The year 2025 felt, in many ways, like another COVID-era year for our family. Travel plans were repeatedly interrupted due to Erica’s health struggles with dystonia. When she finally experienced a short but promising recovery window, we moved quickly squeezing in a long-desired-of family trip to Belize to visit the second-largest barrier reef in the world. Christmas break would be our best chance. Pori had time off from college, Kiran had a brief pause in veterinary school, and Rajiv could manage an escape from work. With all five of us available, we decided to make it happen.
Continue reading “UnBelizeable Belize”Glacier National Park – America’s White-and-Blue Glory
Air travel for the Sarvepallis keeps getting more complicated. When we planned this trip, Kiran was in Minneapolis for a veterinary conference, Rajiv was in New York, and the rest of us were in Fairfax, Virginia. With some careful scheduling, and a generous use of Delta miles, I arranged for everyone to converge in Minneapolis, where we boarded our flight together to arrive at Kalispell, an hour from Glacier National Park’s west entrance.
Continue reading “Glacier National Park – America’s White-and-Blue Glory”Sleepless in Seattle to wide awake in the wilderness
The Sarvepalli family added another destination to our annual June travels in 2023—this time heading to the Seattle area to explore Olympic and Mount Rainier National Parks while such pristine wilderness in the U.S. is still preserved. To make the most of these vast landscapes, we split our stay between two locations: Sequim, WA, for Olympic National Park, and Ashford, WA, just outside Mount Rainier National Park.
Continue reading “Sleepless in Seattle to wide awake in the wilderness”Ireland – Sunny with a chance of Rain
“Such a wild, iron-bound coast – with such an ocean-view as I had not yet seen – and such battling of waves with rocks as I had ever imagined” – Charlotte Bronte
This was my first trip to Ireland, to attend the 34th FIRST Annual Conference in Dublin. I had assumed the Emerald Isle would be much like Scotland; I found it to be so in some ways, but uniquely Irish in many others. This island country, with its winsome narrow streets and cobblestone roads, had so much to enjoy. On almost every walk, you encountered either a church or a castle, separated by sweeping grasslands enjoying the daily dance between sunlight and rain.
Continue reading “Ireland – Sunny with a chance of Rain”Return to the middle earth – Costa Rica
We made it again to Costa Rica again after 5 years, this time without my wife (Erica) and my daughter(Pori). Our last trip in April 2017 did not include a beach visit, as it was just a lot to squeeze in. This time I had the excuse of my son Kiran starting his internship at the Wild Sun Rescue as a pre-vet summer intern. The trip highlights have mostly to do with forest and less of the beach than I had thought, nevertheless Costa Rica continues to amaze me at its bio-diversity and beauty.
Continue reading “Return to the middle earth – Costa Rica”