Bachelor’s Trip in the Wild Vegas

Posing at Death Valley NP

I am back again with some late posts and with the same reason. I always finish off the previous trips before making a new trip, this is the same. I am planning something big and hence thought of writing this one before. My Bachelor’s trip or I would say my last bachelor trip was organized, where it should have been. It was none other than Wild Wild Vegas. The trip was not planned to be a bachelor’s trip; it was started as a reunion plan and then eventually turned into Bachelor’s trip. We started planning as 4 people and soon, one guy dropped. It was due to that one person, that it was planned in Vegas and he backed out. There are some people who just don’t know how to understand what’s important. Our initial plan was to have the reunion in Minnesota, the same place where we all met. Then it was shifted to Vegas. There were 3 people in the plan-Khan Sab, Bhati bhai and me. Then after few days, we got one more-Dani bhai. Until, last moment-we were 4 guys. We booked flights-Spirit (TIP: I booked it on airport, which saved me around 30$, instead of doing it online) and hotel (TIP; Bhati bhai had some account in Harrah’s, hence it saved us some money) and then car-it became bit costly, but we got hatchback-Awesome.

New Year Celebration

I got married in Feb 2018 and we had New Year’s long weekend, so it it was perfect time to plan the trip. At the last moment, we got to know that Khan Sab has backed out but another friend came into picture few days before trip, so only 3 people were remaining now. We started, after finishing our jobs on Friday the 29^th and reached the same day. Picked up our car and then headed straight to Hotel. We were bit tired on that day, so just arranged some supplies and said Good Night. Everyone knew that it was a bachelor trip for me, but we got to know that it was for Bhati bhai as well. His marriage was also fixed.

Hotels

We planned to go for a road trip on the first day of our trip. We visited Death Valley National Park.it was a nice place with scenic lookouts and beautiful drives. It’s the hottest, driest and lowest national park. It was given its forbidding name as a group was lost here, which was also rescued later, but any way they gave this name. We stopped by at many places to get the feel of the place such as Dantes View, Twenty mule Canyon, Zabriskie Point, Furnace Creek, Badwater Basin and Permanent Springs. Our car was going at 80 and I thought of opening the top which was really a bad idea as it was about to blow out. (Tip: Never do that in a moving car). The best location was badwater basin-it’s the lowest point in North America. Its 282 feet below sea level and often gets salts from surrounding basin making it undrinkable and hence the name. It was lot for the day. So we just slept after returning the car.

We didn’t plan to do much on the next day as we wanted to see the fireworks and celebrate New Year in evening. So we were just hanging around the hotels, casinos and on the streets. I am not good at gambling, so I stayed away from it. I like the hotels, their decoration, so we were going to each hotel to see and admire the New Year festivity. Night time, we saw fireworks, which were ok. They should be planned in a better way. We were standing in front of Ceaser’s Palace which had the best fireworks. The 1^st of 2018 was the last day of our Sin City so we wanted to keep it soft. We exchanged pictures and Bhati bhai departed for Flight as he had the earliest one. I and Dani wanted to check out the Freemont. The street was just waking up when we visited there-around 3-4 PM. We saw some Magicians and different type of people showing their creative abilities in order to earn some money. That was all for Vegas, then we returned airport and came back home. I reached bit late and luckily found a taxi waiting at the station.

Tulip Time Festival

Summer Trip 2

Tulip Time Festival is an annual festival held in Holland, Michigan. Tulip festivals are held in many cities around the United States of America that were founded or largely inhabited by Dutch settlers. It is celebrated every year in mid-May and is currently the largest tulip festival in the United States. Although, we didn’t knew this till now still we planned to visit Holland just to get a taste of something new, to enjoy summer and live life.

I was having discussion with my friends to go someplace where we can enjoy summer and one friend brought up Tulip idea. I have been to a Tulip festival, so I knew it’s not much but again, let’s go out and enjoy. So I started making plan of going there. Soon, we were 5 people all set to go and then it became 7, then final count reached 8. It was right time to book a car. When we were planning the trip some people got to know about our plan and started talking about it. I understood, I can never have a silent anything. If I do something, it will be grand. My Boss also got to know about the trip. Even though, he was going to the same place, he made me carry my laptop with a hotspot so that I can start working even from there in case something falls apart. How workaholic I would look working from there hi hi hi.

