New York

Time: September 18th - 20th 2009

Place: New York

Company: Wife

Album: Click here

Highlights:

Day 0:

After a long delay, finally made it to New York for the 1st time with wife and 6th time overall! Started Marlborough at 7 pm on Friday in car and took just one pit stop. Had a nice hearty conversation with wife and before I knew it, I was in Brooklyn, at my cousin’s place. Strangely, did not miss the route even once. I was known to miss the roads in NY during my last car-trips to NY. This part of Brooklyn is known for its mugging and is really a very hostile area to stay or move around. Chatted with cousin and her hubby till 1 am and finally slept.

Day 1:

Left at 9ish and visited Statue of Liberty first from Battery park. Temp was coldish although sunny. Spent considerable amount of time in SoL and then walked through the world financial district of New York. Took snaps with the Bull, the Wall Street and at the World Trade Center. Then, took Path to 34th street, where we went into Macy’s, one of the biggest Macy’s store ever, covering one whole block. Shopped for about 1-2 hours and had lunch at Burger King.

Then, went to Empire State Building. Had a longish queue, and by the time, we went to the 86th floor, it was the perfect time: the sun was setting, which meant we had the view with Sun and had the view of Manhattan in lights. Took a goodish number of snaps and also saw the sun set.

Then walked to Times Square, sat amidst the ever-present crowd, then walked to Rockefeller Center, had dinner at a bakery and finally took the subway back to Brooklyn. Spent some nerve-racking minutes waiting for the taxi at 11 pm amidst a scary looking population and finally reached safely. Came to know from cousin later that subway after 9 pm is not at all advised at her part of NY!

Day 2:

Had a long chat with cousin and her hubby and saw their snaps. They had been to LV, Hawaii, Greece, Turkey, Egypt and Kenya and snaps were amazing. And I thought, I traveled a lot!

Had lunch and left their place at about 2 pm. Since it was unplanned and we hadn’t taken mapquest directions nor did we have GPS, we took the help of AAA map to chart out a route to Flushing where I had heard was Sri Raghavendraswamy Mutt. We made it in less than 20 minutes without missing a road. The Mutt was very calm and peaceful, very much like Bahai temples. Also, the Ganesha temple in front was very nice and extremely grand. The cafeteria in the basement catered to many of Indian delicacies!

Wanted to go to Central Park next and hence, once more charted out a route from Bowne St, Flushing to Central Park, Manhattan using AAA map. We made it, once again in less than 30 minutes without missing a road nor getting a honk via Queensboro bridge! Searched but couldn’t find a parking space near Central Park and hence, just went around the park and made our way to I-95 and thence onto Marlborough.

We were back in home by 10 pm after a delicious Pizza at Lake William’s. It was the first time I was driving in Manhattan without a mapquest direction. In fact, it was the first time we were driving with AAA map! This trip was our first trip with our new digital camera Samsung SL420, and boy, is it a nice camera!

Cliff Walk

Time: September 13th 2009

Place: Cliff Walk, Newport Beach, Rhode Island

Company: Wife

Album: Click here

Videos: 1, 2, 3

Highlights: Cliff walk is a nice walk along the cliff beside the Atlantic Ocean. Its not really cliff in the true sense because sometimes there are nice mansions too bordering the cliff. There is a separate entry/entrance fee to view the mansions but cliff walk itself is free. The path is well paved for most of the length but at times, one has to walk on the rocks. Its about 3.5 to 4 miles from one end to the other, but we walked only about 2 miles [Till almost The Studio]. The beach at the very beginning on Memorial Blvd also is very nice, with nice waves.

Las Vegas

Time: September 4th - 9th 2009

Place: Las Vegas, Grand Canyon, Los Angeles

Company: Wife

Album: Click here

Videos (chosen amongst many!): Panaromic view of GC, The chill at GC, Freemont Experience and Juggling show at Circus Circus

Highlights:

Day 0:

Left Marlborough at 5 pm in car and went to Alewife where I parked my car. Took subway train to airport through red line and silver line and just made to boarding! Flight left at 8 pm EST and reached Las Vegas at 11 pm PST. Took rental car (Kia Spectra) and went to our room at Airport Inn, thinking it will be near to airport as well as to the Strip. I better not write about the room. Retired for the night.

Day 1:

Initial plan was to go to Death Valley and return same day and go to Grand Canyon the next day and return. But saw on the net that temperature was over 110 but nearing 100 the next day in Death Valley and hence plan changed to go to Grand Canyon same day and return. Left at about 8. Had breakfast in McD in front of Riviera, where we picked up Niraj and Kedar, who had come to LV before us the previous night from Boston. Reached Hoover Dam at about 10. Walked along the dam and took some snaps. Temperature was nearing 100s.

Had couple of pit stops. One of them was crazy. Saw a fuel stop on the other side of the road and since no one was present, crossed the median, crossed the oncoming traffic of the expressway and went into the fuel stop. Inside we saw a cop shopping! If he had just come out of the shop, I would have got a ticket!

