At San Francisco , California , US

I visited San Francisco on a company trip. The whole workforce was divided into several teams and we played a treasure hunt in the city which covers all the famous spots of the city. It was an exciting team building effort as well as an opportunity to see the city.

San Francisco roads are narrow , but there is a classical old town look with all modernity and affluence embedded within. Golden Gate bridge is one of the famous spots.
The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the opening of the San Francisco Bay into the Pacific Ocean. As part of both U.S. Route 101 and California State Route 1, it connects the city of San Francisco on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula to Marin County. The Golden Gate Bridge was the longest suspension bridge span in the world when it was completed during the year 1937, and has become an internationally recognized symbol of San Francisco and California.


San Francisco is one of the costliest city in the US and may be in the world itself. Cost of living is so high and there is a remarkable difference in earnings for the same job across US when compared to San Francisco.

Fisharmans Wharf is another spot of interest. There is a marine museum nearby.
One of the busiest and well known tourist attractions in North America, it is best known for being the location of Pier 39, San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park, the Cannery Shopping Center, Ghirardelli Square, a Ripley's Believe it or Not museum, the Musée Mécanique, the Wax Museum at Fisherman's Wharf, Forbes Island and restaurants and stands that serve fresh seafood, most notably dungeness crab and clam chowder served in a sourdough bread bowl. Some of the restaurants, like Pompeii's and Alioto's #8, go back for three generations of the same family ownership. Nearby Pier 45 has a chapel in memory of the "Lost Fishermen" of San Francisco and Northern California.

San Diego Zoo, California

One of the worlds best zoo. Thats what San Diego zoo is all about. I am tired of seeing zoos in different parts of the world. Most of them look similar. In my homeland India, some of the zoos are well maintained and some is running short of money and you could find starving animals within the cage.

The San Diego Zoo gives a different experience all together. Although I went with a prejudice that Zoos are a kind of prison for animals, San Diego Zoo is not even near to my assumption. The arrangements are made with the convinence of animals as well as tourists. A sprawling campus which is in the middle of the city is something eye catchy, more than that its almost like walking thru a planned thick green jungle.

You could see animals in a real life scenarios .Some of the attractions are Pandas , Polar Bear, Gorillas , Koala's ,Antelopes , lizards , snakes etc. Most of the variety of animals you could see are maintained in there natural environment. Sufficient and necessary facilities like rest rooms, restuarants are located conviniently. There is a sky safari over the park and it gives a good view of the greenary down. There is a bus safari which covers almost 75% of the zoo.

The exibhits include Monkey Trails, Panda Research Station, Absolutely Apes, Polar Bear Plunge, Ituri Forest, Gorilla Tropics/Scripps Aviary, Children's Zoo, Owens Rain Forest Aviary, Tiger River, Sun Bear Forest, Flamingo Lagoon, Reptile Mesa, Wings of Australasia and Kopje.

At SkyDiveSanDiego at Otay Lakes Road, San Diego , California , US

We started from here to Otay Lakes Road by around 10 am, and reached there by noon. The whole place is surrounded by mountains and is scenic. You have to sign several documents saying that the risk is only on your part , and they are not responsible in the event of an accident.




After a short training by the instructor , we waited for our turn. The jumps are done in several lots and ours was 12th lot. Each lot is having around 10 to 20 jump men including the instructors and camera man.

We could see skydivers coming to the ground after successful jump from the plane. The camera crew jumps along with you to take the photos and they reach early to the ground so that they can capture the video of the jumper coming in parachute. Tandem and Solo jumps are available. Less experienced can take the Tandem jump , where you will get assistance of the Instructor.




The aircraft will take you to a height of around 13000 feet above sea level. It is the scariest part to jump from the plane, rest is comparatively easy :) once you are in position then you will fall down at a speed of 120-150 miles per hour. After a 1 minute fall you will be deploying the parachute and you need to control the parachute, in a way so that you will land in the base station. Its one of the thrilling moments in life i ever had.

At Yosemite National Park , California, US

Yosemite National Park is near the Fresno, California. San Jose and San Francisco are the nearest cities. I went along with my collegues and started from San Diego at around 1 am. Towards Yosemite we took the journey via Tioga pass. The whole highway is serene. Long mountain ranges are on both sides of the road.



We had a break at the corwley lake , where we can enjoy the view of Caldera mountain ranges.After reaching Yosemite, straight away we went to Yosemite visitor center. The wards there are extremely helpful and could provide information required. We went to Yosemite creek campground and put the tents there. One need to reach early to book a place in the campground.

As soon as we reached there we could see a bear walking around. We got little bit frightened. But it didnt do any harm. Usually they come looking for food items. Locks are provided to keep food items and those who violate this rule by keeping food items outside or in the vehicle can be cited by California Federal Rule.

Next day we visited the Toulmne peak. Came back to May lake and then had a hiking at Mount Hoffman. Mount Hoffman is the highest peak in the entire You-smite region. Its almost one third height of Everest. 10500+ feet from the sea level. As we reached the top it was extremely cold and it was really difficult to climb until top.



We spent the night at Yousmite Campground and in the morning Bear came very near to our tent. We went to Yousmite valley , but didnt wait there for long , came back via Fresno and reached San Diego at around 9.30 PM.

