Ten things that made Independence day memorable!

We went on a short trip to Santa Barbara for the July 4th long weekend. Below are the highlights of the trip...

1. ATVs – This was the highlight of the trip. We left early morning to rent All Terrain Vehicles at Pismo Beach. After a quick training session, we rode the ATVs to the sand duney shore by the ocean. It took me some time to get a hang of it, but once I got it.. I had fun riding along the ever changing, uneven sandy terrains
2. Introductions – I got a chance to meet so many new people. It was fun to hang out with such high-spirited, no-drama, friendly people
3. Food – Loved the Mexican food/Perfect Margarita at Pismo Beach. The breakfast at the Budget Café in Lompoc was really good as well. It was just like a home cooked IHOP, but so much better
4. Catching up with Swapna (after a long time) – I finally met Swapna after one year and some months :)
5. Hike – This was practically the first proper hike for me. (I won't count the flat ones I have done before) It was a hot California day. The goal was to reach the hill top cz it's from there you can see the main attraction - the view, as they call it.
6. Wine tasting, and more food – After the hike we reached Solvang. I had a chance to try French Food for the very first time. It was different but good. I ordered a sausage that came with some kind of salad and fried potatoes. Post food, we went for wine tasting. Seven different wines, seven different tastes, seven different ways they were prepared… loved it! Ended up bringing one home…
7. Santa Barbara Downtown – Little but very charming downtown. It's more like a cluster of Spanish low rise buildings – stores, restaurants, some offices. Stopped at Java Jones for coffee, loved the ambiance, and of course the coffee as well :)
8. Fireworks – For the first time ever I got a chance to see Independence day fireworks. And what could be better than watching it from a pier? Good show, good company and what made it even better was the reflections of the fireworks in the water
9. Highway 101 – You will know what I am talking about, if you get a chance to drive on this highway during a pleasant day. You drive on a wide eight lane (I think) highway, which has perfectly blue ocean on one side and hills on the other!
10. Photography – I love taking pictures/getting pictures clicked :P Our group had three DSLRs and a couple of digital cameras for this trip. Result: lots and lots of pictures of all kinds - nature, people, places, things :)

Photography credits: Ram, Kevin and Vinay

Hollywood for you...

Los Angeles (aka LA) is a place you either absolutely love or absolutely hate! High crime rate, traffic crowd; but also beautiful people, huge houses, super cool cars, fashion, and money…

We reached LA around 2o’clock. So we started with lunch at an Indian restaurant - Rajdhani. It was pretty cool… you sit down and they will bring out utensils for you and start serving a million things – aloo tikki, kadhi, dal, mixed vegetable, aloo matar, dhokla, roti, poori, rice, chaaz, aamras, pickle, papad, salad etc. and then you will have a choice of dessert – gulab jamun, kulfi falooda, gajar ka halwa, besan halwa, lauki halwa etc. and I must say, the food you get here is the closet to what you get at home. Loved it!

(Rajdhani @ Arteisa)

(Such a pretty table :) )

(When was the last time you ate in steel utensils?)

(Mall @ Kodak Theater)

We parked at the Kodak theater, went around the mall a little bit and then decided to take a Starline tour. I highly recommend taking a tour, if you ever happen to go to LA. They took us around the ‘Walk of Fame’, the Chinese Theater, the celebrity houses – Jennifer Aniston, Courtney Cox, Tom Cruise, Jay Leno, Michael Jackson and other countless famous people. Sunset Boulevard – definitely worth driving around. It would be unfair if I don’t mention that the tour guide was so much fun! He would play music related to the place; giving you a little hint and having you guess what’s next. Like he played Mission Impossible theme track right around when we crossed Tom Cruise’s house and so on…

(Random picture at Hollywood)

(Walk of fame)

(Chinese Theater)

(Just for the Harry Potter lovers... Hand/Footprints of Harry Potter cast)

(Michael Jackson's House - thats all I could get from inside the van. For more click here)

One interesting thing I came to know about the Hollywood Sign – It was an advertisement for a housing development ‘Hollywood Land’. So when it was first put on the hills, it read (no marks for guessing) “Hollywood Land”. Only recently (in seventies I think) they changed it to Hollywood. Then the locals started playing around with the sign… the hippies made it HOLLYWEED and the saints made it HOLIWOOD. That’s when the state took over and decided that it needs surveillance. Also, by now the sign had started falling apart. To erect a new Hollywood sign, with good quality steel, a lot of money was needed. So different actors decided to buy the alphabets, each worth $28,000. So the money raised from that auction was used to erect a new sign with best quality steel.

(The famous Hollywood sign)

It was already dark by the time we returned from the tour. So we decided to get dinner at a (newly opened I guess) Mediterranean restaurant – which by the way sucked.

But our short trip to Hollywood ended there and we started driving back home :-)

TIP: Read a little bit about Sunset Boulevard/Hollywood before you actually visit. It will definitely be more fun to see stuff you know about. No research required… but just a little introduction