Balaji's Thots

National Parks are easily my favorite destinations when it comes to trips since within a reasonably small area, they provide many different landscapes and lots of opportunities to enjoy nature. So I was naturally thrilled when a National Park sprang up just 1 1/2 hours away from home. A few months ago, Pinnacles National Monument [...]

Another long weekend, another National Park… Over the Labor Day weekend, we visited Joshua Tree National Park in Southern California. While national parks usually raise visions of greenery and water with their plant life, lakes and waterfalls, Joshua Tree NP, which is spread over two deserts, offered a very different and unique experience.
We entered the [...]

Over the Memorial Day weekend, we visited Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks, 2 parks that have been on my must-see list for a long time now. Though the weather played spoilsport for a part of the trip, it was a nice trip that covered two beautiful, unique parks.
We took a break in the [...]

For me, waterfalls definitely occupy the top spot when it comes to enjoying nature. The itineraries of many of my trips are decided by the waterfalls in the vicinity of my destination and I try to see at least one on every trip. So one of my favorite local places is Uvas Canyon County Park, [...]

I’m in Japan now for a short business trip. I used to travel to Japan 3-4 times a year in my first job but my last 2 jobs have not had any travel and so I am back in Japan after more than 10 years. One of the things I remembered distinctly from my previous [...]

With the Hawaii trip not far behind us, the 4-day Thanksgiving weekend was spent at home with shopping, movies and family get-togethers filling up the days. The only outing we did was a trip with the cousins to Half Moon Bay yesterday for negative tide day.
There are apparently a few days in the year when [...]

Being in California, Hawaii is the closest ‘exotic’ destination for me. We’ve been to Maui and Oahu a long time ago and last week, we crossed another destination off our must-visit list as we took a trip to the Big Island with the cousins.

Our first stop after landing at the Kona airport was the Pu`uhonua [...]

This was a relatively low-key Labor Day weekend with only 1 day-trip over the long weekend.  But the trip, though planned at the last minute, was a fun outing for the entire family.

We drove to Calaveras Big Trees State Park, which as the name clearly indicates, is known for its giant trees (it could be [...]

While the last few blogging breaks have been due to blogger’s block or self-imposed exiles forced by other priorities like work, this most recent break was brought on by a trip to India. While nostalgia is an important component of all trips back to the homeland, the feeling was particularly strong during this trip [...]

Politics, sports and cinema are the three primary passions of Tamil Nadu. With the World Cup in full flow and the assembly elections drawing nearer, things are exciting in two of those arenas and so cinema has taken a backseat for a little while now.  Along with things being quiet on the Tamil cinema front, [...]