HarPiyTravel

When Travel Is Life !

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Harmit, Piyush, and Aayansh chase, The golden light where highways bend. A shutter captures nature’s smile, On wild trails that never end.
  • Cameron Peak Fire

    Cameron Peak Fire

    Recently I read about the Cameron Peak Fire containment which brought back the memories of our October trip to Colorado. Most of you might be aware about the fire which was reported on August 13 and soon became largest wildfire in Colorado history with more than 200,000 acres area impacted. Finally on December 2, it was declared to be under control.

    I still have beautiful pictures floating in front of my eyes. As soon as we entered the Boulder, it became evident something is different this time in Colorado. Buildings were looking stunning in the orange background and mountains were covered with smoke.

    Colorado Under Impact Of Cameron Peak Fire

    We reached Boulder in the evening and checked in to Residence Inn by Marriott. Hotel was at perfect location which was close to the restaurants and surrounded by trees full of fall colors. Mountain range can be seen from the property , which was just behind it. This was our first trip after March this year and we were little hesitant to stay in hotels due to COVID danger. We researched a lot before choosing this property, just to be on safer side and we were not disappointed a bit.

    We were very hungry after a long drive from Omaha to Boulder, so went to Mexican restaurant for dine-in, named Old Santa Fe. This was our first dine-in experience in USA during COVID. We were asked to sit at a corner table and server came with menu wearing a mask. Service was slow but food was delicious. After finishing our food, we came to parking lot to head back to our hotel. I was in awe when noticed the sky, it was burning. We took some pictures in the glowing background.

    Fire In The Air

    With Masks

    Smiling Harpiy !

    Due to the brilliant illumination, we decided to go to some near by park to enjoy sun-set. I was really excited by thinking about the coming opportunities for photography. We went back to hotel and searched for the best parks to view sun-set on Google. Legion park was around 15 mins drive from the hotel and is rated as one of the best park for scenic views. We reached there shortly, parked our car and got ready for the short hike. It was definitely worth visit and truly scenic. Rocky mountains can be viewed from the park but they were totally covered with smoke that time.

    Scenic View

    Mountains In Smoke

    It was very cold out there as park was on a hill. It is believed that Native Americans used this place as lookout point and park used to be known as Goodview Hill earlier. There were only 3-4 vehicles other than us and few tourists hiking and enjoying the scenery. We took some pictures and started our hike.

    Evening In Legion Park

    Trail was not well maintained, it was made up on a rough surface covered with weed. We followed the trek and came down from the hill and walked across the reservoir. We were alone there, so at least were relived of the trouble of wearing masks. We spent around 45 mins and then decided to return. I took numerous shots. It was too smoky that sun was less visible and so were the mountains, but overall experience was awesome. Moon in the sky was looking like a vibrant red ball, confusing it with sun.

    Trail And Hike

    Tree With Red Fruit

    Can I Swallow

    At the end Harmit shot some videos and we left for the hotel. It was basically the first day of our trip that turned out to be beautiful and memorable.

    Legion Lookout

    Another View

    We couldn’t visit Rocky Mountain National Park in this trip due to ongoing fire, so covered mostly Boulder, Denver and nearby areas. Colorado always looks beautiful with its mesmerizing views, this time sky was also glowing. But my heart goes to the poor animals who suffered in the fire. Thankfully it is under control now. Hoping to see fully recovered Colorado soon 🙂

    Happy Reading ! Keep Traveling !!!

  • Stranger At The Door

    Stranger At The Door

    After 12 hours of continuous drive with just 2-3 breaks for restroom and quick snacks, we reached Indiana, our stay for the night. It was very cold out there. We were dead tired, so we quickly changed and picked up food from an Indian restaurant for dinner. Food was delicious and when you are that hungry, you like everything in your plate.

    We watched an episode of Criminals Minds during the dinner. Next day we were to leave for Omaha, so without wasting anymore time, we retired to bed. As room was very cold, Harmit turned on the heater and set it to highest temperature. I believe within 5-10 minutes, we passed out.

    Best timepass

    I was sleeping like a baby till I heard the sound of keys turning in the lock of our room. Not sure what was the time, but it was too dark. Immediately alerted, I started thinking about the intentions of the intruder and possible plan of action. I was scared, to be truthful, but being the “man” in the room, tried to gain some courage and became ready to confront the murderer or thief (“unsub” as per Criminals Minds) whoever he was.

