Las Vegas and Grand Canyon trip. 12/2004

Christmas we had three days off. So we had gone to Las Vegas and Grand Canyon. Here is a write up on my trip (actually its quite long, but it is for 2 days ;)). Do read when you have time.

Enjoy reading....

Friday 24 Dec:
Woke up at 3.00 so as to get ready for the flight. Flight was at 7.00 AM and Detroit airport is 1 hours drive from Royal Oak. We had to return the rental car and also since it was Christmas we had to reach early do as to catch the flight.

Started off from home at 4.00 AM in morning with some 8-10 inches of snow outside and still snowing. We reached the rental car company, returned the car and came to the terminal. While going through security check my luggage had to undergo extensive security check. Actually what happened that I had put my laptop in my cabin bag, and while screening they found some electronic device in my luggage. So my luggage had to undergo checks for explosives. or any other dangerous material traces. In the end it was found clean. And we all proceeded.

Yunus, Ayesha, Diya, Leo, Vishwesh and myself were in same flight from Detroit to Minneapolis. From Minneapolis Leo and Vishwesh had different flight which was lqater then ours. We boarded our flight for the Sin City (Las Vegas). We reached the city of casinos at 11 AM local time (till now we have changed time zones twice :)). From the terminal went to get the rented car, eneded up renting a minivan :)After that we reached hotel and since it was already 1.00 PM (time for Leo and Vish to come) we decided to take rest and wait in hotel before moving. Around 2,00 PM they both came.
Now began our trip to the Sin City. To see everything what this city has to offer. In Las Vegas, there is only one place where everyone goes and that is 'The Strip'. As soon as we reached the Strip we were in for a Big surprise. In front of us were Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building. We were thinking whether we are in Las Vegas or have reached New York (as our initial plan was to reach new York). And the place which was having all that was New York - New York (name of Casino) and in front of it was MGM Grand. We parked our van in MGM Grand and then started for the long walk which we all had after a very looooong time. First we went to MGM Grand and say its beauty. The beautiful sculptures which they have erected. There is a biggggg lion and also some sculptures of Hercules :-) Then from there we went to NY-NY. It was awesome, huge building similar to actual NY building were there. We went inside and saw shops and all. Then it was time to go to place which had given Las Vegas its famed name "Sin City", we went to the huge Casino floor of NY-NY. It was hugeee... And bustling with people. We saw the casino, walked through it and as we all wanted to play, but not in Casino we went to Gaming zone. There we played some games, Yunus was able to retrieve a soft toy after many attempts :-).

Ohh I forgot to mention, there is a roller coaster also in there which we all decided to try :P but since it was cold we decided to take the roller costar on Sunday. So we all came out because it had already become dark and we were still in the first place we went. We came out and went to see Monte Carlo. We saw it from outside as we not planning to go to more casinos and spent time. From there we went to Aladdin.

Inside Aladdin, all architecture was Persian. Roof was not normal roof. It was articial sky and if you look up you will feel you are seeing the sky only. In Aladdin we also saw articial rainstorm :-) The place was awesome. From Aladdin we went to Paris... Ya we has till now traveled four cities of world (NY, Rome, Persia and Paris). When we mention Paris, first thing which comes to our mind is the Eiffel Tower and so that's what we had in front of us. Multi storied Eiffel tower, all lighted up. The view was awesome. We were seeing all things in one single place. From Paris we went to Ballegio and there the fountain show had staterted. (To tell you all, we were not knowing that something of this sort happens there, our mistake we should have researched more. But luck was with us.) What we saw cannot be explained. The musical fountain was awesome. It was really awesome. Those who all have watched musical fountain in Mysore, I will say, that is nothing as compared to this one. The fountains were so big, it was in so big area and also the formations of fountains was too good. It was a sight worth watching.

At this point we all decided to give up for the day (with half of Strip still remaining) as we had to take dinner and go back and take rest. We all came back to hotel and all were sooooooooooo tired. So the day started at 3.00 AM EST and ended at 12. 00 PM PST.


