2014 U.S. Diary ( Part 5) - VISITING PLACES OF TOURIST INTEREST

U.S. Diary ( Part 5 ) - Visiting Places of Tourist Interest

- P.Natarajan, camp: Canton MI     

On Aug 03, 2014 (Sunday) we bid goodbye to the world’s entertainment capital Las Vegas and Excalibur Casino where we had stayed and proceeded on our journey to San Diego. We had our usual Starbucks Coffee at Excalibur and it became almost 11.30 a.m. by the time we vacated the hotel, loaded the luggage in the vehicle, and started moving. The weather was favourable and we said our morning prayers as we had to travel about 350 miles to reach San Diego. We crossed the Nevada Border @ Mojave Whiskey Posts zone and entered California State - the time was 1.20p.m. and also time for lunch and we parked the vehicle in front of a Subway. Sandwiches from Subway with 4 to 5 fillings are generally delicious and satisfy the appetite to a great extent. Karthik ordered mexican veg. burger. We collected the hot coffee and continued our journey.

The journey was pleasant as we saw the blue tides of the great Pacific Ocean flowing rapidly up and down at a distance on our right side. The highway was running parallel to the Pacific Ocean. As we were to cover yet another 70 miles or so, it started raining. Aparna was driving and rains were part of the game whenever she drove. We reached San Diego safely and arrived by 7.15 p.m., " The Grand Pacific Palisades -  Resort and Hotel " where we had booked an apartment with a kitchen, dining ,living and 3 large bedrooms for our stay for the next six days.

               

The resort offers a spectacular view of the Pacific Ocean, has sumptuous decor, provides facilities associated with a good resort and satisfies the needs of the traveler. Recreation amenities include swimming pool, children's water park, spas, activity centre and a restaurant. It also has a basketball court. It is a center spot for sightseeing.

 

We had dinner in the restaurant - Soup, fresh vegetable salads, sandwiches, pasta - which we enjoyed as we were hungry. Sekhar and Aparna went out to buy some food items, fruits to take care of breakfast the next day. 

We washed our clothes for the first time after 6 days in the laundry area where we got supply of soap etc;, the total expense was about $3.50 for washing and drying a huge load. After folding the clothes and watching TV for some time we went to bed around midnight and had a restful sleep to the drone of the a.c.


 

Aug 4-
The aroma of Gevalia filter coffee woke us up around 6.30 a.m. Aparna was preparing coffee as she used to do at home in Denver.She had brought all essential items for cooking @ the apt.- kitchen. It is needless to say we enjoyed the coffee along with Parle's buttered crackers as we sat in the balcony outside, watching the rising sun and the blue waters of the Pacific. We could see the tractors ploughing the land for sowing the fall flowers. We missed the summer flowers in that area by a week otherwise it would have been a spectacular view of !0,000 daffodils and roses tossing their heads in the breeze from the ever flowing waters. 

We decided to spend the morning in cooking, going for a stroll around the resort whereas Viggy and Karthik disappeared with their swim suits into the pool. After a lunch of rotis, subji, salads, appams, yogurt and fruits the boys were becoming restless as they were going to meet Ajay mama, Ritu mami, Neel after 2 years and baby Isha for the first time. Ajay and family arrived by 4pm from Detroit, via Phoenix - they had hired a vehicle from the car-rentals at the airport and kept the same for use for the days they stayed in San Diego. Two cars were at our disposal to accommodate the family members of Natarajans, Sekhars and Ajays.

( Neel and Karthik, the best buddies )

( Viggy, cleverly advancing with the ball, before throwing into the basket )

( The Pool and the scenic view including the bare flower bed as seen from the sit out in our Suite in the Resort )

( Ready to explore In the company of grand children - Isha, Neel and Karthik )

We then drove to San Diego Beach as an outing for the evening. Every one jumped into the warm water and had a nice sea bath. Neel and Grandma fell down so many times as they lost their balance while jumping to avoid the high and splashing waves. Viggy, Ajay and Karthik were at quite a distance ; it was a hard task to bring them back to the shore. We watched the setting sun's hallelujahs in the horizon in the west. (Sun set only after 8.30p.m in U.S. in summer).  

