Vacation at Lake Tahoe
(08.03.06)
i really want to make sure that i dont forget anything so im updating from the road (or the motel, or the car, etc)... this morning i went to class before we left.. we learned about the elderly.. pretty interesting, seeing how many elderly there are in this country... there are more elderly than there are teenagers right now, and the baby boomers havent even hit that mark yet!.. just imagine.. anyhow, after my first class, i decided to ditch the second and walked home just in time to see the fam getting the last stuff together to put into the car for the trip... i quickly grabbed my last minute stuff (backpack with my laptop (so i could put the pics from my camera on every night so i could take more pics in total), my battery charger, and my camera)... mom made me a vegedog (cuz i hadnt eaten yet), and then off we went...
we drove to the auto club first.. mom needed to get sum insurance paperwork or sumthing to that extent before we actually left for the trip.. i guess cuz this was a big trip, moti needed to make sure her car had the right stuff (o btw, moti DID get herself a car... its not new, but not a lot of people that buy themselves a car get their first car new, right?... anyhow, she got a 2002 toyota corolla ce.. its a pretty good car.. didnt have too many miles on it or anything and she got it for one HELL of a good price considering that it was from a dealership and its certified).. anyhow, mom went in to get some papers they had for her, and me moti and mekes stayed in the parking lot.. moti had saved a bunch of music on my computer that she wanted me to burn for the trip, so i sat in the car burning those.. good ol laptops, gotta love em! moti saw this guy that gets prescriptions from her pharmacy walk by our car, and before she could tell us his name, he was waving.. haha.. anyhow, i burned moti her cds till mom came back.. and once she came back, off we went.. this time, with tahoe as our destination...
moti started the driving... i started to get really hyper cuz i tend to do that when im tired.. and of course theres the fact that i HATE road trips.. or more than about an hour in a car/vehicle.. kinda sucks cuz it always seems liek a great thing to go on a road trips with ur friends.. haha.. maybe one day ill stop feeling sick enuf in the car to be able to take an actual road trip.. anyhow, we stopped of a few times.. the first was a lil rest stop right before we hit the empty road with no civilization.. we stopped at a carls jr cuz we needed a potty break =P... we stopped off and got some fried zucchini too.. mmm i love it =D.. after that, i slept for a while.. mekes is a great pillow =P... the next break we took mom decided to take over driving and i became the co-pilot =P.. moti moved to the back and used mekes as HER pillow and took a nap.. while we were driving, mom told me the story of dad's side of the family.. made a lof of stuff clearer to me.. anyhow, after that, i took over for a while, and moti moved up front to keep me company.. i drove for about 70 miles and then moti drove the rest of the way.. we stopped in a little place sumwhere in that time to get some starbucks and some wet wipes for the car just in case of spills and what not.. dry napkins just arent the same =P...
on the way thru the forest to tahoe, we saw this stream that was running through and we ended up stopping on the side at a turnout to climb down the rocks to go to the stream to put our feet in.. we were all wearing flip flops and moti and mekes pretty much flew down there.. they love doing that type of stuff and dont really think about the practicality of the footwear.. i was about to go too (since they did it, i figured i pretty much had to =P) and then mom said she prolly couldnt make it down there.. she doesnt have such good knees, and the fact she was wearing flip flops didnt help.. so i opened the trunk and got out our shoes.. then we went down there to join moti and mekes who already had their feet in the stream.. we took off our shoes and got in as well.. it was sooooo nice... i loved the nature, it was great =D... so we were just hanging out in the stream and were in there just to our legs and mekes and moti start to walk towards a deeper part of the stream.. moti WARNS mekes that its slippery, and mekes doesnt listen and totally falls in all the way.. hahahaha.. it was SO funny.. she was wearing these red pants she hadnt worn before, and they started running, so then her hands got all red... it was hilarious.. it looked like she had just murdered sumone.. anyhow, then we got back in the car and drove and drove and drove...
we ended up getting in south lake tahoe around 730 in the evening... we saw a round table and decided to eat first before we checked into our motel room... mom was ordering the pizza when i got a phone call.. yay for brothers! it was ro =D... its been a while since we've actually just called each other just to say hi... its made me kinda sad for the past few months, but im glad its back to normal again =D.... anyhow, the food got made pretty fast, mom had been about to order a med8ium gourmet vege pizza when i told her we were all VERY hungry and maybe just maybbbbe she should get a large.. she did and we finished it off in a matter of 10 minutes =P... lets just say we WERE very hungy.. haha...
after we finished dinner, we headed off to find our motel.. we had decided to stay in a motel cuz we really didnt care about how nice our rooms were.. i figure id rather spend more on activities during the day than a really nice room that we're only going to be staying in for a few hours when we're sleeping.. *shrugg*.. it helped, cuz i doubt we could have done as much as we did if we had decided to stay in an actual hotel.. anyhow, we checked in and then mom decided she wanted to go see the beach at night.. we were at timber cove and it was an actual town.. peopel lived there and there were Safeways and real town-ish stuff, but people had said it was close enuf to get down to the water without taking a car, so we started walking.. we didnt EXACTLY know where we were going, so we didnt really end up at the edge of the water, but in between a few huge houses looking down on the moon shining on the lake... we couldnt go down so we just walked back to the room... on the way back to the room, mom and i heard a duck quacking, so i veered off from the way back to the room to see where it was coming from.. it was really dark and i couldnt see much and moti and mekes had kept walking and had stopped a while away on a corner.. me and mom saw a lil pond outside of a safeway shopping center and we saw a four-legged creature chasing a duck in the pond... we finally figured out it was a raccoon chasing the duck and i felt SO bad for it.. i threw sumthing at the raccoon to hopefully scare it away but there wasnt much to throw besides light stuff that didnt really go far... then mom had the idea of me flashing my handydandy camera... good thing i always have it on me.. i did and it was funny, cuz it scared him away and at the same time, i got a pic of it =P... but hey! i saved a duck's life! =D
once we got to the room, we looked around and we honestly think that tahoe's ancestors were migits... no joke.. the door knobs were so low, as were the light switches and the rack in the closet went up to our stomachs at the tallest.. it was really funny.. everything was tiny!.. hahaha... anyhow, i found some wireless and decided to try to see if i could get online or check my mail.. after a few frustrated attempts, i gave up and just started to keep writing this =P after a while, i decided that sleep would be coming pretty soon and that id call kajal real quick before i slept.. of course moti wanted to call neera too.. so we took the key and went outside to talk (mom and mekes were in bed).. i called her but she wasnt there so i called aakash to say gluck on his test.. he had a final for his ochem class at 8 am friday morning, and we had been in a sort of fight since tuesday and hadnt talked since then, so i thought id call him =).. we talked for a while and then kajal called me back.. right when i finally got to talk to kajal, mom got up and asked us to come inside cuz she was nervous about us being outside the room so late i guess... *shrugg*.. so then i went to sleep, cuz really, whats better than sleep, eh? =P
and here's the highlighted pics of the day (scroll over them to read the caption)
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(08.04.06)
mom woke us up pretty early.. around 730 id say... we had a big day planned and wanted to get up in time for it.. while we were still sleeping, she had gone to safeway and gotten some rolls and butter for breakfast.. she also got some fruit and stuff.. i tell you, my mother is nuts =P... o yes, and cant forget the milke for the moti and the mekes.. haha... we got ready and then mom and i went at 8 to get the free coffee they offered.. let me tell you, when i was younger, i NEVER understood that there was such a thing as bad coffee and good coffee but trust me, i know what the diff is now =(... that was teh worst coffee ive ever tasted.. thank you starbucks for being in business.. u uphold the name of coffee =D
after we ate, we all made sure we had our swim stuff on and headed off to zephyr cove.. it was in nevada so we got to cross the border line into nevada.. it was funny, cuz there was no noticeable differece except for the fact that RIGHT after it said "nevada stateline", there were a bunch of casinos right off the bat... hahah.. zephyr cove was more of a tourist place and it had a resort and such, but it didnt seeem as if it was a town with people that actually lived there... it was gorgeous.. so gorgeous.. the water, was AH-mazing! so clear that you could see all the way down to the rocks at the bottom.. im sure some of it seemed more shallow just CUZ you could see all the way down... i wanted to jump right in, but before we could, we had to keep an appointment we had made for 9:45... what appointment you say? mom had planned for the four of us to go parasailing.. exciting, no?
