Florida trip

People : Sudharshan (scud, ashwin, whatever :p), Nadeem (naddy), Kiran, Manoj (mano, psycho, creamanups, createam, etc), and /me.

Dates: 22nd May - 26th May, 2009

Overall miles covered: ~1400.

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22nd May:
I reached FLL (Ft. Lauderdale) airport by 22nd 00:10AM. By the time I came out of terminal, Manoj called and told he too reached. It was more than an year since we met, hence had so many things to talk about. From school time to college to childhood :D well by the time we finished these, Kiran joined us, and we spent some more time (till 2:30AM) in airport. Later went to Denny's and hand omlettes, coffee and puppy pancakes. We stayed there even after Denny's people changed shifts. Discussions covered on travel, India, election etc etc..

Well, clock ticked 6:24 and Naddy and Scud called and told they have reached FLL. They came in the car, and had breakfast and we all left to NASA, Kennady Space Center, Orlando. Spent whole day there. It was fascinating to see the place from which most of the space ships have gone out.. heart of American Space program. Got experience of rocket launching. Went to Cocoa beach nearby in evening. After playing frisbee for some time on the sand, headed towards Tampa. Met with Scunder, Shilpa, Mayuresh at hotel. Had dinner, played cards slept.

23rd May:
Next day, went to clearwater beach, where I saw whitest and smoothest sands on seeshore. It started raining after a while, and we headed towards south, to Everglades. On the way, we visited two more beaches, in Saratoga. Siesta beach and another, where me kiran and scud swam for some time. (Scud, I am not going to say that super fast frisbee throw of yours which made it disappear in sea :D)

Then headed towards Florida City, through Everglades. We saw one nice bridge on the way, saw lot of fishing birds, their awesome dive, etc. While in everglades, made many stops, and spotted some allegators, along with many turtles, and birds. Had dinner with Scunder, Baji, Shilpa. Came back to hotel, played cards, Slept.

24th May:
Got up, got ready, headed to Key Largos State Park, Registered there for Scuba diving. Dave (BIG WAVE DAVE as per his name plate on chest) was our guide. Saw videos of scuba diving, got instructions, details of possible injuries, emergency measures etc. Then got into water, and went through the basic learning process. As it was just one guide and 4 of us learning (and Naddy was already certified), it was very late by the time we finished training, and we had to get ready to dive. Missed lunch (well, I had a banana). Went in the diving boat, and it was open sea 3 miles away from shores (well, depth was ~30-40ft), and we had to dive in the water with oxygen cylinders. It was first time for 4 of us, and 3 of us not so good swimmers. By the time we could understand buoyancy control, It was a mess around there as some of us were going up, some going down. Dave got pissed and took us back to boat. Our next dive was near Statue of Jesus, where we did little better and touched around 30ft down, stayed inside water for more than 30mins. Well, again, me and Mano screwed up with buoyancy and Dave pulled us back to boat.
Over all, an awesome experience. Got a certificate from PADI saying I did a open water scuba diving :D

Went to hotel, tired. Had dinner, played cards, slept.

25th May:
Headed towards Key West, 3hrs drive. Booked in FURY water adventure sports package. Did parasailing (two times, with Manoj once, and with Kiran once), swam in sea water, climbed iceburg (artificial, made of rubber, and had hooks to climb), did solo kayaking. Did Jetski, liked it a lot, need more control on the handles. Had lunch on the boat itself, and then headed to snorkeling in coral reef. It was good, but I prefer Andaman's corel reefs much better as it had more type of corels and is more colour full. Beer was free after all this, had some. Met Sowmya and Co. on the same boat. Roamed around KeyWest, Took photos at Southern most point of Continental USA, which is just 90miles to Cuba. Drove back to hotel, was tired, so slept early.

26th May:
Left hotel early, headed towards Everglades, saw lot of wildlife, plenty of Anhinga, allegators, other birds. Visited Flamingo visitor center, and on the way back, Had ಎಳೆನೀರು, ಕಬ್ಬಿನ ಹಾಲು, ಮಾವಿನ ಹಣ್ಣು :D maja bantu :-)
after all this, headed towards Miami, visited south beach, and some minor beaches around. It was all nice, but couldn't spend time there as our flight time was getting closer. Dropped Manoj to airport, headed to Dania beach next to FLL airport, had food, came back to airport.

Flight got delayed, missed connecting flight by 10mins at Phoenix, and had to sleep at the airport. So tired that I could easily get good sleep on the chairs itself.

27th May:
First flight to SFO, came home, dropped Gowda to SFO airport, went to office, and back to busy working life :D

Photos from Scud's Album : Here
Photos from Kiran's Album: Here

Travel Itinerary:


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Called it Trip J.. and now Mount Whitney calling...

Boston visit

I visited boston this weekend (04/30 - 05/03), as I had to attend my cousin/friend Shilpa's graduation day at Northeastern University.
While going it was one stop flight, changed over at Denver.

Met Sowmya after a long time (around 7yrs). It was my first experience with graduation ceremony. Liked it, though it was bit boring.
Visited Harvard University, and later went to Quincy Market. It was fun.