.
Here are some pictures:
We met two very interesting persons - David and Dennis.
David is an adventurer, photographer, blogger and nomad (according to his card). He is traveling with his motorcycle.
Dennis volunteers to host in Curtis Creek campsite. He practically lives there with his family.
Here are some pictures:
Friday, April 3, 2015
Macy's Flower Show @ Chicago
Macy's annual flower show at Chicago was a very interesting flower show - an art-style theme based. They named it - "ART in BLOOM". Below are the artistic styles that they displayed with map.
It was a indoor show with really really bright lights. So the color/contrast adjustment in camera was a nightmare for me. But anyway here are some pictures. I really liked the concept of this show.
It was a indoor show with really really bright lights. So the color/contrast adjustment in camera was a nightmare for me. But anyway here are some pictures. I really liked the concept of this show.
Flickr Album
Friday, March 27, 2015
Orchid Show at CBG
Chicago Botanic Garden had an Orchid show. Here are some pictures Photos - Flickr
The Big Island of Hawaii
I had a chance to go to big island of Hawaii earlier this year (4-12th Jan).
It is an amazing place with the active volcanos, green landscape, shoreline, colored beaches (black/green/white/yellow) and of course fascinating people. To me it is like a compact form of our Earth :) in miniature version.
It was a very nice trip and my first time to any island.
My friend Emily was my travel buddy with whom I did multiple cool trips before. Check out her travel blog for details on this trip. We had lot of fun there.
http://vegandtravel.blogspot.com/2015/02/happiness-in-hawaii.html
We camped at four different places to explore various unique parts/features of this island.
Some of the unique experience that I had - volcano hiking, swimming with sea turtle, swimming with dolphin, spotting whales. There were so much to do in a single trip.
Weather was super good !!! [specially when u compare the same time in Chicago :P]
I really enjoyed the beautiful green landscapes, tropical fruits, tropical flowers, colorful birds. All of the campsites were next to the pacific shoreline so we caught beautiful sunrise on few days :)
I tried to capture whatever I could but honestly it was too much for a machine.
You have to be there in order to appreciate the true beauty of the mother nature.
We met many interesting people on island -
Debra - She was in charge of the parking lot of the hotel I was staying at Kona. On the first night, I got there late at night and could not find any place to grab food. She was the person who gave me the address of the place that was open at that late hour and told me to try Katsu chicken. Although I ate pizza that time but I tried it later and found that it's a very nice dish and very similar to small Chicken Cutlet [friends from my state will know this :) ].
Our first Coconut man [forgot to ask his name] - who was in Chicago many years ago [what a coincidence !] and he still has a poster from Chicago Blues festival !!!
Ethan - our second coconut man [this time we asked his name]. He and his girlfriend (who is from Vermont) were volunteering in a local farm. He truly understood the type of the young coconut we were looking for. It was very refreshing.
Von - She runs a local restaurant where we had local fish curry, Indian style. She was very nice to give us some advice on sightseeing but I think she was too worried about safety on campsites in general.
Travis - I named him "The rocking ranger" of Volcanoes National Park. He was an awesome storyteller. We stood there and listened to his talk which was mostly about geographic/geologic/historical information on Hawaii volcanoes. His father was a surfer in the island and his childhood was spent on this island, so he had lot of stories to share and I was really mesmerized by all of his short stories.
Dan - On the last day of camping we met this person. He was in charge of the camping ground. On all other campsites, we could not find any body to show our permit. So I was excited to find one person to show the permit at last :) He showed us a good place near camp to watch dolphins and in the morning I saw there a flock of them swimming. He also suggested to go to Two-steps for snorkeling.
Well now the pictures. I arranged them in 3 parts.
First set is from my dslr.
It is an amazing place with the active volcanos, green landscape, shoreline, colored beaches (black/green/white/yellow) and of course fascinating people. To me it is like a compact form of our Earth :) in miniature version.
It was a very nice trip and my first time to any island.
My friend Emily was my travel buddy with whom I did multiple cool trips before. Check out her travel blog for details on this trip. We had lot of fun there.
http://vegandtravel.blogspot.com/2015/02/happiness-in-hawaii.html
We camped at four different places to explore various unique parts/features of this island.
