May 25, 2025

adventure, all part of life, health, hiking, local park, local, photoblog, photography, videoblog

A herd of deer at Rancho

May 25, 2025

adventure, all part of life, health, hiking, local park, local, photoblog, photography, videoblog

While the last three weeks have been abysmal for exercise and health, the year so far has not been bad. We did hike a lot in the first four months, got to do yoga, listen to a lot of great music.. just need to get back to the routine.

In early April we went to Rancho for a usual hike on the Wild Cat Loop trail and saw an amazing herd of deer… (you can see the video). Normally we see 3-4 tops in a group.

There was a lot of water in the creeks and the little one had come for a weekend visit and we made the most of it..

More pictures..

Video highlights reel of the herd..

Few more blog posts to go in what is left of this long weekend..

Sundar Narayanan

May 25, 2025

adventure, all part of life, beach, Bikram Yoga, health, hiking, landscapes, local, photoblog, photography, portrait, travel, videoblog, waterfalls

Revisiting Alamere falls after three years

Sundar Narayanan

May 25, 2025

adventure, all part of life, beach, Bikram Yoga, health, hiking, landscapes, local, photoblog, photography, portrait, travel, videoblog, waterfalls

Alamere falls near Point Reyes is an amazing waterfall that goes straight into the beach. Our first visit to this place was in 2021 in the middle of COVID. There was minimal socializing and we made the most of it.

In March we got a chance to go again. It is a long drive followed by a long hike. When you go with a group, both of those don’t seem long enough.

Given I have already described everything about this place, an updated set of photos and a video highlight reel!

Last time we went in November. This time we went in March.. the landscape on the hike was a lot greener, there were wildflowers that started coming out.. but it was windy and chilly both times.

It is now blog policy to open posts with a bench photo. Got a lot of yoga pose photos as well on this visit!

Had fun playing with the long exposure options in iPhone. Carrying the SLR up a 14 mile hike would have been an additional challenge.

went close to the falls and put the iPhone upside down on the sand to get this one.. had to crop it to a square shot. Water drops blurred part of the image.

When all surfaces are vibrant, had to stop and take pictures of small plants, lichens, buds… was slowing the group down a lot this time with the pictures..

The video highlights reel..

If all goes well, we will visit this place again in a few more years. The walk on the beach to the falls and the race against time is always interesting!

Sundar Narayanan

April 27, 2025

adventure, all part of life, anniversary, art, Europe, hiking, landscapes, photoblog, photography, portrait, Portugal, travel, videoblog

Sintra, Portugal - as cute as it gets!

Sundar Narayanan

April 27, 2025

adventure, all part of life, anniversary, art, Europe, hiking, landscapes, photoblog, photography, portrait, Portugal, travel, videoblog

The previous post in this series is here..

Our day 2 in Portugal was a bus tour to Sintra, then to Pena Palace, Cabo de Roca, and Cascais.

This first post is about the first part of the visit to Sintra. A cute hilly town.. we were picked up early from the square outside Baixa on a viator guided tour, and it was an hour plus bus ride to Sintra. We passed an aquaduct that was an engineering marvel (for any time)!

Got to listen to some history of the Moorish people who used to rule Portugal. We got to spend an hour walking around this place with a stop at a local pastry shop, Lord Byron’s cafe and a walk around the steps to the Musuem. We also got to walk up to Uniao das freguesias de Sintra… there was no time to go through it.. just walk outside it. It was a half mile hike up the hill and we had just enough time to go to the top and be back. We crossed some landmarks like Lawrence hotel..

A few pictures..