The Highlander

Well it really has been a while since I wrote about my travels and it is that time of the year once again when I write away describing a place that most of you have not seen. The good thing about this is that I am sure that whatever you write and this goes for the vast majority of you would be better than what I can pen. But since I am going first I do have the liberty to jabber away without worrying about what you might have described for the same place J.

The title of this piece is the car that was the mode of transport. The car(actually an SUV) was a Toyota Highlander and I could go on about this V6 4 WD monster. It made the trip even more special. Now down to the details.

I left here at around 10 pm on Wednesday (22/11/2006) and drove down to LA. That night I met up with the two other members of this trip, Barathi and Nandini. We randomly drove around the PCH( Pacific Coastal Highway) and this really twisty road in the mountains next to LA called Topanga( correct me if I got the name incorrect). After doing some random roaming around I got to eat at a Denny’s and crashed at night.

The next morning due to my music collection being insufficient the two girls decided that we needed to take a detour to Thousand Oaks and then head to our destination. We had the most amazing badam payasam at her friend’s place and one could smell the sambar. One was so tempted to chuck all the plans of going wherever and just eat. But then we our stomachs stopped doing the thinking and we were off. LA traffic was not that bad for a change and we were on our way to the canyon. First stop however was Hoover dam. By the time we left Thousand Oaks it was 10 am. The deal with thanksgiving in the US is that everyone is on the road and by everyone I mean every last person in LA has a plan to go somewhere. It is so many cars less on the road and on the highway that that weekend you get parking in LA. This was to my benefit at night but during the day the highway to Hoover was common with the highway to Las Vegas and every one seemed to be headed to Vegas. The highway was packed and we seemed to crawl on. So at one of these points we took a stop at a SHELL bunk and filled up GAS. We then went on to the Hoover dam.

The Hoover dam is a place that I have seen more on TV than any other structure or monument. Be it the construction or the design everything about that dam is just amazing. In real life it is quite simply magnificent. Imagine this at the bottom which is about 750 ft below the width of the Hoover is 660 ft. That is the length of 2 football fields. It was breathtaking the sight and as the American would have it they had lit the place up for everyone to see. So even though we came there at about sunset we could just stand and look at one of the wonders of the modern world. I really wished at this time that they would do this for some of the dams in India. Make them a tourist attraction. Gone are the days when you could take photos and that would be the only indication of the existence of a structure. Nowadays with Google Earth one does not need to take pictures to tell a person where a structure is. So all those claims of national security are a lot of bull crap.

I just stood there for a while in awe of what had been achieved at that place in just five years. Compare this to Bhakra Nangal dam which is only marginally higher than the Hoover and took all of 15 year to complete. It gives you an idea of the engineering that went into the dams’ construction.

We then decided to drive back to Las Vegas just to have a look at what the place looks like. I do even now have a policy against gambling so did not bother entering the casinos. The do look splendid from the outside though. Each of the casinos seems to have a theme to them. The road on which they are all located is called the ‘Strip’ or Las Vegas Boulevard. There were miniatures of the Eiffel, of the Statue of Liberty and various other such attractions along the road. The MGM grand the Bellagio , the Stratosphere they were all on this road which seemed to leave LA’s night life look like the roadside. The night sky was just lit with the advertisement hoardings that were on both sides. Each one trying to outdo the other. This is one place that you want to visit at night and no other time.

We picked up dinner at this road side place and drove on at night to Bellemont, Arizona where we were booked. We had to drive by the Hoover once again. The approach to Hoover on the Arizona side is better than the Nevada side, so got to see that view as well and thanks to them lighting the whole place up the time of the night was not an issue. We drove on that night into Arizona and to the hotel. The motel was this ‘chotu’ place along the highway. We landed there at midnight Pacific Time after driving some 1 046km for the day. That is now my new record for the maximum that I have driven in a day. It smashed my previous best of 712 km (Hyderabad – Bombay). This one however looks like being intact for a while now.

Day 2 we drove to this tiny place called Willams. This place has a small section of the Route 66 (Movie – CARS). It is one of the many Arizona small towns that only survive on tourism. There we found out that we could go to Sedona for a day and then go to this place called Sedona for a day and then see the Grand Canyon the following day. We decided to do just that.

Source some random website J

“Just 110 miles north of Phoenix, Arizona, Sedona has become a central resting stop for visitors of Northern Arizona who wish to explore the scenic Verde River, the 1.8 million-acre Coconino National Forest, or the winding road through Oak Creek Canyon. The number of things to do in Sedona is countless. Relax atop shaded boulders that litter the 16-mile gorge of Oak Creek Canyon, take a rugged Jeep tour through the authentic Indian ruins or scale a monolith that penetrates the crystal blue sky.

On the other hand, some visitors to Sedona choose to do very little at all...like sitting back and marveling at the reflection of the sun at dusk that seems to make the Red Rocks appear an even richer and more vibrant hue, as if they glowed from within. There is a strong belief that Sedona is home to several vortexes, or specific focal points of the earth's energy and they travel many miles just to feel the renewal of energy in their own life. Whatever the case, Sedona has a way of taking your breath away and reminding us that there aren't many places on earth quite as spectacular as Sedona. In fact, Sedona, Arizona was named The Most Beautiful Place in America in USA Weekend's Annual Travel Report. Whether you come to Sedona for adventure or for relaxation, you will leave this beautiful rocky fortress revitalized. So before you pack your bags, browse our Sedona visitor guide for everything you need to know when visiting Sedona.”