we waited around for a few minutes for the other couple that was in our boat and then we headed off in our boat called "parasail"... im sure that wasnt the name, it was probably more for practical reasons, but i like to pretend ;).. we got introduced to Captain John and Deckhand Tom (who was amazingly hot - im glad he was the one that harnessed us up =P).. hehe.. sounds catchy, dont it?... the newlywed couple was going tandem (in a pair at once) and the mom was just coming to be an observer... then moti was going to go first out of our group, then mom, mekes, and lastly me... it looked just amazing, i tell you.. i took tons of pics of everyone getting harnassed up and what not and then, after everyone got 10 minutes of flying time, i got harnessed up to go... if you havent been parasailing, let me just say that it is one of the most amazing experiences ever.. its just like ur flying.. especially if you close ur eyes while ur up there and let go and spread ur arms... it let me out really slow and steady which was good - i was a bit scared it felt jerky cuz the parachute is tugging on you too.. but it was really smooth... once i got to the end of the line, the boat pulled me around for a while and i got to see almost the whole lake (which, by the way is HUGE - and not just to the naked eye, i mean, the facts u read about this lake make ur jaw drop)... i got to see all the different coves and peopel in their boats and waverunners looked so small.. the water was great, and the wind was just so windy but calm at the same time.. u kno when ur in a boat, and the wind just messes ur hair like no other? and u can hear it? wel, this was windy minus the hair in ur face and the thunderous noise in ur ear.. it was an experience... while i was up there, i made a few confessions.. at the top of my lungs too.. stuff no one else in the entire universe knows.. felt good to yell it, even if there was no one listening =D... then they do this trick called the elevator... they pull u in a little, and slow the boat down a LOT... when they do that, u go so close to the water that ur feet ALMOST touch it (theyve made it illegal to actually put the people on the parasail into the water... anyhow, while i was going down, there was a dad and his son on a waverunner and he yelled at me "hey ur gonna get wet!".. i yelled back "haha, i WISH! it's illegal".. right after i said that, the boat pulled me back up into the air and the guy on the waverunner was like "hey! get back down here.. I'LL get you wet!".. haha, it was funny.. after i went all the way back up, he started up his waverunner again and zoomed off... they reeled me in, me wishing that i could stay up there forever and never come back in.. then we headed off to shore and when we got off, i took a picture of the other three with the cap'n and the deckhand and then got them to take a pic of us with them... then i got the girl's email so i could send her the pics... they had a regular camera and the mom ended up running out of film and they were really grateful when i said i could email them to her.. haha...
after we got back to shore, we changed into our board shorts and stuff and we went to rent a waverunner.. now, for my entire life, every time we went sumwhere with water, ive wanted to ride one of them, and ive never been able to.. anyhow, mom didnt want to go out, but the three of us did.. moti and i showed our IDs and got put down as drivers and mekes was pretty excited to be a rider too... we got out there and they gave us our lifejackets and then this guy named tristan showed us how to operate it.. it was really easy, contrary to my prior belief, and i started driving and mekes sat behind me and moti behind her.. tristan had told us how to throw sumone off of the thing, but mom had said we werent allowed to do it with mekes on board.. so we decided that i would drive for 20 mins, moti for 20 mins, we'd drop mekes off to shore and then have another 15 ish mins to do whatever messing around we wanted without getting mekes in danger and what not... i started driving and we just had a blast.. im telling you, this is probably my highlight of my trip =D... its one item i can cross out on my list of to-dos in my lifetime =D... it pulled a LOT on my arm muscles tho, esp since moti and mekes were hanging on to my by my lifevest belts for dear life... after a while i got really good hang of it and started jumping waves.. yah, they loved that.. we'd get water just sprayed ALL over us... and it felt great.. after i drove for a while, moti and i switched spots and before i got back on i jumped into the water, cuz man o man, it was gorgeous water! =D.. so clear and fresh... anyhow, i got onto the back and secure mekes between me and moti and moti started to drive.. after her 20 minutes of driving we dropped mekes off and went back out to be a lil crazier.. so u kno how tristan was telling us how to throw sumone off? i kinda thought itd be fun, so did moti but she was scared, so i said id go first.. she kept driving and then threw me off.. she went really fast, and then turned really fast and let go of the steering and i just FLEW off.. unfortunately, i got thrown into the wake of our waverunner and it felt like id never move again... i got thrown pretty hard and the waves crashed me until i didnt feel liek i could breathe.. kinda scary.. it felt like the worst bellyflop in the history of the world multiplied by a bazillion... =/... i felt sharp needles getting to my extremities and everything... it was bad.. my fingers hurt till the end of the day.. and my neck felt like i had sprained it by a couple hours later... once i surfaced (thank got for lifejackets), i was sooo scared, for some reason kept feeling liek the lifejacket would just stop working or something... i was yelling help (wow, i cant believe i just admitted that) and was scared SHITLESS... and hurting so bad i didnt know if i could come back to the waverunner.. moti came closer and i dragged myself back on board and told her there was NO way i was letting her get thrown off and to never do anythign liek that again... i guess its good that at least i dont have to wonder about the experience again... cuz now i know how NOT good it feels.. haha.. then i got in the drivers spot and started driving pretty crazily... fast turns, figure 8s, u name it =D.. it was SO much fun not to have to worry about the fact that mekes was with us... tho i did feel bad she didnt get to stay on it for longer since she liked it so much.. i was making sharp turns and it was fine every time, but one time, near the end of our hour, i guess i let go of the throttle mid-turn and off me and moti went, me taking the key with me (thank god for that chord they attach to ur arm to the key)... this time, it didnt hurt at ALL cuz we just fell in.. i think the way moti did it was just not so good or sumthing, i guses i shouldnt have thought shed know the "technique' to throwing sumone off considering we'd never driven these before or anything... o wel.. we were soaked and laughing our heads off.. it was awesome.. we got back on and i drove the thing back to shore so we wouldnt get charged extra...
after we returned it and paid, moti and i decided we were hungry and went to get some fries for all of us to share.. we ate and then moti and i, tired as we were, decided to lay out for a while.. we did 20 mins on our back and 20 mins on our stomach and couldnt do anymore without feeling like we were gonna fry.. i dont understand how people can lay out for hours at a time.. i really dont.. we couldnt even do an hour... sheesh.. anyhow, after that, we were SO hot, that me moti and mekes went back into the water to cool off... we went in and played with moti's finding nemo beach ball... after playing with it for a while, and getting REALLY annoyed at mekes (she'd walk further out, so me and moti had to walk further out, but then we couldnt stand and we'd tell her to move back and she'd give us attitude cuz she didnt want to move back.. geez drama) anyhow, after playing for a bit too long moti and i decided we wanted to swim out to where the end of the swimming area was and swim back.. soooooooo we started to swim out there and i made it barely to the line and moti started swimming back and i started but for some reason, since my arm muscles had been used to much during the time we were on the waverunner, i couldnt stay up.. and this time, i didnt have a life jacket.. now, most of you that know me well, know that i most of the time hate water.. i love showers, but HATE the ocean, and most of the time dont like swimming pools either.. this wasnt helping.. i was really scared and couldnt stay afloat cuz my arms felt useless, and of course, as luck would have it, my feet couldnt touch the ground, nor was i even CLOSE to an area that my feet could touch the bottom... i was freaking out and that did NOT help at all.. i truly felt like i was going to not be able to stay up any longer and that i was gonna drown.. lets just say that it was one of the most helpless feelings ive ever had in my life... nothing id wish to repeat, thats for sure... i couldnt stay afloat cuz my arms wouldnt work, damn the sore muscles... anyhow, moti started telling me where to go and to come towards her, but what happened was that my contacts floated around my eyes cuz too much water ended up going into my eyes and i ended up not being able to see.. so not only was i feeling like i was about to drown, i couldnt even see where the shore was... so i got on my back and started swimming backwards, cuz its MUCH easier and thats my stroke of choice, haha... and according to moti, i kept going in the wrong direction, so i ended up going horizontally and making NO progress in the direction of the shoreline =/... then i started doggie paddling, tho i dont kno how i did it, cuz i felt like i was going under, and then moti threw the nemo ball at my head... i sumhow grabbed onto it and was able to stay afloat and pull myself into an area where i could stand... as soon as i could stand i ran out of the water to where mom was sitting on the blankets and towels... i didnt really feel up to going back in at the time, im sure u can understand that... yah.. really scary experience.. i had two horrendous scary water experiences in one day... im surprised that i didnt want to never see water again =/...
