Trip to Grand Canyon

My last post in 2008 was about my trip to Las Vegas. Combined with this trip was a visit to Grand Canyon. So this post is gonna be about my trip down to Grand Canyon.

We set out at around 8am in the morning from Las Vegas. A trip down to Grand Canyon must encompass either a view of the Sunrise or the Sunset. We were planning to watch the Sunset. On that particular day the Sun was to set at 5.32pm. So we were planning to be there at around 2pm..... visit the Rims , watch the sunset and then start back to Vegas.

Enroute we were planning to visit Hoover Dam too. Starting out from Las Vegas , we got stuck in traffic and it was then that i decided that i was not planning any more holidays during the long weekends. The traffic during the long weekends is horrid.... and sitting in the car for hours together makes it even more impossible to bear.

To reach Hoover Dam we had to cross Lake Mead........ and is the largest reservoir in the US.Formed by water impounded by Hoover Dam , it extends 110 mi (180 km) behind the dam, holding approximately 28.5 million acre feet (35 km³) of water. The water held in Lake Mead is released to communities in Southern California and Nevada, via aqueducts. To know more about lake Mead , check out the link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Mead .

Of the less than 1 hour duration it should have taken us to reach Hoover Dam , it took us almost 2 hours and we reached there at 10am. We spent around an hour there admiring the structure of the Dam... man is it awesome :). As we were planning to start we happened to meet a friend of my husband's who was also enroute to Hoover Dam with his wife. We decided to stop together for lunch and then meet later on at Grand Canyon.

Starting from Hoover Dam we were expecting to travel atleast 3 hours to reach Grand Canyon. At the Nevada / Arizona border is a scenic view point. We had stopped there and the view of the Colorado River running so small was something i did not expect to see. So small but in fact a big river :)...... amazing view...... as the photo on the right indicates.

On the dusty road , i was too tired and fell asleep for almost an hour. We stopped for lunch at McD's..... there was nothing else enroute..... and i happen to love McD's...while my hubby dear hates eating burgers :).... guess opposites attract is an example here.

The traffic was light so we were able to make it to Grand canyon as per plan at 2:30pm. That day the temperature was supposed to be in the negatives and we were all prepared for it. But still when i got down from the car , it was freezing cold. I was decked up in a woollen knit top , a sweater on top , a knee length coat , a scarf and gloves ....and i still felt cold :(.

We met our friends there , parked our cars and decided to use the local tourist bus to visit the various Rims at Grand Canyon. To read more about Grand Canyon check the link...... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Canyon .

There were 4 major spots in the Park but due to time constarints we were able to make it to only 3 points. Since the sunset was at 5.32 , my Hubby who has already paid 2 visits to Grand Canyon was like lets make it to Hopi Point , as supposedly the view there is awesome. So all of us started walking..... as we reached Hopi point by 5.10pm and were among the early birds we could grab good seats for a birds eye view of the sunset.

As the time was nearing , the crowds started and i could see people from various walks of life coming up. Among the crowds i could also identify a couple of Indian languages :). D , my hubby , kept telling me that within 5 mins the sun would set down completely , but i hardly did believe and i did believe when i finally saw it :).

At exactly 5.32pm the sun started setting down , and in less than 5 mins the sun was completely down. Within 10 mins the sky started turning dark. Awesome and i am sure ho many ever sunsets i may see in the future , this one will always stay in mind and iam going to make

comparisons always to the Sunset that i had a chance to view here.

The first pic on the right is that of the setting sun at Hopi Point , and the second one below it is within 10 mins of the sun setting down :)

As we were returning back to the base....the cafeteria for us :).... i kept thinking how even a small attraction was turned out to be a big tourist spot here , whereas back home ...even if the place had the best view /attraction , it still would not have been utilized properly either by the people or by the Government. Guess the art of turning everything into a Business proposition is something that we have to learn from people here :)

We were back at the cafeteria by 6.30pm , had a cup of hot chocolate , said good bye to our friends and started back on our journey to Vegas. Luckily gtraffic was once again light so we could make it up fast. But inspite of everything , we reached the hotel at past 11pm that night...... and i just remember crashing onto the bed and falling asleep. The last thought on my mind was that after returning home i should learn driving as then my hubby would also have been able to take a break during the drive :). I did take the Driving test ...but that was almost a year later :).

