How to tour the American Southwest

I haven’t done this tour yet…but I was just thinking of a good tour which would complete in say 3-4 days – a normal working person’s long weekend.

Starting from Los Angeles (I live there).

Fly to Phoenix by an early morning flight to reach at around 8am. Pick up a rental car in Phoenix and drive north to Grand Canyon. I wonder if this drive passes through Sedona. In 3.5 to 4 hours, we should be in Grand Canyon National Park. Have lunch. Board the free shuttles to take you to various points. Experience sunset at a recommended point. We did it at Yaki point – a stop in the green shuttle. If time permits, watch the IMAX movie in Tusayan (~7 miles from Grand Canyon visitor center). Sleep the night in Grand Canyon (hope that you get a lodge booking in the canyon itself or in Tusayan). Wake up early to catch sunrise at the canyon. Leave at around 7 or so for Page, AZ for smooth water rafting. This drive may take us via Antelope Canyon – I need to check on that. I wonder if the raft goes through the Horseshoe bend or we need to view it from elsewhere. Summer tours are at 6:30am and 12:30pm. 12:30pm is a more humane time to be there if we aren’t in Page the earlier night itself. Page is 2.5 hours from the south rim. Stay that night in Page. Leave for Las Vegas from Page. Try to get a route that passes through Zion and Bryce Canyon (SR-12). Reach Las Vegas at lunch time. Go to MGM grand for the lion exhibit. See the pyramid, sphinx, disneyland, etc in the daytime so you don’t have to go to the southern end of the Strip later on. Have lunch and check in at a hotel on the Strip (Imperial Palace). Rest for a while. Leave at around 4pm or 5pm. Go to the Venetian. Take the deuce to go to Fremont St at around dusk. See the Fremont street experience and return to the Strip for the water fountains at Bellagio. See the conservatory in Bellagio. Try to make it for a Mirage volcano eruption. And retire after a long day. Next day, if your flight is not early, leave for Hoover dam and return in an hour. Hotel check out times on the Strip are usually 11am. Check in times are 3pm. Reach around lunch time back home in Los Angeles.

Two day tour of Las Vegas and Grand Canyon…

I am not a gambler so how do I tour Las Vegas…

This is what I did: I booked a room in Imperial Palace for around $70 per night. This hotel is on the strip just opposite Mirage. Reached Vegas some time in the afternoon by bus (have gone by air before. that is also a nice way to reach Vegas). We didn’t have a lot of luggage, so, from the greyhound terminal, we walked through Fremont street experience to DTC (downtown transportation center). Bought a day pass for deuce and other transit ($5 per person). Boarded the deuce to reach Imperial Palace. Checked in, freshened up, ate something and left the hotel room. We visited the Venetian. Crossed the street and boarded deuce to take us to the southernmost end of the strip (we got off at mgm grand. next time i will try getting off at the tropicana). We saw the lion exhibit, had a quick dinner at Del Taco and then walked back to bellagio from mgm grand. That was unnecessary. Next time I will board the deuce back to bellagio. It was dusk by then and we got to see our first show of the bellagio fountains. We went inside bellagio to the conservatory of flowers and were back in an hour for our second fountain show. and we waited for yet another show Then we boarded the complimentary shuttle from Harrah’s to Rio for masquerade in the sky. that was a waste of time. next time we will go for the fremont street experience instead. really liked fremont street when I saw it in daytime.
Next time, I will try to take out some time for the Mirage volcano. and have heard that there are white tigers in one of the casinos. so that could be on my list.

Next day early morning, we picked up our Hertz rental car right from our hotel (! very convenient) Imperial Palace at 7am and took off for hoover dam. stopped for some supplies at an albertsons at the junction for 93S. Reached hoover dam at 9:30am. Planned to be there till 10am. Were off at 10am…Didn’t realise the implications of it at that time while crossing the state line, but we had lost at hour there and it was now 11am….We reached grand canyon at 2pm (when it was actually 3pm…). Mather Pt was beautiful but horribly cold. Enjoyed it though. Then were a little confused. so caught the green shuttle to Yaki Pt at 4:30pm for sunset. It was beautiful. Left immediately at 6:00pm for Flagstaff. we had a greyhound bus to catch later in the night. Reached greyhound terminal at 8:20pm after getting lost many times…just in time for the bus.

Next time, we will take out time for the imax movie and smooth water raft trip. have seen the imax movie before but not done the raft trip yet.

I want to make Shahi Tukdi

Shahi Tukdi

My office cafe would make this delicious dessert. I dissected it and found what all it contained.

Here goes…

Ingredients:

bread – cut into 1 sq inch squares

sugar syrup (1-string consistency) – a later post will explain what it is and how to make it.

sweetened condensed milk

oil for frying

Method:

Fry bread squares. Drain on a paper towel. Dip fried bread squares in sugar syrup for 15 seconds. Remove into a serving dish. Pour a few tablespoons of condensed milk. Chill (optional) and serve. These could qualify as Indian donuts and are NOT for the calorie conscious..

I wanted to buy a HP12C financial calculator…

Amazon – http://tinyurl.com/22rcwe

http://www.hp.com/calculators/financial/12p/

My opinion

I searched high and low (on the internet and on terra…) for good deals to buy this calculator. Amazon had one of the best deals on the net. But I wanted it sooner than their super saver free shipping. Frys had one of the best deals on land. But frys was way too far from home…Guess where I found it most convenient…Costco. got it for $70+tax.

I want to buy a point and shoot digital camera…

http://reviews.cnet.com/digital-cameras/

http://www.dpreview.com/

My opinion:

I have a soft corner for Canon Powershot A series cameras. A520 has given me some of the most amazing photographs till date. It’s shape lends it to be held easily in hands. I could improvise with the many shooting modes available – sports mode is very useful while taking photos from a moving vehicle. I don’t look for the latest cameras in the market. I look for cameras that are a year old in the market. I get good deals on them and good reviews. A570 IS is something that I would buy now.