High point state park is a striking panorama of rich landscapes, plow lands, forest and lush valleys. The park is situated along the summit of Kittatinny Mountains in Sussex Country. High Point is the highest peak of the Kittatinny Mountains.

Yesterday we went to this place for hiking and to see fall colors. Fall is almost past peek and we could see the leaves in all kinds of shades of red everywhere. It’s very beautiful.

There are twelve marked trails in High Point Park, apart from the stretch of Appalachian Trail which runs the length of the park. The maximum distance of a trail is 4.45 miles. We took a trail named Monument Trail, which is 3.37 miles distance and took more than 3 hours to complete.

The forest along the trail is very dense and the fallen leaves covered the floor. So it was a bit tough to identify the ups and downs of the path. Pointed stones on the floor are also a bit challenging. Altogether it’s another great hiking experience. Enjoyed It.!!!...

Yesterday I have attended Krishna Janmashtami celebrations hosted by ISKCON of New Jersey. They conducted the event in a big way with lots of entertaining programmes like bhajans, dance performances, mataki breaking event, Krishna and Radha dress competition for children. The programme started at 6pm and continued until midnight. It was really fun watching kids in various styles of kirshna and radha. Here are some photographs i managed to take...

Bal Gopal

Radha Krishna Murti

Bringing murti of Swami Srila Prabhupada (founder of the international society for krishna consciousness - ISKCON) into the event hall

Devotees bringing krishna deities to the mandap

Deities are placed in a beautifully decorated mandap

RadhaKrishna Jhula

Kids getting ready to perform Odissi Dance

This cute little girl's name is Madhavi. Yes....she is American, but she got an indian name. She performed Bharatanatyam very beautifully.

Kids in Krishna and Radha dress competition.....more than 100 kids took part in this competition

Kid enjoying mataki breaking.......Haathi Ghoda palki Jai Kanhaiya Lal Ki!!!!

Bal Gopal in my puja mandir

After a long time, I have been to Chuang Yen Monastery (located in Carmel, NY) on last Saturday. It’s a very beautiful and peaceful place. I used to go there very frequently, when I was living in Fishkill. It feels so good to spend time away from the busy city atmosphere.  I stayed there for two hours and had a very pleasant time.

The main attraction of this place is Great Buddha Hall. Inside the hall there is a thirty seven foot tall statue of Buddha Vairocana – the largest Buddha statue in the western hemisphere. There are also 10,000 small statues of Buddha encircling the large statue on a lotus terrace.

Another one is Seven Jewels Lake. There are hundereds of fishes in that lake and i love watching them.

Great Buddha Hall

Buddha Vairocana

Seven Jewels Lake

Yesterday I have been to Frank Sinatra Park - Hoboken, NJ to see the fireworks. This year Macy’s organized fireworks between 24Th and 50Th streets (Manhattan) on the Hudson River. We reached the park early i.e. by 6pm to get a decent spot to view the fireworks and we succeeded in getting one. I managed to take some nice pictures of New York city and the fireworks.

This is one of the six barges positioning for firework

people...people...everywhere.....

FDNY Fire-boat Water Show

Beauty of new york city at the time of sunset

Photograph of a Photographer....

Moonlight made new york city look more beautiful

fireworks....red..green...yellow...blue...white....colours of joy and pride.......

after effects of fireworks.....smoke everywhere.....

Hudson river water....sparkling city on the shore....bright moon in the sky.....ahh....what a beauty....

Nice painting..Isn’t it??...any guess...from where I might have brought this...???...I am sure you can't guess the right answer....last weekend I went for shopping and brought footwear...I found this painting on the footwear box... It looks like some expensive painting isn’t it??..:-)