Thursday, March 25, 2010

At the Canyon


Come one over folks, let me push you into the canyon... 12 seconds to the bottom


Narrow gorges run deep


What I hoped to do...


The shadows look like people...


Ok, no camera can capture the beauty of a set of rocks... at least not phone cameras (or is that camera-phones?) So no more shots of the Canyon at sunrise, sunset, and all points of day though I have it. A Pink Floyd song captures the kind of feeling:

There's no sensation to compare with this,
Suspended animation, a state of bliss...
Can't keep my eyes from the circling skies,
Tongue-tied and twisted, just an earthbound misfit, I

Next stop: El Tovar, where I had an amazing breakfast of smoked trout, eggs and fruit, unlimited coffee after my 'long' walk on the Rim trail. (I walloped the food before the thought of commemorating the presentation for posterity crossed my head. Taste I can't yet record with mobile device. (Awesome... the food. $15 with tip, but who has smoked trout for breakfast everyday?)


Hopi House, across the El Tovar


Lookout Studio


About 400 pictures, but I will refrain. Just this little birdie (how I wished my phone transformed into a Nikon SLR or some such to capture the blue and the flight).



Ok, I couldn't resist... a parting shot


Should go back again. Next time, I will hire 'friends' to go hiking down the canyon and back to the top. And steal some camera worth its salt to capture the night sky constellation and all that. 

FYI, got a postcard of the Canyon and lost it. Promptly (aargh adverb). I figure the reason for the losing and not regretting was that the photographer was an Indian (non-American)  dude ...some Singh.

P.S. Of all the places in the world, I had to be stuck on a shuttle bus from Mather Point to Abyss with this family chattering real loud in Tamil, and their two crying babies (twins I assume). 

P.P.S. Come to think of it, I think there's some conspiracy afoot. Two days at the Canyon taking in the views, and my auditory nerves were assaulted with Telegu, Punjabi, Hindi and Tamil. The best of North and South I suppose.

P.P.P.S. The place is big, and traveling alone has the advantage that you can run or amble depending on your brain signals without it being interfered / compromised by another's.

Road to Grand Canyon

On the way... Lake Mead


To Hoover Dam



Pacific Time and Mountain Time


Joshua Tree, at Kingman


Grand Canyon Railway Museum, Williams



Steam engine, Williams


Ghost cowboy town on Route 66, Williams






Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Las Vegas


Where I stayed...Excalibur Casino


On my way to Mirage to catch the Beatles Love show... Paris and Ballys ahead



Yeah, I had to walk the BB in Vegas of all the places since I didn't here



Still walking in circles, Planet Hollywood on the right


The Forum Shops at Caesars



The Bellagio and it's dancin' fountains across the street


Can't remember what the pagoda was about, some Rockhouse it says



Flamingo, don't I love it when pics have the name



At the Mirage, playin the Wheel of Fortune (?) Lost 5 bucks



Aah, almost there in time for the show...



There. Amazing. No pics allowed. It is all in my head.



Made it back at around 1 am, thinkin' about the 6 am tour to the Grand Canyon.




San Francisco

Embarcadero 


The view I woke up to...

MoMA

Hyde St Pier... how I love ships

Seagull of the quizzical look

Lou's Blues, Fisherman's Wharf

Some parade on Market St, must be pre-St Patricks day celebrations


Walkin' against the crowd, Fisherman's Wharf


Flyin' high high... so free...

...and not so free... Alcatraz

Ghiradelli Sq, only if you wanna be trampled underfoot 

Under the bridge


GGB from the bay cruise

Some silver jellyfish, Aquarium of the Bay
...looks creepy


Some other kind of jellyfish. What's the right side up?



Think this is from some hill in Sausalito


GGB from Sausalito



Haight St, kinda like downtown NYC...except they don't check IDs and people smoke up in public



Haight Ashbury finally