Krause Springs is another great swim hole near Austin. It was open for swimming when we visit but no one did because it was November I guess. It was bit cold for swimming.

However the small water fall and the swim hole surrounded by the huge trees made a really beautiful scenary.

We saw a water snake too. 

Then we left to The Oasis near lake Travis for lunch (Food was not that great. There weren't many choices. The location was good though).
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Hamilton pool preserve is a must to witness if you visit Austin. It is in dripping springs and takes less than 1 hr to drive there from Austin. It includes a beautiful waterfall and a swim hole.

The swim hole was closed when we visit due to bacteria content. The river area also was closed because of flooding damage. Still, the waterfall was amazing. You could walk behind the fall and it looks like a water curtain if the water level is high.

After spending as much time we want, we left the pool to visit Krause Springs.
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Zilker botanical garden is located in the middle of Austin city. We entered the park right before it closes so we didn't have much time to look around.

We visited the rose garden, children's garden and we saw ponds full with water lilies too.

There was lot more to see but it was getting dark and they were about to close the park. Wish if we arrived little more earlier.

Again we had to stay inside in day 7 too but day 8 was totally free. So we decided to visit Hamilton pool that day.
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Austin zoo is actually an animal sanctuary. It is not that big and not built in an attractive way. However they do have lots of animal varieties and what they are doing is great too, helping the animal in need.

Another interesting activity was to feed deer and goats by hand. They provide food at a cost and we can feed them. The also offer a small train ride to see landscaping in the area.

We could see peacocks everywhere. They have a kangaroo too but it was really hard to spot him. The animal cages are really big (which is good) and also they are double netted. That's why it's so hard to see through them.

 However we enjoyed the visit.
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We booked Habitat suites in Austin because we preferred a suite as we were going to stay there for a week.

It was a nice hotel. They had a big garden full with tropical plants, like banana, pomegranate and orange. It really is beautiful but the only drawback was lack of natural light inside rooms. Inside the suite, there's a kitchen, living room, bed room, bath room, 2 TVs. The kitchen utensils were minimal but adequate.

They provide a good quality breakfast too. Also, the staff was nice and friendly.

Day 4 and 5, we stayed inside because Saliya had to be in the conference all day for those 2 days. Next day, we got time in the afternoon so we payed a visit to the Austin zoo and Zilker botanical garden.
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Turner Falls park is located in Davis, Oklahoma. We arrived there by noon. It's kinda big park including many camping sites, two swim holes and waterfalls. The park was beautiful and attractive even in the Fall.

The swim holes were closed for the season and the fall area was closed for construction. Otherwise it would have been a nicer experience. Still, we could hike on many trails and see the beauty of nature.

This is a really great park for camping. We saw many tents near streams, bushes and inside the forest too.
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Fantastic Caverns is located in Springfield, Missouri. It is the only ride through cave in USA. They offer a tractor ride inside the cave.

The cave was really pretty. It's not a big one like Mammoth cave, TN but it is really fantastic. Looked magical with the lights.

It was 4 pm when we arrived there and it was there last ride. They had only our family for that ride but still the guide/driver did a really good job explaining the things. We felt like the cave is all ours :)

We stayed at La Quinta in Claremore, OK that night. The hotel was newly built and super clean. The staff was fabulous too.

Our next day plan was to visit Turner falls and arrive in Austin.
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Saliya had to go to SC conference in November 2015. It was held in Austin, Texas. We had never visited Texas so we all thought to drive and stay there for the week of the conference.

We drove via Springfield, MO and Oklahoma and returned via Arkansas. Following map shows our route.




We started the trip on 13th Nov and planned to stay in Claremore, OK for the night and to visit Fantastic caverns on our way
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Anderson Orchard is located in Mooresville, Indiana. It offers apple/raspberry/plum picking in their seasons. We visited there in late August 2015.

We only visited Apple patches but I think raspberry picking also was available at the time. They provide bags in different sizes at a fixed cost and we can fill the bags to take apples home. Also, we are allowed to eat as much as we want while we are there.

Picking different kinds of fresh apples from the trees was a nice experience, specially for kids.

We had lunch from Mumbai grill in Greenwood, IN and headed back home. 
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In early August 2015, we went camping in Wax camp ground, Kentucky. We visited Mammoth cave in the morning (this was our 3rd time in Mammoth cave). We took domes and dripping stones tour (former new entrance tour) and it was our 2nd time.

Then we arrived in the camping site by afternoon and setup the tents.

The camping site was just ok. There was a small lake nearby and we had a bath too. There were good bathroom facilities available. I wish if the site was more primitive/natural though.

We spent one night there and left next day. It was our very first camping trip. We'd like to do another one somewhere else someday.
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Gaylord Opryland Resort is a really nice hotel to see. It basically is a huge green house with a hotel inside.There are several levels of the ground and some parts are just like tropical forests. It's really amazing.

There's a canal which runs through the green house and you can take a boat ride along the canal. Also we watched a beautiful water fountain show.

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The Parthenon is located in  Centennial Park, Nashville. The main attraction there is a big statue of goddess Athena. Apart from that, there is a nice art gallery too. The ticket is $6.00.

The statue is huge but it lacks of the beauty and softness in Athena in my opinion.
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By the time we finished the Fontanel mansion tour, we were too hungry. We had herd about this aquarium restaurant and thought to give it a try.

