Travel, Read, Conserve

The feeling of not doing enough was always there. Drying glaciers on our national park visits, overflowing trash cans in public places, my closet space running out mostly from old, no longer used clothes, mountains of paperwork at all corners of the home which we never look at or need, a table full of abandoned keyboards, adapters and prehistoric laptops . It made me slightly uncomfortable, while I liked facebook posts about zero waste lifestyles or discussed global warming at dinner parties. A lingering thought at the back of my mind like an unwelcome guest. I recycled the junk mail religiously at home, and made sure to throw paper wrappers in the recycle box at work, and made peace with myself. And then, a few months back, we went to the Florian Schulz National Geographic show. At the Seattle Benoraya Hall. This show overwhelmed me at so many levels that I was completely surprised by my own reaction. It was not so much about the amazing photography or the background stories Flor...

In response to Trump’s proclamations to reduce the size of the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments by 2 million acres on 12/4/17.  Throughout my childhood, my parents wouldn't take me on "normal" family vacations. As my friends were going to New York, LA, and Vegas, we'd go to Arches, Denali, and Yellowstone. Growing up in Seattle, I've been fortunate enough to be surrounded by nature, from the Olympics and coast to the West, and the Cascades and Palouse to the East. Nature was all around me, so I never understood why my parents continued to take me on trips where we'd just go to more natural attractions. At the time, I couldn't have been more furious at my parents mostly because they were "robbing me" of the glitz and glamor that most cities tend to provide. Most importantly, it felt like it was harder for me to connect with many of my friends after a school break. I found it very difficult to describe the unique panora...

The Mountain was out! - It being early fall, and having heard about the elusiveness of Mt McKinley, we did not start out the Denali Park bus ride to Wonder Lake with any hopes of catching a glimpse of the mountain. But about half an hour into the bus ride, after crossing the savage river we saw a white patch on the left horizon turning a beautiful pink. We started becoming optimistic, and our bus driver confirmed what we are seeing was the sunrise on Mt Mckinley! As the bus went on, more parts of the mountain started shaping up, and by the time we were at the stony hill overlook, it was all out in full glory! It stayed with us all the way to Wonder Lake and a couple of hours on the ride back. It was incredible in its size and beauty. I had read somewhere, seeing the Denali actually alters the soul a little, and I feel that is true in every sense. Fall colors - Seeing the glorious fall colors in the sub-alpine tundra was a reason we planned the trip in early September. And we...

Kauai was such a wonderful treat of rocky ocean shores, verdant rain forests, and red dusty canyons, it will always remain as one of our sweetest memories. Some of the highlights of the trip from the summer of 2016 : 1. Weather - It was spectacular on all days, except a few hours while we were on the North shore, but the bad weather led to some adventure hiking down the slippery trail to the Hideaway beach while hanging on to ropes , and enjoying the sea in the rain, then coming back to our condo in ponchos. So my advice is to not worry about the weather at all, even if the forecast says 50% rain it rarely amounts to anything. 2. Waimea canyon/Waipoo falls - We spent an evening and a morning out there - its amazing with the red volcanic soil, the canyon from so many lookouts, views of Napali coast from the Pihra trail. We hiked the Waipoo falls trail in about 3 hours - it is a moderately strenuous trail with many elevation changes, but has great views of the canyon and a...