Saturday 25 Dec:

Yunus woke us up at 6.00 AM in morning (we did not wake up with our alarms). Today's plan was to start for Hover Dam and Grand Canyon (one of greatest natural wonders on earth). Today Vinayak and his wife has also joined us (they were in different car). As we got somewhat late (8.00 AM) we decided not to do sight seeing at Hover Dam. We started at 8.00 AM for the 5.00 hours drive to Grand Canyon (which is in Arizona, Las Vegas is in Nevada), with Yunus on wheels and me as Navigator :). Initially the sights were not so good as we were in desert area so not much to see. But as we reached nearer to Hover Dam (actually its on Nevada/Arizona border and we have to cross over it to go to Grand Canyon). The sight was too good. We just passed over the dam and clicked some snaps :-) One thing worth mentioning is that since the Dam is on Nevada/Arizona border, there is change in time. So while going, we crossed 1 hour in just 10 sec. I mean on Nevada side watch is there which was showing 9.05 and when we came to Arizona side the watch was showing 10.05 :-) haha kya to hai yaar yeh. From there the roads were good. At points we will just see road in front of us leading to some hill or sometimes just ending in the horizon. We took rest after driving some 3 hours at Seligman (Exit 121) and ate lunch there. After break of some 40 min we all again stared. After another 3 hours we reached the Grand Canyon National Parks limit. We had driven most of the journey at 100 miles per hour and now were driving at 35 miles/hr which was quite boring.
Grand Canyon is spread over hundreds (probably thousands of miles) and is divided in two parts. One is the South rim (which we have reached) and another is the North Rim, which will be covered in snow at this point of time.

We had 3 hours before sunset and so we decided on some points in the South rim for sight seeing. We covered every point and were on time to see sun going down in the canyon.. just saw it going.. it was so beautiful... Grand Canyon is not a place to go only for 3 hours.. Its a place to go for at least 3 days. In there are resorts on side, so stay there.. track in the canyon.. go for rafting in the Colorado river.. that will be fun.. :-)

At 6 we left from there as we have to reach back. We came back in some 4-5 hours and this time I slept at back and Leo was driving with Vishwesh as navigator :-). When we reached Las Vegas, since we have missed seeing night sight of Vegas from Stratosphere (112 floor tower), we again decided to go to the Strip. We reached the Strip and we got the tickets to go to observation floor which is at 107th floor. List there moves at 31 miles/sec, so did not realize when we reached. Some things about the tower, It is 112 floor tower with only observation point at 107 floor ($10 entry) and at the 112 floor you have one roller coaster, one big shot (one tower where the ride goes up and down - free fall) and the most dangerous and scary of all, one ride which will make u hang from 112 floor.. that was too scary ;)

So we reached at the top and then saw Las Vegas form there. It was so beautiful. Everywhere lights and all and the Strip with cars and all (actually u could not see cars but can make out :P) after seeing we decided to go for rides ;) Now the question was which one, all three seems to be scary. In end we decided that roller coaster is least dangerous, less scary. So we went for it. It was sooooooo good to be in roller coaster on 112th floor ;) Somehow I sat al the time, and when came out, could not stand, but it was tooooooooooooo good :-). It was 3 AM in morning. So after this hectic day we came back to hotel :-), but I could not sleep that night. So was awake all night (slog karne ki practice ;)).

Sunday 26 Dec:
In morning we had to checkout. So at 10.30 we checked out from hotel and then our plan was to go to the Strip again and see the remaining casinos which we could not cover. We went first 'to Circus Circus. There we say one circus show, then went to Treasure Island. There also we roamed around. Basically its theme is on Pirates. Every casino is theme based. After that we went to Mirage which has biological garden inside it. There we saw tigers. And also it has Dolphin Habitat. We went to it, but by that time it was closed :(. Time was running out for us, as we have to go to airport. From there we went to Luxor ( which is having Egyptian theme). It has big Sphinx and the shape of building is Pyramid shaped. From there we went to MGM Grand and NY-Ny for window shopping.
After some window shopping, we had our dinner and came to return the rental car. There me and Vishwesh checked our e-tickets and saw to our horror that our tickets were for next days flight. We came to airport and since luckily seats were there they gave us that night's tickets but charged $25. I was soooooooooo tired, after all had not slept at all. In airport I slept for some time as we had come earlier expecting Christmas rush, then in plane I went to my seat and slept. I was woken by people noise and saw everyone was standing, I thought I had woken in 10 min only, but then saw some people taking out luggage. I was confused :( looked out and saw snow, then realized that I was in Detroit (because of this time zones bohot confusion hoota hai :( ). Phir kiis tarah utha and came. That was the end of the great trip, which I will be remebering throughout my life.