From a time long gone by

This happened in 2008 when a few months after marriage Gopi went to GE, Eden Prairie , MN, USA and I was out of project with a stamped l1 visa and searching for projects in the same location.
I got an onsite opportunity at Milwaukee for 4 weeks, initially I refused but since it was 4 weeks and a chance to come to US I compiled.
I got accomodations with Sribala..she was living in a 2BHK alone and preferred it that way but since she was going to India on vacation and I was there just for 4 weeks she agreed for me to stay with her.
I reached US, Chicago on Aug 3rd 2008, G came to pick me up, since the connecting flight was next day I got a complimentary stay from the airlines. We had some dinner and went to the restaurant and I slept. It was hubby's bday but I was damn tired after my long journey.
Next day instead of taking my flight  we drove to Milwaukee, G dropped me at the apt and left.
Next day to travel to ofc my roomie arranged for a guy some sardar(forgot his name) to pick me.


My manager was Henash Patel. He wanted me up to speed immediately. It was a hectic time for the first 2 weeks just getting to know the project, understanding the problem, I was full time working even at home. By the end of the 2 weeks I could deliver a solution which fixed a major part of their problem and it was a big win for me. That week-end I relaxed and went for a movie with the roomie to Kismet Konnection. By then we also got friendly and we went for a Milwaukee Fair with her friends. The next 2 weeks went by fast but less work, we girls went for a bowling nite and celebrated few friend's birthdays and had a great time.


The sardar was good, I told him I'll pay for my share of fuel for the month but he refused and so I just took him out for lunch.
In the cafeteria there was a helper(black) who hit on me big time. Whenever I went down he would ask me my # and out for a date. I even stopped going downstairs. One day (later) when I went and was filling water he came near me with a glass on the pretext of filling water and said that the management had complained as he was talking to me and he still kept pestering for my # to take me out. I hurriedly left form there.
Last week I had an interview with ShopNBC, Eden Prairie and my next assignment was there and so I left from Milwaukee aug end, G came to pick me, we drove to Chicago and then to Eden prairie.


What triggered this was old pictures that I saw.

Memorial Day Trip - Day 3

The third and last day we had decided to go to Aurora Temple at Chicago. We got ready, had complimentary breakfast from hotel and left by 10:00 am. The temple was an hour's drive from the hotel. After doing darshanam we went to the cafeteria to get food for the journey back home. There I saw medu wada and could not control my temptation. We ordered wada/dosa which was super yummy. Then we packed curd rice/tamrind rice and upma for our journey back home.

The return journey was one long drive home with a one stop halt for lunch.
Thus ended our family vacation to Dells-Chicago

Memorial Day Trip -Day 2

The next day we woke up after 7 and got ready, since this hotel had complimentary breakfast we had waffles and bread, juice and tea and filling our tummines we left for Chicago city at 9. Our first stop was at navy pier, we parked our car there and decided to explore the remaining city by walk/bus.

As we were walking across the city we clicked some snaps of the buildings.

First stop was the Millenium park, we clicked pictures near the bean and then went for a walk around the garden which had beautiful flowers.

Then we wanted to take the red/green trolley which we had done about 6 yrs back but this tiem everything was pretty expensive. We wanted to get to Willis Tower(sears Towers renamed) and were getting tired alkign in the hot sun, Since it was lunch time we stopped at a McDonald's and had lunch. From there we went to Willis Tower and there was a long line waiting outside. me and G waited outside while the others went and it took them nearly 3 hours to finish the whole tour what with the long waiting lines.

From there we caught the city transit and went to the Shedd Aquarium. It was nearly 5 when we reached there and since the Aquarium would close at 6 we took just the General Pass and visited. There were lots of fishes and other animals to see .

Since it was getting late G asked us to wait there while he went to navy Pier ang got the car. From there he went to Devon Street which is like the Asian place in Chicago and we got to see lots of Indian/Pakistani shops.
We had dinner at a place which was not so great and then reached our hotel by 10:30 and went off to bed.

