Washington D.C.

[October 20th, 2006]
Family. That word takes on a whole new meaning to us Vagabonds. Ive always been extremely attached to my family and when my aunt, Lotus, invited me over for a long weekend, I didn't hesitate for a second.

BWI is a pretty BIG airport. I remember looking at terminal maps and walking for what seemed to take forever before I finally met TallGuy and my little cousins Chapachie and Me-ee. Me-ee was in a cute pram and I assumed control of it, wheeling the smiling infant towards the car. A few minutes later we were headed homeward. I found myself amidst lush green woods and nature like I had never seen in good old Chi-town. It was a refreshing change.

Lotus welcomed me with a warm hug and a smile that stretched from ear to ear. It was so good to see all of them. After gormandizing a dinner of minced lamb and freshly made parathas, I picked up Me-ee and cuddled and kissed her a zillion times. She was sooooo cute! She loved all the attention she was getting and gave me a tiny armed hugged every time. She was the cutest thing ever. I was trying my best to make her laugh, being my zany self, jumping all over the room, but best I got out of her was an indifferent smirk. She was like a little philosopher, bored with the ways of the world. This made her even cuter. I kissed her a zillion times more before she finally rested her tiny head on my shoulder, wrapped her cute arms around my neck and fell asleep. It was the most divine feeling ever. I had had a long day and I followed suit.

I woke up the next day, only to find both my little cousins next to me, urging me to get up. I was up immediately, excited as Tallguy was going to drive me to Washington D.C.
After a quick breakfast Tallguy, Chapachie and Me were on the road. It was a short drive. Within the hour, we pulled up in front of the world renown Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. Chapachie was exhilarated. She enthusiastically took in all that the museum had to offer.


Missiles, Airplanes, Satellites, Spacesuits. The works. We even went to a 3-D rendering of 'Man on the Moon' which was extremely entertaining. After spending a few hours at the museum, we decided it was time to move on to the real sights and sounds of D.C.

First stop, The Capitol.


On first sight, I thought it was the white house, but TallGuy corrected me and pointed out that it was in fact the Capitol. It is a majestic building with its own reflective pool . After goofing around with Chapachie a little more, I reminded TallGuy that we were on a tight schedule and we immediately left for our next stop. The Washington Monument.

It is a massive obelisk, much larger than I had imagined. I stood there for a few seconds just staring in awe at the breathtaking structure. I went camera crazy and clicked away from at least a dozen angles. To our disappointment though, due to an extremely vague reason, we were not allowed to take the elevator to the top. We marvelled at the magnificent erection for a few more minutes and moved on to our next monument. The Lincoln Memorial.

It was a rather long and tiring walk along the inexplicably long reflective pool which seemed to make no sense.

When I finally reached the stairs, I was relieved and proceeded to bound up them. I was amazed at the number of people at the monument. I literally had to wade through a sea of tourists to get a good glimpse of the monument. The statue was beautiful. Lincoln at his authoritative best. I fought off a couple of overenthusiastic women to get some snaps.

I took my time, reading the inscriptions on the wall. Its only when I exited the Lincoln Memorial and looked back did I realise the purpose of the loooooooong reflective pool. The Washington Monument was reflected full length. It was a photographers manna. I tried my hand at some photography and was quite satisfied with some of the captures.


I settled down on the stairs leading down from the elevated monument. I watched the ducks bathe in the water and noticed how the ripples made the reflection of the obelisk look even more captivating. I watched a couple of kids chase each other around the Vietnam War Memorial and marvelled at the history that surrounded the land I was standing on.

A dull vibration in my pocket woke me up from my daydream. It was my phone. Chapachie wanted me to make my way back as we were to head to see our last monument for the day. I took in the sights and sounds for a few more minutes and walked back to the car. Tallguy drove us straight to our final stop.
The White House.

Well. All i can say is... I know why the president would want to stay there! The impressive abode is surrounded by more greenery than most parks. Majestic yet elegant.