    I rose from the bed with great difficulty and moved quickly towards the door before he can do anything. One thing was clear, I wasn’t going to win in fist-fight as I was feeling very weak and tired. He was right there in a brown leather jacket with beard look, when I opened the door. I asked, actually begged him, to go away and if he wants to have something in particular, just take it and leave. I was really worried as his expressions were not friendly. We didn’t wanted any trouble.

    Before I or he could react, I woke up wondering what just happened ? Was it real or just a bad dream. When I came to my senses, I felt too much heat in the room and I was sweating. I got up and turned on the lights and drank water. Harmit also woke up and asked what’s the matter ? I turned off the heater and told her about the dream. We did some introspection and blamed excessive heat and Criminal Minds for the dream. I went to check the door (this time in real), if it is properly locked. Everything was good, so after making sure of security, lights were turned off again.

    Lessons learned –

    1. Turn off the heater during sleep or at least set it on a decent temperature
    2. Don’t watch or read anything disturbing

    Good thing that came up from this episode was the feeling of concern for the safety of Harmit, which I never experienced before 😊

    Happy Reading ! Keep Traveling !!!

  • November Through My Lenses

    November Through My Lenses

    I know already a week of December has been passed and I am late for this post. But still here I am with another photo-month post. November was super lazy, month of comfort for us. We took a road trip, watched so many movies, celebrated Diwali and read books. There was no snowfall during the whole month, just few days of rain and cold. Weather wise it was pretty normal. Post our return from NJ, we mostly stayed indoors, thus narrow chances of photography.

    Highlights from November :-

    • Road Trip to New Jersey (read here)
    • Birthday Celebration of elder sister (read here)
    • Diwali Celebration
    • Read 5 books
    • Purchased binoculars for bird watching

    Below are the pictures captured for the month :-

    Which one of the above pictures, you liked most and why ? All pictures are without captions, so write down the word that comes to your mind for the best picture.

    Happy Reading ! Keep Traveling !!!

  • Days Of Delight

    Days Of Delight

    In the previous post (2 Day Road Trip From Omaha To New Jersey), I revealed how we surprised my sister on her birthday. What follows is how we spent our time together.

    Her birthday was on Sunday and that was a big relief, since we didn’t wanted the continuous alerts and pings from office. We decided to celebrate her birthday at home only, so planned to go outside for buying snacks and cake. She just loves Mango cake, so we googled it in all nearby bakeries but unfortunately availability was none. At last we decided to go to Whole Foods, as they have good reputation for cakes. Harmit inquired about fruit cakes – next best option, over the phone with them and they confirmed the availability.

    Whole Food store was in Edgewater, just in-front of Hudson river. There was a long queue outside the store due to COVID limitations, allowing 2-3 customers at a time. It took nearly 15 mins to enter the store and 30 mins in shopping. Store was very crowded to be safe. Anyways we chose strawberry fruit cake and other snack items and returned back to our car. After loading the grocery in the trunk, we decided to take a stroll across the river. It was a nice riverwalk with New York skyline clearly visible and there was decent amount of crowd basking and enjoying the weather . We took some pictures and walked for 20-25 minutes, which was really fun, it’s always feel nice to be in nature rather than being inside walls.

    Birthday Girl Posing

    One of my sister’s friend asked to come with her family, so we decided to wait for them for the birthday celebration. Once they came, cake cutting was done and pictures were taken. We had snacks and lots of talk about almost everything. It was cool to spend time with friends and family after such a long time.

    Birthday Cake

    Happy Birthday Sis

    Rest of our days were passed mostly in Netflix and Amazon Prime. We watched many underrated Indian movies (regional too) along with regular crime shows like Crime Petrol (Indian crime show) and Criminals Minds (available on Netflix). I completed 2 books – “War of the worlds by H.G. Wells” and “Blockade Billy by Stephan King” in the spare time. Green tea, chai, coffee and lots of talks were part of our most regular activities.