( Evening in the Beach )

We returned to the apt. by 9 pm. and soon had dinner of sandwiches ,fruits ,hot cocoa. We washed the beach soaked clothes in the laundry and retired to bed after playing with Neel hide and seek. Isha was crawling all over the place and one of us always kept a close vigil.

Aug,5

Legoland :- Legoland is situated just opposite the Grand Pacific Palisades Resort and we chose to walk the distance on the morning of Tuesday, the 5th August. Legoland California Resort was built in 1999 based around the Lego Toy Brand and it stands as the 3rd unit to open in San Diego and as first one outside Europe. The place has become more popular after the ' Lego Movie'.

It is the only one in the world with a water park.  The Legoland is located in Carlsbad and occupies 128 acres of land. The entrance fee for Legoland alone is $78 per head, extra for Water Park and Seaworld.  Children in the  small age group play in the amusement park  geared with lego blocks and rides. There is an imagination section for promoting creativity and kids are encouraged to build bridges and dams.

(Family get together )

The Theme Park is full of rides that young kids would simply love them.  We had the chance to see Viggy, Karthik and Neel going on the rides. Miniland USA , which is a part of the Park brings before the visitors the miniature representation of different States of U.S.A. We came to know 4 million legos were used to build this theme in an accurate scale of 1:20.

( The Miniland of USA - the two pictures above - 4 million legos used in 1:20 scale )

(Neel seen relaxing above  -  Ajay represents Michigan, but the mini U.S.

behind him represents 7 States in Legoland )

( Dad and Son enjoying the Theme Parks in Legoland )

( Legoland California Resort - Only one in the world with a Water Park.)

Viggy, Karthik and Neel - the younger Tykes enjoyed many aspects in Legoland, to mention a few:-- Squabbles Deek, Pirate Shores, the Whimsical Rides, the Musical Fountain etc;..

What is something to look out in Legoland ?  It is the smallest model of a duck hanging in the window in Chinatown in Miniland in San Francisco area. The largest model is Bronte - the stunning lego creation is made with 2 million lego bricks. Smoking is prohibited in all areas. Stroller is available on first come first basis. We availed the stroller basis and Isha the baby enjoyed the ride in it. Park Hopper Ticket costs 10 bucks more per person but the bang is worth the buck - not only you get all the fun rides of Legoland but also allowed to enjoy the waterpark ride as well.

Viggy, Karthik, Neel and Isha loved the visit to the Legoland - the minion doll what is seen in Neel’s hands is a prize won by Viggy for throwing the ball right into the basket in the first chance itself  - in the picture above Aparna tells her boys that it is time to go )

We had an enjoyable lunch in Pizza Hut inside Legoland - it was a buffet lunch with Salads, Pizza, Pasta and soft drinks.

( Relaxing in the Resort drawing hall and Planning for the next day).

We returned to Grand Pacific Palisades Resort after spending the whole day in Legoland. It was a day sans four wheeler in this trip.

 ( Breakfast getting ready in the Resort-Kitchen)

August 06, the Wednesday morning, after a cup of hot filter coffee, we got ready for the day's agenda. We had cereal, bread toasts and more coffee. Children drank juice, filled the water bottles for the way and were ready by 10 a.m. driving towards Malibu.

           

We shared the seats in the two vehicles . Ajay and Sekhar drove comfortably along the Pacific coast and reached Sri Venkateswara Temple @ Malibu in 2 hours before noon. It was a beautiful way as we were going thru' scenic sight, watching houses on mountains with tropical plants and flowers like hibiscus, vinca, nerium (Arali). Though we were driving around noon, the weather was good through out our stay @ San Diego, the mercury was between 60 and 85 F.