Some of the unique experience that I had - volcano hiking, swimming with sea turtle, swimming with dolphin, spotting whales. There were so much to do in a single trip.
Weather was super good !!! [specially when u compare the same time in Chicago :P]
I really enjoyed the beautiful green landscapes, tropical fruits, tropical flowers, colorful birds. All of the campsites were next to the pacific shoreline so we caught beautiful sunrise on few days :)
I tried to capture whatever I could but honestly it was too much for a machine.
You have to be there in order to appreciate the true beauty of the mother nature.
We met many interesting people on island -
Debra - She was in charge of the parking lot of the hotel I was staying at Kona. On the first night, I got there late at night and could not find any place to grab food. She was the person who gave me the address of the place that was open at that late hour and told me to try Katsu chicken. Although I ate pizza that time but I tried it later and found that it's a very nice dish and very similar to small Chicken Cutlet [friends from my state will know this :) ].
Our first Coconut man [forgot to ask his name] - who was in Chicago many years ago [what a coincidence !] and he still has a poster from Chicago Blues festival !!!
Ethan - our second coconut man [this time we asked his name]. He and his girlfriend (who is from Vermont) were volunteering in a local farm. He truly understood the type of the young coconut we were looking for. It was very refreshing.
Von - She runs a local restaurant where we had local fish curry, Indian style. She was very nice to give us some advice on sightseeing but I think she was too worried about safety on campsites in general.
Travis - I named him "The rocking ranger" of Volcanoes National Park. He was an awesome storyteller. We stood there and listened to his talk which was mostly about geographic/geologic/historical information on Hawaii volcanoes. His father was a surfer in the island and his childhood was spent on this island, so he had lot of stories to share and I was really mesmerized by all of his short stories.
Dan - On the last day of camping we met this person. He was in charge of the camping ground. On all other campsites, we could not find any body to show our permit. So I was excited to find one person to show the permit at last :) He showed us a good place near camp to watch dolphins and in the morning I saw there a flock of them swimming. He also suggested to go to Two-steps for snorkeling.
Well now the pictures. I arranged them in 3 parts.
First set is from my dslr.
Second set consists of photos from my underwater camera while I snorkeled.
There are many great places to snorkel but we found two-steps (Honaunau Bay at South Kona, near city of refuge) is one of the best places to go for. Many locals have suggested that one too.
Finally in the third set, I have few underwater videos. Here is the youtube playlist link -
Friday, February 13, 2015
UT/AZ trip
I visited Arches NP/Capital reef NP/Canyonlands NP/Moab/Monument valley and Saguaro NP with my three friends. It was an awesome trip. Although little cold, but views were just simply stunning :-)
Flickr album
Flickr album
Monday, January 26, 2015
Monday, September 1, 2014
Indiana Dunes
I went hiking in Indiana dunes. weather was really nice. Wonderful wildflowers.
Flickr Album
Saturday, August 30, 2014
State Parks @ IL
Summer in IL is quite enjoyable. James visited me from finally and we went camping to Starved rock state park. There is another state park nearby, Matthiessen state park.
Hiking trails were beautiful in both the parks. Although Starved rock is the most popular park here, but we liked the other one. It is only approximately 2 hrs of driving from my place. The nearby town is Utica. This has the smallest downtown I have ever seen :)
Hiking trails were beautiful in both the parks. Although Starved rock is the most popular park here, but we liked the other one. It is only approximately 2 hrs of driving from my place. The nearby town is Utica. This has the smallest downtown I have ever seen :)
Flickr album
Monday, June 30, 2014
Wednesday, June 25, 2014
Skydeck and architecture tour in Chicago
For the first time, I went to the Skydeck in Willis tower and rode the boat for a nice architecture tour here in Chicago. The best part was to watch a storm that was building up in the north-west side of it from America's tallest building.
After that, I took the architecture tour and the timing was perfect. Sky and skylines, both were really gorgeous :)
Flickr album
After that, I took the architecture tour and the timing was perfect. Sky and skylines, both were really gorgeous :)
Flickr album
Camping trip @ Cuyahoga Valley NP in Ohio
We went for a camping trip in Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Ohio. It is by the side of Cuyahoga river - the "Crooked River". Ohio & Erie canalway byway also runs through the park.
