A 32 mile bike ride along the American River

C.A.L.I.F.O.R.N.I.A - Absolutely LURVE this place :)

When I was applying to colleges in US for doing my MS, I always hoped I would get into some college in CA. And I did....Thank God for that :)

Couple weekends ago, I went for a 30+ bike ride along the American River Bike Trail. This was something that I had wanted to do for a long time, having lived in this area for close to 10 years now.

This bike trail is arguably one of the most successful and beautifully paved bike paths in northern California. Also known as the Jedediah Smith National Recreation Trail, the American River Bike Path is nearly 100% separate from vehicle roads (a mile or two shares the road).

Until now, I had done portions of this trail but this time I completed the entire stretch from Old Folsom to Old Sacramento. Sooper FUN!

We started from home at 7.45am, and got to Karen's bakery in Old Folsom at 8am. I met with few colleagues from Intel who were all going to ride together with me, and then got ready with the bike and gear (helmet, sunscreen, etc). Here's me and my bike :)


We started the bike ride around 8.45am....and one of the first views was of Lake Natoma area. I could not resist stopping here for a picture of the view.



The weather was purr-fect for biking that day. I was feeling great as well.

We saw many animals (like a peahen n its babies) and birds along the way, and some late spring flowers blooming as well.

We passed by Nimbus Dam, which is fantastic, and then through so many parks - Sacramento Bar, Rossmoor Bar, Ancil Hoffman Park, Goethe Park, Fair Oaks/Watt Area - along the way.

We took a long break at my alma mater - Sac State (California State University, Sacramento). We took our bikes up on the Guy West Bridge (a pedestrian-only suspension bridge modeled after the famous Golden Gate Bridge in SFO), and enjoyed the view. I used to live on the other side of this bridge for 3 years while I was in school, and would walk this bridge several times a day to go to school. Felt so nostalgic!



By this time, we had covered a distance of about 20 miles, and my toosh was hurting really bad coz I was wearing regular shorts and not proper bike shorts with gel pads. I was really debating whether I should go further or take the train back home. But the idea of turning back did not feel good. So my friend Andy asked some fellow bikers on how the trail was until the end, and they encouraged us by saying that it was very easy and doable.

So I borrowed Andy's jacket and used it as my toosh-cushion and continued the ride.



From here until the finish, it was a breeze in terms of riding. Yes my butt did hurt, but other than that, everything was fine.

We passed by Discovery Park, which is spread across 300 acres, and where the American River meets the Sacramento River. There were lots and lots of people enjoying various activities in the park, which was a sight of delight!

We also saw a beach (which I never knew existed here) where folks were enjoying water activities and sun bathing.



At this point, we thought we had reached Old Town Sacramento, but it was nowhere in sight. I have been there several times before, but never via the bike trail, so we were kinda lost. We asked a guard about the directions and he said we had still 2 more miles to bike (phew!) before reaching Old Sac. So we pushed ourselves to get there, and met Joan (our bike trip lead) on the way. She had come looking for us (so nice of her :)).

We finally made it into Old Sacramento....and I felt soooooooooooooooo relieved!!!!

As you would imagine, I was starving by now. So I ordered a Farmers Market crepe with pesto, tomatoes, avocados and cheese - a classic Californian crepe....and enjoyed my meal outdoors on the patio with the bike parked on the side, while observing swarms of people strolling by and shopping around.

I could not resist buying a pound of salt water taffy from the candy store across the street before walking to the train station.

The 45-minute train ride back to Old Folsom was so relaxing....the ticket inspector came to check the tickets (which only happens once in a blue moon) - not once - but twice - the second time she didn't even ask for our ticket...just smiled and passed by :)

I would love to do this ride again with few more friends, and improve upon my time from my first attempt! Yes, I won't forget to buy a pair of good bike shorts before my next attempt :)

Here is a map of the trail in case you are interested:



My next trip this weekend is to the Channel Islands National Park in Southern California, where I am going to try sea kayaking for the very first time :)

I Love SUMMER and I Love CALIFORNIA!