The Temple is located in the city of Calabasas, California in Santa Monica Mountains. The Hindu Temple Society of Southern California owns it.  There are two complexes, the upper and the lower. Lord Venkateswara who is in the upper complex stands majestically. We performed ashtotra archana and received the prasad. 

( Malibu Temple has two Complexes )

The Thayar Sannidhi was behind Balaji's. Shiva Temple is housed in the lower complex. Mrityunjaya Homam was going on - we worshipped Lord Shiva, Parvati, Ganesha, Subrahmanya and the Navagrahas.We received dates as prasad from the priest after the Homam.

1998 Tamil Movie Genes - the Malibu temple features in a song. Beverly Hills Nanjia, the 1998 film also carries some scenes focussing the Malibu Temple. The scenic settings run for 25 miles around the city of Malibu. We enjoyed the scenery as we drove for one more hour in search of VEGGIE GRILL - a popular restaurant with more options for vegetarians. Karthik and Viggy chose their menu with ease. Aparna preferred salads as usual. Ajay and Sekhar chose the items for us. Since the plates were large we shared the items which were hot and delicious.

( Lunch @ VEGGIE GRILL in Santa Monica )

After lunch we headed towards the Pier of Santa Monica. The parking lot was almost full as a huge holiday crowd was thronging the beach.

Santa monica pier is a large double jointed pier - a land mark in  Santa Monica and is 100 year old it is a prominent tourist attraction - After gearing us with proper swim dresses we joined the other bathers to have sea-bath in the Pacific ocean. The water was deep turquoise in color. Viggy, karthik, Ajay and Aparna who are good swimmers went a little far into the rising tides , vanished for a moment and came out when the waves pushed them with force to the shore side. Neel came to the dry area to play on the sand. He had brought the shovels and pails to fill water and sand. Isha stayed with grandma as the latter didn't want to wet her good saree. The others enjoyed dodging or being tossed by the force of waves for more than an hour.

We left the sea shore by 5pm and after changing into dry clothes drove towards Hollywood. Ajay and Co. reached the place by 7.00p.m. and the second party joined them a little late. We were speechless to view the vast mansions of the celebrities though we only had the external view. The drive was quite exciting .After parking the cars we leisurely strolled through the celebrated Hollywood Walk of Fame, the long street lit with an array of colorful lights and huge sign boards.
The names of celebrities are seen on the street in a Star Mark and referred as Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Hollywood sign is a landmark and American Cultural Icon located in Los Angeles. It is situated on Mount Lee in the Hollywood Hill area of Santa Monica Mountains.

The Hollywood Walk of fame comprises more than 2500 five-pointed terrazzo and brass Stars embedded in the sidewalks along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and 3 blocks of vine street in Hollywood. We could read famous names like Walt Disney, Marlon Brando, Marilyn Monroe, Peter O'toole, Charlton Heston, Liz Taylor and many more.

We were attracted by a shop sign where for $ 5 one can pick up any item.   We bought a basketful of assorted items from wristwatches, shot glasses, coffee mugs to T-shirts.

After walking for more than an hour capturing the colorful scene in our Canon it was nearly quarter to 10 p.m. when we reached Paru Queen - a vegetarian restaurant in Hollywood famous for South Indian dishes. We were surprised to learn that the original owners who were from pudukkottai were Parvathi and Natarajan. We ordered Masala and Rava Dosas, Poori and Idly and paratha and relished the dishes and the taste of home made masalas..It was nearly midnight when we drove back to the Grand Pacific Palisades Resort and reached safely by 1 A.M. We retired to bed in the wee hours .  

2014 U.S.Diary reports that August 07, the Thursday morning was a sort of relaxation without much activities. Ajay and  Aparna went for swimming in the Resort Pool, PNs went round the resort enjoying the sea breeze for a morning walk.  Aparna made pancakes and sandwiches for breakfast.  The boys loved the cereals and hot cocoa. Sekhar and PN took up the laundry work. Ajay took his mother for buying ready to cook stuffs from an indian shop for lunch. Lunch was prepared in the kitchen and we all finished lunch by 2p.m. and rested for a while..In the evening, we went to La Jolla Cove Beach to see the sea lion. It was an hour's drive. We wanted to watch the sea lions but were disappointed as we could not get into the water because the sea was rough.

