Bella Vista Ride

 We had done biking to Bella Vista on 6th September 2025. It is located near Bentonville, Arkansas State.

Bike Location

Name: Bella Vista (Razorback Greenway)

Distance: 9 miles from Walton Gym (approx.)

Total Biking distance: 18 miles

Elevation Gain: 1000 ft.

Bike Team: Amita, Pragya(Amita's Daughter) , Abdul, Abhijeet, Hanumantha, Nishant, Zhen and me

Biking Experience:

After doing so many hikes, Abdul (who did only 1 hike) felt bored of hikes and want to do something different, so we decided to go Biking. This was our first time doing something different. Thanks to Amita we all downloaded the app needed to book the bike from one of the walmart bike stations. All set for thrilling experience. We reached the parking deck opposite to Sam Walton Hall around 8:45 am. As usual Hanumantha, Zhen ignored our previous instructions to get water bottle. However Abdul, who is over cautious has got two bottles as he is unaware which bottle will fit to the water bottle stand on the bike, came to the rescue to lend one bottle to Hanumantha. Then comes our Hero Nishant who has come fully prepared with his own bike helment, nice coat and sports outfit. He too has extra water bottle. We all went to the bike station, took sometime to book the bike and take it from the station. However we realized we need to get helmets and they are in the lobby of walmart building. We forgot to carry the Id card to get into the building. But we have Zhen, who couldnt find the parking deck(had difficulty finding the building) parked somewhere else and came walking to where we parked. 

Zhen got the helmets and we all started to Walton Fitness Center where we are supposed to meet Amita and Pragya. Amita called me while we are about to start from our station. As we are too excited about the bike and exploring its features we started late and have not reached yet the fitness center. Amita called again to check where we are as even by walk we should have reached them. I am not good at directions especially all the buildings near the home office, Amita gave up and asked us to wait and she will find and get to us. As we know Amita very studious, found where we are and finally we all met. Forgot to mention about the bikes, these are electric bikes and so with simple peddling we can ride the bike and the electric power boosts to make the ride the bike so smooth and easy. Only Pragya who is a pro biker along with Amita has non electric bike. As expected Amita and Pragya were leading and they are also our path finders/ coaches. They were riding so fast, we were struggling to match their speed and upon special request(as you know it is difficult to convince Amita) they slowed down and we all were biking in one file through the beautiful roads/paths of Bentonville downtown. Have never been to this part of Bentonville and it was amazing to cross the streets amidst wonderful buildings. The paths are perfect for biking, we have a great climate with cool breeze , sun shine and couldnt ask for more. While we were biking, there was a small incident where Nishant tripped off. sorry not Nishant, it was Zhen. Getting Old, am always confused with Zhen and Nishant names. We just paused for sometime Zhen to recover and as usual I gave my free advice this time on how to ride a bike to the team during our break. 

We started again and being electric have not felt much work out while biking. There were couple of tunnels we went into to cross the highways and it was amazing experience. First tim felt great where cars, trucks have to wait for us to pass by. Always was on other side of the coin(used to wait for bikers to go first) , now our turn to be on bike and look at all those cars waiting on us. Similar feeling when there is traffic jam on other side of the road and we drive smooth without any hassle. I know it sounds mean, but thats real life. The bike trail was adjacent to our previous hike Slaughter Penn, we have river stream to our right all through our bike path/trail. We were slowing down/ picking speed in between to catch up with other members to have chit chat about weather, bike, past experience etc and slowly moving forward.

We met many bikers, serious runners, kids in strollers along our path. Good to see many faces on the trail. We reached the spot where we initially planned as our destination. There was lot of grass and shade and river stream. We parked our bikes and Abdul, the stylish among our group got busy taking his selfies, hiring photographer Abhijeet for his stunts, ignoring others. After the photo session, we went near the stream and had fun throwing pebbles into the water and counting the time it is bouncing on the water. Finally we concluded Abdul throw was good, the pebble was good but water was not good for pebble to bounce. Nishant, Abhijeet and me, sports persons in our team have done decent throws. Amita tried too but gave up before it is too late. we then decided to take a team picture, while we were waiting for someone to take a picture of us, we decided to go to Thai Basil for lunch. We got the picture and as we were riding electric bike we felt it was too easy and want to go further not considering Pragya the strongest amongst us who is riding non electric one. We continued further, where there is a lake near by. Unfortunately after reaching there we realized it is closed and had to turn back. 

At this point some of us decided to turn off electric and use our energy to bike to do some work out. This made us to slow down and we slowly, steadily retraced our path to where we started. What was easy earlier turned difficult now without the electric. Switching bike gears, constant peddling slowly able to reach the entrance of the trail where we started. Took a short break to relax and Abhijeet seized the chance to market his Samsung phone and almost got added one more(Pragya) to Samsung admirers by showcasing the pictures taken. Everyone was tired and hungry. Abdul, whom rules never obey - was on hurry to attend lunch invite had his own route going through the closed paths. We followed Amita our guide , crossed the streets and finally reached our bike parking stations. we returned the bike, decided to meet at Thai Basil. We reached the restaurant, had good food and left. Had an amazing experience and fun time with the team. All is Well.

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Slaughter Pen Trail

We had done hike to Slaughter Pen on 27th April 2025 . It is located near Bentonville, Arkansas State.
Hike Location

Name: Slaughter Pen Trail

Distance: 12 miles from Walton Gym (approx.)

Total hiking distance: 4.8 miles

Elevation Gain: 442 ft.

Hike Team: Amita, Indrajeet, Ishan, Nuthan, Abhijeet, Zhen, Shawn and me.

