Niagara Falls

We had a nice weekend in Niagara Falls recently. Before I planned this trip, people suggested I see the falls from Canada Side. Now I was not able to plan that as it demanded 4 days trip atleast. To add on I would need the first day for visa. I even remember people telling me, don't waste visiting in American side. After a lot of confusion I had to take the option of US side due to leave constraint for my husband.

We reached the airport and was shocked seeing rains. I was wondering, do I carry rains with me everywhere? My last day of vacation in SFO had little rains and then my first day in Mt Rushmore S.Dakota ended in rains and not the same in Buffalo :(

The next morning was a surprise to me as I could see some sunshine :) We happily headed to the falls and well I had imagined I would not see anything good (due to the feedback from friends) but it was still a amazing sight to watch. We had good time visiting the mist boat tour and cave of the winds. But only after spending one full day there I realised the place had nothing to see for more than 6 hrs and you will get bored if you spend anytime more than that.






We stayed longer till 10PM to watch the fireworks as we missed it in Mt Rushmore on July 4th. This time with the rains not showing up, we had a nice time watching the fireworks. After seeing the place I realised that viewing the falls from Canada Side would be the best treat to the eyes :)

One surprise was the number of Indian eateries in that area. I ended up seeing more than 5 places with Indian food. Though it can be agreed as a big tourism place, its still a surprise what makes it so special for Indians :)

Fireworks in Mt Rushmore - Messed Up

I took so long for this post because I was disappointed. I dint have the chance to enjoy the fireworks in Rushmore :(

As we drove on July 3rd towards Rapid City, we got delayed due to scattered rain right from 9AM to 2PM. But after that we were little pleased to see some clear skies and the sun showing up which made us energetic to drive to Mt Rushmore. Even then we knew the chances of enjoying fireworks was low.

At 5 PM we reached there to find not just the parking full but cars parked up to 3 miles away from the Mt Rushmore entrance. We almost spent an hr driving around trying to see if we can find a parking spot closer to the entrance but in vain. Finally we ended up parking 3 miles away from the original entrance. Few pics I clicked from the car itself :)


We were happy even then to see clear skies and started walking the 3 miles to the entrance. It took us almost 45 min to reach, but then seeing huge crowd around dint make us tired at all.

I know we see such crowds for ball drop and New yr fireworks here but this is the first time I was part of such a crowd. The below pic is just part of the Amphitheater crowd, we saw people right from one mile of entrance as you see view of the faces from there till the real memorial area.


No exaggeration here... I entered the memorial and picked my camera and looked above the mountain. Oh my god, where are the faces?? Just gone in moments?? Yes Fog came from nowhere and took control :( We still thought it will clear up. 7PM became 8 and then 8.30...Hope dies :( I ended up putting the camera back in my bag.



As part of Independence day special, they had a team from Army performing musical show for the crowd. We saw huge crowds eagerly hoping the fog will clear and we can see the fireworks. As per the schedule, the first trial firework came up at 9.20. All I heard was a THUD sound and nothing else :(

With the hope it will still work out and also not to disappoint the huge crowds, they went on to have the fireworks at 9.30 for the next 30 minutes. All we saw were just few stars once in while coming out of it and nothing more. Till the end we never got to see the Rushmore faces in the mountain with the fireworks :(

Again a long walk to pick the car and drive home. One thing I have to mention here is the discipline with which people went to take the car and drive home. At 11 PM I was so worried if we can drive safe without any mess due to thousands of cars and people walking thru the mountain area. I was so surprised to see how organised people were and till the end I dint hear even one person using the car horn. I was reminded of the match I watched in Chennai stadium and went back home in the night. It was a nightmare for us to get home that night. I wonder when we will learn these good things.

We could not click a pic together in front of MT Rushmore which made us feel we need to visit the place again next evening. This was again a shock to me as we drove same way around 7PM on July 4th only to see the complete pathway free and hardly few cars in the parking ramp. We went in parked and visited the place. This time there was no climatic issues and we could click good pics, just that fireworks was missed :(



Though sometime it seems like a place of least interest to visit as its just a place to see and walk away, when you think on the work involved in carving the four faces on the top of a mountain rock involving 14 yrs work, it deserves a visit and appreciation :)

Though I don't know how it would have felt to drive thru those places, I would still add that the drive to the place is amazing and enjoyable as commented by my husband :)

Empire State Building NY

Its a beautiful building to see and visit. Ofcourse worth the wait for 1 hr in the rush and then get to the top and see the view of the city from there. If you go before noon I would even say the wait is just an hr and again the problem is you have only 3 elevators and hence the wait time is going to be there always... Same holds good when you have to come down again.... The trip to reach the top is worth the wait as its gift for the eyes to see.


