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

Cloud Gate

This is Chicago's "Cloud Gate". [with 60D/10mm]. From two different angles.

Indiana Dunes

I went hiking in Indiana dunes. weather was really nice. Wonderful wildflowers. 

Flickr Album

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 :)

Flickr album

tokhon bikel ...

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 

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

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.

Link to Flickr album

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 :)

click here for the album in Flickr

Camping Trip ( 24th Dec - 31st Dec )

http://www.flickr.com/photos/subho_lens/sets/72157639295259726/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/subho_lens/sets/72157639300249754/

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/subho_lens/sets/72157639381723553/

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/subho_lens/sets/72157639381461974/

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/subho_lens/sets/72157639300450015/

Fall color - Wisconsin - Peninsula State Park

A Day Hike

Davil's Lake, WI - a day hike

2013 summer trip @ Northwest US

Photos from trip to Northwest: Flickr Album

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.

Perfect place for evening biking but I did not take mine. So next time I will take my bike along and hopefully cover the other part of the park.
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

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

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 !

  

Sunset Series

Another gorgeous sunset today :)

March 31 - Hawthorne Trail - First overlook @ 7:37 pm (with Polarizer)

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/

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 :)

walking through the Art Loeb Trail ...

      

Art Loeb Trail, Black Balsam Area, Pisgah National Forest, NC

Art Loeb trail - Pisgah National Forest (NC)

Trip :Black Balsam Knob and Rainbow Falls (27th July-29th July)
Beautiful view from our campsite.

First HDR

Pictures from my latest trip in - 

Sedona/Antelope/Grand/Zion/Bryce Canyon; Grand teton/Yellowstone/Rocky

Album shared in Flickr

one of my best friends :)

Harn Museum - Cofrin Asian Art Wing opening event

SwallowTail Farm

after rain ... from my lab

those leaves ...