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Yellowstone has been on my to-see list for a while. 2020 has been weird, and was hesitant to travel for a while. I broke.
I hadn’t seen family for a while, and thought a drive to Colorado with stops in Yellowstone and Glacier is exactly what I needed.
Day 1 The plan was to get to Colorado from Seattle ASAP, which means a long drive to stop at Nampa, ID.
My 2019 vacation to India had to be extended. On my way back to Seattle, I decided to stop at Vietnam with Surbhi. This was a pretty relaxing trip - did not want to stretch my schedule like I usually do. Because of that, I got to enjoy a lot of vietnamese food. Being a vegan in Vietnam is so easy - seitan supply is plenty and delicious! It also felt like India in many respects - food is flavorful, people are friendly and the weather is similar.
Heather lake on a clear day. Did I lose the other images? Oof.
I remember this area, and just feeling happy.
4.6 miles, roundtrip 1050 ft elevation gain Landscape
I had visited Summit Lake a few months ago, but decided to be back on a clear day. Well, I’m glad I did! Hiked this with my sister - the wild flowers, blueberries, the lake, with Rainier watching over all of this at a distance, made the hike worthwhile the second time! :)
6 miles, roundtrip 1300 ft elevation gain Lake
Rainer
This was the first time in many years that I got to travel with my sister, who recently graduated (congratulations, Pajju!). :) In the process, scratch off another state off my to-see list. Summer is a great time to be in Alaska. I did NOT expect it to be so warm up there. It felt, “normal”.
Matanuska Glacier We started our trip by walking on some glaciers, and learning a lot along the way.
I decided to hike up Mt Ellinor over the weekend. The views from the top was surreal - seeing the mist and cloud below us! I also witnessed some mountain goats, which are not typical in this region. Passing the goats on the trail was interesting. They are pretty strong, and you don’t want to accidentally aggravate a mountain goat next to their young ones!
I talked to a few folks on the trail who looked like they were working about the mountain goats.
The long weekend is here! Decided to drive to oregon and chill over the weekend with Shreyas.
Angel’s rest: Hike by the columbia river separating Oregon and Washington. Also, witnessed some burnt trees - it was quite eerie walking by the scene of dead, burnt trees. Did a wildfire take place recently? Most likely. Global warming, sigh. Drink lots of wine and be merry Eat vegan voodoo donuts and balance out the calories lost over the hike.
Exactly one week earlier, I hiked up Crystal Lake and it looked like summer is here. And PNW was like, NO! Summit lake hike was misty AF - with visibility of less than a 100 ft or so. Regardless, it was a surreal experience, and I will be back when the weather is better!
Another strange thing happened on this hike. The road to get there was in a terrible shape.
Crystal lake summit is a pleasant hike. Since it wasn’t too sunny thanks to the trees, I decided to run up the trail!
9 miles, roundtrip 2300 ft elevation gain Chinook pass
Flower
Stream
Trail
A pleasant day to hike up Dirty Harry’s balcony in the cascades with Shreyas.
This was around the time I really started taking online privacy seriously when someone started live streaming themselves on Facebook live on top of the hike. I asked them how they felt giving out personal data to another company, and they said that they didn’t care much. Sigh.
Regardless, the cascades on a sunny day - there’s nothing like it!
I <3 New Mexico and Texas! The region is beautiful everywhere you look, the food is great, and the people are friendly! Would go again 100%!
The plan was to cover as much as possible in the short duration I was there.
Day 1 Landed in ABQ, and started heading south. The main attractions that I was interested in were the white sands national monument, guadalupe, and the carlsbad caverns.
April - what a time to be at Yosemite! This became one leg of my time off, a much-needed break away from Seattle. I decided to stay at a hostel the night before and hung out with strangers at a bar (shout out to Jackass Hostel - highly recommend it). Since I did not have too much time at Yosemite, and because the half moon dome was too risky at the time of the year, I decided to hike Nevada falls via the John Muir trail.
3.2 miles, roundtrip 250 ft elevation gain With: Shreyas. Ebey’s landing is located along the Puget sound near Seattle, WA. It was a lazy Saturday afternoon, so Shreyas and I decided to build a rock tower by the beach.