about 10 minutes after that, moti and mekes came back out of the water and we packed up to go back to the motel.. it was only about 330 and we had already been at the beach for about 6 hours.. it felt liek we had spent a FULL day at the beach.. it was pretty nice all in all i guess... after we got back into the car, we went to cave rock.. it was this HUGE rock thing that had caves inside and they had blasted two holes through it for traffic to go through.. it was pretty cool.. we went through it and stopped at a turnout where there was a really nice view... we climbed a few rocks (tho i was still pretty shaken up and now on top of it felt like i was going to be sick) we climbed down to this flat rock that had a great view of a lagoon that had such amazing colors.. i had never seen turquoises like that before... u kno those questions on those mindless surveys that ask you what color ud be if u could be a crayon?... id demand crayola make that color and thats the one id choose =D... i got pictures, but its pretty hard when ur zooming in with sumthing digital to really capture what u see... anyhow, we climbed up a few more rocks and then got back in the car to go back to the room..
we got back to the motel and all three of us showered since we had cmpletely gone into the lake earlier... and after that, we chilled and watched some disney channel on the tv while we figured out where we were going to eat dinner... we thought about what was close and decided on chevy's... we had never been there before and figured itd be safe to try it since it was a chain and not some random hole in the wall no-name place with no reputation.. anyhow, we got there and mom and moti ordered chile rileno and a yummy sounding enchilada to share.. me and mekes got a portebello mushroom and asparagus burrito and some really good sounding quesedilla... it was unique stuff, but sounded really good.. anyhow, we ordered, got our food and everything but for some reason, we REALLY didnt enjoy it.. at all... i think maybe it was cuz we were really tired, not too hungry, and not up to eat in general... the food probably would have been better if we were more up to it.. by the end of it, we were all feeling pretty sick and over food in general... we also got to see how much salsa mexican restaurants use.. it was crazy cuz there was this HUGE thing that was filled with salsa that looked liek there was no way itd be done, but by the time we left, they had refilled it.. mm salsa =D
after we ate and left feeling horribly full of not so great food, vowing never to go there again, we decided we'd go to the shore and watch the sun set... right around the corner from our motel was the pier and so we went and moti and i walked down it and i took about a gajillion pictures of the sun setting on the lake.. we were in timber cove and you could definitely see the difference in the water of zephyr cove in nevada and this cove.. i think it was because timber cove was an actual town.. peopel lived there, there were supermarkets and restuarants.. clothing stores and other retail shops that were more than touristy attractions... in zephyr cove, it was more of a place for just a resort and rentals of sorts.. the water was clearer, the beach was cleaner and it was just beautiful.. regardless, the sun setting on water is amazing and cant really be ruined by the water being cleaner/clearer or anything else... it was really cool too cuz we saw a thunderstorm rolling in.. we'd be looking at the sky and see clear blue skies and then just turn a 180 and see black thunderclouds.. and off in the distance, you could see a rainbow on a mountain top above a house.. that was pretty cool.. also we saw the rain curtain off in the distance where the storm was already letting go its cargo.. haha..
after we saw the sunset, we came back to the room, i made a couple of phone calls (just left a couple messages since it was kidna early still - barely 9ish).. and by 930, i think i was in bed....
and here's the highlighted pics of the day (scroll over them to read the caption)
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(08.05.06)
this morning we woke up pretty early again.. about 730... i couldnt sleep all night.. moti has a habit of taking up WAY more room than should be alloted to her.. and me, wel... im much too nice to push her back over... every time we share a bed i never sleep well, and she tells me i should have just shoved her, but i feel so bad doing that, i just can never do it.. anyhow, remember how i was sore yesterday from the waverunners? and how moti laughed at me a little and didnt understand that i was sore when she wasnt? wellllll turns out it hit her after she slept.. which is the case for most people.. i think (im not sure tho) that if you constantly are challenging ur muscles, u feel the burn much more than sumone that isnt really using their muscles as much.. cuz i remember when i never worked out, id be totally active and could go for a long time when i hadnt used my muscles in a long time and then the next few days i couldnt move at ALL.. so i guess i felt the burn faster than moti.. anyhow, we had some trouble getting ready cuz of that.. it hurt pretty bad.. when i was thrown off the waverunner yesterday, it really messed with my neck, and i couldnt move it this morning.. so while i was moaning about getting up, mom said she had some muscle rub she'd put on it.. now you all know that i dont like taking painkillers, thats one thing im VERY much against.. but muscle relaxant balm im ok with once in a while.. this was one of those times... so i was still in bed, mom came over and started massaging the part of my neck that was killing me.. a little later, moti comes back from brushing her teeth and starts laughing at me.. turns out that mom was rubbing in "arthricare".. yahhhh, she said muscle rub, so i assumed "muscle rub" or "bengay" but i got the arthiritis care.. hahahaha... o wel.. at least it didnt smell or anything... my fone started going off at 745, scared the living crap out of me, but i remembered i had put on an alarm to call ro before his final at 8... (ewww final at 8 am on a saturday! =/).. he wasnt there, so i left a message...
then we got ready and our plan was to go to a dennys for bfast cuz im a HUGE fan of the eggs, toast, pancakes - the works... anyhow, mom had been up for a while (yes, she wakes up crazily early) and she had checked out our route and saw that to get too neelam ben's house in san jose, we had to go thru oakland... thats where ankit bhai lives =D.. sooo mom decided we'd get an early start so we could maybe drop in a quick hi for tea there before we finished our drive to san jose to see neelam ben, gautam, and their cutie baby boy ashil... so we went to some supermaket, got moti some sweet hawaiian bread, mekes some doughnuts, and then we went to mcdonalds and me and mom got some egg mcmuffins... we ate our lil "picnic" on a table outside mcdonalds and then decided to take off for emerald bay... the pictures and the name suggested this AH-maaazing view/color/bay so we had planned to spend the morning there...
we got there and stopped at a few vista points to see the bay.. it looked pretty, but i thought zephyr bay was a LOT prettier... buuut since it was our plan, i decided to give it a try.. we read about it on one of the vista points.. theres this island in the middle of the bay, which was pretty cool, and this castle thing called vikingholm at the base of the cliff that led down to the water.. now, there didnt look like there was any way for a car to go down there, but there was this thing for tourists that involved stopping and parking off to the side of the road, and hike about a mile down to the water.. crazy thought, but we put on our shoes, got our water bottle and started walking.. we got to the bottom with not too much trouble and decided since it was so hot (and it was only 10:30) we'd put our feet in the water for a bit.. there werent too many peopel down there. i guess the fact that you cant drive to it really discourages people... anyhow, we took our shoes and socks off (mekes didnt cuz she was way too lazy to take off the shoes/socks cuz then she had to put them back on)... moti and i walked along the beach for a bit and found this spot that was kinda hidden between a couple of bushes and sat on a log there for a bit.. we were "drying" our feet so we could put our socks back on, but it was WAY too tempting to keep putting our feet in the water and by the time mom and mekes were ready to hike back up, our feet were freshly wet =P... we shook the sand off our feet with our socks and stuffed our feet in real quick and up we went.. i tell you, that hike was NOT so much fun.. hahaha... it was a little tiring going back up - for some reason, more tiring than i would hav expected.. but then again, the temperature had gone up in the half hour that we spent on the beach and heat + uphill climb on gravel doesnt exactly equate an easy walk..
