And left Boston on wednesday at 7:30 PM. I was literally counting the hours, minutes and seconds when I was in office... work.... naahhhh Finally the clock struck 5 and off I was to South Station. There I was supposed to meet an old friend Ganesh and then go to NYC which was our first leg of the journey. My good old friend had brought home made omlette sandwiches which was a treat...The bus we got into was wi-fi equipped so it was fun.. We reached NYC at 12:00 midnight and our next bus to Washington DC was at 1:45 AM. At NYC we were joined by two of my friends Onkar and Shriya and we travelled together to DC. As opposed to the new wi-fi equipped bus all we got the second time was on old forgotten bus right out of the garage... Somehow we were tired and dozed off as soon as we got into it. So no problem at all...
We reached on time at 6:00 AM in the morning at Washington DC, where we were received our friend Ade.. We drove around DC a bit coz the car was rented for an hour, so we thought why to waste the remaining 40 minutes,... It was pleasant driving in DC early morning with the cool breeze. Then we reached home, took some rest, got ready and set out to see DC and its monuments. They are all in a straight line literally and we finished the entire tour in 3 hours flat... No oohssss and ahhhs over there... Lincoln memorial, World War 2 memorial, Korean War memorial, White house and one more monument. I forgot the name.. Anyways...
We got back home and then there was the big task of doing the groceries for the upcoming trip to Shenondoah Valley, Virginia... We had to buy loads of chicken, veggies for the vegans (i learnt the word over here :), somehow i dont like it). But I felt sleepy and requested my friends to do the groceries and my kind friends did it by themselves. So we hired a Toyota Corolla and one of my best friends Kunal joined us at 8. So we all left together in two cars for the 100 mile trip to the Shenondoah Valley....
Now the suspense.. We had only one GPS.. and it was not in the car in which I was there... So we were Ram Bharose.... Onkar, Kunal and Rituja were in other car and they were trying to give us directions over the phone... oh yes it was a big ordeal.. we had written down instructions from google maps... but GPS is the real thing... So we made it quite far almost to our cabin, but for the last few miles... We lost network and we lost the sense of directions too... Later did we realize we were so near yet so far... However in the confusion, our car went off the road... But we did not know we had a superman with us... Ganesh... with one hand he lifted the car back on to the road.... kya khata hai be Ganesh....
So somehow we got in touch with the other car and were back on our merry way to our cabin. The cabin was worth the pain... In the midst of woods, it was plain beauty and solace... Barbecue in the lawn, fully equipped kitchen... We immediately put all our stuff in and started the barbecue... well it was not actually how we would have liked it but it was ok...... We tend to enjoy anything and everything we do....
Five more of our friends joined us early in the morning and we were 12 in total... Did I mention the cottage was booked only for two.. :D The morning started off with a great Kanda Poha and then we left to visit the Shenondoah Valley Skyline Drive... Well it is a fancy name given to what we call "Ghat" back in India.... It was same to same Khandala Ghat.... Only thing we paid 15 bucks to go there.... But as I said we enjoy everything and anything we do..... Beautiful place and reminded me of the many mountains and treks I had been too in India... Miss it a lot.... So on the way back again one of the cars lost the way and they went 30 40 miles in the wrong direction.. Luckily I was in the car with GPS and reached our cabin.... And we did the next best thing.. Dozed off till the others came back..... :D.. In the evening it was time for the Hot tub jacuzzii......... With some beer to go along........Dinner was an awesome chicken prepared by Rituja.. I pity the vegan guys.. waste it is.... anyways... so after dinner it was time for some poker and obviously some leg pulling and by now the famous 'Somaiya Talk".. People get bored listening to it, but we dont and we dont give up... We just love to be together and remember the great times....
Next day was for relaxing and chilling out... Vada Pav, barbecue chicken, dum biryani, water melon, was on the menu... We all sat in the lawn outside where the barbecue was on.. We opened the car and started the music.. Awesome time..... Ek taraf chick(en), ek taraf pyala aur ek taraf gaana.... Lage raho bhai... We just lost track of time....... Great great time...
After everything it was time to clean the house.... coz we had to leave it back in the same condition as we got it..... Well that was a onerous task, but when everybody pitched in it was not that big a deal..... Well atleast we thought we did a good job.. :D.. Then some more poker, some more talks and the awesome Dum Biryani as if to sign off the perfect holiday...
Next morning we started off as early as 6:00 AM as we had to catch a 8:30 AM bus from DC... On the way back we were seeing people being pulled over by cops for speeding and we were surprised at the number of cops present... every 10 miles one cop... can you believe... We were almost reaching DC when a cop asked one of our cars to pull over for speeding.. I believe we were going 52 when it was 45 speed limit..... The joke though... "The cop comes over and says, Hi Guys how are you doing today"... What a way to fine you right....
Anyways we made it to to the bus terminal on time.... And then the long journey back home started.....
Ahhhh............ awesome weekend with great people..
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