Memorial Day Trip

Since the whole family was here and they have not visited Chicago we decided to go there for the long week-end with a stop at Wis Dells.

Since we were taking our own car we did not have to worry about booking rentals. G booked the hotels, Fri evening me , mom & sis decided to go and get some stuff from Walmart like ice/bread/jam etc. As we were gettign ready to go I heard R crying downstairs, on reaching him I saw his nose bleeding and he had got hurt all over his face mostly his nose. He was trying out some stunt on the swing and fell on his face. by the time I consoled him and put some dettol it was nearly 9pm.

Then we went to Costco to fill gas, from there we went to mall as I wanted to get a hat for R and then to Walmart , by the time we came back it was 10pm. I had not even packed our clothes. After dinner I packed mine and R's clothes and then slept asking mom to wake me up at 5 as I had to make paneer chilly curry and target was to atleast leave by 7.

Next day I was woken up at 6 as dad got late getting ready, I quickly made curry and took bath in 15 mins, then one by one everyone was gettign ready. Finally after packing everything when we left it was nearly 8. We loaded everything in the car and left, took a break after 2 hours and eat some snacks, then by 11:40 we reached Wisconsin Dells.

Our first stop was at the TOP Secret. Me and G waited outside wheras mom,dad,sis and both the kids went inside. They came out pretty quickly and then we went for the boat ride. We took the jet boat rides for mom, sis and kids.
We waited outside while they went for thier ride, they enjoyed it and as my baby said, it was awesome Amma.

We then stopped for lunch and had our packed chapati/paneer chilly sabji/pulav with curd.
Then we went to the Tommy Barlett Exploratory Interactive Science Center. It was hands on fun for all of us as we went about exploring all the things over there.
Finally we had to rush out as they ahd to attend the Tommy Barlett Water Show which is a very famous must see in Wis Dells.

Leaving them there me and G went to a nearby casino for some relaxation and fun.
We returned by 6:15, picked folks up and drove off to our hotel. On the way we stopped at a rest area for making tea but were surronded by mosquitoes that we quickly left from there after having hot tea.We reached the hotel by 8:50 but some drama ensured there too, apparently the site we booked gave us a preference of Smoking Room and the hotel did not have any Non-Smoking rooms available. After debating with the owner we had to go to another place 40 mins drive from there, by the time we reached there it was 11:00, we all had the remaining chapati/curry and went off to bed.

Yellow Stone Day 2

For part 1 go here
http://myendeavours.blogspot.in/2013/08/yellowstone-trip-day-1.html.

Day 2 (July 4th):- We all got up by 7 ish and had breakfast of eggs/bread/jam. We also made Tomato rice and packed to take for lunch. We all were ready by 8:30 am to leave and then the morning ritual happened.
On the first day too we all were ready but could not find the keys to loc the house, the owner had mentioned it would be in a tiny box, we all kept searching for like 45 mins until we finally realized we were searching near the back door and the tiny box was at the front door entrance. on Day 1 we locked and left and when we returned we unlocked the door and placed the key back in the tiny box.
On Day 2 the tiny box refused to open, it had a pin, no amount of entering the keys would budge the tiny box. We again wasted around 30 mins trying to open it and finally left the house unlocked.

We decided to take the West Entrance to the park and cover the Upper Loop. We first stopped at a rest area in Madison and from there we went up to Gibbon Area. On nearing the palce one of our friends realized that they had left their camera bag at the rest area, so we all stopped there while two of them went back to get the bag. We took loads of pictures here. Then we decided to go up to Norris. On the way we passed Gibbon Falls.
We spend a good time exploring the Norris Geysers, the geysers are beautiful with bubbles emerging from the hot springs, some complained of the sulphur smell but I was not bothered. They just looked beautiful.