From there we drove to Mission Beach for having a bath in the sea. The tides were very high and we were given a fore warning not to venture too far inside the water. Viggy braved the rising tides and went diving with ease. Isha baby also played in the water near the shore.. By 7pm the tides became high and water rushed on to the shore and the stroller in which Isha was sitting was pulled in with the high tide. We called it a day and rushed back to change our wet clothes. Ajay bought huge ice creams for us which we could n't finish fully and had to discard them half heartedly as no messing inside the car with dripping eatables.

 ( A happy Bunch waving at you from the Beach ! )

( Aparna having tough time in restraining Viggy and Karthik )

Aug 08 Friday Aparna, Sekhar, Viggy and Karthik started the return journey in their vehicle from San Diego to Denver.  They covered about 1200 miles by halting at Utah for a night. They reached Denver safely on 9th by 4p.m. They had to get ready for the Yajur Upakarma the next day, Aug,10. Aparna and Sekhar shared the driving with caution as there were rains on the highway. At this point, a small arithmetic could be done for curiosity. By adding the distance covered in the forward journey, the total distance of travel by road exceeded 3500 miles.

After Aparna-Sekhar's departure to Denver. - We visited the Sea World along with Ajay and Neel.
Ajay had booked the tickets online and hence we just entered showing our IDs.
Ritu stayed back in the Resort with Isha

Seaworld is an animal theme park, oceanarium and a marine mammal park. Marine Biology R and D Institute is also attached to the Seaworld. Four graduates of Los Angeles University founded Seaworld in 1964 in a land of 190 acres which is leased by San Diego City Administration till 2048. Seaworld Ohio, Antonio and Orlando are the other Seaworlds in the world. By visitors strength, it is ranked 22 in the world with 4.31 million visitors annually. Several Dolphins, Sea Lions, two seawater aquariums are the main attractions.

There are 26 animal habitats, 10 rides, 20 shows, 2 play areas in the Seaworld, San Diego, besides 4 limited time events. We saw shows in Blue Horizon in the Dolphin Stadium featuring Bottlenose Dolphins obeying the commands of the operator. The three Dolphins had an understanding to come out of the water straight and show their antics. They also performed
acrobatics Splashing water with their tail fins(??). It is a must for any one to carry a rain coat like the ones you get during the Niagara trip because of the chance of getting fully drenched is unavoidable.

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                              ( Ajay seen feeding the otters )

The show featured various birds of flight, pilot whales, aerialists.

We also visited other stadium to look at Sea Lions, Asian small-clawed Otters.

We attended a live Cirque demare musical show where the players did tricks with poles, jumping up and down the trampolines from a great height. We watched the show with wide opened eyes cheering all the while.

We had pizza, pasta, salad and lemonade for lunch only after standing in a long queue. 
Neel had a small flower painting done in his left arm.

Another attraction is the  320 feet high Gyro Tower built in 1969. It rises 150 feet per minute @ 1.02r.p.m. Seaworld has 10 killer whales in Shamu Stadium in a 7 million gallon saltwater habitat. Shamu was the name of the first killer whale brought to the Seaworld  and the stadium is named after that.

There are so many rides for bigger kids ; we were feeling sorry that Viggy and Karthik were not with us to enjoy those rides

After completing the visit to the shows, we went for a skyride in seaworld over the bayou or the back waters of the Pacific. The ride was less than 5 minutes but the waiting time was more than an hour.

( Skyride in Seaworld ) -

It was 30 minutes past 7p.m. we came out of the Seaworld and drove back to San Diego Grand Pacific Resort.
                

( Isha was eagerly awaiting for our arrival - Don't you see her eyes looking at the door )

We flew from San Diego to San Jose by the 6.30a.m. flight on 9th August to visit two of my brothers and their family. After spending 4 days with nieces, nephew and a grand nephew, we returned to Denver on13th by an early morning flight to be with Aparna till 18th and left with Ajay and family back to Michigan by South West Airlines. 

