2 weekends - 2 trips
The last 2 weeks have been pretty hectic with myself making 2 trips during those 2 weekends - Had one of my most memorable trips the first weekend to Crater Lake and to the Grand Canyon & the Universal studios in LA this past weekend.
The trip to Crater lake was simply amazing. I had gone there last summer and this was how it looked then:
And this is how it looks now.
When I had gone to Crater lake last summer, the stark blue color of the deepest fresh water lake in the US just took my breathe away, the first time I caught a glimpse of it. I was entirely convinced that I had seen the single most beautiful sight that nature can offer (of course, all this next only to my personal favorite - Mt. Rainier). But I was proven wrong bcos it was actually this time around that Crater lake looked even more amazing. The whole area was completely drenched in snow. The drive to the lake was even more awesome, since as we approached the lake, we could see gradually increasing snow levels with even the trees being completely covered with snow. The lake is actually closed from October through May bcos of the extensive snow fall that area receives during those months. The view to the lake can be had from throughout the drive around the rim of the lake. But at this time of the year, due to the snow, only couple of view points were open for visitors. If it was the lake which was the highlight during the last trip, it was the incredible levels of snow that was the highlight during this trip.
We had rented couple of cabins in an area called Diamond lake, some 30 miles away from Crater lake. The resort is in itself located on the banks of another beautiful lake - the diamond lake. On day one, tried our hand at snowmobiling - it again was an amazing experience. The roads around that area were full of snow that it was advisable to travel around in snowmobiles rather than in passenger cars. In fact, if you take your car out on those roads, all you could have driven was at 20 mph speed whereas on the snowmobile, we reached speeds of about 60mph. If you are in an area where you can try your hand at snowmobiling, then please go for it. It is something which is worth the money spent on it (comes around 100$ for 2 hours).
The somber part of the whole trip actually only a week later after we had returned to Seattle. Bcos it was only then that we came to know that it was during the time we were in that area, that James Kim, the father who lost his life in the wilderness in the Oregon snow, and his family too were in the vicinity of about 10 miles from where we joined I-5 on our drive back to Seattle. The incident which had already captured my attention had an even bigger impact on me, after this.
The Grand Canyon trip was OK. This was my 2nd trip to the Grand Canyon but the first time I saw it, was also just around the same time - winter. So, there was not much difference in the experience between then and now. The one thing I observed this time around was the saying how each and every vantage point that the park service recommends offers a completely different view of the Canyon. At each of the places we stopped our car to get a glimpse of the canyon, it gave us some unique views of the canyon. Other than that, it was biting cold and with the wind blowing straight onto our faces, we couldn't spend more than a few minutes at each view point. Though this was my 2nd time there, I still not have enough time to take the hike all the way down to the river. Hopefully should be able to do it the next time around, when I plan to spend a whole long weekend just for the Grand Canyon.
The other interesting incident during this trip came when I was driving back from LA to Phoenix. With about 250 miles left in my drive, I had stopped for gas and filled about 8 gallons, hoping that it would take me into Phoenix without any problem (30 mpg on the highways is a rather conservative estimate). So, once I was done with that, I had completely forgot to keep track of the fuel level in the tank. Some 50 miles from Phoenix, to my horror, I see that the fuel indicator is way below zero. A completely isolated desert is not the ideal place where you would want to get stranded, where sometimes we did not have an exit for as long as 20 miles. The nearest exit from where I noticed the gas level was a good 5 miles away. Needless to say, those 5 miles were the scariest and most tension filled part of our drive when we finally made it to the gas station. When I looked back at how come I had missed noticing something which I usually keep an eye all the time, it is the dashboard of the car I had rented (Nissan Altima) which actually turned out to be the culprit. In most of the cars, the low fuel indicator is orange in color. It is orange in color in Altima too but over here, everything in the entire dashboard was orange in color as well. Thus, I could not distinguish the low fuel indicator from the rest of the details on the dashboard. I was left wondering how such a simple common sense thing was not considered by the Nissan engineers during their design.
The trip to Crater lake was simply amazing. I had gone there last summer and this was how it looked then:
And this is how it looks now.
