US Reunion - part 3
Day 3 started by all of us going to watch the sunrise at Grand Canyon. The mornings are pretty cold at Grand Canyon so it would have been nice if we all had some kind of warm clothes to wear, which we had none. We drove to the Mather point which is the first point once you enter Grand Canyon National park. A lot of people had got there ahead of us, it was pretty crowded. Its really awesome to view the canyon in the early hours. The clouds hanging low in the canyon, a really a very pretty sight. We soon got to see the sunrise over the north rim. We had our hotel located near the south rim of the canyon. The sunrise was over really quick and we went ahead took some photos early in the morning with the sun in the background and then headed back to hotel to get our long due shut eye, this was a much awaited event.
We woke up early, surprisingly, and headed out to grab some complimentary breakfast. The time we got there I guess it was the closing time for the breakfast, we ate whatever we got and could. After our breakfast we all changed and checked out of the hotel and decided to spend some time at Grand Canyon. We drove into the park, there was really a long line to get into the park. Once we got into the park we searched for parking spot to park the SUV. After parking we just went around the trail along the rim for sometime. We were all awed at the expanse of the canyon and its beauty. Nature is truly the best artist around and there is no parallel it what it can accomplish, true its a long process, but its surely worth the wait. After taking photographs at the canyon we decided that it was time to leave.
We grabbed some lunch at Tusayan so that we wouldn't need to halt anywhere on the way and head directly to Las Vegas without any stops. We followed AZ-64 S towards Williams, as we neared Williams we saw the signs for I-40 and we merged onto I-40 W. We kept driving on I-40 W for quite sometime probably like over 100 miles. We exited I-40 W onto US-93 N towards Las Vegas via exit 48. US-93 N takes you over the famed Hoover dam. The travel across Hoover dam was exceptionally slow due to construction. Once we crossed Hoover dam it just took us another half hour or so before we exited US-93 N towards Las Vegas Blvd. Once we got onto Las Vegas Blvd we had to drive till we got to Stratosphere which wasn't very long. We checked into Stratosphere, we took the option of a late check-out paying a little extra. When we into the room we found that we had an awesome view of the parking garage, were complaining about it all the while. We decided that we should not waste time and we all got refreshed. As we were getting ready to head out to check out the rides we saw fireworks taking place from the top of the parking garage. We had great view of the fireworks because of the parking garage, and we complaining about it. It was just awesome to see the fireworks so close. Damn we hated the glass window else we could have taken some great photographs of the fireworks.
After we saw the fireworks from the room we all got dressed up and decided go for the rides. After we got the tickets for the rides we had to wait in an exceptionally long line to get past the security so that we could get to the top of the Stratosphere Tower. Once we go to the top of the tower the view of the Sin City was really awesome. You could just see lights for miles and miles, its really an amazing view. The rides atop the Stratosphere tower are Insanity, X Scream, High Roller and Big Shot. Let me just give you a brief description of these rides.
We woke up early, surprisingly, and headed out to grab some complimentary breakfast. The time we got there I guess it was the closing time for the breakfast, we ate whatever we got and could. After our breakfast we all changed and checked out of the hotel and decided to spend some time at Grand Canyon. We drove into the park, there was really a long line to get into the park. Once we got into the park we searched for parking spot to park the SUV. After parking we just went around the trail along the rim for sometime. We were all awed at the expanse of the canyon and its beauty. Nature is truly the best artist around and there is no parallel it what it can accomplish, true its a long process, but its surely worth the wait. After taking photographs at the canyon we decided that it was time to leave.
We grabbed some lunch at Tusayan so that we wouldn't need to halt anywhere on the way and head directly to Las Vegas without any stops. We followed AZ-64 S towards Williams, as we neared Williams we saw the signs for I-40 and we merged onto I-40 W. We kept driving on I-40 W for quite sometime probably like over 100 miles. We exited I-40 W onto US-93 N towards Las Vegas via exit 48. US-93 N takes you over the famed Hoover dam. The travel across Hoover dam was exceptionally slow due to construction. Once we crossed Hoover dam it just took us another half hour or so before we exited US-93 N towards Las Vegas Blvd. Once we got onto Las Vegas Blvd we had to drive till we got to Stratosphere which wasn't very long. We checked into Stratosphere, we took the option of a late check-out paying a little extra. When we into the room we found that we had an awesome view of the parking garage, were complaining about it all the while. We decided that we should not waste time and we all got refreshed. As we were getting ready to head out to check out the rides we saw fireworks taking place from the top of the parking garage. We had great view of the fireworks because of the parking garage, and we complaining about it. It was just awesome to see the fireworks so close. Damn we hated the glass window else we could have taken some great photographs of the fireworks.
After we saw the fireworks from the room we all got dressed up and decided go for the rides. After we got the tickets for the rides we had to wait in an exceptionally long line to get past the security so that we could get to the top of the Stratosphere Tower. Once we go to the top of the tower the view of the Sin City was really awesome. You could just see lights for miles and miles, its really an amazing view. The rides atop the Stratosphere tower are Insanity, X Scream, High Roller and Big Shot. Let me just give you a brief description of these rides.
- Insanity is a ride in which there is an arm that extends out over the edge of the Tower with you hanging from it. The arm then starts to spins us and then moves all of us to an angle of 70 degrees. Basically we are all facing the Las Vegas city as the arms spins faster and faster. Its really fun ride, can take your breadth away if you can look sideways towards the city rather than keep looking down.
- X Scream is ride in which we are propelled over the edge of the Stratosphere Tower and dangled over the strip. You are then pulled back and propelled out again. The ride is really worth it only if you get the first two seats, else its not that fun a ride.
- Big Shot is the ride in which you are catapulted up the towers mast, you are supposed to experience 4G's of force as you reach the top. This ride is really exhilarating. The free fall down is totally different experience. Its probably one of the best rides and everyone should experience it.
- High Roller is basically a roller coaster ride around the Tower. Its probably not the best ride if you don't sit on the outer edge and watch the city spin by you. That experience is worth it, if you get inner seat its pretty much a waste.
After we were done with the rides we were just starved we went search for some food. We dug into are food and we felt so relieved. Initially there was confusion as usual as what we wanted to do. There were a bunch of us who wanted to go and crash and there were couple of us willing to go and check out the city in the night. Well the city is best seen in the night. We hit a couple of casinos at Treasure Island and Mirage. We lost some money but by the end of it we were really tired. After driving back to Stratosphere we went ahead and crashed.
posted by Bharath at 2:12 PM
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