Covered Bridge at Southford Falls

It was a chance visit to this covered bridge. We were on the way to another state park when we passed this bridge and we had to stop by! This is the first covered bridge we visited.

Here is a closer look.

What did it look like from the inside?

What about the view of the falls from the bridge?

How long is the bridge?

What was under the bridge?

What is the name of the bridge and when was it built?

View of the falls from through the windows of the bridge

Today's the Love quote from my iGoogle page - 

"I love being married. It's so great to find one special person you want to annoy for the rest of your life." Rita Rudner

Giving Back

I am very very proud of this person for making a decision to give back to the society. He has started an English medium school in his own village and made his people proud. He has  named the school after his elder brother whom he admires. He wants to maintain the school as a no-profit-no-loss school. At a time where people look at school as a means of earning money, this person has put in his life's savings to do something for his own village.

This school has around 260 students now. As most of the children's parents are illiterates, the teachers spend extra time with the students and make them do their homework in school itself. So, it is more like a no-homework school. The teachers take out time to visit the students' homes to help them with their learning.

While people like me just dream to do something good to the society, you are living your dream. Hats off to you Govind and keep up the good work. May God support you in this noble cause.

See more about his school at http://bsreddyfoundation.blogspot.in/

"Today I begin to understand what love must be, if it exists. When we are parted, we each feel the lack of the other half of ourselves. We are incomplete like a book in two volumes of which the first has been lost. That is what I imagine love to be: incompleteness in absence." - Goncourt

Fall

It’s fall season... And this year it is not just for trees but also for my hair! Oh God! Every time I wash my hair, comb my hair, touch my hair; a couple of strands just fall.

May be because I was in vain after the Patdown incident... and this is the God’s way of making me humble.

I hope when the spring comes in, just as new leaves grow on trees, new and, hopefully, thicker hair will grow on my scalp. Waiting for the spring (for my hair)...

Eggs on a rock

Came to know that Common Murres lay eggs on bare rocks. So, rocks are their nests... What if the eggs roll over and fall from the rocks? No they don't. The eggs are shaped in a way that even if they move, they will move in circles. One of the many wonders of Mother Nature!

Where did I learn all this? During one of our National/state park visits. I try to take photos of the placards which have new facts (new to me!) about nature.

Chips & Salsa

While we were waiting for our friend at the parking lot, we felt a little hungry. What do we have? There was only one place to eat in that shopping complex. It was a Mexican Grill called Panchero's. Our expectations were nil. We went in and saw that the options were very similar to those of Chipotle. But we wanted to get some snacks only. What do we get? Chips and Salsa. That's what we got. The chips were dark greenish-brown in color. They looked different. As I mentioned earlier, our expectations were nil... We dipped the chips in salsa and they were simply mouth-watering! We could not stop having one chip after the other... with the salsa, of course! The salsa was the best that we have tasted till date. It was yummy! We decided to have our dinner there. I liked the caption on their paper napkins.

The soft drink lid had sweetheart embossed on it. Made me feel special! :-)

Whenever I talk about the place, somehow I cannot remember the exact name of the restaurant. I refer to it as "the restaurant whose name sounds like 'puncture' or 'pressure'"! What a way to recollect names! Funny, no? :-)

Phone Vs Water

This afternoon I was recollecting the time when my phone fell into a bucket of water... Yes, it did fall into a bucket full of water and no, it did not stop working! Surprised! Well, this is the truth. The phone still works. It is a smartphone of a Samung make.

When it fell into water, I immediately dipped my hand in and pulled the phone out of the bucket. I was very upset. It was not my phone, it was V’s phone and it was relatively newly purchased. I disassembled the phone - the battery, back cover, SIM card, SD card, all were taken out. I dried them with a towel first and used a hair dryer to blow dry. Then for one whole day I left it for air-dry. I wanted all the moisture in the circuits to go away and did not want to use it at once and cause a short circuit. That would be the end of the phone, ain’t it?

Well, I am glad that the phone pulled through. I have dropped it several times and touch wood, the phone continues to work!

While I narrated all this to my colleagues, I came to know that the cnet performs something called as a “torture” test to new phones that come in the market. They put the phones in the oven, in freezer, drop it from a high storey building, hit it with nails... they literally torture the phone to see how long it can take it! So, they basically destroy a brand new phone to tell us its pros and cons! What a job!

Rare-earth magnet

These are neither rare nor precious! What a misleading name!

