Traveling is a way to connect with yourself and explore the hidden gems of this beautiful world. Harmit and Piyush are always in pursuit of finding new places, preferably with road trips and capturing the beauty of Mother Nature through the camera.
“Travel is the medicine for the soul”
When I was a kid, I had a phobia of insect worlds. I remember being very scared of grasshoppers, earthworms, and crickets. In my maternal grandmother’s house, we used to spend our school break, and she had a big backyard with lots of plants. I would call it a mini-jungle. Every rainy season, countless earthworms used to come out of the ground, and the toilet was at the end of the backyard, which meant you had to cross all those creatures to reach it. OMG, it was a nightmare that time.
Now, since we love being in nature and have learned to respect nature and its beings, I love capturing these beautiful creatures (for some, they aren’t, but come on, beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder) through my camera. And now I am teaching my kid not to be afraid of them or to despise them; being cautious is good, though.
Today, I am going to share some insect pictures I captured over the years. It’s completely OK if you don’t like 🙂
Now, when I am too involved in gardening, I feel overjoyed after seeing an earthworm, as it tells me the soil is in good health. They are called farmers’ friends.
It’s been a while since we posted anything. We missed our blog and the community. Now rebooting the blog with this post. Since we love to be in nature, why not start something with nature itself? Over the last few months, wherever we traveled, we took pictures, and this post includes a few.
Let us know which picture is your favorite and why. If the picture can transport you somewhere, we would like to know where.
Due to a family emergency, I had to leave for India on short notice. I didn’t get enough time to plan my trip. Right now, I am with my parents and relatives. We couldn’t go to our native place and live with our relatives. Some treatments are going on right now, which sometimes drain the energy of the entire family. To maintain my sanity, I try to find solace in photography.
Below are some of the chosen pictures from March:-
There have been multiple tornado warnings over the years, but nothing has come close to a serious situation. It’s been close to six years in Omaha, and we are used to those warnings, asking you to take shelter as soon as possible or reach a safe place.
Friday, 26th April 2024, was just like any other day. We were busy with our remote jobs. In one of my team meetings, someone mentioned the possibility of a tornado in the area. We thought it would be similar to the past, so we continued our work.
At around 2:30PM, sirens went on. We also had notifications on devices. We didn’t take it seriously and thought it was like a normal warning. I continued my office work, but when it started raining heavily, I peeped outside, and dark clouds formed, which looked very aggressive. It didn’t feel good. We decided to go to the basement immediately. The whole time, the siren was on, and we spent 20-25 mins in the basement. Harmit was following live updates, and when it was reported that a tornado had passed our area, we came upstairs.
Just a few minutes later, I received some videos and pictures from my friend. To our amazement, the tornado-hit area was a 7-minute drive from our house. It was not even a single tornado; there were multiple reports. We followed the news and got to know about the destruction caused by this natural calamity in the area.
Video Shared By My Friend
Drone Footage Of The Impacted Area
It rained the whole day, and we were informed about the possibility of another tornado the next day. We followed the updates about the situation through a community group app – NextDoor. All volunteers were asked to gather at a given place at 7:30AM. I decided to go there with my friend, but the next morning I got up late. I thought of going there anyway, but my friend told me about another gathering at 9AM. So we had our breakfast, and I went to the place with my friend.
No one was allowed there except the volunteers and rescue workers. We were stopped by the sheriff, who asked us to proceed once we told him about the volunteer work we came for. The debris and collapsed houses were showing the impact of the powerful tornado in the area. It was heartbreaking.
Video taken from our car
We started helping there. We mostly helped put debris into waste containers and package household items in boxes and bags. There were nails coming out of the planks; I was without gloves, so one nail pierced my hand. After putting the debris in the waste box, we moved to the next house and spent time there emptying the cabinets and drawers and placing them in the boxes. Once that was complete, we put some of those boxes in the trunk of our car and followed other volunteers’ cars to move the items to a storage place. We continued similar work till the afternoon and helped four families.
Here are some pictures from the site:-
It’s really hard for the families who suffered, but many volunteers are helping in every possible way. Volunteers like us did fieldwork; some provided food services and collected necessary items for the victims. It will take many days to restore everything, so we will be helping the families as much as we can. Prey to the god that affected families can reboot everything soon.
I just realized this morning that today is Earth Day. I always feel connected to nature in some special way, so I thought of going back over the past couple of months and sharing some beautiful pictures that glorify nature in the best possible ways.