once we got to the car, our water was done and we were parched.. we decided to stop at a fast food restaurant on the way back since we were going back through town as it was... we parked in a parade and mom and moti went to find a gift or two for both ashil and ankit bhai (since we had never been to his house before - u cant go emptyhanded).. while they were shopping, me and mekes decided to find some water and undo the crazy parched throats that we still had... we saw taco bell in the parade and went in there for a bit.. i didnt want to just go in for water, so i bought some cinnamon twists cuz i kno moti LOVES them.. i remember when we were little that everytime we went to the taco bell in old town san dimas (near the library - that they tore down to make a damn starbucks =/) she'd get those with whatever she ordered =D.. so i got some and we got an extra large cup to put some ice and water into.. we filled up our aquafina bottle while we were in there too.. then we headed back to the car since moti had given us her car keys cuz they knew we'd take less time than them.. sicne they were shopping... we sat in the car and just chilled (more like fried - damn today is hot) until moti called and asked us if we wanted to eat some taco bell for lunch before we left for oakland since it was a 2-3 hour drive ahead of us... we said sure and she brought us some taco bell.. we ate while we were waiting for mom to check out and pay for the stuff she got.. then off to oakland we went...
i fell asleep pretty promptly.. on mekes' lap of course.. shes a great pillow =P.. heheh.. right before i went to bed tho, moti asked me for ankitbhai's number so we could call him and see if he was home so we could stop by... i looked up "ankit" in my fone, gave her the number, then fell asleep.. while i was sleeping, she called... unfortunately, i had given her ankit DESAI's number.. NOT ankit HATHI... yahhhhhh.... funny thing is that hes from up north too, so moti didnt realize it was the wrong ankit till after she said a few things that would have pertained just to ankitbhai.. hahaha.. anyhow, so she was pretty embarrassed and kinda pissed at me for a bit.. i gave her the OTHER ankit bhai's number and she called him and left a message telling him we were planning to pass through oakland around 4 and if they were home that we'd love to stop by and say hi.. i miss ankitbhai =(.. i havent seen him in quite some time.. i feel bad, cuz he's really like a big brother to me (he knew my family before i was born =P) and last time he was home we hung out just me and him and he was really worried about me and told me to call him randomly cuz he wanted to know how i was doing... since then he's called me a few times, but i just havent =/.... yah, i need to get better at the whole staying in touch thing =(.. and the time that i DID call him, i called him for vipulbhai's number and he was in the middle of a wedding reception... yahh, i have great timing huh?
after that, we kept driving, stopped for gas and moti and i went in to refil the water bottles and go to the looo =P... then along the way, ankitbhai called us back and started to give us directions... and said that take the 5 south and then take 210... by that time, moti realized that they werent in oAKLAND!, they were in GLENDORA!.. hahaha.. what an unfortunate chance huh? we come ALLLL the way up here and theyve already flown down there for the weekend.. *sigh*.. guess like motiben said.. "communication is KEY".. hahaha...
after lots more driving, we got to neelam ben's house.. i put on my contacts in the car and we went in.. now, for those of you that dont know, i lived in india for a year when i was about 7 years old.. we didnt kno anyone over there since all of our relatives live in england.. and those that are distant relatives in india were in gujarat, not in bangalore where we were staying... so we met this family (i cant for the life of me remember how we met them), and they became like family... therefore, we treat them like moms brother and sister-in-law... we even took to calling them ashok MAMA (means moms brother) and hansu MAMI (aka moms sister-in-law) =D... anyhow, they have two daughters... one of them (sunita ben) lives in india with her husband and kid and the other is neelam ben.. she lives up north with her husband gautam and she has a three year old son named ashil.. anyhow, we went to go visit them and ashok mama and hansu mami were there from india for a few weeks, so we lucked out and got to see them too =D.. we got there and after a few minutes, ashil took to us and started to play with us.. he was a bundle of energy i tell you... neelam ben and gautam had to go to some party and were going to take ashil until they saw how much fun he was having with us =D.. they decided to let him continue to play with us.. but about half hour after they left for their party, he went to take a nap cuz he was very sleepy.. after we ate dinner, he woke up and started crying for neelam ben.. supposedly they dont leave him alone too often, and he was in a house with a bunch of peopel taht normally arent there.. that didnt help too much i guess, even tho he liked us and what not... once neelam ben and gautam came back home, we all talked for a while and after an hour or so, everyone was pretty tired... they got the sleeping stuff set up while i was on the fone outside for a little bit.. theyre house is like my old one, they have no reception inside.. haha.. so i went to the backyard, and i got locked out quite a few times.. hahaha.. but its ok, i got back in... me and moti took the floor in ashil's room and mom and mekes took the sofa bed in the living room... and then it was sleepy time =D
and here's the highlighted pics of the day (scroll over them to read the caption)
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(08.06.06)
this morning i woke up to find that i had had a GREAT sleep... i tell you, i had not had this great sleep for the past three nights... it was great... we were on the floor, maybe thats why.. maybe im over sleeping in beds now that ive been on the floor for the past month in the new apt... hahaha... *shrugg* who knows!... all i DO know is that i was the last one up =X... hahaha.. after i took a shower, i realized that i was burnt.. reallly really badly... im brown, and in case u didnt kno, brown peopel are pretty invinceable when it comes to tanning.. we jsut get darker, but we hardly ever burn.. ever... and i mean that.. for all the hours i spent on the swim team, or playing ball outside, or anything else when i was younger, i almost NEVER got red... the only time i used to get red was when i exercised so much that my face got flushed cuz i was really hot... haha.. anyhow, my upper back and shoulders were so burnt i couldnt exactly dry it with a towel cuz it hurt too bad... i called moti to come in the bathroom with some lotion and got her to lotion me before i attempted to put my shirt on.. my goodness it hurt to put that shirt on.. and the rest of the day i was aching.. =/....
we had a pretty goood bfast.. hansu mamis a really good cook and the dinner we had last night and the bfast we had this morning were both really good... after that, we just kinda hung out for a bit... played with ashil, talked to gautam, opened the gift we got ashil and showed him how to use it.. he was very excited about it.. it was called "marbulous" and it was really a cool toy for a kid.. theres pieces and you have to put it all together and then when u put a marble in it, it goes down all these paths and its really fun =P.. he didnt tire of putting in marble after marble.. hahaha...
so we just basically chilled until we ate lunch and then took a few parting pics.. and then decided to get going cuz we had a long drive home and we figured we had better leave if we wanted to get home at a decent hour... we left with moti driving... after we got onto the 5 freeway, i took over and drove for a while.. and then mom took over... we stopped at subway in valencia in the middle around dinner time and got food.. mom and i got into the first fight of the whole trip (i was a good kid up until the last two hours of the trip - impressive, id say).. and i ended up not eating anything... by the time we got to monrovia, i felt like i was gonna be sick.. but stubborn me decided not to say anythng.. we got home and i helped take stuff up and i wasnt even five minutes into the apt when i walked to the bathroom and promptly threw up.. man o man that did NOT feel good.. i really hate driving for long hours.. and the only thing that makes me feel even ok is having a full stomach or constantly eating.. im sure i gained a crapload on this trip considering how many hours we drove for... but after an hour or so, i gave in and ate and mom and i stopped fighting, so that was good...
and here's the highlighted pics of the day (scroll over them to read the caption)
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all in all.. the trip was a success.. i consider this the first family trip we've had.. the ones when dad lived with us jsut dont count.. i dont think of those as vacations - vacations are sposed to be pleasant and relaxing and anything to do with dad was always quite the opposite.. so this was our first - and hopefully the start of many - pleasant trips =D...
heres a lil summary:
favorite points:
~ the stream the first day when mekes fell in - clothes and all =P
~ saving the duckie's life
~ parasailing - from the boat ride to going up in the air - and esp deckhand tom ;)
~ the waverunners - minus the getting thrown - i esp liked the GENTLE FALL off that moti and i did after my violent toss
~ having everyone get along with everyone for once
~ the sunset over the lake
~ hike down to emerald bay and looking at vikingsholm
~ playing with ashil and actually get some sleep
least favorite points:
~ driving forever and feeling carsick
~ near death experience #1 - getting thrown off the waverunner
~ near death experience #2 - almost drowning a little later
~ getting sunburned really bad
~ chevy's dinner (our fam cant say the word chevy without sumone shuddering at the experience)
~ the hike back UP from emerald bay
~ waking up to not being able to move my neck cuz of getting thrown from the waverunner
~ being sick when i got home
i really want to make sure that i dont forget anything so im updating from the road (or the motel, or the car, etc)... this morning i went to class before we left.. we learned about the elderly.. pretty interesting, seeing how many elderly there are in this country... there are more elderly than there are teenagers right now, and the baby boomers havent even hit that mark yet!.. just imagine.. anyhow, after my first class, i decided to ditch the second and walked home just in time to see the fam getting the last stuff together to put into the car for the trip... i quickly grabbed my last minute stuff (backpack with my laptop (so i could put the pics from my camera on every night so i could take more pics in total), my battery charger, and my camera)... mom made me a vegedog (cuz i hadnt eaten yet), and then off we went...