They have the highest magnetic power and found in computer hard drives. Read more about it here

Windiest Place on US Pacific Coast

A 2-hour drive from our place is a National Park that is home to the windiest point on the US Pacific Coast. Actually it is a National Seashore called Point Reyes and the windiest point is at the lighthouse. 

The road to the lighthouse is long with changing landscapes all the way.

It is a serpentine road that goes through ranches. We can see cattle here and there.

From the parking lot, the lighthouse visitor center is around a mile's walk away. The trail is on a hill/cliff and passes through a very beautiful landscape. We see the ocean on one side. It's amazing! See how it looks like a painting! No one will believe if I say this photo is real and has not been touched up! :)

The play of sunlight on water... makes it look like  a painting!

If you are lucky, you can spot some elk grazing.

We pass by some cypress trees bent to one side due to the winds from the ocean (probably!)

At the end of the trail is the visitor center and the flight of steps leading to the lighthouse. At the starting of the stairs, was a WARNING notice.

This is my first time to reach a lighthouse by climbing down the steps, I have always climbed up the stairs to reach the top of the lighthouse and never had to climb down! 

Here is our first glimpse of the lighthouse (Down, extreme right corner)

Here's a better view... But the "light" part of the lighthouse is still obscured from our vision.

Here's the "light"

Finally we reach the last step. Notice the step number 308. It says 308 steps, but the steps are deep. So, actually it is much more than that!

We can also have a look at the actual lens used by the lighthouse. 

This lighthouse was in operation from 1870 to 1975. It has withstood winds recorded up to 133 mph. 

The current lighthouse (which is in operation) is much further down the cliff closer to the water.

Rain or shine the lights must never be left unattended. The fate of ships on this coast was dependent on these lights.

How did I know that this place is the windiest in the US Pacific coast? There is a little museum at the Visitor center which has a lot of information about Point Reyes and the lighthouse. I got the information from there.

The fog signal was located closer to water. But it was relocated next to lighthouse in 1929.

Being a keeper of the lighthouse may be a very lonely job.

Here are some entries in the log during some bad weather days. Poor souls!

 

Where exactly is this place? Here's where it is on the map.

You can find more information here

Trail Signs

Recently while I was looking for trails in Connecticut area, I came to know the signs used to indicate a trail. It is very interesting.

1. A trail is marked by 5” vertical lines painted on trees, rocks etc.
2. Two parallel vertical lines are used to indicate turns
3. If a left line is higher than the right line, it is a left line and vice versa
4. A vertical line on top of other marks the end of trail

***It is very important to pay attention closely if you see the trail symbol for a right or left turn.

Click here to visit the webpage

Alameda Creek Trail

Whenever we travel or visit places, I always think of writing about it... more like maintaining a travelogue... I take photos and think of captions but I never get to actually blog it!

This is my first attempt on blogging it...

Last weekend, we went on a hike on the Alameda Creek Trail.

We parked our car at the Niles Old Canyon Road parking lot.

We did not walk for long! We might have touched the 1.5 mile mark and took a U-turn to where we started.

The trail is paved and has the Alameda creek on one side.

There wasn't much water in the creek and many rocks/pebbles that were supposed to be underwater, were exposed and gleaming in the sun.

The trail is lined with trees on both the sides.

The trail passes under bridges as well. We went under three of them!

While we walked, we saw a couple of fruit-laden trees. Does that look like an orange tree?

Let us get in closer...

No they ain't oranges! I don't even know what trees they were. The color of the fruit/berries were ranging from green to orange to pink.

I could not help spending a lot of time near these trees... 

I was taking a lot of pictures of them... I kind-of became obsessed with them... Okay... Okay... I wont bore you more with more of these pictures... Here is a different plant. It looked like a cactus, but the leaves were not that of cactus.

There was date palm tree as well on the bank of the creek.

There was line of eucalyptus trees. Suffering from a blocked nose? Just walk by these trees; Their characteristic smell is sure clear up your nose!

I found another tree with branches growing downwards and swaying in the breeze. Beyond this tree there is a railroad crossing. We touch that point and took a U-turn.

Beyond the creek, we could see the hills, now covered with dried-grass and brown in color.

The hills are lot more beautiful during spring. The grass is green then and the hills look green and full of life.

It was a sunny bright day... And I was walking hand-in-hand with V... Ah! What a fulfilling day it was!

This wont be my last visit... I will surely come back again and again... I may probably try to cover longer distances on the trail!

Here is the link to more details about the trail along with map