Hiking Experience:

After long waiting for a good weather we finally planned for first hike of this season. As usual we got good response from everyone and ready for the hike, however weather had second thoughts and let us down(has been raining the entire weekend). As we dont give up, we plan for next weekend(27th April). Weather forecast also was looking good. Finally the day arrived. Abhijeet and me reached Zhen's place by 10:15 am, and we left for parking lot in Abhijeet's car. Shawn directly left for the trail parking lot(came to know later why he went separately). Amita and Family invited their friend Nuthan and they all came directly to the parking lot. The trail was near Bentonville and it took just about 20 mins to reach the place. After scouting the place to find the trail, we realized we are not at right spot, thanks to All Trails app, we got the cordinates of the exact location, which was 2.5 miles ahead. we reached there, able to find our trail. Weather was good, no Sun and just a light breeze. We started hike around 11:15 am. Indrajeet was the only one who has been on this trail before and also shared the history that the trail is famoud for biking and the former President has done biking here. 

Initially we started on a cement road and little disappointed that it was not natural trail. As we took a right turn could see gravel road ahead. We set on All American Trail which is a green blzed trail and wide enough for two people to walk side by side. The trail is shared by hikers, bikers so need to watchful of bikers and give them way. There are so many small wooden bridges on the trail to encourage bikers and make the trail more challenging and fun to them. Unfortunately our photographer Shawn has not brought his pro equipment. As we all know, when people meet during weekend, first several minutes goes on enquiring, talking as there will be so much to catchup. On top of that we have a new member in our group , Nuthan who recently moved to Bentonville. So it started with Shawn's military outfit and his peculiar boots. Nuthan was very fond of them and this led to our promotional tour. Soon Abhijeet started showing the Samsung photography enhancements. Then we scaled our hike to next level with help of Ishan's Drone. With all these discussions along with good weather we didnt realize/focus on the slope of the trail and for next half an hour we are having great time and enjoying the view of the stream flowing to the right side of the trail. On left side we have construction going on building more and more wooden bridges for bikers to do somersaults. aWe reached an open arean filled with lot of green grass and decided to give chance for Ishan to promote/show his drone. The drone was very good and he has great control in flying it and safe landing it. Son this turned out as a science class on how drone works, technology behind it and precautions to be taken(based on Abhijeet's experiences). We took some pictures with drone and Ishan landed the drone after a catchy Hindi Phrase from Amita "Ped pe hatak jayega" (gets stuck in trees). Seems like they had experience in the past and had to climb the tree to get it back. 

We continued our hike and were having three serious conversations , one between Zhen and Abhijeet about chakras, tattoos etc, second Shawn and Nuthan, with Nuthan still admiring out team and third Amita and Ishan typical mother and child conversations. We hiked further in between admiring the courage and endurance of the bikers and giving way to them. we reached a point where saw a stone man(statue) and decided to take picture there. Once again Ishan came to rescue with his drone. After we took a photo, we wanted to explore more with drone but Amita cautioned again "Ped pe hatak jayega" and dropped the idea. As we are doing the loop we came close to our starting point and Shawn suddenly mentioned he has lunch plan with his friends and need to leave. Has not mentioned this earlier and that is why came directly to the parking lot. Almost we hiked for 1hr 15 mins by this time and rest of us decided to continue further. Now groups got changed with Abhijeet and Nuthan leading the hike , Zhen and me one group and Amita and Ishan another. Indrajeet has been shuffling between ours and Amita's like people switch between rooms in zoom call. The trail was steep and gave us a good work out with Sun started peeking in.

 The trail has multiple routes at many places, but we were able to stay on course with help of the map and Indrajeet's good sense of direction. Witnessed great skills from Amita to motivate and encourage Ishan to continue the hike.The trail has many u-turns and became narrow. We reached the same path where started earlier and could find the big mushroom to the tree trunk and water stream this time flowing to our left. We saw turtles taking rest on one of the fallen trees. We took pictures at start of the trail and soon reached the parking lot by 2:00 pm. We all were hungry after a good hike. We had two variety of Biryanis, Salad for our lunch. Abhijeet brought home made Biryani which was very good. Felt good after having the lunch. Left the parking lot and reached to our places by 2:40 PM. All is Well. 

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Whitaker Trail

 

We had done hike to Whitaker Trail on 9th November 20224 . It is located in Ozark National Forest, Arkansas State.

Hike Location

Name: Whitaker Trail

Distance: 80 miles from Walton Gym (approx.)

Total hiking distance: 2.7 miles

Elevation Gain: 321 ft.

Hike Team: Amita, Inderjeet, Ishaan, Hanumantha, Abhijeet, Shawn, Zhen and me.

Hiking Experience:

This was the first weekend team outing/activity. As soon as proposal was put everyone readily accepted under one condition (no early morning waking up). So we planned to start around 8 am from Walton Gym. With past experience with team, have sent message to team previous night to reach gym by 7:50 am so that can save that 10 mins late start. It worked in one way. By 8 we have all members at the gym. Amita and family left from Gym however due to my over excitement about new Range Rover took another 15 mins to boast off its features. Finally around 8:15 am we started our promotional tour, I mean hike. It started with me promoting my new car. We soon hit the highway and then Abhijeet started showcasing his Samsung foldable phone along with its AI skills in photography. Shawn very happy to learn that one more Samsung member in the team. Soon Hanumantha our reliable driver started about his car reliability (Toyota Rav4) and how it warned us that Shawn was not wearing his seatbelt who was in the rear passenger seat. Shawn was moving from his seat(not sure if he is adjusting or trying to do something else ) and car warned to put seatbelt. Zhen who was until now thinking, started speaking about his new house and how he is still buying/fixing things for the house and after careful thought he invited us to visit his house. I think enough of promotions along the way, let's move on to our journey. 