we drove to the auto club first.. mom needed to get sum insurance paperwork or sumthing to that extent before we actually left for the trip.. i guess cuz this was a big trip, moti needed to make sure her car had the right stuff (o btw, moti DID get herself a car... its not new, but not a lot of people that buy themselves a car get their first car new, right?... anyhow, she got a 2002 toyota corolla ce.. its a pretty good car.. didnt have too many miles on it or anything and she got it for one HELL of a good price considering that it was from a dealership and its certified).. anyhow, mom went in to get some papers they had for her, and me moti and mekes stayed in the parking lot.. moti had saved a bunch of music on my computer that she wanted me to burn for the trip, so i sat in the car burning those.. good ol laptops, gotta love em! moti saw this guy that gets prescriptions from her pharmacy walk by our car, and before she could tell us his name, he was waving.. haha.. anyhow, i burned moti her cds till mom came back.. and once she came back, off we went.. this time, with tahoe as our destination...
moti started the driving... i started to get really hyper cuz i tend to do that when im tired.. and of course theres the fact that i HATE road trips.. or more than about an hour in a car/vehicle.. kinda sucks cuz it always seems liek a great thing to go on a road trips with ur friends.. haha.. maybe one day ill stop feeling sick enuf in the car to be able to take an actual road trip.. anyhow, we stopped of a few times.. the first was a lil rest stop right before we hit the empty road with no civilization.. we stopped at a carls jr cuz we needed a potty break =P... we stopped off and got some fried zucchini too.. mmm i love it =D.. after that, i slept for a while.. mekes is a great pillow =P... the next break we took mom decided to take over driving and i became the co-pilot =P.. moti moved to the back and used mekes as HER pillow and took a nap.. while we were driving, mom told me the story of dad's side of the family.. made a lof of stuff clearer to me.. anyhow, after that, i took over for a while, and moti moved up front to keep me company.. i drove for about 70 miles and then moti drove the rest of the way.. we stopped in a little place sumwhere in that time to get some starbucks and some wet wipes for the car just in case of spills and what not.. dry napkins just arent the same =P...
on the way thru the forest to tahoe, we saw this stream that was running through and we ended up stopping on the side at a turnout to climb down the rocks to go to the stream to put our feet in.. we were all wearing flip flops and moti and mekes pretty much flew down there.. they love doing that type of stuff and dont really think about the practicality of the footwear.. i was about to go too (since they did it, i figured i pretty much had to =P) and then mom said she prolly couldnt make it down there.. she doesnt have such good knees, and the fact she was wearing flip flops didnt help.. so i opened the trunk and got out our shoes.. then we went down there to join moti and mekes who already had their feet in the stream.. we took off our shoes and got in as well.. it was sooooo nice... i loved the nature, it was great =D... so we were just hanging out in the stream and were in there just to our legs and mekes and moti start to walk towards a deeper part of the stream.. moti WARNS mekes that its slippery, and mekes doesnt listen and totally falls in all the way.. hahahaha.. it was SO funny.. she was wearing these red pants she hadnt worn before, and they started running, so then her hands got all red... it was hilarious.. it looked like she had just murdered sumone.. anyhow, then we got back in the car and drove and drove and drove...
we ended up getting in south lake tahoe around 730 in the evening... we saw a round table and decided to eat first before we checked into our motel room... mom was ordering the pizza when i got a phone call.. yay for brothers! it was ro =D... its been a while since we've actually just called each other just to say hi... its made me kinda sad for the past few months, but im glad its back to normal again =D.... anyhow, the food got made pretty fast, mom had been about to order a med8ium gourmet vege pizza when i told her we were all VERY hungry and maybe just maybbbbe she should get a large.. she did and we finished it off in a matter of 10 minutes =P... lets just say we WERE very hungy.. haha...
after we finished dinner, we headed off to find our motel.. we had decided to stay in a motel cuz we really didnt care about how nice our rooms were.. i figure id rather spend more on activities during the day than a really nice room that we're only going to be staying in for a few hours when we're sleeping.. *shrugg*.. it helped, cuz i doubt we could have done as much as we did if we had decided to stay in an actual hotel.. anyhow, we checked in and then mom decided she wanted to go see the beach at night.. we were at timber cove and it was an actual town.. peopel lived there and there were Safeways and real town-ish stuff, but people had said it was close enuf to get down to the water without taking a car, so we started walking.. we didnt EXACTLY know where we were going, so we didnt really end up at the edge of the water, but in between a few huge houses looking down on the moon shining on the lake... we couldnt go down so we just walked back to the room... on the way back to the room, mom and i heard a duck quacking, so i veered off from the way back to the room to see where it was coming from.. it was really dark and i couldnt see much and moti and mekes had kept walking and had stopped a while away on a corner.. me and mom saw a lil pond outside of a safeway shopping center and we saw a four-legged creature chasing a duck in the pond... we finally figured out it was a raccoon chasing the duck and i felt SO bad for it.. i threw sumthing at the raccoon to hopefully scare it away but there wasnt much to throw besides light stuff that didnt really go far... then mom had the idea of me flashing my handydandy camera... good thing i always have it on me.. i did and it was funny, cuz it scared him away and at the same time, i got a pic of it =P... but hey! i saved a duck's life! =D
once we got to the room, we looked around and we honestly think that tahoe's ancestors were migits... no joke.. the door knobs were so low, as were the light switches and the rack in the closet went up to our stomachs at the tallest.. it was really funny.. everything was tiny!.. hahaha... anyhow, i found some wireless and decided to try to see if i could get online or check my mail.. after a few frustrated attempts, i gave up and just started to keep writing this =P after a while, i decided that sleep would be coming pretty soon and that id call kajal real quick before i slept.. of course moti wanted to call neera too.. so we took the key and went outside to talk (mom and mekes were in bed).. i called her but she wasnt there so i called aakash to say gluck on his test.. he had a final for his ochem class at 8 am friday morning, and we had been in a sort of fight since tuesday and hadnt talked since then, so i thought id call him =).. we talked for a while and then kajal called me back.. right when i finally got to talk to kajal, mom got up and asked us to come inside cuz she was nervous about us being outside the room so late i guess... *shrugg*.. so then i went to sleep, cuz really, whats better than sleep, eh? =P
and here's the highlighted pics of the day (scroll over them to read the caption)
View Slideshow
(08.04.06)
mom woke us up pretty early.. around 730 id say... we had a big day planned and wanted to get up in time for it.. while we were still sleeping, she had gone to safeway and gotten some rolls and butter for breakfast.. she also got some fruit and stuff.. i tell you, my mother is nuts =P... o yes, and cant forget the milke for the moti and the mekes.. haha... we got ready and then mom and i went at 8 to get the free coffee they offered.. let me tell you, when i was younger, i NEVER understood that there was such a thing as bad coffee and good coffee but trust me, i know what the diff is now =(... that was teh worst coffee ive ever tasted.. thank you starbucks for being in business.. u uphold the name of coffee =D
after we ate, we all made sure we had our swim stuff on and headed off to zephyr cove.. it was in nevada so we got to cross the border line into nevada.. it was funny, cuz there was no noticeable differece except for the fact that RIGHT after it said "nevada stateline", there were a bunch of casinos right off the bat... hahah.. zephyr cove was more of a tourist place and it had a resort and such, but it didnt seeem as if it was a town with people that actually lived there... it was gorgeous.. so gorgeous.. the water, was AH-mazing! so clear that you could see all the way down to the rocks at the bottom.. im sure some of it seemed more shallow just CUZ you could see all the way down... i wanted to jump right in, but before we could, we had to keep an appointment we had made for 9:45... what appointment you say? mom had planned for the four of us to go parasailing.. exciting, no?
