Waterfronts - my favorite getaways

Perhaps because I am a piscean... I am simply enamored by large water bodies; lakes, rivers, dams, and of course the mighty oceans attract me like iron to a magnet. Standing and staring at the vast azure expanses soothes my soul. Of course I love to take a dip wherever possible... When I was in Bangalore, India weekends I'd head out to Manchinbelle dam, Kanva dam or YG Gudda dam and take a refreshing dip. Here in the US that is one thing which is possible only for the rich. All the dams and public water bodies are fenced up and the water front lands have been sold to private entrepreneurs who charge an arm and a leg to enter and access the water. The only ocean front I have visited is California where waters are so cold that it is impossible to get in without a wet suit. So here I content myself by taking pictures of lakes, rivers, dams etc... Here are some of my favorite water fronts in the US.

Lake Travis, Austin, Tx

Grapevine Reservoir, Texas

A large dam on the highway which links San Jose with Los Angeles

The Ocean at Santa Cruz

Vistas of California

These are pictures from my visit to California last year. I had thought about posting them here but never got around to doing it. Now that I remembered I thought I'd post them and talk a little about my trip too. The reason for the visit to California was to participate in the volunteer meeting of Sankara Eye Foundation, a non-profit working to raise funds to set up FREE eye hospitals and perform FREE cataract and glaucoma surgeries for poor people in India.

We flew to Los Angeles and then from there drove to San Jose where the meeting was held. The road winds its way through beautiful and lush green mountains and provided enormous amount of photography opportunities. These are some pictures shot during the return journey from San Jose to Los Angeles. Your feedback will be appreciated.