The hike The hike itself was fairly flat, with a mild elevation gain at the start of the hike. The trail took us by the cliffs, overlooking the Puget sound. On the other side of the hike, we decided to build a rock tower before heading back along the beach to wrap up the first of many hikes in 2019!
In 2018, I focused on getting into shape, career, hiking and experimenting with cooking. At the end of the year, I was exhausted and couldn’t wait for a long vacation!
The plan The idea was to cover southern states of USA, because it was chilly in the north during the holiday season. After taking a look at the list of states to visit, a 14 day road trip from Nashville to New Orleans was on the table!
With: Nitin Patil Poo poo point is a gorgeous trail which is apparently accessible via horse and drone-friendly. xD
From the top, you can paraglide all the way back down - I’d love to try that one day!
Akshaya
Clouds
Greens
8.8 miles, roundtrip 2900 ft elevation gain The Hike My failed attempt at Lake Ingalls was bothering me. I took it upon myself to reach the top no matter what. With forest fires on the rise, the weather was smoggy. To make matters worse, it was cloudy. The hike was very scenic nonetheless - highly recommended.
Flora
Hike
Lake ingalls
9 miles, roundtrip 2700 ft elevation gain With: Shreyas, Willy, Karen and Ellie. There’s nothing like a Sunny day at Snow Lake. Gem lake turned out to be a hidden surprise.
Getting to the trail Shreyas and I were on our way soon after renting the car! A coffee break and a few bumpy roads later, we got to the trail head. We grouped with Willy, Karen, Ellie and their pet, Frank and hit the trail around 12pm.
I get to travel to different cities for interviewing. This time, it was Palo Alto. Might as well make the most of it and travel! :)
Day 1: Sausalito I got to experience some quality time with Surbhi. On the weekdays, I would be at work, so we could go out only in the evenings. We had some good Thai dinner and spent some time at the marina on the first day.
5 miles, roundtrip 2125 ft elevation gain With: Kartheek Murthy and Snigdha Goel. The Hike Mt Pilchuk is a relatively steep hike, mostly shaded. The trail ends with an old lookout that oversees multiple hills and mountains. The 360° views from the top are spectacular!
Akshaya climb
Akshaya sits
Panorama
8.5 miles, roundtrip 4000 ft elevation gain The Hike Oh boy, Mailbox peak is one of the hardest hikes I’ve done while writing this post. Most of the path is shaded. The end of the hike have boulders, and the famous mailbox at the top! I was pleasantly surprised to see a used router and a toy space needle on top of the mailbox and some beer bottles inside.
It’s been long since I met my school friends. What better way to reconnect than a road trip to Lake Tahoe, CA?!
The beautiful hikes, delicious food (yes, including vegan ice cream), dancing and quality time with friends makes this trip memorable.
Vidyadhar, if you’re reading this, NOT COOL that you didn’t show up! :p
Lake tahoe island
Lake tahoe lighthouse
Lake tahoe pier
I sometimes travel for business. This time, it was Phoenix, AZ. I did not expect Phoenix to be vibrant! I got to spend some time with my former manager, Ramesh K, and recruiter Thao Diep.
Phoenix Ramesh, Thao and I got to go out for dinner; and a First Friday which was festive with various artists performing live, showcasing their talents. Hiking the pinnacle peak with Ramesh was exciting, with the peak bring adrenaline rush and 360° views.
University of Washington during peak bloom of cherry blossoms is breath taking. People singing, dancing, students testing out drones, people posing (for Tinder?) and families having picnics at the quad was refreshing to see.
7.7 miles, roundtrip 2300 ft elevation gain Beautiful hike to Colchuck lake with Heather Lemaster. Also, saw a mountain goat saying “come at me, brah!”.
Heather
Lake
Mountain goat
Pacific North West is great during the summers. Shreyas, his friend and I hit the road for a camping trip that included a waterfall hike at Sol Duc, camp at PNW, hike at Neah Bay, hike at Ruby beach and hike at MaryMere falls.