Next day....post lunch saw us heading back to CA from Vegas and getting stuck in traffic. The journey of around 5 hours ended up being a journey of 8+ hours :(....

So anyways friends this is it for now...... will be back soon with more updates :)

Sign Of Seven Trilogy

Sign Of Seven Trilogy - Nora Roberts

This series has 3 books :

1. Blood Brothers
2. The Hollow and
3. The Pagan Stone

Synopsis of the Books:

Blood Brothers :

In the small village of Hawkins Hollow, three best friends who share the same birthday sneak off into the woods for a sleepover the evening before turning 10. But a night of pre-pubescent celebration turns into a night of horror as their blood brother oath unleashes a three-hundred year curse.

Twenty-one years later, Cal Hawkins and his friends have seen their town plagued by a week of unexplainable evil events two more times - every seven years. With the clock winding down on the third set of seven years, someone else has taken an interest in the town's folklore. Quinn is a well known scholar of local legends, and despite Cal's protests, insists on delving in the mystery. But when the first signs of evil appear months early, it's not only the town Cal tries to protect, but also his heart.

The Hollow :

In the small village of Hawkins Hollow, three best friends who share the same birthday sneak off into the woods for a sleepover the evening before turning 10. But a night of pre-pubescent celebration turns into a night of horror as their blood brother oath unleashes a three-hundred year curse. Twenty-one years later, Fox O'Dell and his friends have seen their town plagued by a week of unexplainable evil events two more times - every seven years. With the clock winding down on the third set of seven years, someone else has taken an interest in the town's folklore. A boutique manager from New York, Layla Darnell was drawn to Hawkins Hollow for reasons she can't explain - but the recent attacks on her life make it clear that it is personal. And though Fox tries to keep his professional distance, his interests in Layla have become personal too.

The Pagan Stone :

The Pagan Stone had stood for hundreds of years, long before three boys gathered around it to spill their blood in a bond of brotherhood, unwittingly releasing a force bent on destruction ...Gage Turner has been running from his past for a long time. The son of an abusive drunk, his childhood in the small town of Hawkins Hollow was tough - his only solace his friendship with Fox O'Dell and Caleb Hawkins. But, aged ten, the boys unleashed evil on their town: every seven years murder and mayhem reign, and each cycle is more extreme than the last. Now Gage has returned home to help his friends save Hawkins Hollow, but a lifetime as a loner has made him wary of emotional ties. And who can make plans for the future when their present is so uncertain? For unless they find a way to use the Pagan Stone against the demonic force, everything they know and love will be destroyed ...

My Views :

Iam a big fan of NR so the day the book is released i buy the book... and to top it i pester my hubby dear to take me out to buy the book :)..... he keeps saying that he is the one to spoil me by buying books for me to read :)

The First book Blood Brothers was released in Nov 2007... a month after i landed in US soil and it was the first book that my hubby got for me here. The Hollow released in May 2008 and finally The Pagan Stone , the last of the trilogy was released Nov 2008 , a complete circle ..... 3 books in a year :)

The moment i started reading Blood Brothers i had a strong feeling that it was very similar to her 3 Sisters Island Trilogy as it involved paranormal forces and magic being put into effect by the 3 Blood Brothers and the 3 women who come into town and form a relationship with each other , a bonding as close as the 3 men. As we read the first book it becomes clear that the 3 men and women are going to be paired of together as couples :). The 3 couples make interesting reading and make us guess as to what they would be doing next. Blood Brothers as the title indicates is the relationship between 3 boys who grow up together and who are not related to each other except for the reason that they are all born on the same day , same year and to most knowledge at the same time. Though i would not rate it as her other books i still was hooked enough to read the next 2 books as soon as they were released.

Book 1 brings out the relationship between Cal & Quinn , Book 2 Fox and Layla & finally Book 3 Gage and Cybil.  The 3 couples have their own powers and they develop their skills. The case of the dreams occuring at the same time for all of them , makes us understand that they are all connected to each other.They hone up their skills as it is required of them so that they can fight the Demon Lazarus...... and though the first 2 books have each of the couples fighting with the Demon it becomes clear as we finish reading Book 2 that Book 3 is going to be crucial and Gage plays a major part. true enough Book 3 was what i loved best. Gage's character is refined well and his relationship as it develops with Cybil is well described as both their characters do not like to settle , carry a lot of baggage and are in this war against the Demon mainly because of their friends. Cybil realises that her friends are pregnant as she sees visions of the future but does not realise that she is also pregnant.... which when Quinn asks her to check makes her realise that there is an importance in it as Ann(the original flashback story) was also pregnant with Triplets at the time of her Husbands war against the Demon. The genealogy that all 6 are related in turns to the magician and the Demon makes us realise that this is the reason they are elected to fight against the demon.........

