happyfeet

We started searching for hiking groups as going on hikes in a group would give us the opportunity to interact with different people. Raj came across the Seattle Hikers, Climbers and Peak Baggers group led by Greg Lasala and signed us up for the Mt.Pilchuck hike. As I read more about the group and Greg, I felt terrified thinking if I will be able to keep up with the other group members during the hike. The night before was the worst as I lay in bed fearing for my life, thinking about whether we should cancel, and before long the alarm started ringing. The mixed feelings of fear and enthusiasm were churning my stomach in all directions as we were getting ready. Pichuk!!The journey began fine as we jumped into the bus in time, somehow managing with our flowing bags, trekking shoes, water bottles, some lunch, spare clothes, caps and what not. Now I think we could have started a civilization on a new planet with the stuff in our bag that day. Hari and Vignesh also manag...

Another fun Saturday evening run, a long and scenic run in the familiar Discovery park, among tall trees, beaches, trails and varying inclines. We slowly walked back to where the run started, the bus stop. A good 15 minutes of wait for the next bus meant some time to look around, to notice things that were left unnoticed in the earlier trips. Every bus stop in Seattle displays the bus number, end destination and the schedule of the bus. While we were checking for the arrival time of the next bus on the steel pole, we noticed a metal plate glistening below the printed schedule of the bus. On looking more closely, we realized that it was something we had never observed before. On the metal plate was inscribed the story about about the origin of Magnolia along with the map of the place. This story pole that we saw is one of the three story poles of Magnolia. Reading the story pole we found out how Magnolia got it’s name.  Can you believe, that is the result of a...

First day in Seattle, we walked through the neighborhood trying to find a grocery store with the help of Google Maps. We walked through Seattle Center watching Space Needle with childlike excitement. A few days after moving to Seattle we were all set to resume running. We planned to use running as a medium to explore different places in Seattle. We ran in Kinnear Park, Kerry Park, Olympic Sculpture park and lower Queen Anne. Our favorite running destination turned out to be the beautiful Discovery park where we started going regularly on weekends using Sound Transit bus service for commutation. Our plan was to cover the circumference of the park, through the various levels of vegetation from dark thick dense forest to the smaller trees and bushes and finally to the rocks and the sandy shores of the Puget Sound. Discovery park: 534 acres on the shores of Puget Sound. View of Puget Sound from Discovery Park Light House in Discovery park Queen Anne Hike : As we like to ...

We came across a Facebook group where people give things for free to help out people. My husband Raj joined the group. As he was checking the page he saw a lady giving a decoration piece, a frog in a Yoga pose with the text ‘Find peace’ engraved on it. As I am a yoga enthusiast, my husband felt that it was perfect for me. So he contacted Belinda, the lady who was giving the frog to know if she would be willing to give it to us. If so when would it be an appropriate time to collect it from her. She messaged us the location to meet her and gave us pointers on how to identify her. As we are new to the city it took us sometime to figure out where exactly to wait for her. In the mean time I saw a lady coming out of a building nearby matching exactly her description. So I went running towards her and said hello. She gave us a warm greeting and asked us to come in the lobby. Then with a childlike enthusiasm she said, “I have the frog in my pocket” and with a swift mov...

When we first met, our conversation meandered towards trekking at least once, when Raj mentioned that he liked it and we should do it. Once married, our first vacation turned out to be a long walk in a dense forest in Coonoor. Among the hills, between the bisons, and the intermittent rain, we walked to the edge of the cliff, reaching a machan, waiting on it, in search of the pachyderm. Long walks marked this vacation, the beginning of a new chapter in our life. Fast forward a few months, and there we were, in another long walk, on another winding road, amidst dense greenery, the ruins of an ancient empire, with small chirps from exotic birds marking the dusk. The silhouette of Kanchendzonga, popping up ever so often when we could see beyond the dense tree line. Pelling (the town), a small afternoon tea at a quaint shop overlooking the mighty Kanchendzonga, we got into a conversation with a person who turned out to be a local trek guide and explained in detail a...

Our journey started on a nice Friday evening while struggling to get an ola cab. Surprisingly reached central before time. While validating our names against the coache, I realised our friends from VV and CTC were also in the coach. We settled down early in the train with @nivi Vidya Karthik and Sreeja. Karthik was late as usual. However, Girija was on a different level. Due to a mixture of events her first finish line was directly our B2 coach. If only she had timed her run I think she would have broken some record!!!. So our journey started to metupalayam. A good night's sleep later a new addition to our gang was பாலாஜி ஜோதிமணிwho had finished 6 wadas waiting for us. A little over 2 hours and we were right in front of the Lawrence school. Balaji was great company explaining away about farming, camping, hills along other topics while the sweet wind made me doze off again. Too early to get in we were shooed away thus allowing us to go to ooty tow...

It all started with planning our marathon calendar. As two people in desperate need of improving their fitness, we started searching for upcoming marathons, and that is how we zeroed on our next marathon- the spicy, spice coast marathon.  After a series of snoozed alarms, we woke up to ride on our borrowed bike to reach the venue. The climate was bordering between pleasantness and cold. As we zipped through the lone road on Wellington island with backwaters and trees guarding  us on both sides, we could not see a single soul with the familiar white color spice coast T-shirt. As we reached near the stage, we heard blade runner Major (retd.) D.P. Singh sharing his experience. Assumed dead after the kargil war, he made a come back we rarely hear of. His positive outlook was evident from the following statement he made- maybe god had other plans for me. He believed god will help him in exceeding beyond his own expectations. His incredible zeal and the loud roar of 'bharat mata ...

Friends are as important as any other thing in life..perhaps even more.!They are the ones with whom you talk for hours on every possible subject sitting in the college canteen, bunking classes, getting through umpteen number of times with proxy attendence, copying assignments... they help you in doing everything under the Sun..! But what I really want to convey is something else.. This is my third year in college and I hardly realised how fast the last twenty four months went by. I have plenty of friends though; some I love a lot some..I don't. When I try to gather when was the first time I spoke to my best friend, I really fail to re-collect. This is the answer I get to most of my questions. I know many people who believe in ‘choosing’ their ‘friends’ but I never consciously resorted to the ‘choosing’ business. I have, quite inexplicably, even seen many people who offer others their so called ‘friendship’. The whole idea of someone offering you ‘friendship’ and on top of that your...