It was a rainy weather when we started from Bentonville, As we reached highway it was cloudy, the hills, trees on the dies of highway are covered with fog all along. Our reliable driver while engrossed in talking about his car missed one of the exits (not much time damage
though). We searched for nearby McDonalds for breakfast and closest to our destination was 30 miles from our current location. Both cars, I mean all of us planned to meet at McDonalds. On the way we decided to Surprise Amita for her recent Promotion and planned to buy a cake and some bananas for the hike. We stopped at Walmart Neighborhood and surprisingly saw Inderjeet coming from Walmart and located their car. We went into the store hoping they have not noticed us and went to bakery section. Hanumantha and Shawn almost took 20 mins to decided on the cake, chose every cake and finally selected the first one we saw on the shelf. It was almost like they were tasting every piece of cake while looking at each one. We left Walmart and continued our journey to McDonalds. We saw Dogs standing on the highway, seeing for the first time. We reached around 9:27 am. We ordered food, started having our breakfast. Amita started telling about their Tesla Car and its auto driving capabilities. Around 10 am we left to our destination. It was drizzling and the road full of fog almost zero visibility. Great maneuver skills by our driver.

Soon we entered the dirt road which was very slipper, muddy due to rain. It was drizzling continuously. We are about 15 mins from reaching the parking spot, Amita raised concern(which actually we all have but didn't say out) should we turn back due to bad weather and not good visibility. Due to our never give up attitude, we decided to reach the parking and then decide. As we are about to reach parking spot we saw lot of cars and overflown parking. This gave us confidence and never again thought of returning without doing the hike. We reached around 11:28 am. There were people camping at the parking lot, some were wearing raincoats and walking along the trail and others just either starting or just coming back finishing the hike. Seems like none were bothered about rain or slipper road or muddy road. We started our hike around 11:32 am. After couple of mins of searching for the entrance of the trail we were able to locate(grace of fellow hikers pointing the direction). It was a steep descent and trail is covered with tree roots, water, leaver, stones. We climbed down carefully and then the trail started getting flat. We continued on the trail waving and greeting other hikers who were returning. It was still drizzling and by now we got used to it and didn't feel its presence anymore. The trail was completely drenched and covered with leaves. But still the trail was beautiful with left over leaves with their splendid color. It was really good feeling to walk amidst such natural environment. 

As we continued our hike we crossed several streams which were for a change overflown with water. It was a great sight and enjoyment to cross the streams and continue on our trail. As most of the trail was either flat or going down we had not felt any stress and able to proceed with ease with good pace. We came across huge rock boulders to our right and there was huge valley with great fall colors. All of a sudden, Ishaan, so far who was shy to speak or make a sound, started asking how many more hours to reach the view point every few mins. While actually we were just a quarter mile away. Soon we reached one of the first view point. The view was spectacular with all the trees with various colors and most of them covered with fog.  After taking some pictures we hiked further to the main view point, which was little ascent with tree roots and sharp rocks. Around 12:30 pm. we reached the Whitaker rock point view. It was indeed one of the best views we have seen. Though most of the view is covered with fog, still it was amazing to stand on the cliff and look at the wonderful colorful valley amidst the sound of flowing stream. Shawn exhibits his photography skills with his tripod and powerful lens which were brilliantly captured by Abhijeet. We then had our photoshoot, not sure even if movie stars have so many photoshoots. Hanumantha, Zhen continued to pose until our pro photographer finally said its enough. Not to blame them but the views were really stunning and especially in that weather. We celebrated Amita's promotion in natural environment. 

We then decided to head back around 1:03 pm. All along Zhen was not ready to leave his parachute bag even during photoshoot, seems like a safety measure in case of a fall from the cliff. Ishaan whose name we didn't know until we reached to the top of the cliff, as he does not share his name and considers it security information, was the first one to start our way back. Initially the return trail was good with small descent and not much rain. Slowly as we walked further we started feeling the difficulty of the steep ascent of the trail. we steadily kept going with reduced pace. We crossed the streams again and by now it completely stopped raining. Shawn and Ishaan who were so eager to get to the parking lot, lost their way in another direction until they realized someone shouting at them to return. The last leg was really a steep ascent and it was very good stressful exercise. We reached around 1:54 pm to the parking lot. Thanks to Ishaan for sharing the Oreo biscuits and Fruit juice packets with us, much needed at the time. We decided to have lunch and made Hanumantha's trunk as our buffet table. Abhijeet made delicious Manchuria, Amita tasteful Parathas and Hanumantha prepared for the first time Tamarind Rice(thought didn't seem like someone first timer can prepare) with help of Virtual help from his wife(early in morning) and coincidentally I too brought the same. It felt great to complete the hike and have such wonderful food in natural weather with fog surrounded all over the place and no rain. We finished our lunch and started back to Walton gym around 2:30 pm. We had a good hike, nice promotions from everyone and finally reached home by 4:25 pm. All is well.

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Yellow Rock Trail

We had done hike to Yellow Rock Trail on 13th September 2024 . It is located in Devils' Den State Park, Arkansas State.

Hike Location

Name: Yellow Rock Trail

Distance: 45 miles from Walton Gym (approx.)

Total hiking distance: 2.6 miles

Elevation Gain: 482 ft.

Hike Team: Abdul, Amita, Hanumantha, Nishant, Shawn, Zhen and me.

Hiking Experience:

We decided to reach Walton Gym around 7:45 am sharp, but didnt realize sharp means another 5 mins fro 7:45. We all met around 7:50 except Abdul who as per him is very close, upon checking found out that he is actually on J Stree and stuck in traffic and takes another 5 mins. Finally Abdul reached and we set out in Amita and Hanumantha's cars. Hanumantha, Shawn and me in one car and rest in another. we started around 8:05 am after distributing the food in both cars. As usual I started boring them with my old adventure activities while on drive. we reached the parking lot around 9:03 am, not difficult to find just little off the road and could see the sign board. Both are exceptional drivers sticking to time, lanes and able to reach smooth and safe except few off lane driving warnings. We had our breakfast Bananas, Croissants, Bread with excellent home made spread by Amita(might give a tough competition to cream cheese spread if in market). By 9:25 am we are done with breakfast , packed water bottles, oranges and some bananas each and started our hike by 9:28 am.

