USA TOURS

Me and Amit got married on January 7th of 2001 at Calcutta, India. Then he returned to the US on 10th. I completed all my work in Calcutta and then started my lone journey to the States on March 18th via KLM through Amsterdam. I landed in the US on March 19th and stepped into my new home at State College on the same evening. After three months, in June, we bought our own car (Honda Civic) and started travelling in the United States.

Travelling in US by car is fun and we enjoyed that bit by bit. As Pennsylvania is well known for its natural beauty (flora and fauna), we started our nature expedition with Spring Creek Park situated in the State College itself. It's a quiet place with a little stream flowing gently. We watched the sunset there. We enjoyed the wooden bridge, tiny pebbles on the water, wide green grassy valley and the other natural scenic beauties. We took few pictures but the sweet memories will remain afresh.

Our next trip was to the Whipple Dam which is located 20 miles south of State College. It's a dam on a mountain river and a good visiting spot for nature lovers. Boating and fishing are the main attractions. We spent a summer evening there. Since the weather was warm and sunny we were dressed in typical Indian (Bengali) style. On the way back we also visited the highest point of State College ie the Tussy ridge.

I heard a lot about Bald Eagle, the national bird of the US from Amit. So, naturally I wished to visit the Bald Eagle National Park which is also located in the Pennsylvania and only 1 and 1/2 hours of drive from our home. Amit already visited the Park once with his friends, so the place was quite known to him. But on the way, we enjoyed the wonderful scenic beauties of the road-side mountains and valley as a bonus. Inside the Park there is a big, beautiful natural lake surrounded by beach. Boating is the main attraction. Young people might play different games on the beach. We took our lunch box there and lunched under the trees. We walked for hours on the beach and in the water together.

One unit of the Penn State University is doing a project on wounded wild birds. Birds, who cannot be freed in the wild due to some permanent injuries, are kept in an area near to the State College. That is a mountainous region with trails. People visit the birds in captivity and could donate to backup the project. We viewed few extinct species of birds. Two bald eagles, owls, hawks and many more. We even saw the bird-show to know the history of their injuries, nature and habits. I really liked the intense moral of this project of restoring injured wild birds and raising them with proper care and medication in captivity for the rest of their lives. There are some educational tours available for the students to learn more about these wild habitats and watch them intensely. We saw various kinds of turtles and snakes also.

When I came to the State College, I saw the symbol of Penn State University which is the Nittany Lion. Once upon a time those small lions could be found in the Nittany Mountains which is surrounding our city. The mountain was named after a native Red Indian tribal girl, Nittany. She was the only beloved daughter of the tribal head. A long time ago a foreign tourist came to visit this place and fell in love with her and then they fled away. But they were caught and that man had been punished to death by putting him into a water cavern that had no way out. He tried to escape but ultimately died from hunger and deadly cold inside the cave. It is believed by the local people that he is still searching for his lost love, Nittany. The thousand year old water cavern is famous as Penns cave. It is full of water and quite cold under the ground. We did the one hour boat tour through the cavern and came across beautiful, naturally built up structures of limestone and few other minerals. This place is one of the most favorite tourist spots in Pennsylvania. The stony structures are artificially illuminated to make them more attractive. We also liked the huge artificially built up lake and splendid lake-side views outside the cavern.
Then we did the wild life tour in a tourist bus with a guide, where tourists can view few wild animals in their own natural environment. We saw hundreds of deers, fawns, elks, huge long horn cows and bulls, bisons, wild horses, black beers, turkey and above all a puma and few wild white wolves. It's a real pleasure to observe these wild habitats in their own natural environment. The guide fed them before us and described their nature and living pattern. I was excited seeing wild wolves so nearby. We also visited the Trout Fish conservatory. Unfortunately, due to some mechanical fault, we couldn't took pictures of that wild life tour but the memory of those exciting moments are still persisting and they can never be deleted/lost.

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