It was late afternoon. A look at Tallguy and I understood it was time to head for home. We called Lotus, informing her that we were homeward bound and that she better have a feast ready as we were all starving.

An hour of driving and we were back home. I headed straight for Me-ee's room. She was half asleep. I picked her up and gave her a tight hug. She leaned her head on my shoulder, put her arm around my neck and fell asleep in my arms. Pure Heaven!

Holland, MI

[May 3rd, 2008]

A bunch of colleagues decided to make full use of the brilliant spring weather. I was game. As always! The result... A canoeing trip! Wohooooo!!!!!!!

Day1:
We started the day at the brink of dawn. Hitman, Dozey, Witch and Me with SpeedRacer at the wheel. SpeedRacer had laden the car with gadgets. The customary GPS and a "Cop Detector". It basically works by sensing the field emitted by police radar guns at a distance and alerts the driver so that he can slow down by the time he reaches the measuring radius. Ingenious.

After the initial jitters of sitting in a virtual rocket, Hitman decided to take over the wheel. Our pace changed from an eye-watering 120 mph to a steady 70mph. I showed Witch the hand gesture to make the truckers blow their horn. Big mistake. She spent a good hour and a half annoying every single semi we passed. I think it was 9 horns in total. Phew!
First pit stop, Big Boy. After a good brunch we resumed our short drive to Allegan Canoe. The owner was a chirpy old lady. She gave us our gear and barked out instructions by pointing to a hand drawn sketch of the river. I hesitate to call it a map because it really wasn't. It was more of an excuse to get lost on the river.
Before we knew it, we were climbing aboard a beaten down van and were rumbling towards our start point. A lot of heaving and a few swaps later, we were in position to launch. SpeedRacer, Dozey and Me on Canoe1, Witch and Hitman on Canoe2.

Almost instantly we could see Canoe2 struggling. They were meandering all over the breadth of the river, floating sideways and at one point even backwards. Witch and Hitman just weren't working in sync.

On the other hand, Canoe1 was stable. I was the back-right engine, SpeedRacer was the front-left engine and Dozey was the emergency power thruster. Within a few minutes we had settled into a rhythm and were rocketing down the river. One look back and we realised that we had left Canoe2 far behind. We immediately stopped paddling and waited patiently for Canoe2 to catch up. We watched them float out of control and into tree branches.

They spent a good 10 minutes trying to dislodge their Canoe. Finally, they came downstream, backwards, and met us where we were waiting for them so patiently. We let them get a substantial head start and pushed off again. This time there was no stopping us. We rowed like there was no tomorrow. We synchronised our efforts by letting out a "Hoo!" on every backstroke. We literally rocketed past Canoe2 and kept going very pleased with the momentum we were getting. A few minutes later we came to a fork in the river. After a spot of arguing we decided to stick to the right fork, complying with the instructions we were given.
We happened to glance back and were totally dumbfounded to find that Canoe2 was nowhere in sight. We turned the canoe around and started rowing against the current. We were getting nowhere. We made a smart move... rowing ourselves purposely into a low lying branch. We lodged our canoe on the branches and waited patiently. The minutes ticked by. After an excruciating 35 minutes we saw a blue cap. Joy!! We finally caught a glimpse of Canoe2 inching its way down the river. Backwards.

We realised that we needed SpeedRacer and Myself in different Canoes to do the power rowing. We dislodged ourselves from the branches and headed out down the river in search of a landing spot so we could switch. A few minutes later SpeedRacer pointed out a small landing spot where we managed to dock Canoe1. It was a relief to step out of the canoe and onto solid ground. The ground was marshy and I saw some of the weirdest insects crawling beneath the blanket of dead leaves and wet mud. I stopped looking down. We waited patiently for Canoe2 to arrive. It was a relief when we saw them snailing their way down to the landing.

A few minutes later, we were off again. This time we were balanced. My shift from Canoe1 to Canoe2 had done the trick. Finally the 2 canoes were floating down the river in unison. We were making good time. We took in the beauty of the nature that surrounded us.