We planned everything one day before, which was already late as per my planning. I asked everyone and whoever agreed at that time became part of our plan and whoever denied was out. One of my friend called to confirm in night but by that time, everything was booked and it was difficult to change. Even then I told him, come will adjust, but he was not ready and backed out. Morning, I got ready and got the rental car, it was cool. We thought that will get a 7 seater as per booking but fortunately we got 8 seater Kia Sedona. We were behind schedule at this time. Once we picked up car, we went to our friends place for snacks and then picked up another friend. These people were also not ready which caused more delay. Anyways we started from here and directly stopped at Michigan.

It’s a big festival and hence no parking. Locals opened up their backyard to provide more parking by taking 5 bucks which was pretty interesting. After searching for half an hour, we finally got a place to park. Then we saw the parade which was okay. They had paid sitting, I don’t get that part. Then we moved onto an attraction called as Windmill Island Gardens, a park with Tulip Gardens and a 250 year old windmill. We spent majority of our time here and then we wanted to eat something as we didn’t had lunch yet and it was around 6 P.M. We thought of ordering something, but then we saw a Pizza buffet. Greed of buffet made our trip costly and added more time to our already slow plan. We spent lot of time eating and hence we were not able to see anything afterwards. Then we spent some time chatting outside pizza hut. Afterwards we checked out some shopping places and then some people wanted to spend some more time hanging around and others wanted to head back home. Choice was made by voting. Everyone was tired of taking photographs and walking. Finally we headed towards home around 8:30 P.M. I was home by 1 A.M. This concludes our Tulip Trip.

July 4th Parade

Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail

On the next day of trail fever, we started trailing from Roaring Fork Motor Nature trail. I must say it was a lovely drive with great scenery. It's a slow drive drive on a narrow road with twists and turns. Just roll down the windows and see mountains, nature at its best with streams and hiking trails to waterfalls. Come early to get a parking spot. We missed the rainbow falls on the way, but that's ok.

Grotto Falls

There is one more fall on the route of roaring fork called as Grotto Falls. Perfect spot to take a picture behind the waterfalls. Hike was rocky and rooty, I would say a moderate hike but worth the effort. Tennis shoes are best for these hikes.

Laurel Falls

Another popular fall with a moderate hike. The hike is paved but long and uneven. It also has good spots to take picture with the fall. Be careful, as its bit slippery. Also you should bring extra clothing, if you plan to get wet. Lot of beautiful people were enjoying the water and bathing. We stayed longer at this fall, just to enjoy the view and take pictures.

Horse Ride
Our kid girl was asking for Helicopter and Horse ride since the start of our tour, so we visited horse camp next to find out that they were closed. But it could have been a great ride as it was a F 5 mile ride. Awesome.

Helicopter Tours
Next obviously was the most bragged topic-helicopter tours, so we turned our car towards them. Fortunately, they were open and gave us a good ride. Pilot even did a somersault which was a nice touch. 

Happy 4th
It was 4th of July which is Independence Day of USA. But the US people just call it as Happy 4th instead of Independence Day. I am not sure, exactly why, there are different theories about that. It was a nice small parade of 1 hour.  There were many people gathered to see the parade which starts at midnight and the best part, everyone disappeared within 5 minutes as the parade was over. Also it create a big traffic jam which is obvious.

Birthplace of KFC
When we were returning next day, our Mata wanted to visit the birthplace of KFC. We granted her wish too, so that both the girls are happy. We stopped for lunch in Kentucky on our way back. The best part of our drive back was songs on high volume and then their translations.

Indian Food
We had to drop baby girl near Shaumberg and we didn't had Indian food anywhere in our trip, so we planned to visit an Indian restaurant for a sweet ending. Ordered different kinds of delicious food, had a closing chat and then dropped car at rental agency. Finally Ubered home.

Canada....and Back

View from Split Rock Light house

Friends, few weeks back, I had an adventurous trip to Canada and back to US. Note: DO NOT TRY IT.

