Vistas of Campion Trail, Irving

I had blogged earlier about my bicycling experience on the 5-mile Campion trail in Irving as part of my training for the MS-150 bike ride. Well one thing I must say about this trail is its natural and man-made beauty. While some of the river views along the trail are stunning.. the sight of the mega highways of Texas is no less awesome. If trees, river and birds soothe your soul, the road sight and traffic noises make you starkly aware of human intervention here.

Here are some more pictures shot along the trail.

Training on Irving's Bicycling Trails

While in India I had often heard "there are separate lanes for bicycles in Europe and US". Since I started training for the MS-150 bicycle ride, I am beginning to discover that this is in fact true. However those people had missed a slight detail: the bicycle trails are not part of the road network, but are located inside entertainment and leisure areas such as parks, national forests, river sides etc. While these trails are a boon for the leisure cyclist it is no comfort to a person who prefers to commute by bicycle.


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Anyway coming back to my adventures on two wheels of a different, slower, human-powered variety. Yesterday I clocked about 20 miles of bicycling on two trails: Campion trail in Irving, Tx and the Blue Bonnet Trail in Plano, Tx. I carried my camera for the Campion Trail ride... which actually slowed down my progress.

The Campion trail is about 5 miles in length and passes through three parks and along the elm fork of Trinity River. Like every other park in the US there are walking places, restrooms (mobile variety), picnic areas, benches, trash cans, river view look out points, river side fishing and canoe launch sites, etc. For the first time I saw two Desi's (persons of Indian origin) fishing in the river. Here are some pictures of the trail experience.

Fall Colors that almost went unnoticed

I have been busy going through my college, radio shows, volunteering and other stuff that I almost missed capturing the beauty of fall in my camera. Last weekend I finally got around to do it and here are the amazing hues of nature. Of course most of the pictures have been shot inside the apartment complex I live in and couple have been captured outside in places like Irving and Plano, places that I frequently visit.

India related events this weekend

Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is a happening place... at least as far as the desi community is concerned. Every weekend something or the other is happening, film screenings, concerts, dance programmes, charity events, cricket matches etc. I am not too much into Desi socialisation and as such I have attended few events and missed lot of them for obvious reasons.

Anyway there is this upcoming event during the coming weekend July 18-19, 2008 which I hope to attend. The theme of the event is rather close to my heart. The event is titled "Hindu Unity Day", something that is vitally needed in order to make the world a better place for not only Hindus but for everybody.

The schedule of the event which will be held at the DFW Hindu temple at Irving promises an action-packed weekend. There are group discussions, lectures on the Rama-Sethu issue; history of Sanatana Dharma etc. I have been listening to their radio programmes since the past couple of months and they are very informative and insightful. It is great to know that someone is doing something to uplift the image of Hinduism at the global level.

Dragon Boat, Kite and Lantern Festival, Irving

Today I attended the colourful and well organised Dragon Boat, Kite and Lantern Festival. This annual festival was initiated last year as part of the Asia Pacific Heritage Month celebrations. The month of May is celebrated as the Asia Pacific Heritage Month and in its observance there are numerous cultural and social activities taking place across the US. And Dallas being one of the locations where loads of Asians live, multiple festivals have been organised during this month.



The festival was held in a vast open space sited on the banks of Lake Carolyn in the city of Irving, close to the historic Mustangs of Las Colinas. I really wanted to participate in the Dragon Boat Race and tried to put together a team but then I was not successful and had to content myself to just visiting and enjoying the performances and views of the festival.

The Hawaiian dance

Like the Asian Festival of Dallas, the Dragon Boat Festival too featured numerous food stalls, entertainment shows, kite flying, lantern dances, there were booths selling Asian handicrafts, clothes, jewellery and among others. The sunny weather... bordering on hot and sultry... helped keeping the spirits high. The highlight of the festival however was the Dragon Boat Races, which sadly I missed.

Cultural performances included, Chinese Lion Dance, An Asian Fashion extravaganza titled Parade of the Nations, Indian dance, Tahitian and Hawaiian Hula Dance, Mahalika Philippine Bamboo Dance, Chinese cultural performance, Chinese Peacock Dance, Tai Chi and Kung Fu demonstrations among others. It was an afternoon of fun and food for the entire family. But for the blazing sun I'm sure people would have enjoyed the festival better and not confined themselves to the comoforting shade of the few tents.

I enjoyed each and every performance that I could get to see. The video and pictures in the post gives a sneak preview of the activities and performances of the festival. Hope you enjoy reading the blog and looking at the pictures as much as I enjoyed visiting and being part of the festival.

Mustangs of Las Colinas

The Festival Champions, Irving Fire Department

Lake Carolyn

Colourful and large kites

Kung Fu Performance

A very eventful and exciting Saturday

Slowly but steadily things are starting to get a little busy and interesting for me. As I shake out of my boredom and try to get involved in local activities as much as possible things are looking out ok... but I still miss my footloose and fancy free life in India. My regular outings into the wild, riding my bike over long open highways, climbing rocks, swimming in dams etc are somethings that I really miss.

Before I go on my nostalgia trip let me talk about my day's activities. Well morning started off usual I got up late at 8.00 am and then went for my roller skating class (yes I am learning how to skate :P) and now I can glide. Vibha a US-based non-profit organisation working to provide education and healthcare to children in India had organised a Kite Flying Festival at the expansive Thomas Jefferson Park, Irving.

Oh! Before I forget, today we bought another car, a shiny black Toyota 4 Runner SUV. This new acquisition will be a great boon for my transportation needs in this country with pathetic public transport system. Will post pictures of the black beauty sometime soon.

Coming back to the Kite Flying Festival, it was a well organised affair but, I guess we were there too early so people were just turning up... actually trickling in. There were few people flying kites and others making kites.. yet others spinning thread using an improvised motorised device, a hand held power drill. Since there was nothing much else happening we didn't stick around for too long and headed out towards running some errands.

Towards evening when we reached the supermarket to buy grocery I noticed that there was a Vintage Car Rally cum competition happening at one of the mega parking lots of the shopping complex. I was thrilled to see the golden oldies in their full glory. I never got tired shooting pictures and more pictures of the beautiful machines.

Will post the pictures tomorrow. For now enjoy the pictures of the Kite Festival.

Gazebo in Jefferson Park

Beautiful water body flowing through the park

Young and green trees in Jefferson Park

Children and adults flying kites and enjoying themselves

Children enjoying themselves