we waited around for a few minutes for the other couple that was in our boat and then we headed off in our boat called "parasail"... im sure that wasnt the name, it was probably more for practical reasons, but i like to pretend ;).. we got introduced to Captain John and Deckhand Tom (who was amazingly hot - im glad he was the one that harnessed us up =P).. hehe.. sounds catchy, dont it?... the newlywed couple was going tandem (in a pair at once) and the mom was just coming to be an observer... then moti was going to go first out of our group, then mom, mekes, and lastly me... it looked just amazing, i tell you.. i took tons of pics of everyone getting harnassed up and what not and then, after everyone got 10 minutes of flying time, i got harnessed up to go... if you havent been parasailing, let me just say that it is one of the most amazing experiences ever.. its just like ur flying.. especially if you close ur eyes while ur up there and let go and spread ur arms... it let me out really slow and steady which was good - i was a bit scared it felt jerky cuz the parachute is tugging on you too.. but it was really smooth... once i got to the end of the line, the boat pulled me around for a while and i got to see almost the whole lake (which, by the way is HUGE - and not just to the naked eye, i mean, the facts u read about this lake make ur jaw drop)... i got to see all the different coves and peopel in their boats and waverunners looked so small.. the water was great, and the wind was just so windy but calm at the same time.. u kno when ur in a boat, and the wind just messes ur hair like no other? and u can hear it? wel, this was windy minus the hair in ur face and the thunderous noise in ur ear.. it was an experience... while i was up there, i made a few confessions.. at the top of my lungs too.. stuff no one else in the entire universe knows.. felt good to yell it, even if there was no one listening =D... then they do this trick called the elevator... they pull u in a little, and slow the boat down a LOT... when they do that, u go so close to the water that ur feet ALMOST touch it (theyve made it illegal to actually put the people on the parasail into the water... anyhow, while i was going down, there was a dad and his son on a waverunner and he yelled at me "hey ur gonna get wet!".. i yelled back "haha, i WISH! it's illegal".. right after i said that, the boat pulled me back up into the air and the guy on the waverunner was like "hey! get back down here.. I'LL get you wet!".. haha, it was funny.. after i went all the way back up, he started up his waverunner again and zoomed off... they reeled me in, me wishing that i could stay up there forever and never come back in.. then we headed off to shore and when we got off, i took a picture of the other three with the cap'n and the deckhand and then got them to take a pic of us with them... then i got the girl's email so i could send her the pics... they had a regular camera and the mom ended up running out of film and they were really grateful when i said i could email them to her.. haha...
after we got back to shore, we changed into our board shorts and stuff and we went to rent a waverunner.. now, for my entire life, every time we went sumwhere with water, ive wanted to ride one of them, and ive never been able to.. anyhow, mom didnt want to go out, but the three of us did.. moti and i showed our IDs and got put down as drivers and mekes was pretty excited to be a rider too... we got out there and they gave us our lifejackets and then this guy named tristan showed us how to operate it.. it was really easy, contrary to my prior belief, and i started driving and mekes sat behind me and moti behind her.. tristan had told us how to throw sumone off of the thing, but mom had said we werent allowed to do it with mekes on board.. so we decided that i would drive for 20 mins, moti for 20 mins, we'd drop mekes off to shore and then have another 15 ish mins to do whatever messing around we wanted without getting mekes in danger and what not... i started driving and we just had a blast.. im telling you, this is probably my highlight of my trip =D... its one item i can cross out on my list of to-dos in my lifetime =D... it pulled a LOT on my arm muscles tho, esp since moti and mekes were hanging on to my by my lifevest belts for dear life... after a while i got really good hang of it and started jumping waves.. yah, they loved that.. we'd get water just sprayed ALL over us... and it felt great.. after i drove for a while, moti and i switched spots and before i got back on i jumped into the water, cuz man o man, it was gorgeous water! =D.. so clear and fresh... anyhow, i got onto the back and secure mekes between me and moti and moti started to drive.. after her 20 minutes of driving we dropped mekes off and went back out to be a lil crazier.. so u kno how tristan was telling us how to throw sumone off? i kinda thought itd be fun, so did moti but she was scared, so i said id go first.. she kept driving and then threw me off.. she went really fast, and then turned really fast and let go of the steering and i just FLEW off.. unfortunately, i got thrown into the wake of our waverunner and it felt like id never move again... i got thrown pretty hard and the waves crashed me until i didnt feel liek i could breathe.. kinda scary.. it felt like the worst bellyflop in the history of the world multiplied by a bazillion... =/... i felt sharp needles getting to my extremities and everything... it was bad.. my fingers hurt till the end of the day.. and my neck felt like i had sprained it by a couple hours later... once i surfaced (thank got for lifejackets), i was sooo scared, for some reason kept feeling liek the lifejacket would just stop working or something... i was yelling help (wow, i cant believe i just admitted that) and was scared SHITLESS... and hurting so bad i didnt know if i could come back to the waverunner.. moti came closer and i dragged myself back on board and told her there was NO way i was letting her get thrown off and to never do anythign liek that again... i guess its good that at least i dont have to wonder about the experience again... cuz now i know how NOT good it feels.. haha.. then i got in the drivers spot and started driving pretty crazily... fast turns, figure 8s, u name it =D.. it was SO much fun not to have to worry about the fact that mekes was with us... tho i did feel bad she didnt get to stay on it for longer since she liked it so much.. i was making sharp turns and it was fine every time, but one time, near the end of our hour, i guess i let go of the throttle mid-turn and off me and moti went, me taking the key with me (thank god for that chord they attach to ur arm to the key)... this time, it didnt hurt at ALL cuz we just fell in.. i think the way moti did it was just not so good or sumthing, i guses i shouldnt have thought shed know the "technique' to throwing sumone off considering we'd never driven these before or anything... o wel.. we were soaked and laughing our heads off.. it was awesome.. we got back on and i drove the thing back to shore so we wouldnt get charged extra...
after we returned it and paid, moti and i decided we were hungry and went to get some fries for all of us to share.. we ate and then moti and i, tired as we were, decided to lay out for a while.. we did 20 mins on our back and 20 mins on our stomach and couldnt do anymore without feeling like we were gonna fry.. i dont understand how people can lay out for hours at a time.. i really dont.. we couldnt even do an hour... sheesh.. anyhow, after that, we were SO hot, that me moti and mekes went back into the water to cool off... we went in and played with moti's finding nemo beach ball... after playing with it for a while, and getting REALLY annoyed at mekes (she'd walk further out, so me and moti had to walk further out, but then we couldnt stand and we'd tell her to move back and she'd give us attitude cuz she didnt want to move back.. geez drama) anyhow, after playing for a bit too long moti and i decided we wanted to swim out to where the end of the swimming area was and swim back.. soooooooo we started to swim out there and i made it barely to the line and moti started swimming back and i started but for some reason, since my arm muscles had been used to much during the time we were on the waverunner, i couldnt stay up.. and this time, i didnt have a life jacket.. now, most of you that know me well, know that i most of the time hate water.. i love showers, but HATE the ocean, and most of the time dont like swimming pools either.. this wasnt helping.. i was really scared and couldnt stay afloat cuz my arms felt useless, and of course, as luck would have it, my feet couldnt touch the ground, nor was i even CLOSE to an area that my feet could touch the bottom... i was freaking out and that did NOT help at all.. i truly felt like i was going to not be able to stay up any longer and that i was gonna drown.. lets just say that it was one of the most helpless feelings ive ever had in my life... nothing id wish to repeat, thats for sure... i couldnt stay afloat cuz my arms wouldnt work, damn the sore muscles... anyhow, moti started telling me where to go and to come towards her, but what happened was that my contacts floated around my eyes cuz too much water ended up going into my eyes and i ended up not being able to see.. so not only was i feeling like i was about to drown, i couldnt even see where the shore was... so i got on my back and started swimming backwards, cuz its MUCH easier and thats my stroke of choice, haha... and according to moti, i kept going in the wrong direction, so i ended up going horizontally and making NO progress in the direction of the shoreline =/... then i started doggie paddling, tho i dont kno how i did it, cuz i felt like i was going under, and then moti threw the nemo ball at my head... i sumhow grabbed onto it and was able to stay afloat and pull myself into an area where i could stand... as soon as i could stand i ran out of the water to where mom was sitting on the blankets and towels... i didnt really feel up to going back in at the time, im sure u can understand that... yah.. really scary experience.. i had two horrendous scary water experiences in one day... im surprised that i didnt want to never see water again =/...
