Around the west in 11 days

11 days, 7 hotels and 6 places… I am back after a wonderful trip! Highlights of our travel were - Amazing landscapes, quaint little towns, the most scenic coast (that I have seen) and wonderfully weird artificial world in the middle of a desert.

Who ever called Las Vegas The Disney World for Adults was absolutely right. This city wakes up after the sun goes down. I always had this preconceived notion about Vegas that it was all about gambling, drinking and partying… and that people who didn’t find any of those activities interesting would be thoroughly bored to death… We didn’t get to do any of the above-mentioned activities (at least not to the extent that I would’ve liked to) during our trip but we still enjoyed every bit of it. I have learned that Las Vegas is not just about wild parties... it has something to offer for every one. Great restaurants, some of the world’s best chefs, amazing shows, beautiful buildings…you could spend days walking around without sipping on an alcoholic beverage or sitting down on a roulette table and still have a wonderful time. I think that V’s parents thoroughly enjoyed the experience. They were amazed at the vibrant nightlife, the casinos, the neon and the whole concept of extravagance that Vegas had to offer. Of course, I don’t expect them to want to go back to Vegas or put this on top of their favorite places in the US, but I am pretty certain they’d always be in awe of the energy this city had.

From the exhausting 90 F heat in Vegas we drove to upper 30 F and an almost freezing little town of Tusayan, just outside the Grand Canyon National Park’s South Rim. The next morning we bundled up and went to the Canyon to see the sunrise. It’s truly an amazing experience to see the colors of the Grand Canyon come alive with the rays of the sun. What can I say about the Canyon itself? I don’t know… words won’t do justice. It’s beautiful, but in a very different way! For me… it was humbling. It reminded me that no matter what we do, how much power we humans think we have; Nature is capable of something that’s completely beyond our comprehension!

There is a lodge called El Tovar right beside the Canyon. This old building has such a charm to it that if I ever visit the Canyon again, I’d make sure I would book my stay there. It has amazing views of the Canyon, a wonderful restaurant and most importantly it has a wonderful lodge-y feel to it!

Hip, Artsy, Modern, Charming and Gorgeous city of San Francisco was our next destination. We were blessed with beautiful weather, a little chilly but sunny and nice. V’s cousin who lives in the Bay area was our tour guide. Cable car ride to Fisherman’s wharf was the first item on the agenda. A stop at Boudin Bakery, a bowl of clam chowder (for sea food lovers in the family) in San Francisco Sourdough was next. Post lunch saw us on a ferry ride to a little town on the other side of the bridge; we cruised past the Alcatraz and Golden Gate Bridge in to the quaint and charming Sausalito (Thanks Priyanka for the recommendation). After spending a few hours walking in Sausalito we got back to SFO. We stopped at the Union Square; a local band was playing some foot tapping Cuban music. After their performance we called it a day! I’d definitely love to go back to SFO and spend more time there and check out the ethnic neighborhoods and do more of the non-tourist-y stuff… but for now I am glad I got the SFO experience.

Driving down route CA 1 has been the most wonderful experience for me! The beautiful blue Pacific Ocean stretching as far as the eye could see on one side, vegetables and fruit farms overlooking the ocean on the other side… this has to be the most scenic drive I have ever been on. We stopped at an organic Strawberry farm for a quick berry fix… later my fil being a farmer was thrilled to see all the pumpkin farms… so we made a pit stop at one of the pumpkin farms too. We spent the night at Monterey. We continued our journey to Carmel by the sea… stopping to see some beautiful golf courses and vista points… before we got on the real highway and drove to a relative’s place in Sacramento.

This is what Mark Twain had to say about our last destination - “At last the lake burst upon us--a noble sheet of blue water lifted six thousand three hundred feet above the level of the sea, and walled in by a rim of snow-clad mountain peaks that towered aloft three thousand feet higher still! As it lay there with the shadows of the mountains brilliantly photographed upon its still surface, I thought it must surely be the fairest picture the whole world affords." - He wrote these words about Lake Tahoe.
The lake is definitely the “jewel of the Sierras”. We got lucky and experienced an early snowfall, much to the thrill of my in-laws. This was the first time they saw snow… As for me I was thrilled because we got to see the breathtakingly tranquil lake gracefully nestled between snow-capped mountains. That was picture perfect! The downside of the snow was that it got very foggy near the lake and we didn’t get to enjoy the views from Emerald Bay… but I am not complaining at all!
Between Grand Canyon and Lake Tahoe, I was having a tough time deciding which would qualify as my favorite spot. In the end, I picked Lake Tahoe. As amazing, beautiful and mighty as it may be, for some reason, the Canyon had quite an unsettling effect on me. On the other hand, what wouldn’t I do to own a little log cabin facing the lake, perched on a hill surrounded by tall alpine forests… A cup of hot chocolate in one hand and a book in the other… my perfect vacation! Some day!