    My sister’s birthday often clashes with big Hindu festival – Diwali and unfortunately Harmit and I never celebrated any Diwali together in our home at Omaha. Last year she was in India and in first year of our marriage, we were in NJ, just like this year. Diwali is like Christmas for Hindus, it’s a 5 day festival of lights, happiness and prosperity. We decided to celebrate the Diwali night and leave for Omaha next day, but later plan changed due to Bhai Dooj (5th day of Diwali), a day marked for siblings love and affection. We decided to stay for one more week.

    Day before Diwali, we purchased some fancy “Diyas” from Indian store. On the day of Choti-Diwali (2nd day of festival), we lit 5 Diyas and placed them in main parts of the house – Balcony, Living room, Worship room, Kitchen and Bathroom to remove the darkness with light.

    In The Darkness

    Celebrating Together

    Next day on Badi Diwali (3rd day of festival), we illuminated every place with diyas and candles and wore Indian traditional outfits. Harmit prepared some snacks and sweet items for the occasion and I prepared some food items (poori, halwa) as per our family tradition, according to which males of the family have to cook food as offering to Lord Hanuman. So I did some heavy lifting too.

    Offerings To God

    Siblings Together

    Illumination Of Joy

    We all were preparing food since afternoon, so were very hungry. After the worship and illumination, we didn’t wait for the photo session and just grabbed our plates. Food tasted out of the world, may be due to hunger. Once done, we took lots of pictures and watched movie. That was a perfect Diwali in COVID for us, being together.

    Celebration Of Bhai-Dooj

    5th day of the festival marks Bhai-dooj. After bath, we performed the necessary ritual and had sweets. Rest of the days passed very quickly, we used to sleep very late till 2-3 in night and wake up late. What else you need these days, to have family together and lots of talks.

    We didn’t booked Hotel in advance, so I booked it just 3-4 days before our intended departure through Expedia. We decided to take stopover in Indiana again, this time too around 12 hours journey on 1st day and approx 6 hours on next day,

    We asked my sister to come with us to Omaha. Since everyone is doing WFH these days, so there is no location constraint. But she was quiet reluctant, but promised to plan soon. We pressurized her a lot, but all in vain. Anyways, we will keep reminding her of this promise 🙂

    If she is reading this, this is another reminder for her 😛

    So this was our short trip to NJ which turned out to be better than expected. These days, its kind of blessing to see your closed ones who are impacted by COVID restrictions.

    Happy Reading ! Keep Traveling !!!

  • 2 Day Road Trip From Omaha To New Jersey

    2 Day Road Trip From Omaha To New Jersey

    I just love road trips and especially these days, they are most convenient. After our last Colorado road trip, we got some confidence to travel. I met my elder sister, who lives in NJ, in February this year and since then waiting for conditions to improve. In a normal year, we could have met 3 to 4 times, but this year is different. We finally planned to visit her on her birthday -Nov 8.

    Omaha to New Jersey means approx. 18 hours of drive. Since I love driving, I was super excited. We planned our trip with one stopover at Joliet, Illinois which is 6 hours drive from Omaha.

    States Covered in the journey:-

    1. Nebraska
    2. Iowa
    3. Illinois
    4. Indiana
    5. Ohio
    6. Pennsylvania
    7. New Jersey

    DAY 1 –

    We planned to leave for Joliet at 6 AM, so set two alarm of 5 and 5.30 AM. Harmit got up on time while I was sleeping like a baby. Once she got ready, she woke me up and it took nearly 1/2 an hour for me to get ready. We left home at 6:30 sharp, it was still dark outside.

    What we packed for the trip :-

    • 2 carry on bags with our clothes
    • Camera, lenses and tripod
    • Snacks
    • 4 books for reading
    • Indoor bonsai plant
    • 2 Laptop bags with laptops and other necessary stuff
    • Water bottle pack
    • Shoes and slippers
    • Jackets, caps and gloves
    • Mobile and Fitbit chargers along with power bank
    • 6 masks and sanitizer

    Soon vibrant colors in the sky were visible with the emergence of sun above horizon. Everything was just beautiful and we also noticed fog on both sides of the highway. Harmit took some great pictures and a video to capture this.

    Fog on the road

    At the dawn

    We took our first halt after 2 hours in Clive, Iowa. Harmit searched for a local coffee-shop with good eating options and selected 5 Borough Bagels as our breakfast stop, which turned out be a great decision. Service was quick and bagels were delicious and fulfilling. We always prefer local coffee shops, as most of the time they do wonders through their menus and tastes.

