Look what I bumped into this evening

The path down that parking lot seemed dull and mundane. Until my eye caught yours.
I will look for you again little birdie. Suddenly that parking lot feels warm like someone's home.

The Beautiful CA 1 Route

Last weekend we decided to drive down to the Hearst Castle in the beautiful city of San Simeon. We drove Saturday morning and had a scheduled guided tour at 3:30 pm to catch. Luckily one of our friends in SFO had been there before and advised us to take 101 if we had to reach on time. And we are so glad we bumped into that friend. We reached the Hearst Castle less than 4 hours.

On our way back we took CA1. Stopped for lunch at in the Carmel city by the sea. The tiny shops, the narrows roads, artists along the streets and the beautiful coast line makes the city so welcoming and at home. The CA1 route was very scenic with its clear blue sky and the deep blue waters. Here are some pictures along the route.

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30 Day Drawing Challenge - Day 25 - Scenery

Day 25 - Scenery

This is one scenery I would draw over and over as a kid. And I still draw like that.In fact most of the kids in my class would draw something similar. Mountains flying in the air, some clouds. I think I forgot to draw some birds flying.

Few more to go and I reach Day 30! Boy, am I the only one who took 6 months to complete a challenge. 

Street Drawing - Santa Barbara

This one was my favorite! The picture is not very clear, but it had a 3-D effect that I liked the most. 

This was another one of my favorites. The picture was made of tiny cross marks. 

Memorial weekend we came across Street Drawing at the Mission. You cannot but be amazed by how the artists brought the colors to life.

30 Day Drawing Challenge - Day 24 - A Couple

Couple - 2 things that cannot be complete without the other.

'Life is rather a state of embryo, a preparation for life; a man is not completely born till he has passed through death.' ~ Benjamin Franklin

Sweeney Ridge

This place is within 2 miles from where I live. Never went up there. It is beautiful! If you want to go for a quiet walk this is the place. The walk up to the top of the mountain was tiring, but once I reached there, I wished I had gone there before. Majestic mountains, lush green and tall, the view of the Daly city covered with fog, the airport; you can see the planes take off and land, the view of the San Andreas lake, cool breeze, breath taking view of the Pacific Ocean.

I started from the Sneath Lane gate uphill until I reached the signed path to the Discovery site. I was worried the gate would close at 8 pm so hurried down, but saw many photographers hurry up the slope to take the glimpse of the sun set in the pacific ocean.

If you are in and around the Bay Area, don't miss on this beauty. More details on where to start, how much of the walk etc can be found here - southbayhikes

Photos taken with my iPhone 4. 

Memorial Weekend in Santa Barbara

Last weekend was a long weekend in the US. As usual we did not make any plans and scrambled to make a trip to Santa Barbara at the very last moment. It is a beautiful town with great energy, casual&relaxed lifestyle, scenic beaches and beautiful Spanish architecture. With almost two days gone in travelling, we had very less time to spend in the city. But we made the most of it and thoroughly enjoyed our stay.

We took the Amtrak from San Jose to Santa Barbara - the train journey to and fro was very relaxing and an experience in itself. Scenic Pacific shores, lush green fields, beautiful mountains makes the 7-8 hours ride worth it. Met some people on the train who were familiar with the city and suggested some of the must visit places we could cover in a day.

Some of the places I would definitely recommend in Santa Barbara -
1. Old Mission Road/Laguna Street - Beautiful church, cemetery, museum. Every weekend they have some fair/activity going on with music, food and artistic events
2. The Santa Barbara/ State Street - you cannot miss this; it's the heart of the city; there are many trolley buses that go up and down the street; each ride is 25 cents.
3. Arlington Theater - This is on State and Arlington Street. It has some old, historic architecture and beautiful interiors; don't miss to see the ceiling with twinkling stars. Just to have this experience, we decided to watch a movie; but I wouldn't recommend a movie there. The seats are not very comfortable and the screen not too big. The theater has a single screen with limited show timings. Also the movie playing when we went was Men in Black 3 - ouch! I slept through the show!
4. Beaches - Of course you cannot miss the beautiful beaches - Butterfly, the East beach, Goviota beach to name a few
5. Court house/ City Hall - As you walk along the State Street you can visit the points of interest like the City Hall, the Court House. With the beautiful Spanish Architecture, we were completely mesmerized
6. Parks - As you walk uphill, from the main city towards Mission, you will come across couple of beautiful parks. A huge fig tree is another attraction of one of the parks. Also, not to forget the authentic Spanish houses

Used photoshop to make this collage of pictures.