There was an entrance arch which has Yellow Rock Trail Name on it and passed through the entrance and followed the white diamond shaped plate trail. The weather was cloudy making it optimal for our hike. The trail is full of rocks buried in the ground and looked like steps (unordered and different shapes). The slope increased gradually and we could feel the effort. But the natural fresh air, large rock formations and pleasant atmosphere kept us going forward. There was a scary cave like formation barricade with iron rails indicating danger. We crossed it without much venturing there (as the name of the park,D evils Den, also had some impact on us). We hiked along the rock formations and could see some steep dark tunnels. Due to summer season the streams are dry and can see just huge rocks and dried leaves. We kept going forward and after reaching certain elevation we started exploring various overlook points. They are very scenic and gives a good high level overview(not high level design) of the mountain and valley filled with trees.

Around 10:30 am we reached the main crux of our journey the yellow rock overlook. It was a spectacular view from the overlook. It was a large wide rock(certainly yellow in colour). This is where we discovered a young and great photographer amongs us, that is Shawn. While we were relaxing after strenuous hike and having some oranges, bananas our photgrapher was busy arranging the camera position to capture these awesome views. Finally after all the photoshoots we started towards the next point of our hike that is CCC shelter. Throughout our hike we were so excited and anxious towards what animals, creatures might be there in the jungle especially after Amita obsessed with spider with long legs which we came across amidst our footsteps. This led to discussion of various wildlife live video streams, documentaries and topic diverted to life of Alaska bears(salmon fish and hibernation). And our young wildlife explorer Abdul(Rockstar in our group - will come to know later) started exploring the foot tracks of fellow hikers and growth of grass on the trail to see if the route was used or not.

One person who was little upset that we decided to continue the hike to CCC Shelter was Zhen as he thought we could descent back instead of hike on the steep path. We continued our hike which was steep and had lot of turns and passed through a wooden bridge, dried streams. We had a task of figuring out what is CCC and closest we could guess was Child Care Center. We finally reached the shelter by 11:15 am. It was an old great construction in 1934 and CCC is Civilian Conservation Corps, we were very close. We took some rest there. It was other entrance to Yellow Rock Trail. We started the return hike.

Now that we have seen all the overlooks, scenic beauty of nature, trees and discovered wild species(spiders) we started having small group conversations. Abdul, who came to know our photographer joined Pickle ball sessions was trying to get all the info he can to join the class then and there itself(if possible). Then we were engrossed in small team conversations Abdul and Nishant , Hanumantha and Shawn, Amita, Zhen and Me. We had visited(visualized) many countries like Australia, Japan and Vietnam through Zhen's experience. Hanumantha and Shawn explored all states specifically California and India, and Abdul and Nishant engrossed in various sports including swimming, soccer. The return hike is a steep decent on rajor sharp rocks and tree roots coming out of earth as speed brakers. Soon we all came out of team conversations , walked further. We all were walking normal but Abdul in cloudy weather wearing shades, hands in pocket, glaring shoes was walking stylishly as though going on to a stage to perform like a Rockstar. Finally reached our parking spot by 12:00 pm. We took rest, had photoshoot and visited the visitor center which was small and decent. We then drove back to Walton Gym and reached by 1:18 pm. All is well
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Wild Animal Safari

 

We went to Wild Animal Safari on March 4th in 2023.

Brief Summary:

Place: Wild Animal Safari. 
Location: Stafford, Missouri.
Distance: 137 miles.
Duration: 2:10 minutes.

Members: Me, my wife and my daughter.

Experience:

            We woke up around 6:15am, packed our lunch and started around 9:20am. Climate was good on that day, chilled wind was there but it was sunny. This safari was also in Missouri only.

There are so many attractions for tourists around Missouri but not in Bentonville. So we were having each weekend one trip to Missouri. We reached the safari around 11:30am. By the time we got there, the weather was little more cold than Bentonville. We got the tickets and started the walkabout zoo first around 11:35am. At the entrance only there was a lion and a lioness. We had very closer look of those, by the time we got there they were roaring. We heard the lion roar in DC zoo but here it was roaring little louder. Then we saw the mountain lion, Bengal tiger and white tiger. Bengal tiger was taking rest and the white tiger sat far away. After that saw some kind of monkeys, giraffes and a wild cat. We never saw this wild cat before, it has horns like things beside it's ears. After that we saw some reptiles and some kind of lizards, tortoise. Then suddenly we saw the white tiger was walking. Had a pretty good view of it. Suddenly the feeding people were passing by and the tiger thought they will feed him but no. At that moment it was walking very aggressively and stalking. Around 11:55am we finished the walkabout zoo then we went to had our lunch. There were so many picnic benches and can see the lions and tigers from the picnic area, that was so cool. Around 12:30pm we had our lunch and then went to see the white tiger once more. Still it was walking, we thought by watching people it was hungry. Around 1:06pm started the actual safari which is behind the walkabout zoo. 

        In the safari entrance there were so many deers and only one big deer with long horns. Then we saw llamas, Jersey cows. We also saw couple of Rams, many zebras and camels. Never before we saw the Ram in live safari.

Everyone is feeding the animals before us,  so we were going very slow. Funny thing was no animal was eating the food from the people in-front of us. This safari has very big place but they do not have many animals. We saw lot of pigs also here, then saw so many zebras and couple of camels. We felt little bore in middle of the safari because there were not many animals and also the people in the car in-front of us had very long frequent stops. Around 2:38pm we came out from safari. we bought some drinks and dippin-dots and headed to the Candy factory and Worlds largest gift shop around 2:45pm. Around 3:08pm we reached the candy factory, it was Redmon's gas station and they were running the candy factory and the World's largest gift shop. There we saw so many variety of candy and many flavors also there. We collected some flavors and some of those were in different shapes. One side of the candy shop they used to prepare the cakes and pies in different shapes but they did not open on that day.