about 10 minutes after that, moti and mekes came back out of the water and we packed up to go back to the motel.. it was only about 330 and we had already been at the beach for about 6 hours.. it felt liek we had spent a FULL day at the beach.. it was pretty nice all in all i guess... after we got back into the car, we went to cave rock.. it was this HUGE rock thing that had caves inside and they had blasted two holes through it for traffic to go through.. it was pretty cool.. we went through it and stopped at a turnout where there was a really nice view... we climbed a few rocks (tho i was still pretty shaken up and now on top of it felt like i was going to be sick) we climbed down to this flat rock that had a great view of a lagoon that had such amazing colors.. i had never seen turquoises like that before... u kno those questions on those mindless surveys that ask you what color ud be if u could be a crayon?... id demand crayola make that color and thats the one id choose =D... i got pictures, but its pretty hard when ur zooming in with sumthing digital to really capture what u see... anyhow, we climbed up a few more rocks and then got back in the car to go back to the room..
we got back to the motel and all three of us showered since we had cmpletely gone into the lake earlier... and after that, we chilled and watched some disney channel on the tv while we figured out where we were going to eat dinner... we thought about what was close and decided on chevy's... we had never been there before and figured itd be safe to try it since it was a chain and not some random hole in the wall no-name place with no reputation.. anyhow, we got there and mom and moti ordered chile rileno and a yummy sounding enchilada to share.. me and mekes got a portebello mushroom and asparagus burrito and some really good sounding quesedilla... it was unique stuff, but sounded really good.. anyhow, we ordered, got our food and everything but for some reason, we REALLY didnt enjoy it.. at all... i think maybe it was cuz we were really tired, not too hungry, and not up to eat in general... the food probably would have been better if we were more up to it.. by the end of it, we were all feeling pretty sick and over food in general... we also got to see how much salsa mexican restaurants use.. it was crazy cuz there was this HUGE thing that was filled with salsa that looked liek there was no way itd be done, but by the time we left, they had refilled it.. mm salsa =D
after we ate and left feeling horribly full of not so great food, vowing never to go there again, we decided we'd go to the shore and watch the sun set... right around the corner from our motel was the pier and so we went and moti and i walked down it and i took about a gajillion pictures of the sun setting on the lake.. we were in timber cove and you could definitely see the difference in the water of zephyr cove in nevada and this cove.. i think it was because timber cove was an actual town.. peopel lived there, there were supermarkets and restuarants.. clothing stores and other retail shops that were more than touristy attractions... in zephyr cove, it was more of a place for just a resort and rentals of sorts.. the water was clearer, the beach was cleaner and it was just beautiful.. regardless, the sun setting on water is amazing and cant really be ruined by the water being cleaner/clearer or anything else... it was really cool too cuz we saw a thunderstorm rolling in.. we'd be looking at the sky and see clear blue skies and then just turn a 180 and see black thunderclouds.. and off in the distance, you could see a rainbow on a mountain top above a house.. that was pretty cool.. also we saw the rain curtain off in the distance where the storm was already letting go its cargo.. haha..
after we saw the sunset, we came back to the room, i made a couple of phone calls (just left a couple messages since it was kidna early still - barely 9ish).. and by 930, i think i was in bed....
and here's the highlighted pics of the day (scroll over them to read the caption)
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(08.05.06)
this morning we woke up pretty early again.. about 730... i couldnt sleep all night.. moti has a habit of taking up WAY more room than should be alloted to her.. and me, wel... im much too nice to push her back over... every time we share a bed i never sleep well, and she tells me i should have just shoved her, but i feel so bad doing that, i just can never do it.. anyhow, remember how i was sore yesterday from the waverunners? and how moti laughed at me a little and didnt understand that i was sore when she wasnt? wellllll turns out it hit her after she slept.. which is the case for most people.. i think (im not sure tho) that if you constantly are challenging ur muscles, u feel the burn much more than sumone that isnt really using their muscles as much.. cuz i remember when i never worked out, id be totally active and could go for a long time when i hadnt used my muscles in a long time and then the next few days i couldnt move at ALL.. so i guess i felt the burn faster than moti.. anyhow, we had some trouble getting ready cuz of that.. it hurt pretty bad.. when i was thrown off the waverunner yesterday, it really messed with my neck, and i couldnt move it this morning.. so while i was moaning about getting up, mom said she had some muscle rub she'd put on it.. now you all know that i dont like taking painkillers, thats one thing im VERY much against.. but muscle relaxant balm im ok with once in a while.. this was one of those times... so i was still in bed, mom came over and started massaging the part of my neck that was killing me.. a little later, moti comes back from brushing her teeth and starts laughing at me.. turns out that mom was rubbing in "arthricare".. yahhhh, she said muscle rub, so i assumed "muscle rub" or "bengay" but i got the arthiritis care.. hahahaha... o wel.. at least it didnt smell or anything... my fone started going off at 745, scared the living crap out of me, but i remembered i had put on an alarm to call ro before his final at 8... (ewww final at 8 am on a saturday! =/).. he wasnt there, so i left a message...
then we got ready and our plan was to go to a dennys for bfast cuz im a HUGE fan of the eggs, toast, pancakes - the works... anyhow, mom had been up for a while (yes, she wakes up crazily early) and she had checked out our route and saw that to get too neelam ben's house in san jose, we had to go thru oakland... thats where ankit bhai lives =D.. sooo mom decided we'd get an early start so we could maybe drop in a quick hi for tea there before we finished our drive to san jose to see neelam ben, gautam, and their cutie baby boy ashil... so we went to some supermaket, got moti some sweet hawaiian bread, mekes some doughnuts, and then we went to mcdonalds and me and mom got some egg mcmuffins... we ate our lil "picnic" on a table outside mcdonalds and then decided to take off for emerald bay... the pictures and the name suggested this AH-maaazing view/color/bay so we had planned to spend the morning there...
we got there and stopped at a few vista points to see the bay.. it looked pretty, but i thought zephyr bay was a LOT prettier... buuut since it was our plan, i decided to give it a try.. we read about it on one of the vista points.. theres this island in the middle of the bay, which was pretty cool, and this castle thing called vikingholm at the base of the cliff that led down to the water.. now, there didnt look like there was any way for a car to go down there, but there was this thing for tourists that involved stopping and parking off to the side of the road, and hike about a mile down to the water.. crazy thought, but we put on our shoes, got our water bottle and started walking.. we got to the bottom with not too much trouble and decided since it was so hot (and it was only 10:30) we'd put our feet in the water for a bit.. there werent too many peopel down there. i guess the fact that you cant drive to it really discourages people... anyhow, we took our shoes and socks off (mekes didnt cuz she was way too lazy to take off the shoes/socks cuz then she had to put them back on)... moti and i walked along the beach for a bit and found this spot that was kinda hidden between a couple of bushes and sat on a log there for a bit.. we were "drying" our feet so we could put our socks back on, but it was WAY too tempting to keep putting our feet in the water and by the time mom and mekes were ready to hike back up, our feet were freshly wet =P... we shook the sand off our feet with our socks and stuffed our feet in real quick and up we went.. i tell you, that hike was NOT so much fun.. hahaha... it was a little tiring going back up - for some reason, more tiring than i would hav expected.. but then again, the temperature had gone up in the half hour that we spent on the beach and heat + uphill climb on gravel doesnt exactly equate an easy walk..