I and one crazier guy were thinking where to go on weekend midnight. After lot of checking and thinking, we agreed to visit Duluth. Point to note is, I am living in Minnesota (U.S.A.) which is a border state to Ontario (Canada). The border city is Duluth. Our plan was to reach there early morning and take rest for some time before exploring Duluth. So we reached early morning and were looking for a silent place to sleep. We passed from a place where lots of Cops were there due to some issue going on. As soon as we passed, one cop caught us, courtesy of my crazy friend, he was about to hit a curb and cop saw that. He was a good guy, he left us just like that.

Light House

We roamed around the area for some time and parked our car to have some sleep. Morning, we got fresh and walked along side Superior lake. It's the largest lake of North America, it’s so big, that they should rename it as ocean. Well the walk, bridges and all were good but we were not able to enjoy the fall color as its still weeks for that.

Next we moved to the Light house. It’s good to visit the light house if you want to enjoy history as well as beautiful area near the lake. Split rock Lighthouse is one of the picturesque lighthouse of US. It was built after a famous storm in which 29 ships were lost. Until 1969 before retiring, it played a very good role of guiding ships at lake. Now we were feeling damn hungry, so we started looking for some lunch. Unfortunately the only veggie-Subway was closed due to Labor Day, so we managed with DQ.

Boat for display @ Duluth

Now, we would have seen Gooseberry falls but we were more interested in adding a Country to our list. Hence we continued our journey towards border.  The most hilarious thing about Canada-US border was that there is no proper border. Until you have already stepped foot inside Canada. We just wanted to see border from a distance, but we never knew when we have crossed US. There is just a one way bridge and as soon as you cross it, you will be in Canada. Now you have to pass immigration to enter in any country. There was a car line ahead of us who were going for immigration check. We didn’t had any plans/passport/visa to enter Canada, so we planned to pull into a side parking and take a U turn. Shit happens and it happened-that lot was inside Canada. You have to cross a truck line to reach there, we didn’t knew that it was a truck line.

Morning @ Duluth

Siren started buzzing and Canada Border patrol came rushing towards us. They were the one who confirmed us, that we are actually in Canada and now we had to go through Immigration. We explained them our situation. The guy who caught was a good guy, he asked us to sit and wait for immigration officer call. We were slight tensed, actually waiting for the unknown was killing us. We didn’t know what’s going to happen as it was the first unknown border crossing. Soon the same guy called us and guided us to sign a paper. It said that we are withdrawing our visa application which we never applied. Instead we entered.

Welcome to Ontario

He explained us that it’s the best and fastest way to get out of Canada. He was such a good guy, that he even called America and informed them about our commencing. So, American immigration will not question much. We thanked him and came back to America. As expected, they also asked us to pull our car side and enter for immigration check. We explained them the situation and they checked our identities. Soon they were able to grasp it and informed us not to do it again. Sometimes border patrol may not be able to identify us especially without passports. Hence it’s good to avoid such situations.

Finally, we were back in our home country-America. Sounds funny, still true in certain ways.

Then we headed towards our home in Minneapolis with a pizza break on the way.

PS: Let me know, if you wanna see a video of me entering Canada, it would be risky to post here.

Jewel cave

Jewel Cave Groupy

It’s been a long time that I have written something, just out of laziness. Never the less, now I am back at top speed, will be posting at least 2 articles. In this post, I am going to take you to a cave filled with all the jewels you want.

Our last day @ South Dakota was the most adventurous day of the trip. Last but the best. It started as usual-with late comers joining the club. We had plans of only watching Jewel Cave National Monument and then returning home as one of our crew member had a flight back so we wanted to come back on time. Once we reached cave, we had to wait until the tour started. Note that tours run as per a schedule. So plan accordingly. Authorities took us to a complete dark cave with no lights as they wanted to make it old school. This tour was named as Lantern Tour as we had to carry Lanterns in our hand inside the cave. Thank God we had Led lanterns among with the old gas lanterns.

Outside Jewel Cave

Cave had different kinds of paths which were known as “Fat man’s misery”- A thin area from where, its difficult for fat people to go through, then there was a “long man’s misery”- A place where you have to duck and pass. Overall it was a good experience, actually the best tour of the trip. It can be considered as the desert of our trip, sweet in the last.

