Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

Yellowstone national park is one of the geological wonders that exist in earth.  Yellowstone Lake is one of the largest high-altitude lakes in North America and is centered over the Yellowstone Caldera, the largest super volcano on the continent. The caldera is considered an active volcano. It has erupted with tremendous force several times in the last two million years. Half of the world's geothermal features are in Yellowstone, fueled by this ongoing volcanism. Yellowstone National Park spans an area of 3,468.4 square miles (8,983 km2)

Seattle to Yellowstone (12 hours by car)



The park engulfs the Yellowstone Lake. We were traveling from Seattle to Yellowstone. So we crossed the states of Idaho and Montana and stayed at Wyoming, Montana which is a border township of Wyoming Montana border. We spent almost two days at the Yellowstone national park. The park had got several entrances. This one is the west entrance. First day we covered the Grand Canyon, Lamar Valley, Lower and Upper falls, Great fountain Geyser, Old faithful etc. The park consists of Bison's and several other wild animals.Second day mainly focused on visiting the volcanic activity basins. Norris Geyser Basin, Biscuit basin etc. Finally we exited thru the North entrance after visiting the Mammoth Hot Springs.

This would be the one among the must visit places if you are coming to north america for a visit. 

Lulu mall, Kochi, Kerala, India

Lulu mall,  Kochi is one of the largest malls in India. The mall contains general shopping area with most of the renowned brands having outlets in it, a children's play area, a ice skating rink, a small bowling alley and a food court. The sheer size of the mall is astounding. Lulu itself runs general grocery store, electronic item store, clothing , jewelry store etc. Its a one stop shop for all your purchasing needs. The Parking area is large enough to accommodate the crowd.

Key factor which differentiates Lulu mall is the children's play area. A large portion is left out for this. Most malls don't have as many play items in the play area like Lulu has. Lulu general store is also one of a kind and you get lot of variety for general grocery merchandise.

But I doubt if its the largest in India or Asia as some people claim. May be there is some criteria in which its treated as no 1. You could easily find several bigger malls than this around the world. Other issue is with the
infrastructure in an around the mall. If you are going on a rainy day , roads surrounding are pathetic, full of pot holes and water logging. So you need to account for that and give enough lead time to visit the mall.

Matsyafed Fish Hatchery , Njarrakal, Kerala, India

Matsyafed Fish Hatchery is situated near Kochi, Kerala, India. Its on route to Vypeen from North Paravur. The road towards the destination was pretty bad. It seemed some pipeline work was going on and the pending asphalting work was not done on a time bound manner after the pipeline work. This hatchery is located 2 kms from hospital junction. Admission is 200 India rupees ( or 3.5 US dollars or so per person)

The place is fun and you like catching fish. Its better to go with your own fish rod if you have a professional one. Otherwise the rural hand made one they provide very cheaply, it costs less than 50 cents for several hours. They will give you fish food to be used on the rods.

They serve you with local sea food and rice. It was tasty and there was prawn pickle which was delicious.
Limited boating facility also is arranged. Its a fun place to kill your time if you have 2 to 3 hours to kill. But for the price you pay its gives you a good deal for your bucks.

The whole facility seems to have good potential. On right hands this could be a money minter for the local people as well as the state. But poor marketing and management had taken its toll on its potential. This is very much visible. It seems nature had bestowed them with everything, what is lacking is basic infrastructure, cleanliness and marketing. Although the staff seems courteous, they are not trained well. They could increase the profit by arranging better infrastructure, like better parking facility, better restrooms, presentation of eatables could be improved, staff could be trained well.

They could change all that with some attention to details. I think 3.5$ is too low for such a facility. They could command a premium and add much more facilities and market it well.

Snoqualmie Pass Tubing, Snoqualmie , WA

Snoqualimie provides lot of opportunities for skiing and tubing towards the end of the winter.During the mid winter time it would be a little difficult if you are going with children. But towards the end you would get an awesome experience and its much safer.

Tubing is an activity where you would be lying down on a rubber tube filled with air and the tube will slide on snow through a slope of a mountain or a valley. Kids of age less than five years will be tubing with an adult member. Its could be a real mildly  exhausting activity too, because once you go down the valley, you have to pull the rubber tube to the nearby station from where a machine pulls you and the tube up.

Remember to carry a phone or a video recorder using which you could shout while you go down the slope, it will be fun to watch at a later point of time.

Leavenworth , Washington

Leavenworth is a town in the Washington state on the state highway 2 near to Wantachee National Forest. Christmas Light festival is famous and lot of people come during this time period.  The town maintains its ancient architectural style which gives a Vintage style look for the town.

There is large trail surrounding a river which gives a good scenic walk. Parking is sometimes a problem during busy season. So its good to be prepared for that.

Lake Wanatchee Park

Lake Wanatchee Park has lot of good camping grounds and scenic spots. Its in the Chelan county of Washington state. While coming from Seattle one need to take the scenic state highway no. 2 that goes towards Leavenworth. On route one need to take state highway 207 state to reach Lake Wanatchee park. Here is a map of the entire route.

Some snaps from the Wanatchee Park