Whitewater Rafting in Lehigh Gorge State Park

When I saw so many pictures of my friends in US doing rafting, it was my long dream to do rafting once in my life. Thanks to my company outing this year, the dream got fulfilled. We had a great day of whitewater rafting in Lehigh Gorge State Park located in Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania. This unique park is one of the gems of the Pennsylvania State Park and the outdoor scenery was breathtaking. There were moments of excitement for the teams, separated by quiet serene pools perfect for swimming and water fights. It was so much fun getting out of the raft and jumping in to the water and performing water fights with other team. All in all, it was a great day to remember.

Cheers,

Sathish Kumar S

US Open Tennis 2014

Watching US open tennis was a long distant dream for me but it came true twice when I had a chance to spend the whole day in Flushing Meadows for the US open tennis 2014. Thanks to my friend Arvind who motivated me to go to US open tennis this year and found a good deal of day pass. Apparently, it happened to be the hottest day of the summer and we were totally burned with most of the stadiums having no roof tops. Thanks to Siva and Jan who joined for the day and made it even more memorable. We had a chance to see Williams’s sister losing, Bryan brothers winning their quarter finals, Sania Mirza/Black thrashing their opponents, Monfills cruising over Dimitrov. A day to remember!

Cheers,

Sathish Kumar S

Lake George, New York

Lake George, nicknamed the Queen of American Lakes is a long, narrow oligotrophic lake located at the base of Adirondack Mountains in the state of New York. Had a great chance to visit this place with the family on Labor Day long weekend. It was a picturesque sight with two mountains converging and Lake George at the foot hills of the mountain. We took a ferry for an hour which covered the entire Lake George. It reminded me of the Lake Konstanz in Friedrichshafen, Germany. There are lot of restaurants, picnic spots, amusement parks near Lake George which clearly makes it a fascinating holiday resort for a weekend.

Cheers,

Sathish Kumar S

Bear Mountain State Park, New York

Bear Mountain State Park is located on the west side of the Hudson River in Orange and Rockland counties of New York. It was drizzling when we went there, so couldn’t do much there. But still we row the boat for an hour and took shelter at the banks of the river. It’s actually a good place for trekking, cycling on a sunny day. Must definitely be a great place during autumn with thick dense forest near the lake. 

Cheers,

Sathish Kumar S

Sri Ranganatha Temple, Pomona

Sri Ranganatha Temple is located on the beautiful scenic location in Pomona, hours drive from New Jersey. The architecture of the temple with Kopuram and scenic lawn around is breathtaking. There are so many temples in and around New Jersey which gives an idea of the Indian diaspora in this area. Not to forget the delicious food they served there, for that matter in any Perumal temples in any part of the world. ;) Definitely a place to be during Purattasi masam and Vaikunda Yekathesi.

Cheers,

Sathish Kumar S

Dingmans Falls, Pennsylvania

Dingmans Falls is a waterfall located in Pennsylvania which is about an hour drive from New Jersey. Naresh, my childhood friend who resides now in Switzerland made his holidays in USA and visited me as well. We did canoeing together for about 6.5 miles which turned out to be an awesome experience in the end which we never expected. The Delaware water was very shallow and one could step out of the boat easily and gaze at the nature. It was a perfect bachelor outing after a long time rekindling all our childhood memories. Definitely place to be recommended for a day's outing. 

Cheers,

Sathish Kumar S