There was a beautiful and big restroom also, actually we read comments about that restroom but we did not believe at first, but truly it was really a wonderful restroom in a gas station. We bought so many candy there and went to world's largest gift shop around 3:40pm. This gift gift shop was really a big one and they had all kinds gifts over there. Toys, garden, house decoration things, souvenirs and so many other fun things also there. One vintage model old blue car also there. We bought couple of toys and souvenirs and got out around 4:54pm. Started to home around 5:00pm and reached home around 7:15pm. We really had a great time in trip especially with lions view in safari and also with candy factory. We tried each candy every day but we like some varieties only but one candy is very spicy that jalapeno flavor we cannot eat it fully. That was the first time we ate spicy candy. Anyway overall trip is very fun. All is Well.

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Dickerson park zoo and Fantastic Caves - Missouri Trip (Part III)

 

Brief Summery:

Places: Dickerson park zoo and Fantastic Caves.
Location: Bentonvile, Arkansas and Springfield, Missouri.
Distance: Snake world - 52.7 miles, Springfield - 123 miles.
Members: Me, my wife and my daughter.
Duration: Snake world - 1 hour 15 mins and Springfield - 2 hours 1 min.

Experience:

20th February 
Dickerson Park Zoo and Fantastic Caverns:

The next day we woke up around 5:45am, packed our lunch and started around 9:10am. We want to book the new car which we selected on saturday.
Reached to showroom around 11:05am, booked the car and got out around 11:05am. We had our lunch around 12:10pm and then started to zoo around 12:30pm. The climate was sunny outside but still it was little cold with the wind. We reached zoo at 12:50pm. This time we also had a baby stroller like others, we were very happy about that. In the zoo first we saw small spider monkeys and peackocks. These peacocks were everywhere in the zoo. Then saw the wild boars, parrots, some other monkeys and black swan.

We saw the black swan in Vizag, India and in Thailand zoo after that here only we saw it. There was a lake and a stream, we crossed a bridge and then we went to see cheethahs. They have many cheethahs there. Couple of those were very active, their walking style was so beatiful. The bears are sleeping in a tree branch. Then the tigers and lion also taking rest , we did not get proper view of those. Then we saw wolves, which are also very active and little big in size. After we were coming back from wolves we saw tiger was roaming there so immediatly went over there. So atleast we saw tiger was roaming but the lions always sleep in zoo. Next we saw zebras and giraffies. The number of animals were less here but the area of zoo was big. After that we tried the simulator of wind cyclone in Africa, it was fun.

Then we went into reptile house, there we saw big snakes like rattle snakes, pythons, dragons, skunks, trantula, these reminded us of our yesterday's snake world trip. We saw some dangerous frogs also here, they were colorful and some were so tiny. Next one was the green anakonda, we never saw anakonda before in any zoo. This reptile house also have lot of snakes and other venamous creatures but not compared to the snake world.  Then we two big tortoises. These were very big and they were 100 years old. We saw the big tortoises before but do not the age of them and also these were kept in mirror room not in the open ground. This was also one of the good zoo, we caught two new kind of species that was cheethah and the green anakonda. We enjoyed it. 

Suddenly we realized that we were running out of time for fantastic caverns. So immediately ran to the caves around 2:40pm and reached around 3:00pm there. We enquired about the tour so they said it was about to start in 5 mins.

If we had delayed 2 more mins there we'll miss there tram tour in caves but we made it. After 5 minutes they started the tour. The tour guide has started explaining about that caves. Many years ago a tourist with his dog has found these caves. First the dog went into one hole and the man followed the dog. Then he reailized it might be a cave so he gave an advertisement in paper for the diggers. Like that these caves were found, they shown the video also of it. The tour gide explained how the people in olden days worked in caves without power. Around 4:05pm tour was ended and started to home around 4:20pm. We liked the caves very much , we have to visit these caves in tram only. Previously we visited other two types of caves one is in boat another one sand cave, like these this cave is also a different one. Around 7:50pm we reached home.

The whole trip was fantastic. In three days each day we had different experience along with fun. We enjoyed alot in this trip. All is Well.

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Snake World - Missouri trip (Part II)

 

Brief Summery:

Places:  Snake world.
Location: Bentonvile, Arkansas.
Distance: 52.7 miles.
Members: Me, my wife and my daughter.

Duration: 1 hour 15 mins

Experience:

19th February 
Snake World:

This Snake world was in Bentonville only and it waas very near to us. So we started to snake world around 2:30pm after we had lunch. The climate was so pleasant on that day. The road to the snake world was too different, it's like a snake shape only. The road passed between two mountains. Then we were going up on the mountain , we were wondering whether there was any reptile house or not. After 10 to 15 minutes around 3:40pm we saw a small house with name Snake World. We were shocked and did not expect that. Parked our car there and called to confirm that was the right address or not. They said that was the right location and coming out for us to show the snake world. A lady came out and asked us to go inside the front door and wait till she will come and show us everything. While we were waiting there she came with main door keys. She gave us tickets then we entered into the house. First we got very awful smell in that place. In first room they have some cat fishes in a tub, rats and mices also there. So many sketches, drawings and some unwanted old stuff also there.  In next room so many snakes are there in individual glass boxes. She started explaining about each snake by holding those in her hand. My wife was very scared of that and she did not want to take them out from the glass boxes. So she was explaining without taking them out from boxes. 

 They have so many kinds and colours of snakes and pythons. Some baby snakes were also there and some were so beautiful. Next we saw some monitor lizards, skunks. These snakes and lizards are harmless ones but next we entered into another room with full of rattle snakes.After we entered into this room while she was explaining my wife started take pictures of those snakes then immediately couple of snakes started rattling their tail. The sound was really scary, even though snakes were inside the boxes that entire room gave us chills wit that rattling sound. She explained so many things about the rattle snakes ecspecially small baby rattle snake was very poisnes than all other snakes because the baby one doesnot know how much amount of poison to release when it attacks so it attacks with all the poison it has. that's why it was dangerous. Then we saw one big tortoise, one big Turtle and other small turtles. 