At San Diego , California , US

San Diego is a beach city at the south west tip of US. Its a small city in the western state of California.I Arrived in May 2008 to service my job. The city is having pleasent weather always. Terrain include beaches on one side surrounded by small hilly regions. The city hosts lot of tourist attractions like San Diego seaworld, Numerous beaches, San Diego zoo etc. Mexican culture is prevalent as its very near to Mexico.
San Diego, as San Diegans love to say, is America's finest city. It is the sixth largest city in the US and is blessed with wonderful sunny weather all the year round. It also has lots of pristine beaches, snowy mountains and arid deserts; all within driving distance.For more details about each attraction, please click on the links.

Attractions

Zoo
Wild Animal Park
Coronado Island
SeaWorld
Scripps Acquarium
Legoland
Palomar Observatory
Flower Fields
Beaches
Mission Beach
Pacific Beach
La Jolla Shores
Oceanside
Lakes
Lake Poway
Lake Dixon
Lake Hodges
Lake Morena

Piers

Crystal Pier
Oceanside Pier
Ocean Beach Pier

Camping

Lake Perris
Lake Cuyamaca
Mt Palomar
San Onofre

Fishing

Lake Poway
Oceanside Pier
Fishing at Sea
Freshwater Fishing

Parks

Balboa Park
Cabrillo Monument
Point Loma Lighthouse
Shelter Island

Military

Aerospace Museum
Airshow
Fleet Week
USS Midway

Misc

Outlet Malls
Casinos
Mt Soledad
Gliderport

Nearby Attractions

Julian
Temecula
Disneyland
Knottsberry Farm
Wineries
Hot Air Balloons
Raging Waters
Big Bear

City provides a traffic system called San Diego MTS. Also feeder services like coaster services also exists. There are sprinter train services to downtown area and the other regions . Due to high oil prices and due to health reasons you can find lot of people using bicycles now. Inorder to use the MTS system you need to know several things , otherwise it can be little funky to use those services. Once you are familiar its very easy to move around the city. Monthly bus passess also available at reasonable prices (64$).San Diego has almost all sports assosiated with Sea. I had found out common entertainment facilities everywhere in and around San Diego. There are facilites for ice skying , figure skating, ice hockey near the place where i have put up. The place i stay is very near to University of California , San Diego campus. The countries famous hospitals like Thronton , Scripps are located here. The place where i stay is called La Jolla (pronounced La Hoya) is little costly but one can afford to stay if money and time can be saved for commuting to work location.San Diego has lot of Technology as well as Bio tech companies. The company i work for Qualcomm is one among the leading companies stationed here. Qualcomm have a big campus with around 30 or more buildings.San Diego hosts citizens from lot of countries and all types of food items are available. All major banks and shopping malls have put there shops in and around San Diego. Wal Mart, Vons, Albertsons, Macys you name it San Diego does have all that like any other US city.You can see lot of Indian establishments near the Black Mountain Road region. Indian hotels are plenty and you can see lot of Indians and Chinese population in San Diego. There are malayalee assosisations functioning here sdmalayalees@yahoogroups.com and http://www.sdmalayalees.com/ are some of the resources. Also there is orkut community called San Diego Malayalees.

At Los Angeles , California, US

Los Angles downtown is a area where you can find a fast moving public. Downtown does have lot of places of interest and lot of commercial activity also happen here. My intention was to move around Hollywood area. Once you reach hollywood, you can see lot of tourists thronging the streets of hollywood visiting different places of interest related to flim industry.
The pavements of Hollywood is having tiles lied all over and they had written the movie artists name on the tiles. I had taken a photo sitting near "Britney Spears" tiles . This pavements are called walk of fame. Lot of small restaurants like McDonalds , Berger king etc can be seen here like any other part of US. I took my lunch from McDonalds just near to Kodak theater
First i went to see the kodak theatre where the grammy awards functions take place. Its a very big hall and it seems its the largest amphitheatre in the whole of US with more that 3000 people seating capacity. After that we searched for a guided tour to Beverly Hills, LA. This is the place where all the movie stars and celebretis live. I took a guided tour. There are several pacakges available. I took a tour which will go to Hollywood hills and then to Beverly hills . They show us all the houses of celebrities like Britney Spears , David Beckam etc. From hollywood hills one can see a long birds-eye view of the city.
After that we together went to Ripleys Believe it or not museum. Its really a "believe it or not" museum. Soon after that we went to a tamil movie. Lot ot Mallu population surronds this city. Even malayalam movies are running in some theaters.

At San Diego International Airport , San Diego, California , US

I arrived San Diego after hearing about this six largest city of US a lot. The city is well known for its tourist credentials. San Diego was famous for the climate and pristine beaches. But as the flight took off from Atlanta and was nearing San Diego I couldn’t notice greenery. When I was peeping out thru the Aircraft window I could notice only desert like aerial view.But all my concerns where soon away as I crossed some mountain ranges. I could see thick clouds on one side of the Mountains and thru it I could see lush green fields and bright blue beaches.
Nearby San Diego airport , I could see several other airports. Its not a very big airport, but still all facilities are arranged. The baggage collection is in the ground floor and the arrival hall is in the first floor. A taxi stand is just in front of the San Diego airport. I felt internal space is less in San Diego airport and gives a little crowded look since there are no Big hall like structure.