Memorial Day Weekend, A memorable weekend-Palouse and Steptoe Butte

It was a Memorial day weekend and we decided to drive around Cascades. I and my little one was accompanying my sister and her then boyfriend (Tiju), leaving my husband home while he was preparing for his PMP. We had no hotel reservations done because we did not know where we want to stop overnight. But that's how Tiju rolls. I hate trips like that where there isn't any planning or for that matter not even knowing the destination. But I must say with the element of surprise, there is always something exciting that you unfold on such trips.

We drove on US-20 and stopped at a shack like restaurant, where I would have never set my foot in. The name itself made me not want to enter. I had imagined some negative picture about it.
But I was wrong. A perfect example of don't judge a book by its cover. They had a garden restaurant on the inner side and it was beautiful and quiet, with humming birds flying around.  The food was good too. They had a couple of vegetarian option. Besides what else do I need when they have steak fries and ketchup :). Give it up for the potato!

On our way we stopped at a couple of viewpoints and gave a treat to our eyes (easy boardwalks).
The weather was perfect.

Further driving towards cascades we decided to take a 3.8 mile roundtrip trail (Thunder Knob) with seemingly easy elevation. At the end (top) we had a glimpse of the turquoise color  Diablo Lake.

Adjacent to the trailhead is this amazing spot (probably an extension of the Diablo lake, not quite sure) where you can have your little picnic or just skim the water or have some quiet time soaking the view.

We decided to go east from there. On our way we stopped at a Dam outside of the town Coulee Dam. It was close to dusk and enjoyed the scene of setting sun. This is different than the actual Grand Coulee dam.

But actual Grand Coulee Dam have a nightly laser show (open air, free of cost) which is entertaining enough I guess. The show is seasonal (starts memorial weekend), and starts as late as 10:00 pm. Makes sense if its not going to be pitch dark before that isn't it? We did watch the show but we drove a little farther away and was good enuf for the naked eye but not for my tiny digital camera to capture in night mode (sorry no pictures).

From there we drove towards Palouse and decided to crash at a hotel in the next decently big enough town that we see. Unfortunately for miles there was nothing decent/safe enough to call it a day. Finally my sister decided to call some 1-800 number to check for any hotel availability that would be on our way. It was dangerous, scary and foolish, but hey thankfully we lived to tell the story.

The next morning two more friends were joining us driving all the way from Seattle. I am not even going to bother to tell their share of journey - Don't ask, Don't tell!

Following morning we woke up to a sunny, dry weather (thanks for the rain shadowed region). It was my first time towards this region and couldn't believe that we were still in Washington W.R.T the climatic shift. It was a beautiful day with beautiful people.

We stopped at a curvature to take shots of the winding roads.

At Palouse Falls State Park, we could sight the falls easily (without much walk or hike). The gushing water down the rocks with cute little rainbow in its well was admirable (reminded me of Snoqualmie falls). The pic below is not the one with a rainbow.

There is a 2 mile round trip trail down some uneven, steep, sand-slip path to get to the coulee spot below the cliff. Halfway through there is a railway line (very much in use). It's an amazing spot for some fashion photography I would say.

At the bottom, enjoy soaking your feet in the stream, have a picnic, relax and enjoy splashing water.

Next stop was Steptoe Butte State Park. Where should I even begin to describe this luminous landscape. I am sure most everyone who have used Microsoft Windows XP would have seen a picture of this beauty in their very own desktop theme (just a little pic to remind you). Yes, it's that famous :)

The bald edged hills and prairies are picturesque. The green fertile wheat fields makes a wavy pattern giving a dramatic look. 

We drove (alternatively you can hike) up the hill that looms through the fields for a breathtaking aerial view with a fiery setting sun backdrop.

Perhaps this could help you decide where and how to spend your memorial weekend if you haven't decided yet.

Note: Just like any other farm land the wheat fields look dry/barren after they harvest later during the year. The terrain is drastically different. IMHO, April may be a better time if you want to see greenery.

Click Here For More pictures.

Kaleidoscopic Keukenhof

Located south of Amsterdam is a small town of Lisse. You might not have even heard of this town name likely because of the prominence that the name Keukenhof has gained. People often tend to think Keukenhof is indeed the name of the city/town.

You may have already gained a perspective of what this place is about from the picture. Yes, its a garden (specifically Tulip Garden). It is also fondly known as "Garden of Europe". It's 79 acres according to official website. If you are a floriculturist then this place is nothing less than heaven. For those who arent you will still share the same feeling may be with less intensity - LOL :)

The pavilion is permeated with Tulips (mostly) in stellar colors (including black) portraying a kaleidoscopic view of the place. The garden also has other variety of blossoms (narcissi and daffodils, hyacinths, bluebells...) nestled in between the Tulip formation makes it even more dramatic.

Things to know -

• Tulip is a seasonal flower and  so is the garden open for viewing (mid March and runs through May every year). The opening dates vary though.
• Every weekend during the garden season, there are events for visitors of all age. I believe there is also a parade during one of those weekends which is a delight to watch.
• You can take a bike ride or boat ride from Keukenhof to enjoy the surrounding tulip fields.
• The castle ground is probably open all year round. Although not sure how that might interest anyone.
• Tulip needs a perfect combination of weather to sustain. If in case the weather is wilting, they do replant in order to keep the show going.
• You can easily spend half of your day. Oh, don't forget to take your camera's with extra memory stick for those overflowing pictures.

