Grand Canyon West Rim - Treat for the Eyes

I had no idea that I was to see something so beautiful until I landed there. Though I had seen so many pictures and read a lot before I planned my trip, I could not really imagine what I was to see. I even felt the entrance fees was too much that too for someplace which is a natural beauty and nothing which was man made for these people to collect so much for entrance. But after 3 hrs there, I felt I had not wasted my money.

It is not a place you can see as you drive in the car. It is not a place that you can see anywhere else in the world. I would say given a chance don't miss this place. Infact we have so many options here when seeing this place. The regular view from the ground, helicopter ride and rafting the Colorado river. I don't know how much fun the last two are but from the way I saw in the counter people not minding the cost but picking tickets for helicopter tour and rafting, I can say for sure its real fun.

You need to park at the entrance and cannot drive after that to the original view areas. They have internal shuttles and we need to go with them to the designated viewers location to see the beautiful Canyon. There are 2 main view locations. We can spend from 10 min to even end of day in the same place and take the return shuttle last one by 7PM as well. The last shuttle is after sunset daily. Its always said watch the sunrise or the sunset in Canyon. The first one is possible only if you camp in the Grand Canyon park or stay very close to the Canyon. But to me, seeing such sunrise happens only for Diwali. The other day I woke up so early was probably the day I married Suresh :) I don't think anything else can start my day so soon.

It is quite possible to see the sunset and then drive back home. Its just important that you are an efficient driver as the unpaved roads and animals moving around there causes a lot of trouble for drivers in the night. We could not perfectly see the sunset as we drove back by 6.30 few min before sunset but no regrets as I wanted a safer drive home than the beauty of Canyon :)

The first view is the place where they have constructed the Sky walk. This place is more for us to sit and take pictures in different angles :)




The second view is one where I felt it was more for seeing than taking pictures. It was by far the best I had seen in terms of natural beauty. To add on here, there are couple of big rocks where you can climb and sit comfortably and see the grand canyon more like a bird's view (though this cant give the real bird's view)



As for the Skywalk, you imagine too much when you read about it. To me I will for sure say I was disappointed when I went there. May be I read too much and had imagined as though I will be in the center of the Grand Canyon and when i look down from the skywalk I can see the complete depth.


This place is made of glass that as you walk on the glass you can see the depth below you. As part of maintenance of the skywalk, we are not allowed to carry anything from cell phone to camera to hand bag there. But you are allowed to stay there as long as you wish for any number of hrs and you stand or sit or even lie down, no one stops you. They have 2 professional photographers who will get you pictures in different angles if you wish for. But I would say one thing, as for taking pictures, its better not to be there in evening time as the shadows seem to affect the pictures a lot. Also visiting skywalk is optional. If interested you pick the tickets separately, it does not come as part of the entrance.

People say they were scared to walk there and infact I saw few peoples who were holding the rails and walking and few holding the other person's hand. Please these sound really too much. Trust me after couple of seconds you walk in the glass, you feel so normal. May be some can feel little dizzy seeing below the depth etc if they have such dizziness problems. Otherwise after the first few seconds, you first admire the place around, and after some time we even sit down and see how it looks below and after spending some time there, you will try to admire the work involved in building this like I saw a man checking the number of glass layers used for the base. I think it was 6 layers of glass to form the base for walking.

I enjoyed this place so much that I ended up writing so much. A place so calm so beautiful and most of all you will be puzzled forever how could something like this get created all by itself and yet be so perfect as though it was something planned sketched out for years and made by human.

Drive to Grand Canyon

All I knew of this place was it is a desert and nothing more. Though we planned the trip for end of summer, I was shocked that its really hot there even in September. I also learnt that part of the drive would be bad as the roads are not paved.

We started our drive by 10.30 AM and on the way took a short break at Hoover Dam. That is the point of entry to Arizona from Las Vegas, Neveda. It was so hot at 11 AM for the first time I felt like being in Chennai. Almost after 9 months away from Chennai, I had the feel of home. I drank water like I have not had water in the last 2 weeks. To add on I saw myself sweating. These are something which never happens specially for a person residing in Minnesota.

Then as we drove to Grand Canyon, we learnt that it was some 25 miles of unpaved road. As we drove through that area, it was like driving the siruseri route / probably chengalpet or Kancheepuram side where I had seen quite a lot of unpaved roads. The West Rim of Grand Canyon is the place where they have constructed the sky walk 2 yrs back. When they could do something so big in the Canyon area, I was surprised that they had unpaved roads. May be they assumed the 25 miles could be a different fun for driving if the roads are not paved :) I cant find any other reason for just leaving one stretch as unpaved. Or the other reason can be, promote business. They have shuttle service to drive through as tours for people who are not comfortable to drive the unpaved roads. But for people who have driven in India, these unpaved roads are cake walk :)

As we drove we took another break for lunch and then finally reached there by 3PM. Its always said it takes 3-4 hours to visit the whole place and we managed it in the same way and started to drive back at 6PM. It was quite important to drive back in light as you get to see cattle's and lots of animals on the way walking in the middle of the road. As the sun sets by 6.45 PM it was specially important to drive through the unpaved roads when sunlight was there. As we drove, we did see a lot of animals and we thankfully escaped hitting a rabbit and atlast managed to drive safe.

I would say drive to west rim from Vegas will be quite fun and also not so hectic for a day trip.