Our travelogue describes the places visited by us from July 30 to  August 13-  a 15 day program - We have taken nearly 2 weeks to complete the Travelogue - we wrote it in five parts in a narrative form with vivid description of places visited and their importance, backed by pictures of interest. 

This program is memorable as we were able to make it together with our family members. It is also gratifying because our children as well as the grand children were also with us. The entire credit goes to Aparna, Sekhar, Ajay and Ritu for having planned the visits so well on a continuum that there were no hitches, by touch wood. The fact that we visited different States which include Michigan, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Four Corners (junction of 4 States), Arizona and California could always be referred as the highlight of the Travelogue.

" Good Moments with Time will become Sweet Memories ".
We are sure to cherish them as long as our memory is good !

Natarajan and Parvathy.

2014 U.S.Diary ( Part 4 ) - Visiting Places of Tourist Interest

2014 U.S. Diary (Part 4 ) -  Visiting Places of Tourist Interest

P.Natarajan, Camp: Canton, MI

Our U.S. Diary 2014 dated 03 August 2014 records our visit to the “ENTERTAINMENT  CAPITAL OF THE WORLD”. That Sunday (3rd Aug) being a Friendship Day, we remembered all of  you.. We are pleased to share our experience of visiting the internationally renowned major resort, LAS VEGAS, the premier southern state of Nevada in U.S. We are somewhat elated to say here that we have also joined the select group who have visited the top tourist destination in the world. A city known primarily for Casino - the nightlife in Vegas is filled with entertainment as people spend time in gambling, betting, shopping and dining in major Casino hotels.The city’s tolerance for various form of enduring the adult life has earned the title of ‘sin life’

The names of Las Vegas, Vegas are used to indicate the Valley, The Strip, and the City and  are used as a brand by the Las Vegas Convention to denominate the entire region. Las Vegas Strip is filled with outdoor activities. Outdoor lighting displays render an illumined look everywhere. The Strip is famous for the number of Casino Resorts and associated entertainments. Cranes are a constant part of the Skyline as high rise housing units has seen a spike in Las Vegas.

02 August, the Saturday- we had Starbuck coffee in our room , dressed up, and left  by 9.30 a.m. on foot and started walking in Las Vegas Strip. The Statue of Liberty is the first imposing attraction we came across which is adjacent to Excalibur Casino, our place of stay

The Strip is a 4 mile section of Las Vegas Boulevard. 15 of the 25 world’s largest rooms, by room count, are on the Las Vegas Strip with a total of over 62000 rooms offered by various casino hotels. There are several malls in the area, in Downtown and in  Handerson. First Friday of each month exhibits  works of  local artists and musicians in ‘Arts district’.The Aquarium filled with 1. million gallons of seawater in Mandalay features 2000 animals and 1200 species. The $485 million dollar worth Smith Center for Performing Arts is located in the Symphony Park where Broadway Shows and touring attractions, orchestra, dance and opera are held. Dramatic history of atomic age is on show in Smithsonian Institution and Museum.

Transportation in the city is taken care by the monorail, aerial tramways and  by Deuce  (double decker buses).

(  Las Vegas Strip - famous for Casinos )

We crossed the tunnels on the street tops and reached MGM Studio.

                    ( in the sky walk on the way to MGM  casino. with the Transformers)

Viggy opted for the roller-coaster-ride. So we strode in to New york New york an adjacent casino going through shops. Karthik was attracted by a shop selling magical things which reminded us of the Diagon Alley in Harry Potter. We reached the monorail station in MGM and boarded the train.

( Sekhar seen getting into the monorail -  fare $12per head for 24 hours )

Harrah's was three stations after MGM and we got down there. We walked through PARIS casino and reached The Venetian.