once we got to the car, our water was done and we were parched.. we decided to stop at a fast food restaurant on the way back since we were going back through town as it was... we parked in a parade and mom and moti went to find a gift or two for both ashil and ankit bhai (since we had never been to his house before - u cant go emptyhanded).. while they were shopping, me and mekes decided to find some water and undo the crazy parched throats that we still had... we saw taco bell in the parade and went in there for a bit.. i didnt want to just go in for water, so i bought some cinnamon twists cuz i kno moti LOVES them.. i remember when we were little that everytime we went to the taco bell in old town san dimas (near the library - that they tore down to make a damn starbucks =/) she'd get those with whatever she ordered =D.. so i got some and we got an extra large cup to put some ice and water into.. we filled up our aquafina bottle while we were in there too.. then we headed back to the car since moti had given us her car keys cuz they knew we'd take less time than them.. sicne they were shopping... we sat in the car and just chilled (more like fried - damn today is hot) until moti called and asked us if we wanted to eat some taco bell for lunch before we left for oakland since it was a 2-3 hour drive ahead of us... we said sure and she brought us some taco bell.. we ate while we were waiting for mom to check out and pay for the stuff she got.. then off to oakland we went...
i fell asleep pretty promptly.. on mekes' lap of course.. shes a great pillow =P.. heheh.. right before i went to bed tho, moti asked me for ankitbhai's number so we could call him and see if he was home so we could stop by... i looked up "ankit" in my fone, gave her the number, then fell asleep.. while i was sleeping, she called... unfortunately, i had given her ankit DESAI's number.. NOT ankit HATHI... yahhhhhh.... funny thing is that hes from up north too, so moti didnt realize it was the wrong ankit till after she said a few things that would have pertained just to ankitbhai.. hahaha.. anyhow, so she was pretty embarrassed and kinda pissed at me for a bit.. i gave her the OTHER ankit bhai's number and she called him and left a message telling him we were planning to pass through oakland around 4 and if they were home that we'd love to stop by and say hi.. i miss ankitbhai =(.. i havent seen him in quite some time.. i feel bad, cuz he's really like a big brother to me (he knew my family before i was born =P) and last time he was home we hung out just me and him and he was really worried about me and told me to call him randomly cuz he wanted to know how i was doing... since then he's called me a few times, but i just havent =/.... yah, i need to get better at the whole staying in touch thing =(.. and the time that i DID call him, i called him for vipulbhai's number and he was in the middle of a wedding reception... yahh, i have great timing huh?
after that, we kept driving, stopped for gas and moti and i went in to refil the water bottles and go to the looo =P... then along the way, ankitbhai called us back and started to give us directions... and said that take the 5 south and then take 210... by that time, moti realized that they werent in oAKLAND!, they were in GLENDORA!.. hahaha.. what an unfortunate chance huh? we come ALLLL the way up here and theyve already flown down there for the weekend.. *sigh*.. guess like motiben said.. "communication is KEY".. hahaha...
after lots more driving, we got to neelam ben's house.. i put on my contacts in the car and we went in.. now, for those of you that dont know, i lived in india for a year when i was about 7 years old.. we didnt kno anyone over there since all of our relatives live in england.. and those that are distant relatives in india were in gujarat, not in bangalore where we were staying... so we met this family (i cant for the life of me remember how we met them), and they became like family... therefore, we treat them like moms brother and sister-in-law... we even took to calling them ashok MAMA (means moms brother) and hansu MAMI (aka moms sister-in-law) =D... anyhow, they have two daughters... one of them (sunita ben) lives in india with her husband and kid and the other is neelam ben.. she lives up north with her husband gautam and she has a three year old son named ashil.. anyhow, we went to go visit them and ashok mama and hansu mami were there from india for a few weeks, so we lucked out and got to see them too =D.. we got there and after a few minutes, ashil took to us and started to play with us.. he was a bundle of energy i tell you... neelam ben and gautam had to go to some party and were going to take ashil until they saw how much fun he was having with us =D.. they decided to let him continue to play with us.. but about half hour after they left for their party, he went to take a nap cuz he was very sleepy.. after we ate dinner, he woke up and started crying for neelam ben.. supposedly they dont leave him alone too often, and he was in a house with a bunch of peopel taht normally arent there.. that didnt help too much i guess, even tho he liked us and what not... once neelam ben and gautam came back home, we all talked for a while and after an hour or so, everyone was pretty tired... they got the sleeping stuff set up while i was on the fone outside for a little bit.. theyre house is like my old one, they have no reception inside.. haha.. so i went to the backyard, and i got locked out quite a few times.. hahaha.. but its ok, i got back in... me and moti took the floor in ashil's room and mom and mekes took the sofa bed in the living room... and then it was sleepy time =D
and here's the highlighted pics of the day (scroll over them to read the caption)
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(08.06.06)
this morning i woke up to find that i had had a GREAT sleep... i tell you, i had not had this great sleep for the past three nights... it was great... we were on the floor, maybe thats why.. maybe im over sleeping in beds now that ive been on the floor for the past month in the new apt... hahaha... *shrugg* who knows!... all i DO know is that i was the last one up =X... hahaha.. after i took a shower, i realized that i was burnt.. reallly really badly... im brown, and in case u didnt kno, brown peopel are pretty invinceable when it comes to tanning.. we jsut get darker, but we hardly ever burn.. ever... and i mean that.. for all the hours i spent on the swim team, or playing ball outside, or anything else when i was younger, i almost NEVER got red... the only time i used to get red was when i exercised so much that my face got flushed cuz i was really hot... haha.. anyhow, my upper back and shoulders were so burnt i couldnt exactly dry it with a towel cuz it hurt too bad... i called moti to come in the bathroom with some lotion and got her to lotion me before i attempted to put my shirt on.. my goodness it hurt to put that shirt on.. and the rest of the day i was aching.. =/....
we had a pretty goood bfast.. hansu mamis a really good cook and the dinner we had last night and the bfast we had this morning were both really good... after that, we just kinda hung out for a bit... played with ashil, talked to gautam, opened the gift we got ashil and showed him how to use it.. he was very excited about it.. it was called "marbulous" and it was really a cool toy for a kid.. theres pieces and you have to put it all together and then when u put a marble in it, it goes down all these paths and its really fun =P.. he didnt tire of putting in marble after marble.. hahaha...
so we just basically chilled until we ate lunch and then took a few parting pics.. and then decided to get going cuz we had a long drive home and we figured we had better leave if we wanted to get home at a decent hour... we left with moti driving... after we got onto the 5 freeway, i took over and drove for a while.. and then mom took over... we stopped at subway in valencia in the middle around dinner time and got food.. mom and i got into the first fight of the whole trip (i was a good kid up until the last two hours of the trip - impressive, id say).. and i ended up not eating anything... by the time we got to monrovia, i felt like i was gonna be sick.. but stubborn me decided not to say anythng.. we got home and i helped take stuff up and i wasnt even five minutes into the apt when i walked to the bathroom and promptly threw up.. man o man that did NOT feel good.. i really hate driving for long hours.. and the only thing that makes me feel even ok is having a full stomach or constantly eating.. im sure i gained a crapload on this trip considering how many hours we drove for... but after an hour or so, i gave in and ate and mom and i stopped fighting, so that was good...
and here's the highlighted pics of the day (scroll over them to read the caption)
View Slideshow
all in all.. the trip was a success.. i consider this the first family trip we've had.. the ones when dad lived with us jsut dont count.. i dont think of those as vacations - vacations are sposed to be pleasant and relaxing and anything to do with dad was always quite the opposite.. so this was our first - and hopefully the start of many - pleasant trips =D...
heres a lil summary:
favorite points:
~ the stream the first day when mekes fell in - clothes and all =P
~ saving the duckie's life
~ parasailing - from the boat ride to going up in the air - and esp deckhand tom ;)
~ the waverunners - minus the getting thrown - i esp liked the GENTLE FALL off that moti and i did after my violent toss
~ having everyone get along with everyone for once
~ the sunset over the lake
~ hike down to emerald bay and looking at vikingsholm
~ playing with ashil and actually get some sleep
least favorite points:
~ driving forever and feeling carsick
~ near death experience #1 - getting thrown off the waverunner
~ near death experience #2 - almost drowning a little later
~ getting sunburned really bad
~ chevy's dinner (our fam cant say the word chevy without sumone shuddering at the experience)
~ the hike back UP from emerald bay
~ waking up to not being able to move my neck cuz of getting thrown from the waverunner
~ being sick when i got home