On the whole i would not rate these books as the Best but i would say that they make a good read. For people who like good reads this is a good choice , but dont expect too much out of them :)... the developing romance and the relationships between the 6 as friends is well related to.... so guess that does count .....

So if you are upto reading this....enjoi reading it :)

Merry Xmas Everyone.... and i will be back with more reviews of the books that i have read :)

Thanksgiving at LasVegas :)

Hi All,

Its been a long time since i came blogging....... first been sick :( next my dear hubby was working from home and no access to the laptop :(...... thought enufs enuf and here iam coz i did not want anyone to forget me or my blogs ...... :)

Iam going to tell about my trip to LasVegas.... man the pleasure one faces as you walk thru the strip is amazing...... But it took me some time to get used to the drop in temperature in Vegas when compared to Cal :)

We started around 11 in the am when the actual plan was to start by 8 :) and the traffic on the freeway was awful.... bumper to bumper and this was my first experience with such heavy traffic. After around 1.5hrs the traffic improved and we reached Vegas as per plan at around 7pm. Entering into Vegas , the lights was amazing. But what i luved more was the ride thru the desert. Dry land is in a way a beauty to admire as we admire the greenery.

Had booked into a hotel near the strip so checked in there first and after having a short rest we were back to the "Strip".... parked at MGM and we went strolling thru the strip. The activity at so late in the nite is not something we normally see in our day to day life in our places .... such crowd and man the money spent here is just unimaginable i guess :) 

I just wanted a walk thru in all the major casinos and my dear hubby was ready to please me :).... the grandeur of Caesars Palace is something that still keeps striking me at odd moments and so does the Lion at the MGM :).... btw did u know nearly half of the major casinos in the Strip are owned by the MGM group..... includes MGM Grand , The Mirage , Bellagio , Circus-Circus and Excalibur to name a few :)... wish i had that kind of money to invest... then i guess if i did have i could retire happily for the rest of my life........

As we were walking i did note down the time for the fountains at the Bellagio and we were back in time for the Fountains to light up in sync with the music. That was an awesome sight and something iam going to remember. For the 3 nights that we stayed in Vegas i made it a point to go to the Bellagio all nites to see just the fountains playing :)... we returned bck to the hotel at around 1.30am :) and i was freezing ......

The next day was Black Friday and so we thought we would scrounge around for some good deals in electronics....... we had friends also visiting Vegas and we met up with them. Evening went in for the rides at Stratosphere and the view from the top floor of Vegas was great. The ride in the elevator amde me giddy for a second but then got used to it.... and coincidentally met a friend of mine ... guess being in CA we could not meet bu then we did meet at Vegas :)... that did strike me funny.

Saturday made a trip to Hoover Dam and Grand Canyon ( will talk about that in the next blog) and Sunday after a late breakfast went for a walk in the strip , had lunch at an Indian Restaurant and then back to the hotel to pack up and start back to CA. The return journey was as bad as possible... the trip of 5 hrs took us in total 8.5 hrs and we had news channels standing with their crews to record the traffic :)

And b4 i forget my husband did play at the Casinos and lucky for him...... he did win 500$ after spending 200$ :)... guess i need to thank my stars that my hubby dear does not gamble :)

Will be bck in a couple of days with my trip to Grand Canyon :).. till then wishing everyone a Merry Xmas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Vaaranam Aayiram

            Vaaranam Aayiram(VA)..... guess its been a much awaited movie. It had Gautham Menon , Harris Jeyaraj and of course Suriya :). This combo reminded everyone of "Kaakha Kaakha" and everyone was awaiting the release of VA eagerly. When it was made known that Simran was making a come back , I remember many of my friends telling me that they wanted to see the movie coz of her :)

Music:

          The release kept getting delayed and it was finally released on Nov 14. The music already had rave reviews and the songs catching everyones attention made me also sit up as i did really like the music. But like everytime Harris Jeyaraj composes music there is atleast one song which when heard made me think i have already heard it somewhere. I prefer melodious music any day and so i liked 

"Nenjukul Peindhidum" and "Annal Melae". "Oh Shanthi" also made an impression on me and SPB Charan's voice made me remember SPB himself :). Surprisingly "Annal Melae" has been sung by Sudha Raghunath and not by Bombay Jayshree and it took me some time to identify the singer :). Shud say her voice is totally different in this song. Though the other songs are good these are my all time favs :)

Movie:

        Let me tell you , my hubby kept telling me...."the more u expect from a movie , its definitely bound to fail" and I would say the movie definitely did not meet my expectations.

        I guess the relationship between a father and Son has not been dealt with that very often and hence it did make a change.But the fact remains that the father forgot all about his daughter :( The change in between the flashbacks and the current day reminded me of Mani Ratnam's "Alaipayuthey" , the only difference being that the black and white to colour scenes were missing :)

       Simran , Samira and Divya..... man i love Simran the most .... she did suit the role of a Mom well i guess. But then i did not understand the need for the dialogues in English... fine as long as someone knows the language. But wat abt ppl who do not know English? Any tamil movie is dependent on the Masses and so i guess this would not meet the expectations of the common people in TamilNadu. Samira & Divya were also ok i guess.

      Surya , Simran...... Simran has a hair style that reminds one of  the yesteryear heroines. But then the other college mates of Simran have a normal hairstyle :)... guess they forgot all abt the other ladies :) Dad Surya following Simran , leaving a msg with the librarian and later with others was quite cute :) and i did enjoi them. Guess the romantic streak did continue with the son , with the scene at the US Consulate making one laugh. 

      And how did a dad who was so close to his son not notice that his son was doing drugs until it reached a boiling point? Guess i can still keep asking questions.......... and it will never end :)

      My friend told me..."I had a feeling that i was watching 2 different movies" and once i saw the movie i have to say i felt the same.

      Share your ideas on the movie folks ............. waiting to hear from you.

Cold Pursuit

           Hey , i guess its been more than a month since i updated my blog so here iam today with one more book :)

           Carla Neggers is an author i happened to pick up recently by accident :) And Oh my...i enjoi her books. The chararcters in her books are linked and the more i started reading her books the more i wanted to read all the books linking the characters. Especially the ones linking the characters from the US Marshals. And her latest involves agents from Secret Service.

Synopsis:

              A prominent ambassador is killed in a suspicious hit-and-run in Washington, D.C. Hours later, his stepdaughter vanishes in the mountains of northern New England. 

           Back in her hometown of Black Falls, Vermont, to do damage control on her career, Secret Service agent Jo Harper is drawn into the search. But her efforts face an unexpected challenge: Elijah Cameron.
           With his military training and mountain rescue experience, Elijah knows the unforgiving terrain better than anyone. But he and Jo have been at odds forever - and Elijah believes the missing teenager isn't just lost.she's on the run.
           Forced to work together, Jo and Elijah battle time and the elements in a race into the unforgiving mountains. The twists and turns awaiting them will take them closer to the explosive truth and into the sights of a killer.

Review:

              My first impression with this book was it was ok. I would not rate it as high as all the other books of hers that i have read. I would say that the ending was dull and not that interesting. All her other books have an ending that leaves us expecting more and wants us to lay our hands on the next book. This left me wishing there was more of a proper ending to the book.

              The best part of this book was the character of Charles Preston Neal , the 16 yr old son of the Vice President of the USA and the character who the Secret Service Agent Jo Harper was protecting. His pranks were the reason Jo is on vacation and comes in contact with Elijah , her childhood sweetheart. His nature indicates that he delves into the whole mystery with full vigour and keeps calling Elijah/Jo giving them more information. He is also the one who links all assasinations together. I love his character :) and the pranks he plays even after Jo is on leave as in exchanging places with his cousin to fool the Secret Service Agents is good. And to top it all he has a very high IQ.

             Jo and Elijah though tough characters are still vulnerable when it comes to the other and their feelings. Its a good cat and mouse tale but leaves us wanting.

            

            People reading it .... let me know your opinions , share your thoughts.