The tortoise was exactly like a big rock and the one big turtle very strong she said the bite force very poweful like it can cut off your wrist from hand. 

 Next the small turtles were so cute and they all were feeling so shy. While she was feeding them then only one by one was coming out. And also she shown that how she feed the snakes with big tweezers. There were plenty of rats and mice in their house to feed these snakes. Some snakes only eat the rats and mice but the smaller one eat the little big insects and bugs. For all these they feed them like once a week and it will take complete 3 hours to feed them. Then we saw 3 big Pythons and small other snakes. These pythons are very big and colourfull. The Yellow one was really a beatiful one.  Other small ones were beautiful too, ecspecially the black and white one was really nice. At first we thought this snake world was a disaster and felt that we wasted our time. But it's really different one. Our opinion was completly wrong , we spent really a good time here and also we learnt alot like how they feed them, taking care of them. Commonly if it was in a Zoo we never learnt any of these except the names. We never saw any reptile house like this before. Really we had a good time here. It was really worth to come here. Around 4:50pm we got out from the snake world and started to home. We took long route to explore so this time also road so different it was like big ride and around 7:00pm we reached home.

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Wonders of Wildlife Museum and Aquarium - Missouri Trip (part I)

 

We went to Missouri on 18th to 20th February in 2023.

Brief Summery

Places: Wonders of wildlife Mueseum and Aquarium, 
Location: Springfield, Missouri.
Distance: 123 miles.
Members: Me, my wife and my daughter.

Duration: 2 hours 1 min.

Experience:

On 18th February
Wonders of wild life Museum and Aquarium:

We woke up around 5:30am and packed our lunch. We filled the gas and started around 8:30am. This museum and aquarium are in Missouri state. Climate was good and sunny but windy as well. We were taking new car this year so started to showroom first.On the way we saw so many horses, cows and farms. It felt like driving on village valley instead of interstate. We rached showroom around 10:48am. Asked for , they said that for the test drive was not available in that time, some other customers were checking on it. So they showed the cedan model for the interior and then we selected the outside and inside features of the car which we wanted. They gave us the quote of it and then we got out from the showroom around 12:20pm. We had our lunch around 12:30pm and started to Aquarium around 1:05pm. Around 1:48pm reached the museum and aquarium. It was too much cold wind out there.

The entrance of the Aquarium was so nice. They have beautiful water fountain to attract the tourists. After we went inside, we asked about the tickets. They said that we have to go up, there the people will give the tickets. While we were going up by escalator they decorated the entrance very well. They decorated it with wild theme with bears, deers and trees. We got the tickets then started our tour in there. First we entered into a theater , they were playing the video of Jhonny Morris, the founder this aquarium. He was explaining about fishing, we don't have much interest about it so after 5 minutes we got out from there. Then entered into the museum entrance first, So this museum had all the animal statues which were arranged in lively fashion.

First they started it with bysons and then bears, deers and tigers, lions and mountain lion and more. And they have paintings and pictures of old times showing how they hunt the other animals in the forest. These wild animals statues were so real looks like they were hunting us only. Some birds, sheep and so many types of deer statues and so many other little animals also there. They saved some hunted deers from olden days and with thier horns they built a beutiful arch, it was like another way into the wild. In middle of that museum they put live penguins there. Then we saw some other animals which live in the antarcitica like polar bears, wolves, walrus and then saw elephants, giraffes, zebras, monkeys, ostriches, Crocodiles. so many kind of birds and their nests. Then we saw beautiful and thrilling scene, they arranged some lions and lionesses around the tent in the Africa.

And we saw cheethah, leapords and hyenas. After 10 minutes we were done with museum and entered into the Aquarim exhibit.In entrance of the aquarium there was big 3D painting showing how people do the fishing in sea. Then we saw small fishes in big tank. After that saw so many kind of fishes, corals, sea horses. They decorated the aquarium also very well. It was like we went into a shipreck under the sea. After sometime crossed a walk-in bridge, at the end of the bridge there was a tree house. Then we saw sharks, there was a great white shark also but it was small one. Then enterd into tunnel like we can see all fishes and sharks above us. There was white crocodile also, which we never saw crocodile before. So many sting rays also there, we touched one of that sting ray. It was smooth and soft like a jelly. We saw so many other fishes like nemo fish, lion fish, saw fish. We never saw this moving before, always sleeping. We bought our sovenier and got out from the aquarium around 3:48pm and started to homme around 4:05pm. We did little shopping an then we reached home around 8:00pm.

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Turpentine Creek Wild life Refuge

 

We went to Turpentine Creek wild life refuge and Walmart museum on 12th February 2023.

Brief Summary:

Place: Turpentine Creek Wild life refuge

Location: Bentonville, Arkansas.

Distance: 41.3 miles

Members: Me, my wife and my daughter.

Duration: 1 hour 8 mins.

Experience:

We woke up around 6:30am and then got ready. We had our breakfast around 8:30am. Then started to wild life refuge around 8:56am. Actually based on our plan we have to start around half an hour before because we booked tickets for tram tour at 10:00am. If we miss the tour time then we have to wait one hour so we were worried about that. Climate was very good on that day , little chill wind was also there but overall we had good weather. We crossed the big bridge on the river. It was nice scenic view on the bridge. We saw boats on the river. Seems like few people are also doing kayaking and fishing. This refuge park was very far from the town and its located on small mountain. Around 10:01am we reached the refuge park. Immediately we entered the park and asked them about the tour they said that they were about to start if we go fast we can catch them. So we went quickly over there and we caught the tram tour on time. They started tour around 10:06am. They have so many lions, lioness, tigers and white tigers. In the tour we saw one Lion first. There was only one male lion and few female lions. The lion was sleeping. Not just in the refuge but we saw lions in some other zoo parks as well sleeping all the time. Actually a lion sleeps 18-20 hours per day. So we did not expect more than this, at least we saw little near than before. 