    Local Coffee shop in Clive, Iowa

    Even though there were sitting arrangements, we preferred to take out and eat in our car. We had breakfast in parked car and also gave water to our cute bonsai. We were back to road in nearly 45 mins. There was not much to see during the trip, just the uninhabited lands and crops on both sides with no colors.

    We reached Joliet at around 1 PM and checked in to our hotel – Best Western Joliet Inn & Suites. Location of hotel was nice and there were fall colors in surroundings. They upgraded our room to 2 queen beds room which was spacious and was equipped with all basic amenities. We ordered Thai food in lunch through DoorDash. For dinner, we got late, so had to settle with Taco Bell. We also filled gas for the trip and went to bed early. Room was sun facing, experience of watching rising-sun from the window of our room was amazing. We got ready, grabbed packaged breakfast (water, banana and granola bar with coffee) and headed for NJ at 7:30 AM.

    Colors in Joliet

    Beautiful flowers

    DAY 2 –

    It was around 12 hour journey from here. We ate breakfast while driving and started the day 2 trip. Basically there were 3 more states between here to our destination. There is nothing to see during the trip and also not much to eat.

    We took our first break at around 11AM in a service plaza in Ohio state. We stopped there for Starbucks and loo break, but got lucky to find some good food options there. There was Sbarro, an Italian food chain with plenty of vegetarian options. Harmit picked a pizza slice and I took cheesy mushrooms along with baked potatoes. Food was cheap, delicious and very fulfilling. It served the purpose for our whole trip. We also filled the gas tank there.

    Beautiful sky

    From there we continuous drove without any break. We talked a lot, listened music and whenever I felt drowsy, discussed some serious topic 😊. We saw some beautiful colors in Pennsylvania but couldn’t capture much.

    Soon it was dusk and there is nothing in Pennsylvania other than cluster of trees both sides like a forest. It got very dark with basically nothing but just big trucks trying to overtake us in that silence. That area was so quiet and dark that we decided to look for gas station so as not to be in trouble. We searched for gas station and exited the highway for it. Place was very scenic and cold. We filled the tank and went to washroom there.

    Finally we entered NJ, and it was more illuminated unlike Pennsylvania. We reached at my sister’s house at 10:30 PM, still 1.5 hours before her birthday. She wasn’t aware of this plan, it was a birthday surprise for her. We unloaded our carry-one and ringed her apartment bell. She opened the building door and waited for the guest to come upstairs and knock her door. But we stayed in the lobby trying to hide beneath the staircase. After few minutes, she came out and asked – “who’s there ? “ When no response came, she came downstairs with some hesitation and saw us. We said – “Surprise ! “ and she was speechless for few seconds trying to understand what just happened :). Then there were hugs, welcome and birthday party 🙂

    Birthday Surprise

    Interesting facts about the trip

    • Added around 1200 miles in the trip
    • There was no COVID related restriction in any of the states
    • Masks are mandatory almost everywhere
    • Cash was not being accepted at tolls, only card or EZ pass
    • Nearly 30 $ was spent in state tolls
    • Route is not much scenic

    So overall it was a great trip and we enjoyed it to fullest. Will cover the return trip soon.

    Happy Reading ! Keep Traveling !!!

  • October Through My Lenses

    October Through My Lenses

    Finally my favorite month is over, what’s left is some beautiful memories related to my birthday, our road trip, fall colors and our close encounters with wildlife. November has already started with election buzz and excitements of various festivals in the pipeline. I really got some great opportunities to satisfy my photographic hunger, be it nature or wildlife.

    Highlights from October :-

    • Road trip to Colorado
    • Hiking in Eldorado Canyon State Park
    • Birthday celebration (Lots of gifts)
    • Fall colors
    • Less birds in the balcony
    • Visited Wildlife Refuge and Animal Sanctuary
    • Trip to Denver Zoo
    • Added tripod to my collection
    • More photography
    • Completed Goodreads goal of 45 books
    • Public libraries opened, no more dependency on Kindle anymore

    As always, below are some of the pictures from my Sony camera :-

    So which one of the above pictures, you liked most and why ? All pictures are from my Sony A6500 except one. Can you tell which one ?

