Christmas travels

As is customary when we do not have a few month old baby at home during Christmas, we went on a long trip.

In our hurry, forgot to wish one and all a very merry Christmas, happy Hannukah.. So, would like to wish you all a belated Christmas and Hannukah. Would also like to wish you all a happy holiday season and a great 2007!!

Our original plan was to go to a quiet place where there is not much to see except a quiet rustic life, not too far from home, without stressing out the kids..

As our partners in crime Cousin family put it, "Solvang" fits the bill on all counts!!

Except, there were two things that were overlooked. First, Guys by definition, just do not believe in this "lets have a quiet time in a hotel" kind of vacation.. They need to be moving, taking photographs in the middle of highways because they have a moral obligation to JPEG some scenery!! Second, Solvang pretty much shuts down at sunset, Christmas eve or otherwise. So you have extremely well decorated streets with closed shops and restaurants which leaves you scrambling for something to do or a place to eat on Christmas eve. Two years ago we were in a similar situation in Zion National park (we didn't even know a Tsunami had hit till we came back to civilization a day later!).

We had a wonderful trip as we(the men) changed the focus of the trip from the "quiet hotel stay" to the "great coastal ride" ! We practically stopped at every major state park on the scenic coastal highway #1, did some hiking, not to mention the photography..

So much was covered in the last three days that it would take a few posts to describe it..

I am going to split it up into a few posts.

1. Sisters at play: Jr. loves spending time with her cousin. This is her first road trip with her cousin and it was a treat to watch them together. I was secretly taking pictures of them (secret photos/videos are becoming my speciality now) and have a small collection..

2. Coastal highway from here to Pismo Beach (in pictures)

3. Solvang by night (replace "night" with Christmas eve at 11:00 PM with no one else on the street except me and Balaji standing in the middle of first street with a tripod!)

4. Things to see around Solvang (Cute places to spend a "quiet day" and take pictures)

5. Limekiln State Park and sunset in Big Sur(a place that deserves a post all by itself).

Stay tuned for the series of posts..