Wish you all a fantastic 2011!

May all your dreams come true! May the travel gods smile upon you! May your bikes take you places! May your cameras click wonderful images! May you live the life you always wanted to! May there be more leaves when you want to travel! 🙂

May your life be wonderful!!!

2010 through the rear-view mirror:

2010 to me was fantastic in terms of travel and photography!! Initially, I thought I would do a full fledged year review, but thought year reviews are too personal and hence wanted to save you the trouble of reading through yet another boring review.

So, I thought I will just list a few memorable moments of 2010.

1.Completed TFN
2. Witnessed early morning Alpenglow at Convict lake
3. Went on a Tule Elk spotting trek at Point Reyes national park
4. Spent a night camping at a lake near Toulumne Meadows
5. Wriggled through the narrow confines of Antelope Canyon
6. Climbed Mt.Kinabalu, the highest peak in S.E.Asia
7. Photographed the Tufa’s of Monolake
8. Went on a night trek to spot animals in Borneo, the oldest rainforest in the world
9. Got hypnotized by the Hoodoos of Bryce Canyon
10. Contemplated life sitting at the edge of Horseshoe bend
11. Explored caves in Gunung Mulu

And then, not listed in the collage above are

1. thought we were being kidnapped in a car in Kinabalu
2. almost got lost cycling in the dark in Marin Headlands
3. counted Harbor seals with Dick Lingelser, who was a volunteer there
4. watched the Navajo tribal guy dance at Monument valley at dusk
5. cycled across Golden Gate
6. stayed in wonderful hostels at Point Reyes and Marin Headlands
7. camped at a few places in US, esp Bryce Canyon where it was freezing
8. painstakingly collected all the 50 state quarter dollars of USA from Denver mint
9. made a ton of friends
10. came within 300m of a wild brown bear in Yosemite

The people who made 2010 a truly memorable year:

2010 wouldn’t have been as good as it was without these people.

– My family (wife who was/is patient with my crazy travel, daughter who’s the sweetest thing I ever knew, mom who woke up umpteen times early in the morning to cook a quick breakfast for me, my Dad who inspired me in life, my bro-in-law who took care of my family when I was away)
– Adarsh Raju, who painstakingly drove me through the canyons of USA and gave good company on the Borneo trip
– all my friends who have given me wonderful company all through these years
– Sharath Kalluri, who accompanied me on several cycling rides
– guys at office and friends who listened to my travel tales without turning a deaf ear
– Shivkumar L Narayan, whose photography inspired me
– Kalyan Varma, who never ceases to impress me
– Sameer, who inspired me to take up TFN
– TFN volunteers and admin team, without whom there would have been no TFN
– Dick and Linda, the wonderful couple who drove me all around Alameda and invited me for lunch
– CAM guys, Harsha and Vicky who organized two memorable rides to Kudremukh and Wayanad
– readers of this blog, who have inspired me to write

A hearty thank you to all you guys! You guys rock!!

Wish you all a fantastic 2011!