    Happy Reading ! Keep Traveling !!!

  • Happy Halloween !!!

    Happy Halloween !!!

    Halloween is the day when we celebrate the existence of ghosts and love to haunt others or get haunted. It’s basically the night of dead and we remember them playfully, hoping none of them stays longer than this night with us. Halloween is more of a fun for most of us, where we get chance to carve, throw some parties, wear costumes and do pranks.

    Sadly I never been part of any of these activities till now. This year we decided to carve pumpkins and put them in our balcony. We are not aware of any Halloween parties this year, even if happening in COVID. So this year’s Halloween is all about carving 🙂

    Our step-by-step video tutorial of carving (with pictures) 😀

    Initial Stage

    Carving Time

    Time for Show

    With Our Pumpkins

    All Set

    Isn’t It Scary ?

    Our society put a bunny statue with trick or treat bucket near elevators. We were waiting for someone to knock our door, but were not sure about it due to COVID restrictions. When I noticed the bunny near elevator, we put candies (bought from Walmart this evening only) in his bucket. That’s how we wished Halloween to the kids of our society.

    What you did on this Halloween ? Would love to hear back.

    Happy Reading ! Keep Traveling !!!

  • Colorful Memories

    Colorful Memories

    As I mentioned in previous blog, we have been to Colorado this month, just to take a break from daily routine. Plan was to be in nature, especially when leaves are turning into an array of beautiful colors and what’s better than Colorado.

    Rocky Mountain National Park was temporarily closed due to ongoing wildfires in the region, so we couldn’t witness park’s beauty, but there are so many such places in Colorado, that you can never be out of options.

    We visited the places in Boulder and Denver vicinity. Estes park is very close to Boulder and so is RMNP, but as I said, we preferred to stay out of that part. Memories of the trip are still fresh, thought of revisiting them with you through pictures 😊

    Beautiful Bird And Yellow Leaves

    Ready For Flight

    Web Of Branches

    In Search Of Something

    Reflection Of Colors

    Reddish Zone

    Yellow Under Blue Sky

    Surrounded By Colors

    Tree At Entrance

    Our Stay In Boulder

    Which one of them, you loved most and why ?

    Happy Reading ! Keep Traveling !!!

  • Special October

    Special October

    This month has been quiet busy. I couldn’t get enough time to pen down my thoughts and experiences. I can’t tell, how much I was missing my community. But this doesn’t mean I was totally disconnected, I was actively reading the wonderful blogs I follow. October is such a special month for me, that most of it spent in celebration.

    Why it was so special ?

    • Birthday – Me and my dad share the month for our special days. My birthday was on 2nd and his was just yesterday. I wasn’t expecting much this year due to COVID, as all relatives and friends were locked up in their homes. Harmit was also in India, waiting for her visa stamping, which was impacted due to temporarily closure of US embassy. Emergency Visa came to the rescue and she arrived here on time. She did all the decorations and planned the birthday in no time. We preferred to celebrate at home with candle night dinner. It was just classy and unforgettable.

    Birthday Boy

    • Gifts – I wasn’t expecting much gifts this year, I don’t know why (can it be COVID ?). But this proved to be one of my best birthday in recent years. I got one Lord Shiva’s gold pendant, a cute bonsai, neck massager, office desk, laptop holder, salad spinner, an amazing portable Lightroom for photography and last but not least, a fancy face mask (those are very much needed these days lol ! ).

    Gifts !!!

    New Office Setup

    Spiral, Tiny And Cute

    • Games – Harmit is back, so are the games. Ping Pong table which I was using as my office desk, were re-installed for the play. We started playing ping pong along with board games like Chess, Checkers, Backgammonand and Ludo. Daily ping pong sessions are somehow compensating our physical inactiveness, while board games are helping to avoid electronics at least for some time.

    Ping Pong Table Back To Its Place

    Board Games

    • Travel – This one is the best thing happened. Even though we were lucky to visit Maldives this March, our craving for a good road trip was unsatisfied. After being inside four walls for so long, we finally decided to hit the road for Colorado, to see some fall colors and give needed boost to our souls. We visited Boulder, did hiking, watched sunset and enjoyed wildlife.