What of the Sky Ride in the Empire State Building? You have to pay for it separately and to add on, the ride is just not worth the money. More if you are one person who has already been to Disney/Orlando and enjoyed all simulated rides, this is just a kids ride and you will find it totally waste your money. This ride is 20 min but again you will have to wait for the show for at least 30 to 40 min in the queue. If your unlucky you might end up missing that show and pushed to the next one also :(

But then I would say if you have the 3 day or 1 day new york city pass which gives you some 50 attractions in it, then you can go for the sky ride. Even then if you feel there is shortage of time, I suggest you to skip this one :)

DC Museums and visit

A place where you find so many museums that I would say you need more than a week to visit, learn and enjoy each of it. You name it and you find a museum on that subject there :) The best part of it is, entry to all the museums is free and I cant imagine something like this and still everything is so perfect, well organised and maintained so well...

Specially the Museum of Space and Air is so huge and so much to learn from there :) I cant comment much as I managed to visit only 4 of them.

World war 2 memorial is a treat for the eyes, beautifully maintained. Each and every monument in that location is amazing. Korean war memorial, Lincoln memorial, Vietnam war memorial everything was so wonderful to see. The view from Washington Monument and US capitol building, White House each of these a masterpiece in itself.

One thing which would be more wonderful to see for visitors is US Capitol tour, which should be booked 2 weeks in advance online, you wont get it otherwise. Washington Monument also needs a very early booking like early in the morning at 8AM. So if you really wish to tour the 2 places, make sure to plan before and pick your tickets. I would also add both would be worth a tour.

Of the few places I have visited around US, I would vote for DC as the best. A place so beautiful to see, so neat and organised. Wish I could have visited the place in the start of Springs or may be should visit for the fall :)

Different Places Different Feel!!

I felt so different landing in Washington DC and New York last week. To start with DC first, it was so organised and it had a style in itself. May be because all the places I visited were of high importance to the government (Pentagon, White House, US Capitol)and hence that way. I dint find big crowds on the roads except in places of tourism.

But when i landed in New York, I was standing on a Saturday night in Times Square near the ball drop area and I was shocked the most. I was just wondering if i was help up in Ranganathan Street. First thing that shocked me was so much crowd which I had never seen in the last 6 months anywhere in US. Second was "People were not following Traffic rules". Now its obvious i think of India :) Then in few places I was actually pushed by people... Now you will agree the Ranganathan St comparison. I saw so many people in salwar, sarees and so much of Hindi, Telugu and Tamil more than English.... Infact some of the areas like the Subway (Local Metro within the city) were indeed dirty and clumsy.... Don't you think the above things are not enough to feel I have got back to India and specially Chennai :)

Its been 2 extreme experiences in the last 4 days but at the same time very much enjoyable.

A short trip to Chicago

I was jus looking for a one day outing and suddenly came into the idea of Chicago. When i did some research I realised its possible to cover most places in a day. But still the temple in Aurora is really far from Downtown and so is Devon Avenue (lots and lots of Indian Restaurants here). So if you are looking at covering things in a day, its either the temple or food :)

You have a lot of parks here around downtown but its better to pick couple of them and carry on. Millennium Park is one place which needs a visit sometime during the day to enjoy it best. May be Grant Park and Buckingham Fountain can wait for the evening as the fountain will be more beautiful to see in the night.

What you see below is just one pic from Millennium park. This place is amazing. Worth a visit for sure. So big so beautiful, maintained great in mid downtown :)

Cruises at Navy Pier are good and enjoyable. Just as London eye you have one here in Chicago. The speed boats in Navy Pier are amazing fun. Some interesting buildings to look at are around Michigan Avenue Bridge like Wrigley, Tribune Tower, Marine City, John Hancock Tower. The water taxi runs thru some areas and may be even that can be used to commute between places during site seeing.