It was just this beautiful. We stopped at this view point just before Sedona to get a view of the valley below. One could see the roads curving down the valley. At the time we were getting a view of the valley a few Harleys drove by. The sound of the Harleys driving through the valley is going to echo in my ears for a long time. It was one of the many things that I am never going to forget. When a car goes by one does not hear enough of a road. The Harleys leave a long lasting impression on you J

We had lunch at this family managed hotel on the roadside. There was no dress code (unlike the KFC’s and the Taco Bells). I had a warm spiced Cider for a drink. Try this out sometime. I don’t think you can really make a mess of this drink J.

We then drove down to Sedona itself and walked as close to the red rock itself. Went to about three different view points. Each of them giving us a view of a different rock. One of them called Snoopy(cause it seemed to look like dog with two ears coming out). We went to this place where we could sit by this small river with the rocks just behind and that place seems to be a popular place for people to get married. For pics please give me some time. I am still trying to find a place cheap to process them. They are more expensive here than in Delaware, and I refuse to pay Rs. 1800 to develop and print 36 snaps. Mind you I have about 80 snaps with me. Please do the math. The thought is killing me.

We then went to a GAP outlet. It was after all the day after thanksgiving which means every store is on sale J. Got myself a jacket and a pair of gloves for a lot less than they would have cost me on a normal day. I also bought a T shirt with the message

“If a man speaks in a desert where no woman can hear is he still wrong?”

I just had to buy that T-shirt so did just that. It was one of the Sedona souvenir T-shirts.

We then went to Sedona and had grub at a small coffee place. It was nice to see all the usual California brands missing. No star bucks, no taco bell. None of that stuff. The night sky from Sedona is another view that I will remember. Never tell a kid in California that there are a billion stars in the sky. He won’t buy that. You need to get him to this place to make that statement. We drove back to the motel at night and planned an early rise to see the Grand Canyon.

The Grand Canyon is deceptive. I remember a kid when I went to Mount Abu and to the Jain temples. From the outside it looked like a badly maintained temple and I was really wondering what the fuss was all about. It was when u stepped in that you realized what they were really talking about. We managed to get about 5 viewing points into the trip. A lot of the roads in the GC are for the access of a free bus service only and that means you need to rely on them to get around. Thanksgiving weekend seems to be the perfect time for the whole Indian population in the region to land up there. I could bet that 1 in 4 there were Indians and 3/4^th of these people were tams. Sometimes I wondered which country we were in and if we really are the tourist. Well the Grand Canyon luckily for us was Fog free and the view was clear. I am not sure the pictures that I took or any photographer has taken do justice to this magnificent creation. I do intend to get back here more than once. The first of these times to do the trek down to the base either on a mule back or on foot. Spend the night there by the Colorado and get back the next day. Another time I shall spend a lot more cash and do the flight through the canyon. And a third time I shall approach the canyon from the north rim which is supposed to be an even more beautiful sight. The sunset from the Canyon was viewed by every person at the canyon from one of the points specified by the tour. It was perfect how the sun shone on parts and was moving away from others. It was also remarkable as to how quickly once the sun went down it got cold and to temperatures that I have never experienced in the past.

We then moved to the city where at this IMAX theatre we saw the Grand Canyon Movie (by the way Prasads is better in terms of its seating so HYD u have something to cheer about).

After the screening we went to the Lovell observatory at Flagstaff. This is the place where the ‘planet’ Pluto was discovered. The controversy apart they had 5 telescopes for us to view through. Each of them set to a different star cluster. One to Andromeda and one after the Orion rose to the nebula inside the Orion at the tip of the sword. There are incidentally 4 stars inside this Nebula. The guy who was showing us the various constellations had this really powerful laser which almost seemed to spot out the star that he wanted to talk about. Have to get my hands on one of these J just for the kicks. Yes this is a dangerous bit of equipment.

We then went to a local restaurant where we had dinner. Unlike the usual pizza places this place had a grill which was coal operated (bhatti) to make the pizzas. The food tasted really good again after all the Pizza Hut/ brother associations where the food tastes the same each time you walk in this place had its own flavor. We had the 6 cheese pizza and the Mediterranean pizza. And once again I had my spiced warm cider which was perfect for the weather.

An idea of how cold it was at Arizona was given by the way the cars had ice on them each morning. There was no snow. It was the dew freezing onto the car. So each morning I would have to leave the car on for about 15 min just to defrost the wind screens. I think I was lucky that the road itself did not have this thin film. As a friend of mine would know that can make driving rather dangerous even if you do have ABS.

We left on Sunday morning for LA and spent a good 2 hours in a place on the way looking for an Indian restaurant. The food at the end was totally worth it. But this 2 hour detour cost us another 2 hours through LA traffic which was at its worst when we entered the city. We crawled through finally making it back at 6pm. I then drove to LA to make a deadline at the car rentals place. They would have been really happy to charge me another $75 for coming in late.

At the end I had single handedly driven 1900 miles in 4 days. I was dog tired but was thrilled with myself for taking the time off from what has been a grueling academic schedule. It got so bad at a point that one of my Profs asked me not to show up at the lab for the duration of the thanksgiving break. I was not grumbling. It was the best bit of news that I could have got before the trip. I shall in a while hopefully upload my pics from the trip as well. But for now me got end sems from the next week and I need to study for them. So more from me later.