Visit to Casino

After a long wait here I got the chance to visit a Casino. All I knew was its a place of gambling and nothing more. The casino I visited here in Minneapolis was a small one. On entering the place, my first feel was "is everyone playing some video games here like kids" Then we decided to play something, I had to first try and learn it than just waste money without following it. I realised I need to play for some good amount to first get in terms with the game and then try to win :) I hardly played few minutes but I realised in no time I will end up getting addicted to it :) It was a good experience and fun to be there. I also knew I had to set my limits the next time I decide to play and enjoy :-)

Jet Ski and Wave Runners

Some people call it wave runners while some say jet ski. I was trying to find the difference between the two. When i googled I learnt that "Jet-Ski is a registered trademark to Kawasaki. Wave runner is with Yamaha" They also say the best term to use is "PWC or personal watercraft". I also heard some say, when you sit down its the wave runner one while in Jet ski, the person behind will stand. In New York, I found that it was called Jet ski but in Chicago I see it as Wave runner. But well whats in the name as long as you enjoy :) I just tried some googling to know the basic info before going for the fun!

I am no good when it comes to water sports. I am really scared. But still we made our first attempt with kayak in Bay area in San Fransisco. That was indeed fun but somehow I was really scared. This time in Chicago I was no different. After a few promises from Suresh that he will drive slow and make me feel good, I decided to go for it :) We went for a 30 min ride and well to share the truth it was amazing. I did get scared once in while when he raised the speed, but still I would say I enjoyed most of it :) I was in a double mind if I should try a ride myself, but somehow I could not set myself for doing it. Inspite of that, I enjoyed it a lot.

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.

Hindu Temple in Maple Grove Minneapolis

This is the only temple in Minneapolis and mostly all Indian Hindus here would make a visit to this place. But since its far away people will have to plan the route well and drive. Specially the route suggested by google maps is pretty complex. I don't know why it dint suggest the better easier route. The route given in the temple website is better and easier.

The moment I reached there, I found it so new and weird. I have never seen a temple structure like this before. The entrance to the temple was also so different from the ones in India.

Being the only temple here, they had tried to have all gods sannidi. That way it felt good and nice. They had Vinayagar, Iyyapan, Saraswathi, Lakshmi, Durga, Shiva, Vishnu, Murugar, Balaji, Saniswarar and lots more. The inside atmosphere of the temple was same as all our temples. The peaceful place and regular chanting of mantras and prasadams, made us feel at home. It gave a peace of mind and happiness being around there.

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.

San Fransisco

Quite a few things which made me feel at home in SFO is every few miles you see a Indian restuarant, and the weather is so plesant and good as Ooty and Kodai. Ofcourse I also had my sis there and hence never felt like I was at a new place.

One nice thing here is that, you can commute to all places so easily. So many buses, tram, local trains etc. Infact this is one place where you can fo the complete site seeing all by yourself without a car.

Sometime people say you can see all places in SFO in one day, but then I suggest people spend 2 days in SFO. Only then you can cover all the places at leisure.

In SFO, you can take a one day pass / 3 day pass which will allow you to travel in all SFO buses, muni, trains for 3 days indefinite times. Its the cheapest and best way to commute inside the city. When you pick the pass, you also get a booklet with map giving the details of the cable car routes and stops, muni routes and stops. You just have to decide the places you need to visit and start off.

Infact when you use the muni, you get to see a lot of the city and you might as well end up learning the routes in SFO. When you take the cable car, you can cover Union Square, Nob Hill, China Town, Lombard Street and final destination will be reaching the beach side. Before the final destination you can take a route to reach Coit Tower where you can have a wonderful view of the city. You will also get to see Grace Cathedral on the way.

There starting from beach street , can walk to Ghiradelli Square and museum near by. Then take a longer walk and reach Fisherman warf, check out the submarine there and take the cruise. The ferry cruise gives u various options, either to golden gate bridge and around alcatrez, one around sausalito, one to angel island. It is not possible to find a tour to all places. So its for you to decide which one interests you. Apart from this, you also have a complete Alcatrez tour which will take you to the island , drop you there, you can go around and visit the place and get back after few hrs in another ferry. Regular ferry will only take 1 hr but Alcatrez will take 3 hrs. So based on the time available, you can choose. Remember its very hard to find ferry to Alcatrez, its always needed to book online in advance by a day or so, else you wont find it.
If you continue walking thru, you will cross many more of those ferry tours, you also have tour where it includes a visit to aquarium at Pier 39. As you walk thru the coast you might even end up crossing the ferry building and reaching the market street. But thats indeed a very hard walk, so once you go thru the ferry, you can take a muni and see thru the places from the bus.
I dont know if I have missed any other interesting spot in Market Street.

A little away from this place, you can go to Golden Gate Park, I wonder if i had seen a park as big as this before. Its impossible to walk thru completly. You also have a Tea garden here and a museum, and the tower view of the city near the museum is again amazing and worth a watch. Moving further from Golden Gate Park, you can get to Palace of Fine Arts - wonderful palace, science museum. A little further you will reach the all time special Golden Gate Bridge :)

You have one more special place worth a visit here which is the Twin Peaks. I am not sure on reaching this place by bus as I went in car. This gives one of the best view of the city.

I might have repeated in so many places its beach, coastal view and tower view. But trust me its worth in all ways. Its different and great to watch from each of these places. Some places might be special when you just see in pics, but this place is special and worth a real watch than jus seeing in pics.