 From there we travelled to Mammoth Springs, on the way we stopped for lunch. By the time we reached Mammoth it began to rain, we waited for the rain to subside and then went to see mammoth. It is beautiful with all the various colors that you can see, we clicked a lot of pictures , on top there is a rock from which fumes come out , it really looks like Shiv Lingh. We then returned to our vehicle and decided to take the route "The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone". It began to rain heavily and we did make 1 or 2 stops . We also stopped mid-way to make tea in our portable stove.
At 7 ish we decided to head back to our cabin, on the way we stopped at many little geysers, in the evenings with the rains all the geysers were very alive fuming out hot smoke. On the way we saw many bisons and elks, infact when we were nearing the exit park a family of moose walked out to greet us.
Evening we ordered pizza and buffalo wings from KFC and then head back home to rest. 

YellowStone Trip – Day 1

July 3rd(Wednesday):- Finally the day arrived to get going for our trip. 2 families(ours and K) decided to fly. Our flight route was Minneapolis – Denver and then drive to the cabin. The flight was scheduled at 2 but was delayed by and hour which gave us much breathing space. In the morning I quickly prepared chapatti and capsicum paneer sabji to take on the trip. G came by 1 and we reached the airport by 2. We checked the car seat in and were told we could pick it at the destination airport i.e Denver.

Once the security check was done we had more than an hour to idle away. R and A(the kids) went to the play area and I tagged along with them. At 4 they announced the flight and we got in. We reached our destination by 5:15. The car rental office was 10 miles away from the airport and they told us they would close the doors at 6. We had to wait for the car seat and could not leave immediately. Our eyes kept glancing at our watches and back. Finally we got the car seat and we rushed out to catch a cab and reached the rental place dot at 6 pm. After completing the paperwork we went to a supermart to get some snacks and stuff. Finally we set of at 6:40 pm. It was a long tiring 9 hr drive to our cabin. The clock just wouldn’t go fast, we could feel each hour passing by. Finally at 4 am the GPS said 10 more minutes to destination. I could almost visualize myself in the bed in another 20 mins. Ah! Sweet glory.

But this was not the case to the be, the place where GPS told us was a dead-end and pitch dark. We still went someplace ahead but there was nothing just a lane going nowhere. Being so dark we di dnot want to get lost so we turned and came back to where we started. It was already 4:30 am. Now. G then called the lady and after going much back and forth we realized we were at a wrong place and had to travel another 30 mins. Finally at 5:30 we reached the cabin. It was beautiful, a lone cabin sitting in middle of acres and acres of farmland. The cabin itself was 3 storey with all the required neccessities. We got a room and crashed on to the bed. The other 2 families reached at 7:30. They had their own adventure.

We woke up by 12, freshened up, made lunch of veg pulav and at 2 set off for Grand Teton Park. On the way we stopped at Johnson Point for lunch, from there we travelled to the park. At the park we took the Jackson hole Ariel Tram Ride. This cable ride takes us to the summit of Rendezvous Mountain in about nine minutes. Guests will travel 4,139 vertical feet to get to the top of the mountain Read more: http://www.city-data.com/articles/Jackson-Hole-Aerial-Tram-Rides-Jackson.html#ixzz2bClDiBKb.

We were at the top of the mountains overlooking the entire park. As usual we clicked lots of pictures and then drove down. It was already evening and hence we decided to go back at the motel. On the way we stopped over to purchase some noodles to prepare for nite. Once we reached the cabin we cooked dinner of egg noodles and everyone was off to bed,

3rd visit to the United States of America

Well, here I was again, this being my 3rd visit to the US of A in just a span of 18 months. The previous 2 visits were fun and exciting, the excitement of being in a new country for the first time, of visiting new places but this time I felt like a veteran - the feeling of I knew it all............

The only solace to my burdening heart was the Summer- which is said to be the most beautiful season of the country, no more witness to the menancing cold weather that drives one crazy.

I reached here again after a long and tiring 18 hour flight journey and this site will be dedicated to all my Endeavours in this country.