How can I forget the most important place "Sears Tower". Infact I would say a visit to Sears Tower and John Hancock Tower is worth. In case you want to visit these, better to buy the Chicago One day Card for 65$ as you will get entry to number of places and these 2 also and it will turn out very cheap. Incase you dont intend to visit these places, you can opt for a one day pass which will let you take all buses and trains in Chicago with the one day pass. Beware you need a lot of planning to travel yourself just with one day pass :) One big difference I found after visiting Minneapolis San Fransisco and Chicago Downtown is, this place Chicago is so big and such a beautiful Downtown, may be I might like New York more. But as of now, this downtown is such a cool place :) May be a 2 day weekend trip would be more relaxing and fun.

Island of Adventure

I have had a few things in my mind on which i wanted to post an article but somehow never got the time to do it. Hopefully i do one of those now.

Well its continuation to Universal Studios article. Now its on the other park which is part of Universal which is Island of Adventure. Dont ever think that 2 parks just side by side and how much will it be fun to visit this one. Ur wrong if u assume it as less fun. This one is totally different. You cant find one similarity to what you had seen in Universal.

Again you need a lot of planning to cover all the rides. One big advantage is, if u dont have kids around, you can cover them for sure coz the kids zone here is exclusive to kids and you really cant go for the rides except the kids train coz it kind of gives u a nice view.

Here in the first zone, you will have 4 rides of which 3 are rides while one is simulation of Spider man movie. As far as the 3 rides go, one is a coaster ( I dont know how many will have the guts to take that ride) the other 2 are pretty cool ones. Spiderman as usual is amazing. You go there right at 9 AM or even before that is getter, park opens at 8.30 moslty. You can cover this first zone really fast if you make it early in the day.

The next zone is water zone. Here you have 2 amazing water rides. By the time you get to this area, there will be good amount of queue here. But trust me it wont be wait more than 20 min or so. Only one warning here, you will get really wet and so have ur imp things safe. Both of them are amazing rides, never miss them. By now it could be lunch time to you :)

Now you enter the Jurassic park zone. Here you have one exhibition, one kids area to play and one amazing simulation of the movie and water ride , and the last one is the amazing top view of the place in a simple ride. In case you come to this area right in the morning, you might cover them fast. But I went post lunch and I had to spend 1 hr in queue in jurassic water ride and my bad luck i missed the ariel view ride as wait time was 90 min. But I suggest anyone to plan better and not miss it. I had the option to go for it at the end by 7 PM but too much of darkness you might not enjoy much in ariel view.

This next zone has one big time dragon ride... really fast and scary one. Then you have an amazing Sindbad show here. You have to check the timing and go as you only have some 4 shows per day. The next is one more amazing place where its more nice to visit and see than give any comments. Both the show and this one will take 45 min each. So better to plan the timing acordingly.

With that you reach the kids zone. Amazing 5 rides for the kids. The only one elders can try is the train one :)

In addition to all this, the first area reminds you only of the loud shouting of the riders in hulk ride while the water splash zone gives you the feel of water always around you , and when in jurassic area, you feel being around all animals and birds... and in the Sindbad area, you feel the whole place so mystrious and different and kids zone sound so much fun perfect for kids.

This is one place which can be prefectly covered from morning 8 to night 8. But u also need patience to wait in long queues at times. Very different from Universal and again a must watch place.

City walk can be covered either on the day you visit universal or this island of adventure. Thats more special for the lovely restuarants, AMC theatre and much more fun shows. There is also Blue Man Show there, but I dont have much idea on that.

Since Universal Studios in Orlando is more bigger than LA, make sure to enjoy it completly when possible.

Interesting Places around SFO

Though the places in city can be visited easily with public transport, we do have some places which can be better visited in car. I would even say tourism packages wont help in those cases, as that will not let you spend much time.

On way to San Jose, you will come across Mystery Spot in Santa Cruz. This place is very different. Its better to visit than even read it in the website. You really need to go here in the morning as you will end up seeing "House Full" board.

Monterey - This is one place where even spending one complete day might not be enough. You have a wonderful Aquarium and Whale watch. But whale watch might be amazing to few where as ur bad luck might end up that you dont see much of them too. There are few more adventure activities like Kayaking, sky diving and bay bikes. I dont think I have mentioned on all the attractions here, this is just the ones I looked into.

Very close to Monterey , you can drive thru to Caramel city. This city has a very cute and its a seaside town which makes it so beautiful to see. I am not too sure on any attractions here as I have only taken a drive and admired the place. I have heard that Big Sur is also a place worth visit, but I dont have much info on this place.

