A day at Joshua Tree National Park

Joshua Tree National Park, about a three-hour drive from the city of Los Angeles, is home to Joshua Trees. If you have a day to spend, I would recommend a hike followed by the viewpoints.

Cave Exploration at Lava Beds National Monument

There are several caves at Lava Beds National Monument of varying levels of challenges. I would recommend starting with a few easy ones first before taking it to a higher level. The caves do get really shallow at times, sometimes, less than a foot in height, so, don鈥檛 go in if you get claustrophobic. Gears to carry HeadLamp Helmet - even a bike helmet would work Knee Pads Good hiking boots A small chart summarizing which caves to do Detailed report with maps of the caves

Things to do in Yosemite National Park

Strenuous hikes Half Dome hike 17-miles 12-hours with a breath-taking dangerous climb holding chains on the majestic half dome at the end. This hike requires a permit for the final half dome climb. The Clouds Rest Trail 12-miles 7-hours hike. The trail ends at a point higher than the Half dome. One gets a great view of the park as well as the Half dome from here. I would recommend doing only one of these two hikes in a single trip....

A vegetarian lunch at French Laundry

For the uninitiated, French Laundry is聽one of the best restaurants in the world. I got a chance to try the tasting menu. I聽had a vegetarian, or聽to be precise, a lacto-vegetarian聽(milk and cheese but not eggs) meal here. The restaurant looks nondescript from the outside, and it is easy to miss it while driving. It was an 8-10 course meal, depending on how you count a course. Portion sizes were small but delicious. And there was a gap of about 15-20 mins before each serving. So, a commitment of 3-4 hours for the full course.

Zabriskie Point

Death Valley in 3 days

We made this trip over three days in December; even then,聽Death Valley National Park was warm during the day and cold at night.聽Therefore, I would warn against going there in summer, where it could be unbearably hot.

Mt. Whitney

Winter Trip to Mt. Whitney (Feb 2015)

Day 1 - Reach the聽Outpost Camp (3.8 miles, 10.4K ft) Day 2 - Started at 8 AM Reached consultation lake at noon Reached trail crest at 2:20 PM Reached summit at 6 PM Returned to Outpost Camp by 11:35 PM Day 3 - Head back to Whitney Portal Conditions It was all snow covered - knee-deep snow in some聽places. 99 switchbacks are聽not possible under such conditions, so, we climbed up the聽chute....

Relocating to California for internationals - Part 1

This set of articles are for聽Internationals who have聽recently relocated聽to California for a job.聽I am listing a few聽things which I wish I knew when I first arrived here聽for a full-time job.聽Short link to this page:聽http://bit.ly/fotb-ca) Hunting for apartment Use craigslist.org,聽padmapper.com聽(this also provides average renting prices of the area) and housingmaps.com.聽Use crimereports.com聽to check the crime statistics of the area as well....