Category: Travel

There’s hardly ever a good excuse to be away from the blog. One can quote the usual and/or can make the usual promises about being super-frequent from here on. Both don’t get too far with the blog-izens of the world, and it really doesn’t matter if you follow-up your “comeback post” with, like, ten posts in the spate of a few days.

Ergo, I’ll save you the trouble of reading through what I come up with. Imagine a sleek, succinct and sharp Sujeetism splashed nonchalantly at the end of a paragraph detailing a few weekends spent doing some supercool outdoorsy, under-the-glow-of-real-sunlight-rather-than-the-monitor activities. Are some words swimming into view and forming a line that you can imagine me snarking out? Great. I’ll go with that.

Talking about stuff swimming into view and forming a line, a few weekends ago had me driving past a real line of ducks on a lagoon. It lent a massive amount of credibility to the oft-tossed-around office ‘proverb’ of “Lets get all our ducks in line first“. No, I don’t have pictures – it was a lone road and a trip home from a rather active day; and it took me a few quick glances back at the water to see why several people had pulled over at a turnout and seemed to be amused and taking pictures simultaneously.

However, while t’was an interesting sight, I’m still not sure if it lends any logic to the same proverb. What happens after the ducks get in line? The only gruesome thing I can think of is the thing they do at fairgrounds with clay ducks on a conveyor belt and a gun…

In case y’all haven’t extinguished all your vacation time over the President’s Day, Memorial Day & Fourth of July weekends so far, here are a few suggestions I could make to fill up the vastness of space and time that you call “free time away from work”:

• The Pacific Coast has a few places that involve a waterfall and a beach. Often referred to as “tidefalls”, these are quite interesting to visit, partly because they involve a trail over undulating topography skirting the coast, and partly because of the payoff at the end – the beach-and-waterfall combo can be fun to photograph and a great way to beat the heat.
• Geocaching is a fairly old “sport” that seems to have stemmed from the increasing availability of portable GPS receivers. If you have one can have the enthusiam for what can be best described as a GPS-led treasure hunt, give it a whirl. The concept seems simple, and it is, but as most sports go – it is easier said than done. While the exact GPS coordinates of the “cache” are available for all to see, the people who hide such “caches” do so with a great amount of thought and effort in concealing it. Add to that the fact that most commercial-grade GPS receivers have a three-meter accuracy limit. This limitation applies to both the person hiding the cache and publishing the location coordinates, and to the person seeking it out. And things get really interesting when you see blips on the map that are, like, on the route you walk every day. The average reaction is – “There’s nothing there – I would’ve seen it”; and then they find it.
• Spring and Summer paint excellent lightscapes. In addition, with the greatly reduced risk of snow and/or floods getting in the way of your route to almost anyplace around, these two seasons make for great photography. Early mornings under the Sun, afternoons in wooded surroundings and sunsets along the beach make anyone look good in a lens. If there’s a time to fill up those memory cards with memories, this is it.
• Finally, try a few water sports. From the ubiquitous jet ski to the exotic kite-board; there’s something out there for everybody; and since life jackets are the norm, there’s really no excuse for staying away from the waves / the shore. Methinks I should make a health-friendly CYA insert here about sunblock, but I’m sure you’ll figure it out.

And that’s the fab four. Have a good one, and don’t forget to say hello if you run into me someplace!