We passed a couple of riverside houses which told us that we had an hour of rowing left. I was tiring. A quick glance told me that Witch and Hitman were doing no better.
It began to drizzle. The temperature was dipping fast. SpeedRacer and Dozey were a good 10 minutes ahead of us. We could see them intermittently. The wind was playing spoilsport. It was hard to paddle in a straight line with the wind displacing us sideways. We snaked our way around a rather large bend in the river and to our glee SpeedRacer and Dozey were just sitting there in Canoe1 exhausted from the rowing. We had finally caught up.

Being there side by side, in the middle of nowhere gave us a new impetus. We decided were going to go down with all guns blazing. We latched on to our oars and began to row with a new found energy. Our Canoes were parallel and we were skimming along the water like professionals.
Hitman decided he wanted to turn it into a race. He began paddling frantically, making the canoe veer off course and into some real nasty branches. He held on to one of the branches and released it. I realised what was going to happen. I closed my eyes and ducked. I could hear the swish of leaves and a very crisp THWACK!! The branch had smacked Witch right in the kisser. She was fuming.
A couple of angry minutes later we were back to our lackadaisical rowing. We continued on hoping to see the bridge which was our end point. Canoe1 was ahead of us again, much to Hitman's despair. Just when I was giving up hope, I heard a shout of joy from Canoe1. They could see the bridge! It had taken us 4 hours and 40 minutes in all. Phew!
A few moments later we were on a truck heading back to our car with the muscular dame behind the wheel.

Next stop, Saugatuck Dune rides. They were basically Ford F350's modified to seat a dozen people. No roof. Under inflated tyres. That meant only one thing. Reduce weight and increase traction. Within a couple of minutes i knew why. The truck was blazing down narrow pathways cut into the massive sand dunes. The speed and accuracy of the turns on the loose sand was almost surreal. The driver sure was talented. The experience would have been even more amazing if it hadn't been drizzling. The sharp sting of rain droplets served as a constant reminder of the sheer velocity at which we were travelling down the dunes. To make things worse, the fine sand flying off the tyres stuck to our faces and ears. Though it was an experience to remember, I was glad when we pulled up into the garage.

We headed to the hotel, checked in and sank into the beds. Aaahhhh... Bliss!
The evening was a blur. I hurt everywhere. My arms felt like Jello. My legs were cramping. Even the thought of having dinner at a Chinese restaurant didn't excite me. The restaurant was alright. We ordered WAY more food than we needed. We ate like piranhas in a feeding frenzy but the food just kept coming. I felt bad wasting so much food.
By now my aching muscles had begun to throb, sending sharp pulses of pain shooting through my body. Even my hair hurt. I couldn't wait to get back to the hotel room.

Back in the comfort of the hotel room, we decided to play blackjack. I was sore but Hitman's antics kept me entertained and We played well into the night. It was nearly 2am when i decided to call it a day. I slipped into the comforter and almost immediately drifted into a deep slumber.

Day2:
I got up late. The first thing i noticed was that my muscles felt relaxed. I was relieved. After grabbing a quick breakfast we headed to the Dutch Village. It was a photographers paradise. We began clicking pictures. A lot of them.

Some of them downright ridiculous.

We even sat on a Carousel.

After spending a good 4 hours at the Dutch Village and buying a load of junk including catapults and rubber band shooting handguns, we decided to visit the famous Holland Tulip Show. Though SpeedRacer and Me were a little apprehensive about going to a flower show, Hitman absolutely insisted that we go.

The flowers were beautiful. We ended up staying for a lot longer than I had anticipated. We also met some of our colleagues at the Tulip show. Finally, after Hitman's photo shoot, we regrouped at the parking lot and clicked the final pictures.

SpeedRacer took the wheel. In spite of heavy traffic, the maniac had us back in Chi-town in record time. I trudged back home. It was Sunday night and the Monday blues were already taking over.