Went to a restaurant (near GC) at about 2. Had lunch. It started raining and temp dipped very much. So much so that, if earlier we were heading to the car for AC, now we were heading for the car for the heater! Just as we left 40E and took 64N, we saw the board of 40W to Los Angeles [400 odd miles] and started thinking that perhaps its better if we head to LA instead of Death Valley the next day. LA, LV and GC are like a triangle and hence it makes sense to head to LA directly from GC instead of going to LV and then going to LA. So, decided to make this exciting road trip, thanks to Niraj and Kedar’s GPS, without which this was not possible. The idea was to go as near to LA as possible tonight and halt and then head to LA early tomorrow, see places and finally go back to LV.

Reached GC finally at 4 pm. The South Rim contains main view points. But we just went to Mather Point and Yavapai Point. Both has excellent views and sheer drops into the canyon which makes it all the more exciting. Also, it was damn cold because of the rain in the neighborhood. Took lots of pics and videos.

Left GC at 5 pm on our marathon journey to LV which was about 400 odd miles. On our way, we got to see beautiful sunset. Made one pit stop at about 7.30 pm for fuel and light dinner, for our Pizza lunch was real heavy.

I drove on and on and on as much as I could. It was the first time in my life I had driven over 650 miles on a single day. Since sunset happened at about 6, most of this journey was in the dark and driving in the dark kinda droops the eyelids because of the darkness everywhere around. Also, from about 8.30 pm onwards, the other 3 in the car had practically dozed off because of the monotony of the drive and the exhaustion of the day. Also, I-40 drive from GC to LA is on one of the most desolate areas of the country with nothing around for miles and miles together. I started getting tired at about 9.30 pm and started searching for a hotel or motel on I-40 and couldn’t find one for 100s of miles together. Nor were there any gas stations. One could almost see nothingness everywhere around. It was like driving in a desert. Thanks to the GPS, I was awake. I was making little games to be constantly awake, like matching the speed limit + 10, to ensure the destination arrival time never exceeded beyond 3 am (which it was currently showing), to play with other car drivers, truck drivers, etc.

Finally found a motel at 11 pm but it was full. Thought of sleeping over at a rest area. Instead washed my face and continued to Barstow where there were a number of hotels. The first one was full but the second one was not. Best Western! Finally, at 12 midnight, after 7 hours of drive!

Got a nice room! The room-keeper had made nice Ganeshas out of towels. About 5-6 Ganeshas in all. Slept like a log.

Day 2: Breakfast at the hotel. Called up Mithun to get a list of places to see in LA. Left at about 9. Reached LA at about 11ish. Went to Mulholland Drive and took snaps with “Hollywood” sign on the hill. Then drove on Sunset Blvd, Beverly Hills and finally took a cut to reach the Pacific Drive. Went to the beach and spent some time there. On the way to Hollywood Blvd, found an Indian restaurant and had nice food. Hollywood Blvd is the most happening place in LA, esp in front of Kodak Theatre where Oscar Ceremony takes place. It has pavements full of stars who made it big in Hollywood, literally. Spent about an hour.

Left LA at 4. Reached LV at 8. Went to LV downtown – Freemont Experience where there was a show going on with light show on the roof. It was pretty dazzling. Then, finally dropped Niraj and Kedar off at Riviera and returned the rental car. Forgot to take a pouch from the car and we lost it when lost and found did not return back our calls.

Day 3: Started with visiting casinos on the LV Strip. Unfortunately our camera stopped working in the very beginning. But we saw MGM Grand Lion show, Paris Las Vegas, Planet Hollywood, Casino Royale, Harrah’s, Bally’s, Palazzo. Went on the gondola ride in the Venetian, had lunch at Wynn in front of the waterfalls. Saw the Siren – Pirates show at Treasure Island at 6 pm, then saw Volcano show at Mirage at 7 pm and then fountain show at Bellagio at 8 pm.

Then went to New York-New York, Excalibur, Mandalay Bay and Luxor and finally retired to our room at midnight.

Day 4: Took a cab to Riviera where we borrowed camera from Kedar who was leaving back to Boston. Then walked to Circus-Circus where we saw 3 shows and played a lot of games. My Cleopatra won a doll! Then walked to Sahara, took snap in front of Stratosphere, walked back to Riviera, went to Encore – boy, Encore is grand! Then had mango ice cream in Wynn, and back to Venetian to take snaps. Then went to Caesar’s Mall and Caesar’s casino. Caesar’s is Huge! It takes about 2-3 hours to see the mall and the casino. Saw couple of shows in the mall and took snaps of all the immense structures esp Troy horse. Also saw Brahma idol in Caesar’s!
After that, ran to Miracle Mile fountain show and then to Eiffel Tower in Paris-Las Vegas. This was the last attraction which we saw. Then to Monte Carlo which was the last casino for us to see on the Strip and then headed back to the airport. Caught the flight at 10.30 pm back to Boston

Day 5: Reached Boston at 7 am and reached Marlborough at 10.30 am. Took a nap before heading to office!

Epilogue: Spent a little more than $600 per head. Learnt one thing: "Penny wise, pound foolish". Had an amazing time all 4 days. Without that small handy book which provided the show timings, this trip could not have been what it ended up being! Gratitude to the lady in the airport visitor center who gave us this Bible!