The restaurant is inside a mall. We were amazed once we enter the restaurant. Thousands of colorful sea fish were swimming around. It was a totally a beautiful aquarium. Probably more beautiful than some aquariums :)

The food was good too. It is bit priced but not too much, and it totally makes sense to charge a bit more in order to maintain this splendid aquarium.
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We went a weekend trip to Nashville, TN in March 2015. On Saturday morning, we visited the Fontanel Mansion which is a former house of Barbara Mandrell. They offer several tours per day.

The mansion is built with logs and is pretty big. It includes an indoor swimming pool too. The guide explains almost everything about the mansion and Barbara's family life too.

I think it was worth seeing and we enjoyed the tour.
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This was our 2nd visit to Grand canyon on our way back, because it was snowing heavily during our 1st visit.

So we had our breakfast at the hotel we stayed, and drove off to the visitor center. From there, we took a green shuttle hoping to catch a red shuttle which rides the Hermits rest rout while stopping at view points. We got down from several view points including Powell point and Mohave point. The views were splendid and breathtaking.

 

Then we took another green shuttle back to the visitor center, took our car and went for lunch. After lunch, starting from Martha point near visitor center, we started walking along the rim trail.

I have no words to describe the beauty I experienced along the rim trail. Every scene was different and beautiful. We walked and walked but didn't know it's getting late. We were supposed to return to my friend's home in Chandler that evening. So we had to stop in the middle and head back.

Next day we returned the rental car at Phoenix airport and flew back home.

This is one of the trips I loved the most. Arizona became my 2nd favorite place in US and of course,  Colorado holds the 1st place as always.
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Hoover dam is located on the state line of  Nevada and Arizona. We stopped a bit and started off to
Grand canyon as it was bit late.

 

 

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Next morning we parked our car in hotel Bellagio and went for it's breakfast buffet. It was more like a brunch for us. The buffet was really good. I'd give five stars for that.

Then we visited hotel Venetian, The Luxor and few more.

We were bit exhausted by mid day and took the monorail ride back. We took the car from Bellagio parking garage and drove off to Grand canyon hoping to revisit the canyon next day.

We visited Hoover dam on the way.

It was really late when we arrive in Grand canyon village.
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Fremont Street is located in old town, about 15 mins away from the strip. It's like a street with a magical canopy. You can enjoy light shows on the canopy.

We arrived right in time for the mid night show which is the last show for the day.

After the show, we went to our hotel nearby and called it a day.
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We stopped at Bellagio water fountain while walking along the Vegas strip. It was night and the whole strip was illuminating with magical neon lights.

The musical water fountain show was amazingly beautiful. Unfortunately I don't have a picture of the water show. We didn't want to disturb our eyes with cameras.

Then we walked to our car hoping to visit Fremont street.
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We spent the previous night in a hotel near Lake Powell.

We got up in the morning hoping to visit the Horseshoe bend in Page, AZ. It was bit rainy but fortunately it didn't bother our horseshoe bend visit much. It was around 9 am when we visit horseshoe bend. We had to do little bit hiking to reach the view point from the vehicle park. The hike was scenic too.

We arrived at the view point and saw that there's no railing or anything to hold on. I believe it is not a very safe place for kids, specially toddlers. Down there, was Colorado river taking a bend in a shape of a horseshoe. That is one of the beautiful scenery I've ever experienced.

We had to leave the place soon as it started raining a bit heavily. The rain followed by a snow storm ruined our Day 4 of the trip. We had hoped to visit antelope canyon and Zion national park in Utah as well. Due to the snow storm, we decided to skip those and directly drive to Las Vegas, Nevada.

On the way to Vegas, the wipers of our SUV stopped working amidst of the snow storm. What a tragedy. We called budget and the only option they could offer was to switch another vehicle at their nearest branch. What they didn't offer is a way to get to the nearest branch. If they send a vehicle to pick us up, they'd charge for it. At this point we were totally disappointed on Budget rental as they own old, malfunctioning vehicles and the cold customer service.

However, we managed to drive a bit by bit at times the rain pauses. Switched vehicle for the 2nd time and drove to Las Vegas. Thank god, it was sunny there.

That night, walked a little along the strip, visited Bellagio water fountain and Fremont street.
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After switching the rented car from budget rental in Flagstaff (they replaced our big SUV with a standard one. One minus point for budget), we arrived in Grand Canyon national park, South rim. It was snowing a little bit at the time. Since it was late evening we arrived there, we just drove along the Dessert view drive to stop at few view points and arrived at our lodge in grand canyon village. 

We had reserved whole next day for the canyon visit. We were so excited but when we get up next day, what we saw is, heavy snow fall :( We took the breakfast and waited a bit thinking that the snow fall would stop and the visibility would improve. That didn't happen though. Then we decided to enter the park and try whatever possible despite the heavy snow.

So keeping our hopes up, we drove up to visitor center and hiked to Martha point which is close to visitor center. It was still snowing and the visibility down there was Zero :(

That's when we realized "this is not our day". No point in waiting anymore. We came back to Grand canyon village and had lunch. Then our friends headed back home.

Our plan was to reenter the park and take dessert view drive to Page, AZ. So again, we drove along the snowy roads of the park amidst the heavy snowfall.

I must say the park was really beautiful in snow. It looked like a fairy land to me. However, that's not what we wanted to see. It's the GRAND CANYON !!

So we arrived in Page by evening, had dinner from a Thai restaurant and went to bed.

P. S. - We didn't give up. We visited the canyon again on our way back from Vegas. Wait for it :)
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