We reached Boston store visitor center on Saturday at 4:00 am. Surprisingly and fortunately, there was a "photo walk" (around 4:45 am) by the Cuyahoga Valley Photographic Society, I went with them to take pictures of wildflowers. It was a wonderful experience. I met so many people who are avid photographers and naturalists.
The two main flowers in this seasons are daisy (they are about to go) and black-eyed Susan (about to reach the pick). We followed the Buckeye Trail which was covered with these flowers in both sides.
We talked to one of the super-enthusiastic visitor center guides. She gave us really wonderful suggestion / info about the park.
We went to Ledges trail, Brandywine Gorge Trail and brandywine waterfalls, Blue Hen waterfalls, Indigo lake, Beaver Marsh. (total may be around 8 mile).
I tried to jam with someone named Steve who was also there with his guitar :) I wish I had my recorded with me :( On that night, we camped at Standford campsite (Site #5).
On Sunday, we first saw an art exhibition by local artists. There were lot of good paintings. Importantly, I saw few wonderful with soft pastels.
We biked along the main trail of the park - Towpath trail (around 12 mile) and then took the scenic train ride from Rockside station and got down at Peninsula where we rented our bike (from Century Cycles) and parked our car. The best part is that you can put your bike on the train and pay only 3$ for one-side journey :) It is called "Bike the Trail, Ride the Rail !".
Overall, it was a wonderful trip :) and here are some pictures I took there
Flickr album
We reached Boston store visitor center on Saturday at 4:00 am. Surprisingly and fortunately, there was a "photo walk" (around 4:45 am) by the Cuyahoga Valley Photographic Society, I went with them to take pictures of wildflowers. It was a wonderful experience. I met so many people who are avid photographers and naturalists.
The two main flowers in this seasons are daisy (they are about to go) and black-eyed Susan (about to reach the pick). We followed the Buckeye Trail which was covered with these flowers in both sides.
We talked to one of the super-enthusiastic visitor center guides. She gave us really wonderful suggestion / info about the park.
We went to Ledges trail, Brandywine Gorge Trail and brandywine waterfalls, Blue Hen waterfalls, Indigo lake, Beaver Marsh. (total may be around 8 mile).
I tried to jam with someone named Steve who was also there with his guitar :) I wish I had my recorded with me :( On that night, we camped at Standford campsite (Site #5).
On Sunday, we first saw an art exhibition by local artists. There were lot of good paintings. Importantly, I saw few wonderful with soft pastels.
We biked along the main trail of the park - Towpath trail (around 12 mile) and then took the scenic train ride from Rockside station and got down at Peninsula where we rented our bike (from Century Cycles) and parked our car. The best part is that you can put your bike on the train and pay only 3$ for one-side journey :) It is called "Bike the Trail, Ride the Rail !".
Overall, it was a wonderful trip :) and here are some pictures I took there
Flickr album
Tuesday, June 3, 2014
National Seashores @ Michigan
I went for a 2-day-Camping trip with one of my friends.
We visited Pictured rock national seashore and Sleeping bear dunes national seashore.
We visited Pictured rock national seashore and Sleeping bear dunes national seashore.
Link to Flickr album
Sunday, May 4, 2014
Tulip Festival @ Holland, Michigan
Visited on 4th May. It was a bright sunny day in this little town Holland :)
Tulips were not in full bloom though, but still it was really colorful, specially the Dutch village :)
Tulips were not in full bloom though, but still it was really colorful, specially the Dutch village :)
click here for the album in Flickr
Friday, January 3, 2014
Sunday, September 8, 2013
Sunday, August 18, 2013
Chicago Botanic Garden - 08.16.13
Beautiful garden close to my place. I spent 3 hours which is not at all sufficient to cover even half of that garden. Colorful flowers, different birds.I spent at least 30 min taking pictures of humming birds and American Goldfinch (I think). They were gorgeous.