Moving to the other side, south of Golden Gate Bridge in SFO, you must drive all the way to Sausalito and it should be in day time as you will get to see the best view and closest view of Golden Gate Bridge.

Driving further from Golden Gate Bridge, you can reach Muir woods. This forest is so amazing, best place for hiking. You dont have to be a great walker.. You have the option of taking small trails as well as long trails, so depending on ur ablility u can decide wat kind of hiking you wish to go to.

Then from Muir woods , you can go to Muir Beach and then to Muir Beach Overview. This Muir beach Overview is the best place to visit. I had the best feel when I went there. Standing here, you get to see the complete Pacific ocean right in front of you. You also have Mt. Tamalpais State Park very much close to this. Then driving further you can get to Stinson beach. I have heard that Pt Reyes is also a wonderful place to visit, this is the national seashore. But you can't cover all these places in one day. Probably well planned, you can visit all these in 3 days.

Ofcouse there can be few more amazing places to visit around SFO but this was all I had heard of and had also visited recently. It was like gift for the eyes to see the coastal areas and enjoy the fresh air.

Visit to Universal Studios

I can say it was actually hard when we had to start off.. I browsed thru the net to get some idea on how to plan my day and i found one blog interesting and it gave me some tips on how to plan. Main tips from that blogger was ... start early and reach the theme parks as soon as they open, u can cover many rides fast as the crowd builds up after 11 AM.. He was so much right :) Secondly was prioritize which ride is more important to u... else u will miss the important ones in the end :)

When we entered the studios, for the first 2 hrs we even dint have the theme park directory with us.. we missed picking it at the gates... Still as we reached the part at 8AM..we atcually covered the first 3 rides in less than 2 hrs and after that we could see that the waiting time for the show and rides incresing from 5 min to 20 min and 30 min :) But after that once we picked the directory, we could plan perfectly. You need the directory for 2 reasons, one is that it will give u the complete route map..searching the correct eatery u wish is easy now :) secondly some of the shows are time specific... so u will miss them if u go late.. so make sure u pick the directory copy....

Just as anyone says, check the directory and plan first the shows which are time specific... and ofcourse some rides take longer time...

Mummy, Men in black, Jaws - These rides dont take much time as long as the crowd is less... I think my wait time was less than 5 min for these and the rides themselves also less than 5 min..so u cover them first and fast..

Disaster and Twister - These are 2 shows where they prefer to get some decent amount of people before the start mainly coz they will have people presenting the show and it will help them to perform for a bigger audience. But again as we started our day soon, we covered these 2 also with wait time of like 15 min.

Horror show, Rock and Roll show and Fear Factor live - These are time bound, u need to be there 10 min before the show time.. else u will again miss it.

Nikelodeon, Shrek 4D , Terminator 3D - These again might take some time, as these will prefer larger crowds. But by the time we came for these rides, it go crowded and my wait time was almost 25 min in each.

The latest new addition to the park is Simpson Ride - It was an amazing one, and anytime i went there, it was 60 min wait time. We had that last..went at 6.30 PM, came out happy after one hr wait, enjoying the ride.

We actually skipped the complete Kids zone, though we wanted to go to ET. We dint have time. So i would say we spent 8AM to 8PM and covered these and yes ofcourse u have a lunch and tea break in between and the bigger problem is, during lunch time again the eateries will also be crowded... So its hard to manage time there too :(

I can assure you one thing, if u plan little more better.. u can probably also cover the kids area in a day and have good fun too !! Anyways unless you have real small kids 2 of those are not worth going as they are too much for elders :) but yeh couple of kids stuff is also good :)

Orlando

It was such a wonderful time in Orlando Visiting Universal Studios and Sea world. It was a great time , 4 days at 4 parks - Universal , Island of Adventure, Sea World and Aquatica. Once you enter the park and get the attraction details, its about how you manage to plan and work it out in one complete day. If you dont plan well, you might miss some rides. Also its important to make sure you reach there at the park opening time and spend all time till park closes...

I enjoyed every show, every ride and can say its such a great effort to make something like this. i would as well say its surely worth your money :) You will not regret spending lot on these theme park tickets.. But I had my worse time in trying to get veg food all 4 days. It was so hard to just survive on green salads, some bakery cakes and juices :( But at the end of 4th day, I got very much comfortable with the salad life :) The weather in Orlando, reminds me of Hot Chennai :) After a long time, my eyes were burning due to the heat :(