    Harpiytravel
    Trip Happiness

    Discussion Time

    • Photography – Where there is travel, there is photography. In this Colorado trip, we visited some beautiful unique places full of brilliant views, all waiting for me to capture them. So much was available to my camera, that its memory card got full on the first day of our trip. I had to delete the old pictures manually while hiking. Bulk delete option saved my day 🙂 .

    Sun or Moon ?

    Scenic Path

    Rocks Everywhere

    Our Lovely Companion

    This week of the month will also be a treat as Halloween is just around the corner. This time we are planning to carve some devilish figures on bright colored pumpkins. By the way we had first snow of the season just yesterday.

    First Snow Of The Season

    Have you taken any trip recently ? How is October for you so far ? Leave you comments.

    Happy Reading ! Keep Traveling !!!

  • Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge

    Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge

    Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge is 910 meter walk-bridge across Missouri River which connects Omaha, Nebraska to Council Bluffs, Iowa. Bridge is very popular among tourists and local residents. We have been there multiple times, my most recent visit was 2 weeks back.

    Place is very lively, always full of crowd. Cyclists and pedestrians can be seen almost any time of the day. It takes around 10-15 minutes to cover the bridge on foot. Just few steps away from the middle of the bridge, there is a point which divides it in both states. Basically you can stand with one leg in Nebraska and other in Iowa. Kind of funny, isn’t it ? 🙂

    Where Two States Meet

    Together But In Different States

    Nebraska Side :- Area is divided into National Park Service Visitor Center, a fountain and Heartland B cycle service stations. There is riverboat tour facility near bridge where private/public cruises can be booked. Cruises provide a unique experience of pedestrian bridge and Omaha Skyline.

    She, Fountain & Bridge

    Pedestrian Bridge

    Iowa Side :- There is a big plaza which hosts free live music on each Fridays of the summer (currently impacted due to COVID). It is surrounded by large amphitheater-fashioned ground seating. At the rear end of the plaza, there is high ground pavement with sitting arrangements to watch beautiful sun-set and Omaha’s Skyline. If you have watched “The Haunting of Hill House” or read the book, you must be familiar with infamous “Bent Neck Lady”. You can find Bent Neck Man standing here 🙂

    Bent Neck Man

    Omaha Skyline

    Grass Seating

    There are trails on both sides, so renting a bicycle for an hour or two is not a bad option. Rental bicycle costs 8$ per hour and thereafter 5$ for every additional hour. Bringing your own cycle is also a good option. There is no entrance or parking fee and area is pet-friendly, big treat for pet lovers 🙂 .

    Heartland Cycle & Ready For Ride

    Missouri River

    In my recent trip 2 weeks back, I had to struggle for the parking space due to some ongoing road construction. All parking spaces were occupied, after taking 2-3 rounds of the area, I finally spotted an empty space along the road, that means parallel parking, my worst nightmare. I somehow managed.

    Bridge was less crowded, never witnessed like this, but still decent number of people. Few were wearing masks (including me) and everyone was following basic social distancing rules. Everything else was normal. Just before the sunset, I noticed the dying battery of my camera and to my disappointment, I forgot to bring extra batteries. I had to literally save that battery for the rest of the day by turning off the camera after every click.

    I would put this place after Zorinsky lake to enjoy the sunset. Best point to view sunset is of course from Iowa side with Omaha’s beautiful skyline in foreground. In one of our earlier trips, we spent a good amount of time there and bridge looks more beautiful in the night with colorful frequently-changing lights. So make sure to stay there till night to view its beauty.

    Beautiful Bridge In Golden Hour

    Sunset Time

    Colors Surrounding The Building

    Omaha Skyline In Night

    Bridge In Evening

    Bridge At Night

    Activities to do

    • Walking
    • Skateboarding
    • Cycling
    • Cruising
    • Photography
    • Sunset Viewing

    Points to Consider :-

    1. Make sure not to miss the sunset and bridge at night.
    2. Heartland of America Park is very close to the bridge. If you have time, visit that as well, it’s just wonderful.
    3. Place is pet friendly, so you can enjoy time with your little buddies.
    4. Bicycles are available for renting on both sides of the bridge.
    5. Bring extra camera batteries 🙂

    So next time you are in the town, don’t forget to visit this lovely place.

    Happy Reading ! Keep Traveling !!!