They include our India trip, Glacier National Park visit, and local Omaha parks. I wish we do our best to keep the earth as clean and beautiful as it is supposed to be so that our future generation can also admire its beauty.
Bike Trail in OmahaCrop Field in IndiaValley in Glacier National ParkLake McDonald in Glacier National ParkPath to HomeTrail in Glacier National ParkA Beautiful LakeJust Another DayAmazing YellowstoneEvening at Lake McDonald
Leave in the comments which picture you liked most. Sharing your favorite picture would be a great idea to celebrate this day.
The fall season is lovely due to leaves changing their colors in beautiful green, yellow, and red arrays. Everything looks so enchanting that you just want to forget everything and be a mute spectator.
The major downside of the fall season comes when trees are stripped of their beauty, charm, and dignity. It feels hurtful to see annuals die and perennials go to hibernation. The hostas, coneflowers, daylilies, and all other plants in our backyard went down post-freeze, which was sad to watch.
Anyway, that’s part of life, isn’t it? The good part, though, is the little area near our deck, which was overcrowded with daylilies, looks neat now. We can also see the entry and exit points of the rabbit family living underneath it.
It’s true that beauty lies everywhere, and it’s in the eyes of the observer. Even in the ruins, It was quite beautiful yesterday; I took some shots from my iPhone and shared them with you.
There are so many things I want to do more; if I had to choose the top 3 from them, my picks would be:-
Hiking/Traveling – it’s not a secret that we love to travel, and our travel preference is always outdoors. Most national and state parks come with the perks of photographic opportunities and lots of hikes. We enjoy hiking as it’s one of the best ways to explore some hidden treasures, and of course, health benefits follow, too. We recently did some excellent hikes in Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks. One of the best hikes in recent times is still The Narrows in Zion National Park. Check out the hike:-
Photography – Although photography can be done anywhere, whether it’s your backyard, neighborhood, or some nearby public park, traveling to national parks gives ample opportunities to get some fantastic shots. I still have 2000+ photographs to process from my Yellowstone- Glacier trip. I can’t imagine leaving for any trip without my Sony mirrorless. When without the camera, a mobile phone comes in handy, and honestly, mobiles are not behind; one can get superb shots from them.
Reading – Reading is my passion. When I go to the library, I get overwhelmed like a kid at a toy store. I just want to read as much as possible and read almost anything. I don’t have any preferred genre; I just like reading, whether it’s Fiction, Non-fiction, Philosophy, courtroom drama, Horror, Self-help, thrillers, or subjects like Quantum. I couldn’t read as much this year as I wanted, but that happens. Currently, I am reading Bones and All by Camille DeAngelis.
It was a 10-mile hike, and I won’t say it was strenuous but quite prolonged. We took nearly 5 hours to complete. This was our last day in Glacier National Park and the last hike of this trip. There was a long drive after that, roughly 16 hours, so we tried as fast as possible.
The irony was that the trailhead was 3 hours from where we were staying. We had to get up early in the morning, drive for 3 hours, and then start this hike.
Overall, the schedule was too hectic, but was it worth the trouble? Hell, yeah 😎
The lake was mesmerizing; I can’t forget that crystal clear aquatic color. The water was cold, not surprising considering its origination.
Can you guess the place? It’s in Glacier National Park and a very popular hike. I am confident many of you would be able to identify it.
I honestly don’t know if there is any word that is my favorite. Never thought this way, can a word be your favorite? Maybe for some, but not for me. They are just a medium to communicate my feelings like so many other ways.
But if I think about which word I use most (that would be my favorite, isn’t it?), that’s “Awesome”. There is a reason for that too, we travel a lot and prefer to be in nature. Most of our trips are for outdoor activities, exploring national parks, chasing wildlife, and seeing nature closely. When I see those places, wildlife in natural habitat, mesmerizing waterfalls, wonderful geysers, hot springs, Crystal clear lakes, green lush forests, deep canyons, rock formations and ice-clad mountains, only one word come to my mind and I say it loudly
We love hiking, but last year was a dud due to various commitments. This year was also like last year before we planned our current trip. We got to do various hikes in Glacier National Park, to name a few – Grinnell Lake Trail, Trail of the Cedars, Lake McDonald, and Hidden Lake Trail.
HarPiyTravel 