Here is the website : Chicago Botanic Garden
I got few interesting pictures of Humming birds. There were at least 4 of them, chasing each other :-)
here are few pictures:
Finally there were few American Goldfinch (I think). I aimed at particular one and took a bunch of pics of it :-)
Here is the link for the bird: American Goldfinch
Thursday, May 16, 2013
Gainesville to Chicago via Niagara :-)
It was an interesting road trip (May 06 - May 14) with my parents and my junior friends. The summary of the itinerary was something like the following --
Gainesville -> crossed Georgia and South Carolina -> Enter North Carolina -> Asheville -> entry to the blue ridge parkway near the folk art center -> various overlooks -> Mount Mitchell state park -> Linville Falls -> Left the blue ridge on right near Boone and took I-81 -> Crossed Virginia ->Shenandoah Valley ->Winchester -> Washington DC reached via 495 -> city tour -> Delaware to mom's friends house -> New Jersey -> NYC through Lincoln Tunnel -> night Grayline bus tour -> crossed Pennsylvania state -> Upstate New York -> Corning Glass Museum near Ithaca -> Watkins Glen State park -> one of the Finger Lake park -> Drive to Buffalo for Niagara Falls -> Drive to Cleveland, OH via I-86 / I-90 to visit Dad's friend for lunch -> Drive through I-90 -> crossed Indiana -> reached Chicago, IL -> flew back from Chicago to Orlando, FL -> drive back home.
Approximate Driving Route/Map:
Click Here to see Road trip Pictures
Gainesville -> crossed Georgia and South Carolina -> Enter North Carolina -> Asheville -> entry to the blue ridge parkway near the folk art center -> various overlooks -> Mount Mitchell state park -> Linville Falls -> Left the blue ridge on right near Boone and took I-81 -> Crossed Virginia ->Shenandoah Valley ->Winchester -> Washington DC reached via 495 -> city tour -> Delaware to mom's friends house -> New Jersey -> NYC through Lincoln Tunnel -> night Grayline bus tour -> crossed Pennsylvania state -> Upstate New York -> Corning Glass Museum near Ithaca -> Watkins Glen State park -> one of the Finger Lake park -> Drive to Buffalo for Niagara Falls -> Drive to Cleveland, OH via I-86 / I-90 to visit Dad's friend for lunch -> Drive through I-90 -> crossed Indiana -> reached Chicago, IL -> flew back from Chicago to Orlando, FL -> drive back home.
Approximate Driving Route/Map:
Click Here to see Road trip Pictures
Monday, April 8, 2013
Bird watching
I went for bird watching yesterday (7th April) early morning with my friends. We saw different kind of birds - cardinal, red-winged black birds, sparrow, crane, pileated woodpecker, Blue Jay, Vireo, American crow, Carolina Chikadee, various warblers, robin, Towhee, northern perula.
Interestingly, I took a green frog's picture (below). The skin was kind of sticky !
Interestingly, I took a green frog's picture (below). The skin was kind of sticky !
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Sunset Series
Another gorgeous sunset today :)
March 31 - Hawthorne Trail - First overlook @ 7:37 pm (with Polarizer)
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Everglades trip
We went to Everglades/Key Largo for 4 days camping trip (25th Dec - 29th Dec).
Some selected photos are uploaded here in the following flickr link.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/subho_lens/sets/72157632401591133/
Some selected photos are uploaded here in the following flickr link.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/subho_lens/sets/72157632401591133/
Monday, November 19, 2012
Shenondoah National Park
We went there on Oct 19th. Beautiful weather and gorgeous view everywhere :)
Pensacola trip
I went to my friend's place in Pensacola. It was really beautiful. White sands / bright sunlight and lot of fun :)
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
walking through the Art Loeb Trail ...
Art Loeb Trail, Black Balsam Area, Pisgah National Forest, NC
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Art Loeb trail - Pisgah National Forest (NC)
Trip :Black Balsam Knob and Rainbow Falls (27th July-29th July)
Beautiful view from our campsite.
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Monday, July 9, 2012
Pictures from my latest trip in -
Sedona/Antelope/Grand/Zion/Bryce Canyon; Grand teton/Yellowstone/Rocky
Album shared in Flickr
Friday, May 4, 2012
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