It's 10.00 a.m. and me with 3 of my friends (Bhushan, Mangesh, and Amruth) are starting for "17 miles drive" - a place approximately 70 miles south of Sunnyvale on the shore of pacific ocean... Although we wanted to go for a national forest just after the O-thirty hours, but the late night dinner party from yesterday left all of us in our cozy beds n the morning... So, as an second option from last 3-4 days planning, we decide to go for 17 miles drive.... till now we got the mixed reviews about the place, but the lack oftime, but the wanderlust forced us to go for this nearer option....The temperature today is in it's early fifties ( approx 53F, 10 degree C), with bright sunny day, but wind is too high... Overall it's a nice day to go for an outing...
I am able to grab the navigator seat in the car to enjoy the best view of he roads, and Bhushan is on the driver seat... Mangesh is sitting behind with his camera on, a Amruth is just sitting silent... ( he is not feeling very well...)The moment we have started our drive, we are spellbound with the beauty on both side of the highway. Most of the us are visiting united states for the first time, and have not seen these kind of road infrastructure before. Wide 4 lane roads with loads of lush green grass on both the sides is lucrative enough for you to leave your cozy bed and go on a long drive.. We are really enjoying the long winding roads on the way with super cool wind making our hairs fly with wind.
The speedometer is showing 65 mph.( approx 110 kmph), and yes, we are driving with windows open...We keep looking at all the cars of various brands and design along along with the huge Harley Davidson bikes which are going out of our sight even before we realize... we are really envying the bike riders!! , and keep enjoying the beauty of roads side.. The roads sides on this path are really green and beautiful... They are full of miles long verdant farms, and we are wondering how much land United States really has!! We can see lush green farms on the roads side as far as we could see land, and all the vegetation plants in the farms are looking of same height as if someone has trimmed them in the morning itself.. I wonder in my mind how come everything is so organized and beautiful here... Is it that people in U.S are so organized or is it that nature has also given them so much good in gift that everything looks so mind boggling... Watching those green landscapes is really really pleasant to eyes, and the nice weather of spring is adding more feelings to it... I wish! I have an instrument where I could capture those good feelings which you get in this kind of weather.... Most of the roads were also full of forests and you will wonder that how come they have made such good roads in the midstof these forests... even the roads which are coming out of the forest are so nicely maintained that I wonder how come they have so much patience to take care of every corner of the country... a small road which will enter to a forest will suddenly opens up in a eight lane state highway... the turns and ramps are so well designed that you don't even need to slow down the speed of your vehicle while taking a turn on a 270 degree ramp to take an exit...It's just unbelievable to see the way two lanes get merge without people reduce their speed... I wonder the thought they have put so many years ago while designing these roads....
As most of us did not have our breakfast, we stopped at a gas station to grab some snacks and glass of coffee. The coffee was just too good and really refreshing. Generally, I don't like coffee, but this coffee was so nice that even though I don't take much coffee I had a full glass of it...
Finally we are out of the greenery of the farms and forest, and what we see next just left us agape.. All of us were looking at the transparent blue pacific water which is running on our right side.... the view is just speechless!! It is shiny blue color in the bright sun light... A combination of dark blue sea with the bright sun light in a cool spring day is just tongue-tieding...
We finally took a turn in the 17 miles drive road with mixed emotions of being not sure what is going to come ahead. We bought the ticket of 9.5$, bade a good day to the guy at ticket counter and moved ahead. We have realized that there are almost 21 scenic points which we need to cover. The moment we have entered the 17 miles drive road we are tight-lipped with the beauty of the place - the area is little hilly with long curvy roads, full of dense forests on both the sides... and then we saw there are so many houses on top of those hills... Honestly speaking I am envious to the people who stay in those houses..
Living in those houses will be a dream for me.... where you can get up in the morning with so much fresh air around and so much greenery to please your eyes... we pulled our car on the road side, and clicked few photographs to capture the memory of the place. Then we are moving ahead on the same road, and going through turning roads, we just keep looking at the surroundings...I am really fascinated with the wooden houses in U.S., I am really looking for the beauty of those house, and thinking that I will have one of those kind one day for me also in my life... I just love them... The 17 miles drive is full of scenic beauty, and we have reached to a place where lot of cars are parked and people are enjoying the scenic beauty of Restless Sea... the color of water was mainly blue, but reflection of sunlight is also creating different rainbow color as well..., and the round edge of the ocean at this place is adding the extra beauty to the beach... with the awesome wind around, and chilled weather we are just enjoying the moments, and capturing these images in our camera, and in our eyes...got some good photos of pacific with it's high waves... with the green farms on one side, and the blue pacific on the other side, the panoramic view of the place is just beyond words... we have already spent quite sometime here, and realizing that most of us did not have our breakfast, and we have also crossed the time for lunch by now :-). Everyone seems so busy enjoying the nature that no one is feeling hungry :-)....
We started from there with those tenacious memories, and reached to the beach with lot of birds
and seals around.... there are hundreds of seals taking the sun bath on the rocks in midst of the vast ocean, making lot of noise, we never knew that they make so much noise... the small squirrels "gilharis" are also eating the sunflower seeds from people hands without any fear.. they are just so comfortable... not sure if this is U.S effect, or all the "gilharies" in the world are like that... we took some good pics there as well, and then started our hunt for food :-), but looks like we still have more nature to enjoy before we could have our food.... then we landed on one more landscape next to pacific... .the area was full of trees, and lot of chinese tourists... we tool lot of photographs there, but I think some things really cannot be captured in photographs and needed to be captured only in your eyes... it was so so incredible landscape.... you wonder the boundless area of sea.... as far as your eyes can see, you just see deep, chilled blue water..... oceans are really vast!! ..... we again kept wondering the power of nature, and the amazing moments life is giving us to spend there... and kept enjoying the feel of those flashes ...
As most of the cameras are about to die, some because of battery and other because of memory, we are finally declaring the trip finished and moving for lunch... got a small shop where we could grab some vegetarian and non-vegetarian sandwiches, cakes and pastas... food was kind of okie-dokie, but I think we were so happy with our day that we found it really good ;-)...It's all in the brain, you see! :-).
It is already 4:30 p.m. and we are resolved to start for home, we tried to plan something more, but I think all of us were so tried, but satisfied with ourday that we unanimously agreed to go back home :-)...
Drive back home is as beautiful as it was while going there....all of us just are talking about the whole nice day we just spent, and trying to give words to the feel of those moments... missing few Exit(s) on the highway, but thanks to GPS navigation that we don't even think about getting lost in the new country as well!.... finally we reached home, and wanted to have our dinner at "Sukoon" - finally we got a good India restaurant in Sunnyvale - to call it "the" day!!!.....And with that, we ended our one of the most memorable day and the trip.... it was just awesome!!!