Jungle Jim's International Market

I was visiting Cincinnati, Ohio a few weeks ago. My sister started her internship there with Proctor & Gamble so I had gone with her to help her settle down before she started work.

As is common with settling in any new place, we were running around shopping for things. A friend introduced us to this unique grocery store called "Jungle Jim's".

This place is a food lover's paradise. It has food and grocery available from all different parts of the world.

The store is huge. For first timers (like me), you definitely need a map for shopping around.

The first section we visited was the produce. I was amazed at the variety of fruits and vegetables available out there. I was seeing some fruits for the first time in my life :) And I found some Indian tropical fruits like lychee (which I bought) which are not readily available here in the US. We also saw all Indian vegetables and sugarcane available here.

Then we went to sections of grocery for each country. There was a rickshaw hanging up in the air (see pic below) in the Indian grocery section that caught one's eye right away. We spent more time in this section as we had stuff to buy, and I was amazed at all the stuff that was out there. You really don't need to go to an Indian store for your needs - nothing was missing.

Just like the Indian section, there were sections for all different countries like Spain, Italy, France, Greece, etc etc.

The store carries more than 40 varieties of rice and 78+ different olive oils. Almost all of the fine chocolates from different parts of the world are available here. I also found a variety of teas and coffees available.

The prices were also comparable to other stores in the area.



There was also one sooper cool section where they had little gadgets for day to day things - see the pictures below :)






Here is the link to the store in case you want to know more.

All in all, neat concept and a one stop shop for all your grocery needs :).

Do visit the store if you are in the area!!

Pictures from my backyard....

As most of you already know, I just moved into a new home which has a sooper cute backyard.

We are still unpacking boxes and settling in, but I've already started enjoying my backyard.

Here's is a picture of the first flower - a daffodil - in our backyard :)



And last nite, lightning lit up the sky in Sacramento area like fireworks. I have never experienced this kind of lightning in my entire life. It went on for more than 2 hours, and I was able to capture the image below :)



It was scary as well - 2 people were killed with the lightning and several homes lost power. So I was cautious but could not resist snapping a few pics :)

I am looking forward to planting roses and starting a small vegetable garden. I also want to plant a fruit tree - I've heard peaches and citrus (oranges, lemons) grow well in California.

This summer is going to be FUN!!!!

A fun quarterly event

My team at work had a quarterly team-building event today. Since the economy and hence our company is not doing too good, we decided to have a low cost quarterly.

What did we do?

We gathered at a park close to work, and played kickball and few other games.

We were about 18 people, and we decided to form the teams based on our birth dates. Odd number birthdays on one team, even birthdays on the other. Its a good way to do it - if you think about it - and we were able to form 2 teams of 9 people each :)

The weather was just sooper today - little cloudy, with pockets of sunshine and pleasant with a slight breeze.

Both the teams played a great game - the odd team won....and all of us got a great workout as well. Our group manager made a funny quote when he came to bat - "I don't have any skills, but I have guile :)".

We then moved on to play basketball, frisbie through the hula hoop, and then had BBQ lunch. The conversation at lunch was great - we talked about anything and everything EXCEPT work!!!!

Our last quarterly was planting trees at a middle school - and that was fun as well. We did it as part of a volunteering activity that our group had to do this year.

We typically spend a lot of money of quarterly team-builders. What struck me is that all of us had the MOST FUN at these last 2 events than the past events.

Sometimes it's not the amount of money you spend, but its the kind of activity you choose that makes a difference. There was so much interaction today amongst all of us, there was great team spirit...we were outdoors, and we got some exercise as well.

It was a great way to spend half a day with colleagues.

A big thanks to our admin for putting this together!!!! Looking forward to similar events in future.

I don't have pictures/videos yet, but I will post them as soon as I receive them from the team. Some of them will be hilarious and interesting :)