When I had gone to Crater lake last summer, the stark blue color of the deepest fresh water lake in the US just took my breathe away, the first time I caught a glimpse of it. I was entirely convinced that I had seen the single most beautiful sight that nature can offer (of course, all this next only to my personal favorite - Mt. Rainier). But I was proven wrong bcos it was actually this time around that Crater lake looked even more amazing. The whole area was completely drenched in snow. The drive to the lake was even more awesome, since as we approached the lake, we could see gradually increasing snow levels with even the trees being completely covered with snow. The lake is actually closed from October through May bcos of the extensive snow fall that area receives during those months. The view to the lake can be had from throughout the drive around the rim of the lake. But at this time of the year, due to the snow, only couple of view points were open for visitors. If it was the lake which was the highlight during the last trip, it was the incredible levels of snow that was the highlight during this trip.
We had rented couple of cabins in an area called Diamond lake, some 30 miles away from Crater lake. The resort is in itself located on the banks of another beautiful lake - the diamond lake. On day one, tried our hand at snowmobiling - it again was an amazing experience. The roads around that area were full of snow that it was advisable to travel around in snowmobiles rather than in passenger cars. In fact, if you take your car out on those roads, all you could have driven was at 20 mph speed whereas on the snowmobile, we reached speeds of about 60mph. If you are in an area where you can try your hand at snowmobiling, then please go for it. It is something which is worth the money spent on it (comes around 100$ for 2 hours).
The somber part of the whole trip actually only a week later after we had returned to Seattle. Bcos it was only then that we came to know that it was during the time we were in that area, that James Kim, the father who lost his life in the wilderness in the Oregon snow, and his family too were in the vicinity of about 10 miles from where we joined I-5 on our drive back to Seattle. The incident which had already captured my attention had an even bigger impact on me, after this.
The Grand Canyon trip was OK. This was my 2nd trip to the Grand Canyon but the first time I saw it, was also just around the same time - winter. So, there was not much difference in the experience between then and now. The one thing I observed this time around was the saying how each and every vantage point that the park service recommends offers a completely different view of the Canyon. At each of the places we stopped our car to get a glimpse of the canyon, it gave us some unique views of the canyon. Other than that, it was biting cold and with the wind blowing straight onto our faces, we couldn't spend more than a few minutes at each view point. Though this was my 2nd time there, I still not have enough time to take the hike all the way down to the river. Hopefully should be able to do it the next time around, when I plan to spend a whole long weekend just for the Grand Canyon.
The other interesting incident during this trip came when I was driving back from LA to Phoenix. With about 250 miles left in my drive, I had stopped for gas and filled about 8 gallons, hoping that it would take me into Phoenix without any problem (30 mpg on the highways is a rather conservative estimate). So, once I was done with that, I had completely forgot to keep track of the fuel level in the tank. Some 50 miles from Phoenix, to my horror, I see that the fuel indicator is way below zero. A completely isolated desert is not the ideal place where you would want to get stranded, where sometimes we did not have an exit for as long as 20 miles. The nearest exit from where I noticed the gas level was a good 5 miles away. Needless to say, those 5 miles were the scariest and most tension filled part of our drive when we finally made it to the gas station. When I looked back at how come I had missed noticing something which I usually keep an eye all the time, it is the dashboard of the car I had rented (Nissan Altima) which actually turned out to be the culprit. In most of the cars, the low fuel indicator is orange in color. It is orange in color in Altima too but over here, everything in the entire dashboard was orange in color as well. Thus, I could not distinguish the low fuel indicator from the rest of the details on the dashboard. I was left wondering how such a simple common sense thing was not considered by the Nissan engineers during their design.
posted by Filbert at 4:15 PM
4 Comments:
fil..enjoy..
I was wondering if I was the only one who didnt even notice such a basic thing of looking at the gas level. Happy (??) that you too have experienced the same.
Filby...the truth is...you were sleeping while driving..Thats why couldn't notice the fuel depletion
Good one, Vishali :) I know I am a bad driver when I start feeling drowsy. But that day, I was very much awake bcos I had gotten enough sleep before starting to drive. BTW, you are the second in our group to comment here.
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