After that saw some mountain lions and some wild cats. Then we saw many tigers, lionesses and some of them were cross breeds also like ligers, tigons and couple of other cross breeds also there. Also they are trying get the new cross breed of male tiger and female lion. So totally they have around 95 species in those 50 of them are tigers only. Some tigers are very active so we thought that we were there at right time. We felt little cold in the tram. The tour was ended around 10:45am, they dropped us at the starting point of the park only so that we can see the animals by walk. Actually they have Bears, Hyena, Black leopord and Jaguar. Along with these we saw few Tigers which we saw from tram. But we could not see all of them. Then we saw black leopard and jaguar, they were very actively roaming at that time. After that we went to see the bears, on the way to bears we saw the mountain lions and wild cats which we saw from tram. There were no bears, all of them were inside only because some people were cleaning over there.

So got back to see the tigers. Some tigers were sleeping but one tiger was very active when it saw us. While we were taking photos it was roaming very actively sometimes it was trying touching and pushing the net to catch us(but it could not as the fence was so strong). And also we did not see the hyena, when enquired about that they said that it sent to rehabilitation center. There was one only grizzly bear in separate small cave

 but it was feeling very shy to come out. At last when we want to go out we saw small window for the bear cave so went to check our luck. Yes, we saw it very near from window it was eating something. We saw big nails and tooth of it, we felt very happy for that view of bear. We thought that we missed bears and felt little disappointment but we were happy when we saw it. We got out from refuge around 11:34am.Started to home around 11:40am and reached around 1:00pm. We had our lunch around 1:30pm and were thinking about what we can do remaining half day. We then decided to go to Walmart museum but not the original one because that was in renovating process but they moved all the stuff to another place except the Sam Walton Truck. Anyway we want to go for that also so we started around 2:30pm to Walmart museum. Around 3:00pm we reached there but it was little difficult to find out the ledger building. So we called them they said directions, it was two streets away from that renovating place and we reached there around 3:15pm.

We got to know how the big store Walmart has started. We read how many struggles Sam Walton has faced and how Walmart was evolved. We did not see the Sam Walton's truck only, missed it.  We got out from the museum around 3:40pm. Then we started to home around 4:00pm and reached home around 4:30pm. We saw two different places in one day. We were very happy with that wild life refuge park and learned something from the museum because even though it was museum that was a success story from the struggle of one of the great business man. We have to remember the people like these and have to go forward with courage to achieve our dreams. This small one day trip gave us so many happy moments because it was first trip with our daughter and will never forget this trip. All is Well.

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S11 Team Camp 22

We had done camp on 2nd December 2022. It is located in Pocahontas State Park.

Camp Location:

Name: Pocahontas Campground, Pocahontas State Park.

Distance: 30 miles from Henrico, Richmond (approx.)

Site type: Electric

Camp Team: Chetan, Karan, Keyur, Naman, Niraj, Ritesh, Suraj, Vamshi, Varun and me

Experience:

On our last match of the last tournament for the 2022 season, after losing the match we have decided to do a team get together and came up with camping plan. So seems like we started celebrating after our losses, but do not remember having get together when we won the tournaments. So we finalized to go for camping and to do at a near by place Pocahontas and many seem interested. We have booked two campsites and took the count of people coming in  one month in advance. This was a first time winter camping for most of us. So everyone made sure to bring necessary gear (comforters, jackets, sleeping bags). Niraj, who is an expert in finding deals or reducing expenses to buy homes, came up with a Walmart link to find a cheaper effective sleeping bag. As S11 has history of people following others to buy things, soon Naman and Keyur also got the similar big yellow sleeping bags. Just a week before the camping date, we came up with list of things we need to bring. We were total 10 members. Chetan said Sachin, who always needs push from Chetan to confirm, is also coming. Naman who is very particular about each and every detail initiated a call on Wednesday (30th November) to take notes of who goes in which car, what to order for food and drinks, what to play, what to prepare at campsite. As usual when discussion was about food, Sachin jumped in came up with brilliant plan about whom to give the order and how to get it. Then when we were about to wrap-up the call, Sachin said his brilliant plan wont work out. We came up with alternate plan. Naman, like a regular project meeting assignment was writing the MOM of meeting and reading each line carefully multiple lines to make sure everything is covered and sent it to the group. He missed the date for the camping though ;). Being cold, we made plan to bring heaters, extension cords. Finally we have decided to meet at Wegmans at 3:30 pm on the camping day.

I went to the campsite around 1:30 to set some clues for treasure hunt and reached back around 3:20 pm. Niraj and Karan already reached the Wegman's parking. Chetan came to pick me up and that is when I realized Wegman's means Wawa gas station (at least for Chetan). So we went to Wawa gas station and by the time we reached Naman and Suraj, Niraj and Karan were already there. Oh forgot to mention, While I was at campsite, spoke to Sachin, who always has some last minute issues, said he would come late and asked us to carry on with the plan. Vamshi, who never spoke much after saying yes for camping, informed Naman he would would come after 4pm. Ritesh, Keyur and Varun joined us at the gas station after 10 minutes. We had the car passes already(checked in when I went earlier on the day. Around 4:30 pm we reached (all the 4 cars) the campsite. It was not a very cold weather that day and we still had sunlight. Started pitching up the tents(Chetan, Ritesh and mine). Chetan's and mine we pitched on campsite 81. Ritesh bhai on campsite 80. Chetan's and mine we pitched up in 5 - 10 mins. While Ritesh, Keyur, Naman still trying to pitch Ritesh's tent. Then we all except Niraj and Chetan started helping to pitch up Ritesh's new tent. Everyone was using their engineering mind to come up with their own ideas or interpretations of the user manual. We tried various combinations of the poles that were given to setup none of them were working. We were looking for our construction expert Varun to help us, but being the supervisor/manager he wanted us to pitch the tent then he would inspect. Finally with some luck we figured out and pitched up at least the basic structure of the tent and now struggling to fit the tent cover on the top. Then comes Niraj bhai who by that time had setup all the chairs at the other campsite, arranged the drinks and kept ready. Niraj is expert in making things work somehow, and he fitted the cover on one side and then we were able to do it on other side and finally tent was pitched up. Even though it was not the way we planned but it was great to see everyone trying their best to help each other to get the tent standing on the ground. Hope next season we all try our best in every match to win the tournaments.