Sol Duc Waterfall Akshaya
Waterfall
Waterfall front view
Ruby Beach Moon
Prabhjot travels to Seattle! What better way to spend time than on a hike! This time, we were joined by Nitin, Karthik and Sniggy! :) Seattle area experienced some wild fires around that time, so the pics look foggy.
The trail ends with a look out, with views of the lake with Rainer in the background.
Lookout
The gang
Wild flowers
11 miles, roundtrip 3900 ft elevation gain With: Karthik and Sniggy. Lake Blanca is a strenuous but beautiful hike. The altitude is pretty high, that there was still snow on the top in peak summer! This was the first time I hiked more than 3500 ft in elevation gain. Fun fact: after the hike, my legs were sore. I bought a foot massage machine off of Amazon without thinking twice.
Being a tourist in Seattle With: Surbhi Kamboj Being a new transplant in Seattle, Surbhi and I decided to be a tourist!
We took the Seattle city pass and went to -
Seattle Cruise Seattle Aquarium Space Needle Chihuli Glass Museum Museum of Pop Culture (MoPop) Aquarium
Aquarium colors
Aquarium jelly fish
Chihuli 1
With Surbhi Kamboj Oregon has diversity in landscapes, perfect for summer!
We started at Portland (great place for Vegans, BTW), and then moved towards Three Sisters, where we hiked Smith Rock State Park under the blaring sun.
On the way back, we went on another beautiful waterfall hike in the region, and went towards the coast to stay over, after a quick stop at Ruby Beach.
Surbhi - please don’t be afraid of heights; otherwise I’ll be forced to release the video where you’re afraid to walk down a bunny slope.
8.8 miles, roundtrip 2900 ft elevation gain With: Shreyas, Utkarsh, Ankit The Hike Lake Ingalls looked amazing during my research. However, the hike was still covered with snow - to a point that we couldn’t make it all the way to the lake. We had to turn around mid way due to the lack of snow hiking equipment.
Oh, well! :(
Oh deer
Stream
My first real hike in the PNW (Pacific North West - yep, I didn’t know it either) was a blissful hike in Rattlesnake ridge, which overlooks a lake. The trail is very crowded and is a fairly medium hike.
Akshay and nitin
Landscape
Squirrel
With: Shreyas and Sibi Leavenworth is such a chill town. This German town is the perfect place to be during summer. We went to Nutcracker museum and hiked Icicle Ridge trail.
We also stopped at Olympia to visit the state capitol and ended with a quick stop at the lighthouse at Point Wilson.
Akshay
Ancient nutcrackers
Hike
With: Surbhi Kamboj Every year, during spring, few parts in the pacific northwest tulips bloom at the same time. Surbhi and I decided to check out RoozenGaarde. Roses roses everywhere. :)
Surbhi and I also decided to do a quick hike on Snoqualmie falls on the same weekend.
Fun fact: people used to say that Snoqualmie is a great place to Ski. I always thought it was SNOW-CALL-ME. lol.
3.7 miles, roundtrip 1150 ft elevation gain With: Ray I hadn’t met Ray in ages! We decided to catch up after my move to Seattle by going on a hike!
Little Si is a shaded hike next to Mount Si - it also popular among rock climbers.
Akshay and ray
Landscape
Trees
After my end of employment with Genius, I decided to move to Seattle to continue my career with Amazon. Maine is one of the states that I hadn’t visited yet in the North East, so I decided to visit Maine, and say goodbyes to my friends in Boston before I leave the East Coast!
Maine, during the start of the year is colder than you think but I couldn’t care less as I got to spend some quality time with Surbhi, Ankita, Prapti and their roommate.
Can’t believe I lived in NY state for over a year and hadn’t visited one of the largest waterfall system in the world - Niagara Falls. Since the falls borders Canada, it was a perfect place to meet friends from the other side! This time, it was Harshi.
Surbhi and I took a bus out of NY and rented a Jeep to drive around upstate NY, checked into our cottage stay and met up with Harshi at the border.
Let me tell you about one of my greatest travel adventures - a long road trip (3795 miles) all the way from New York City to Miami during the winter holidays - by myself!
The Plan To cover all the eastern coastal states south of New York over 9 days starting Dec 24. This was going to be a packed trip, and crossed multiple cultural influences and weather patterns.