As soon as we started heading back home, we started suffering from Diabetes in other words- our adventure doubled. Heaviest rain, I ever saw in lifetime started hitting us badly. It was such a heavy thunderstorm that nothing was visible. Viper was running at top speed, still it was so difficult to drive that I had to pull up car on side. Then I checked one more setting of wiper, which increased its speed. We waited for some time to allow the storm to lower down a bit and then again started our way back.

Great Indian Food

The crew wanted to have Indian food, so we entered in Rapid City, had dinner and then finally started going back. Thunderstorm was still there, it actually accompanied us on the way back to Minnesota. There was one more new thing I learned, when we were passing from cities, there were alarms buzzing, since it was the first time for us to listen to such kind of warnings, we were quite confused with it. Then we checked our mobiles and got to know that there was a Tornado waiting for us, also the radios, warning started saying that take cover now. Since we were late and in the middle of highway, we stopped under a bridge. There was one more car ahead of us, taking shelter. We asked them about the status and were surprised to know that Tornado was right in front of us.

We stayed under the bridge for some time and then continued our journey. Next we stopped for fueling and to get latest update on the current situation. It seems that Tornado wasn’t an issue now, so we took a sigh of relief and next directly stopped in Minnesota-Home Sweet Home. 

Chicago Road trip

Sue

Day 2

Day 2 started with another major attraction of Chicago-The Field Museum-One of the World’s Largest natural history Museum. As we entered, Sue-a magnificent dinosaur was there to welcome us.

Under the Ground

The museum had a lot to offer, right from remains of dinosaurs to animal artifacts. Old heritage places, wudoo power, black magic and many more. Few real mummies were there, I was thinking just in case if this Museum comes alive in night, like the movie “Night at the Museum” then that’s it- Chicago is done. Well that’s just a hypothesis but there is a place which is under the ground and it is prepared to give you a under the soil feeling and sometimes, it became scary. There were few more interesting things like gems, fossil lab but due to less time, we had to drop these places in order to enter Mission Moon.

Adler-Space Xploraration

Yes you are correct, our next adventure was Adler Planetarium. At this science station, they tell you how to search a habitable planet and I was thinking, I am not even able to find a good parking spot in Chicago and they have capacity to search for life on other planets, seriously. Adler is America’s first planetarium. All these places-Shedd, Museum and Planetorim are at walking distances, but its tough to cover em all in a single day. There is an event called as hidden wonders which is shown in a big spherical theatre. Complete roof will become space, its worth watching show, you will feel as if you are in space. They also have some big size telescopes and a place where you can walk through space and time.

Mota hogaya hu shayad

Next we headed towards John Hancock observatory, again after spending one hour in searching for a parking spot. The important thing about this skyscraper is it allows you to tilt and see Chicago, yes theres a fee for that. Rest everything is same as in Willis. I would suggest going at one skyscrapper rather than both. Now all of us were hungry and this time, we had proper dinner. It was Chicagos specialty Chicago Style Pizza from one of the 4 restaurants which sells it- The Lumanatis.

Angry Girl

Last but not the least, we visited Millennium Park. They have made a park just to celebrate Millenium, I don’t get these things, but they are surprisingly funny. Park has a lot of things to offer right from free events to exhibitions to Pavillion to marvelous Cloud Gate to a lot more things. Lets explore em one by one. Pavillion is the centerpiece of park with capacity of 4000+7000 people. You can symphony orchestra and chorus there. Next we have a cloud gate also known as Bean due to its structure is a stainless steel sculpture which provides our reflection. Next we have something called as Crown Fountain-a watery Video sculpture where they play videos of Chicago people under a water fountain. There are many other things to explore as weather permits like the Lurie garden, Ice rink, Pedestrian Bridge, wrigley Square etc.

Bean

Right after Park, we headed towards back to Minnesota. On the way there was a small incident on highway, I wish God forbids me for that. Overall journey was good. Normally I write about my crew, this time I have forgotten that, I’ll try to include it in next post, Thanks.