The sense of satisfaction once we pitched up the tent was amazing. By the time we are done with the tent, Chetan who is our hardworking sincere boy has setup all the lights, audio speaker, put all the bedding in the tents, brought out all the items necessary for food and drinks. Naman who was worrying from the beginning about the cold was happy to see Suraj, who has brought all the items as we have planned, though very silent, has got a great heater. He setup the heater at the vegetarian tent (Ritesh's). It was round 5:30 everyone gathered at the non vegetarian campsite and slowly settling in for a wonderful evening at the base. Ritesh and Niraj were eager to start the drinks, we were waiting for Sachin and Vamshi who were supposed to start at 4:00 pm. Then we came to know Sachin is not coming, which was not surprising and Vamshi is coming and will reach in 15 minutes. Later on we came to know it was 15 minutes after 6:00 Vamshi would be reaching. After directions from Suraj, Naman, Chetan finally Vamshi arrived. We got the firewood and started campfire and started adjusting the chairs so that everyone gets the warmth of the fire. Boys started to have drink already and Ritesh has brought excellent Gobi Manchurian for veg starters. Niraj has brought boiled eggs and Naman opened non veg starters. Vamshi arrived by the time we are done with our starters. Ritesh bhai ("BOSS, Unbelievable") has taken the lead to engage the group in conversations and started with topic that every one should speak about the crush since childhood. We had interesting conversations especially from Karan and Chetan. Then we had many great conversations. While many of us are sitting, relaxing, enjoying the conversations, Niraj and Chetan were unstable, something bothering them and kept on trying to adjust the firewood on the campfire. Ritesh who was also watching them finally couldn't stop but to ask "Problem Kya hein?" . Niraj who was sitting on other side of the campfire, was not getting the heat and wanted 360 heat for which he decided to burn whatever it takes. He kept on adding firewood until he was satisfied. He did a great job and we had an excellent camp fire. 

Vamshi was the only bachelor in the group, so naturally most of boys were interested in his future plans and marriage. Boys were curious about his bride selection, so far his luck and if using any apps to search and even they came up with their friend's success stories through these apps. Keyur ("basically, what I am trying to say is") has given his expert advice on to go for love or arranged marriage. Since we sat for quite sometime, we decided to play(or rather people obliged as they felt me took effort in setting it up) treasure hunt. Initially boys were struggling to get to the next level clues but once they got the hang of it (not sure if it is the game or the drink) they were very quick in finding the rest of the clues. Every one played great and nice participation. Winners are Team B (Chetan, Varun, Vamshi) and next Team A(Keyur, Naman, Karan) and then came Team C(Ritesh, Niraj, Suraj). Since I did not participate, I hope others enjoyed the hunt. This called for another round of drinks and everyone again gathered at the camp fire. Soon we were deep in conversations and obviously Elon Musk is one of it. Naman ("but again, you know") was very concerned about current team strength and was giving his ideas how to come back strong next year. It was around 8:15 pm we started to have food. Ritesh has brought Pav Bhaji with Bhaji in an instapot to keep it hot. The non-veg was made warm at the campfire. While having dinner, Ritesh bhai started the topic of ghosts and some of the boys felt uncomfortable. Ritesh bhai shared couple of excellent ghost stories from his personal experiences and these topics lead to many conversations with Naman and Varun discussing how Varun would advise his clients if he believes there can be ghost(or negative energy) in the buildings. Karan bhai, who we came to know was a great sport person, singer and crush for many girls during his school and college, was not comfortable with the discussions and changed the topic to favourite song. So everyone started to sing old 70s and 80 songs of Kishore Kumar. Suraj and Vamshi were silent, but were enjoying the lyrics while checking weather app on the phone.

It was around 11:15 pm, our Chetan, the sincere guy, started removing the trash, keeping the place clean. Then everyone chimed in and soon we all decided to go to sleep. Vegetarian tent - Ritesh, Keyur, Varun. Chetan's - Chetan, Naman, Niraj. Mine - Karan, Suraj, Vamshi and me. Naman who as usual worries made sure everyone has the necessary bedding to keep themselves warm. Actually we thought of playing cards, but with the effects of drinking some of the boys just settled with talking (for them it is) for others laughing at higher decibels. Around 1:30 am or so every one retired to their respective tents. We could hear the noises in the jungle along with human snores. It started raining from around 3:00 am. Around 6 am Niraj and me got up and taken bath as well. The restrooms were very clean and the water in the shower was very hot. By the time we were back Chetan was already outside and it was just drizzling. We decided to prepare soup as Others were still sleeping we don't have all the necessary gear for preparing tea. Niraj, Chetan, Suraj and me were the first batch to have the soup. Then Keyur, Karan, Ritesh everyone started coming in. It stopped raining but there was prediction that it will rain soon again. Niraj bhai started preparing tea. Boys were eagerly waiting to have it but Niraj took his own time to make sure everything was right and great. Finally everyone had their chance of having this wonderful tea. Meanwhile I was trying to prepare veg omelette, as obsessed with preparing something at campsite, but it turned out to be a disaster. We then decided to pack the tents and if have time before the rain comes will prepare Maggi (to please Naman who joined late to the tea party). Everyone started helping each other in packing the tents and soon we cleaned the area. This is one great thing about the team. At least apart from on the ground, every one be like part of one family and help each other out. After packing, we decided to go on a trail as the weather still seemed great and we had a great lake view. It started raining heavily and we went back to cars and started our way home. Around 10:20 am reached home. We had a great time and was a memorable experience. Hoping to keep this trend going on to get together once in a year. All is Well.

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