I and my husband first passed by Keukenhof sometime mid February (2004). The field was still covered in snow and the place actually was a lackluster. We visited back again end of April and I couldn't trust my very own eyes if it was indeed the same place. In a matter of few weeks the entire vicinity had transformed.

Here in North-West (Seattle area), we have a similar tulip show around the same time frame April to May. Although I don't visit our Tulip Fest every year, but it does help me keep my memories fresh from those yester years when I first actually saw real tulips in Keukenhof.

Info Courtesy:

Skagit Valley tulip Fest:      http://www.tulipfestival.org/

Keukenhof Netherland:        http://www.keukenhof.nl/en/#now-in-the-park

Pisa

At the entrance of tower of Pisa 

We had a quick stop at Pisa. We were heading back from Sperlonga and en route to Rome we decided to stop at Pisa to go to see the Leaning Tower, other than that I am not sure what else is there around.

Leaning tower of Pisa: I have some co-workers who are located in Italy. I spoke to one of them before we decided to even choose Italy as one of our destinations. Astonishingly, while talking he mentioned "Why do you want to waste your time going to Pisa?" It sounded like a waste of time and the locals seem to not recommend it as much. He even said that its unnecessarily hyped! We still had to put it on our list of places to see, since we have all studied that in either history or geography.

Recommendations, Suggestions and Tips:

• You can book tickets to go to the top in advance to save a lot of time.
• They do have a minimum age limitation I believe ( 5+ years). So even if we had lot of time, we still wouldn't have been able to go since my son had just turned 5.
• The green garden is luscious and enjoy some rolling.
• Hold on to everything that is precious to you, cos, you could lose it in the blink of an eye.

Narration of personal incident:       Almost Lost a Part of me in Pisa

Rome

Rome was certainly not built in a day and so a day is just not enough to see around. The city is way crowded. The traffic and the noise and pollution is a part of any other major cities. We got a B&B kind of place a few blocks away from the main train station. It wasn't good but it did serve our purpose at cheaper price than any hotel in the vicinity (but not that very cheap).

Colosseum: It is located bang smack in the middle of a busy road. It's right outside the Metro. But we took 2 buses from Vatican to reach here. Every bus that came by was full, we skipped a couple of those to see we may get lucky but people were swarming from nowhere. I hate standing so close and breathing onto someones face or have to smell a stranger in the bus. But sadly at times I had to. It was the busiest even though it was a weekend.

This where the brutality happened

Recommendations, Suggestions and Tips:

• You can do pre-booking in order to save time. We had to spend a long time in the queue and each ticket has a time slot on it and they will take folks in only if your ticket has the time slot they are letting people in. if you are early or late, you will have to wait.
• The place is again guarded so try not give any reason to them to doubt your behavior.
• We did not book a guide, instead we just walked around the group of people who had appointed a guide and we were just listening to catch some important notes. Sorry, that was not our intention, but its inevitable when the guide is talking so loud and you are in close proximity.
• Do take lot of water bottles. The time of the year and time of the day we had this planned out turned out super hot we all were getting quite dehydrated (often).
• We enjoyed feeding the pigeons that were flying around the vicinity while we were waiting for our time slot.
• We spent at least an hour and a half inside the colosseum and another hour and a half outside waiting for our turn because of our lack of due diligence in doing the pre-booking.

Carriage rides around the colosseum and probably a little around the city. It's a tad bit expensive.

A family pic

Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain: We went to see these places (specifically Trevi) twice. One at day time and one at dark when the fountain is illuminated. Both has its own charm. Getting off the metro we 1st went to see Spanish steps, then walked a bit farther to see the fountain. The alley which we had to walk through to get to the steps from the Metro was a bit shady, but we did not had any trouble. As you approach the spanish steps you will see how crowded the place is. I mean where did all these people come from? I am not sure if its that important to see these steps, but it was more of a been there done that thing. The Trevi fountain is even more crowded that sometimes its even hard to get a good picture. The place near Trevi fountain is very very humid. You will notice the juxtaposition of the modern stores settled over the very characteristic cobblestone walkway.

Spanish Steps at night time

Recommendations, Suggestions and Tips:

• Visiting the fountain once during day time and once during night time has its own specific charm. So, I would highly recommend.
• The place is filled with drunkards so you may find some inappropriate behavior so be vigilant. At the same time don't let you bother so much about it.
• Kids love to play around the fountain that is in front of the Spanish steps and also go up and down the stairs.
• Spanish steps is more family friendly spot I would think.
• There is a horse carriage ride available near the Spanish steps, but they are way way too pricy. You can try to haggle but it was still not working for us. We just wanted to give our son an experience. The guys was charging us 50 Euro per person (which is like 150 Euro for 3) for a 30 min ride.
• The good thing about these 2 spots were that they are *FREE* no entry fee or any sort.

Cobble stone walk from Spanish steps to Trevi fountain

It's only human to have and make a wish