                                                    ( Posing in front of Eiffel Tower )

                          

The pool area in the Venetian Casino, where you see us standing, can be crossed by gondola ride. The ride is only for half a mile down the grand canal - we didn't choose it as the charges were exorbitant.

( Skydome gives a spectacular look over the open Food Court )

The Italian Restaurant was housed in an open courtyard. The most attractive feature was a spectacular Skydome - an artificial blue sky but looked one hundred percent real. Another feature, the skydome atmosphere turned the noontime ambience into a feel of late evening show. We only missed the twinkling stars. The food court was crowded with tourists who were seen relishing the food of their choice. We ordered the original italian Pizza delight, soup, bread and salads. It was a fulfilling lunch in an electrifying ambience created by the skydome.

       ( We are waiting for  lunch to be served at  The Venetian )

A musical show was going on near a raised platform where the artists performed on stilettos, singing popular Italian numbers. Another added attraction was a pageant of people painted  like statues depicting italian characters moving among the crowd. In fact Sekhar mistook one painted figure for a statue till he could see the moving eye ball.  The whole atmosphere was cool and pleasant. It was extremely hot when we came out of the Skydome.

We took the monorail back, got down @ Caesar’s Palace and reached the PLANET HOLLYWOOD CASINO RESORT to book tickets for evening 7p.m. live show. Luckily there was no queue and we got the tickets for that evening.  V-the Ultimate Variety Show is voted as the best in Las Vegas and features most talented performers around the world, all on one stage. We had also options of watching David Copperfield the world’s best magician or the Circus Circus. But we chose the ultimate show  ultimately.

We had free time after reserving for the Ultimate Variety Show. We continued the  sightseeing in the Strip walking through the shopping area and food courts.

We visited Hershey's Chocolate World. A flagship store of chocolates of 800 types such as bars, jumbo sized crowns, strawberry syrup bottles, peanut butter cups, Jolly Ranchers and Twizzlers. There is also a colored wall of Hershey’s kisses dispensers for your bag filling pleasure. Mementos and gifts also were on sale. The aroma of chocolates filled our senses  haunting for a long time.

We hired a taxi ( $40 ) to go back to Excalibur Hotel though the hotel was not far away. We thought it would be better to take our car from Excalibur for going to Planet Hollywood for the ultimate variety show so that we would not be inconvenienced for the transport after the show.

We freshened up, changed into lighter clothes as it was very hot and humid and left immediately for the Ultimate Variety Show. We were on time and seated in the center rows inside the auditorium.

The show, $60 per head, which has something for everyone keeps the audience at the edge of the seat, Acts of Acrobats, magic show, the skating Aratas, tossing the hats, balls were all captivating. They played a live show with a parrot which would answer questions, sing songs, and would circle the entire theatre hall going through the rings hanging at  strategic locations in the theatre, this action was set to an instrumental music and return to its original hook hanging in the center of the stage. When it flew over our heads, we at once sensed some thrill. Other variety items include jugglers, body sculptors, gymnastics,roller coaster acts, drum beating and singing with a lot of humorous interactions with the audience- all proved to be ultimate in entertainment.The performing artists were the top winners from  the popular show " America has Talent ".

The show was over at 8.30 p.m. We walked  to Panda Express with in the mall area and ordered noodles veg. rice etc;.

                                          ( Dinner is waiting @ Panda Express )

We returned to Excalibur Casino where the boys played some games.

Viggy and Karthik won a number of coupons which they later exchanged for minions (stuffed toys) of their choice. At 11 pm there was a loud ringing of bells to announce the play time for children was over..

       ( Viggy steering for a win in Excalibur )

After putting the boys to bed we four adults tried our luck at the roulette table. Lady luck smiled only at Sekhar who won a few bucks and we were not tempted to stay further in the casino area and retired to our rooms soon after midnight and it proved to be a day of long outing and entertainment.

( Part 5 - the concluding part of 'Visiting Places in U.S.' would be circulated in due course - in the meanwhile we welcome you to let us know about our visiting places forwarded to you in four instalments. )

Natarajan and Parvathy
Canton, MI.