The Oregon Trail - Lewis, Clark and a Volcano

cently had a chance to follow the path that Lewis and Clark took when they explored Oregon and Southern Washington. After taking a leisurely drive along the coast, I cut back at Astoria and drove to beautiful Portland in the shadow of Mt Hood. Here is a pictorial journal of the trip.

There was a beautiful "old growth" rainforest en route to the coast.
















I was amazed that it was possible to literally drive into the ocean ... if you wanted to. By the way, this sweet 2-door is the best rental I've ever driven. A smooth drive, and this was THE perfect day to roll down the sun-roof and catch some rays.



I



The "car" picture










This is a novel way to cook pizza. The steps are:
- Open package
- Place package on heat vent under windshield
- Turn heat up












Some cool architecture in Astoria



If you think herding cats is hard ... try herding sea lions

India Trip - I am engaged

Nadia and I finally made the long pilgrimage back home. Being the sentimental sort, Nadia was looking forward to seeing the place where I grew up, learned to play soccer, went to school etc. Since we were in India for just one week, we only had time to visit Mumbai and Pune. I also had the privilege of delivering a lecture at the Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay, but once that was out of the way, the vacation was a total blast. Here is a pictorial journal of our trip

First-up, a really cool sign that we saw prior to departure from JFK:


Anji, Nadia and I at IIT-Bombay


The "Elixir" competition, and the ensuing lecture that I delivered on Healthcare Innovation in India. I really enjoyed my experience running Elixir. I met some great folks and enjoyed working with the students to develop their concepts for the final exhibition.




Nadia and I, at the culmination of Elixir...


For anyone who has been to an Indian wedding, I'm sure you can empathize with the bride to be...this is Nadia, trying on a selection of salwars.



Doesn't she look pretty?



Trip down memory lane

This is where I lived ...


I spent many many hours reading about dogs, fish, birds and wildlife in this very corner of "Manney's bookstore"

The place I went to school - St Vincents


My old school desk... 20 years later



My 6th grade teacher ... 20 years later



Catching up with my former "desk mate" - also was with me at Stanford and at St Jude :) (His mom designed Nadia's ring)


The place where I learned to play basketball (no wonder the NBA career did not take off)

The place where I learned to play soccer - this is where I proposed to Nadia ;)

and here is the rock ... or rather, the rocks...

Nadia's favorite pictures:
a) Fascination with cows in the street



b) Shivaji market - Hawks diving down to scoop up the offal from the meat market
c) And then there was the local buffalo shed...

Given our penchant for food, we spent the bulk of our time in India (and later in Dubai) sampling an eclectic selection of local eats - as well as "firm Dhaaba favorites" (Indian fastfood). Fresh pomegranate juice, Basundi, Royal Falooda .... mmmm... D-lish.


"Tender coconut is mm..mm.. good!"


"I love Shrikhand"


One of my favorite "Pune joints" - I used to love eating chicken sandwiches at this cafe when I was a kid.


"Yes, kaju katli, anjeer roll, meetha paan, lasoon sev, palak sev..." (mom's not around to stop me heheh! - just kidding mom ... you know I eat healthy now)


"OOh basundi - I love you"





Overall - it was a fantastic trip culminating in a very happy ending.

Coasting down to Southern Cal

Nadia and I spent Thanksgiving visiting with family and friends who live in Ventura, LA and San Diego. We spent most of time driving, or hanging out at the beach. Needless to say, we ate a lot of really good food.


Here are some quick highlights of the trip

Driving down the Pacific Coast. The only place better? The Alaskan Highway...



Hanging out with Paul's family on Thanksgiving day. Delicious food. Great relationships. You cannot go wrong.


Spending time with Aakash in San Diego




Nadia introduced to the lovebird

Then we returned back to LA to hang out with another buddy - Nitin - who just got engaged. Nadia and I visited our favorite 'chaat' place in Artesia.


Finally, we rounded our So'Cal excursion with a trip to Pomona College to visit my brother (and soon to be Stanford alum ... jk bro) Ajoy.