The Artsy Wanderlust

Visited- November 2017 Our half a day trip to Death Valley National Park was one of the highlights of this trip. One of the largest in terms of area, Death Valley  is the hottest, driest and lowest of the national parks in the United States. Never knew an endless stretch of arid, haunting nothingness could be this extraordinarily fascinating! The valley with its badlands, salt pans, canyons, sand dunes was one overwhelming experience. We started our journey from Zion National park Utah at 4 am and drove for about three and a half hours to reach Death Valley Visitor centre at Furnace Creek California at about 8.30 am. We took a couple of short 10-15 minutes break at two places. The temperatures rose from about a 3 deg C to almost a 30 deg C, by the time we were inside the valley. The sun was scorching and since I unfortunately forgot to apply sunscreen, I got blisters all over my face the next morning and some sun burns.  Note-  Whatever the season, sunscreen is a

Month Visited- July 2016 A lot of planning, debates and discussions, post which #Alaska happened for us. One word 'Paradise', we knew it, but feeling it was 'unbelievably incredìble!', to say the least! This was our longest trip so far, 10 days. This post is about our visiting three #Fjords out of some 10 to 12 fjords in Alaska. The first was in #kenai Peninsula, the #Holgate #glacier . The experience we had at the first sight of it was jaw dropping! Until that moment, fjords/glaciers, were only in geography books. The process of #Calving, that happened from time to time had a confounding effect on us! Calving is when chunks of ice breaks loose from the edges of a glacier and at that time it also makes kind of an extremely powerful thundering sound. Holgate has those more frequently than the other two. The other two were, #Matanuska glacier and #Portage glacier. Portage had these  amazing icy blue crevices at different places, which shone like crystals! M

Month visited- July 2016. One of the places in my Bucket list was #Alaska. Now it has been an year and a half to be precise, but Alaska's sheer  awe-inspiring landscape, beauty in her extreme wilderness and pristine water bodies will keep amazing us and giving joy to our hearts forever! We will also remember the countless 'Mosquitoes' that were quite distracting at times. We did however, carry a couple of different kinds of mosquito repellents, hence were fine at most ocassions.  The story today isn't about the mosquitoes though, because I am ready to be bitten by mosquitoes, if that means I get to stay in Alaska! The time we visited, Alaska had a 23 hr Daylight! That phenomena and the experience associated with it was absolutely thrilling! The first experience of that was, as we flew  closer to Alaska. It was 12.00 am Alaska Time then.  The next was when we landed at Fairbanks (Alaska) was around 2.00 am.  We stood there outside the airport to feel the

Month Visited- October 2017 The state of Vermont in  US  has one of the best fall colors! When the thick foliage over the hills and valleys turn crimson, orange n yellow, that sight is absolutely surreal n jaw-dropping!  The state is gorgeously remote. About 7 Walmarts in the entire state. No Wendy's, Jack in the box or Burger kings on freeways, or remotely seen, if at all. There are convenience stores though, at much closer proximity,  that sell all you will need on your drive. Freshest of sandwiches, all kinds of drinks, except alcohol, in most places. There are however a few stores which do sell varieties of alcohol too, some basic medicines n utility items. The bigger pharmacies and departmental stores are not missed at all and you would love it that way actually!  Negligible traffic on most highways, except when u are entering a bigger town like Montpelier or Burlington. Other than the sort of busy towns, driving is definitely a treat on Vermont highways! L