Grand Canyon Trip - West Rim

Grand Canyon needs no description. Whoever visits US makes sure to drop by this natural wonder at least once. This Thanksgiving we went on 5 days long trip to Las Vegas, Los Angeles and San Francisco; having stayed in Las Vegas for three nights and two days, we covered much of Las Vegas and its surrounding hotspots in given time. Talking about popular tourist destinations near to Nevada, Grand Canyon, for one, needs to be placed at the top of the itinerary. There are three vantage points of Grand Canyon frequented by tourists - South rim, West rim and north rim. West rim being nearer to Las Vegas was on the top of our preference, besides we wanted to enjoy the Skywalk that makes the experience exclusive from others.

Eagle Point

From Las Vegas to west rim Grand Canyon is of 280 miles distance, the drive taking about 4 and half hours to complete. I must warn you about two things here. The last leg of the journey about 20 miles drive through the dirt road on the way to the canyon is nightmarish with speed limit reduced to 20 mph, cloud of dust kicked up by the moving cars ahead would limit the visibility making driving an appalling experience. In our case especially while returning back when the sun was blazing in full glory with the car ahead leaving a huge mass of dust in our trail and the reflection of sunbeam on the dust particles dazzled our vision, many a time what we thought to be a sparkling long stretch of road ended into a sharp turn resulting in treacherous last minute hard braking at every curve. I literally had my heart in my mouth then. So before coming down to the canyon, please ensure the car's serviceability. The last thing one can imagine while on a tour to have his car broken down in the middle of a dusty road with no possibility of help nearby. I had seen one couple's car coming to a dead stop in the dirt road on our way to the canyon and on our way back, I saw the car still standing there, emptied of the passengers. 

Guano Point

Second thing that you ought to keep in mind is to carry a homemade lunch as the food provisions in the canyon are absolutely deficient in quality and delivery. We ordered two turkey sandwiches that were delivered after about 2 hours and that too cold. The lunch option of Chinese dishes over there is purely grotesque. Despite the crowd of tourists visiting the canyon on Thanksgiving was thin in number, the canteen was struggling to fulfill orders within time. One can only imagine what kind of pandemonium takes place in peak season with higher number of tourists.

Warnings made, now move on to the fun part of the Grand Canyon visit. There are two viewpoints within West rim - Eagle and Guano Points. Though both the points are beautiful in their own unique way, while Eagle point is famous for its skywalk, Guano Point offers the view of the canyon more breathtaking in nature. Since Eagle Point is the first stop of the canyon, most of the tourists spend larger part of their time here, walking on the skywalk and waiting lunch for hours, just like we did. But I would suggest that once you get done with skywalk, travel to Guano Point as soon as possible because Guano Point is one of the most stunning points in the whole of the Grand Canyon. Walking up to the tip of the guano, you may enjoy a nearly 360 degree absolutely riveting vista of the canyon and the lake Colorado flowing in the middle, the experience inexplicable in words. Besides, if you desire, here you may sample the Hualapai Buffet meal sitting by the edge of the canyon.

As regards Eagle Point, it is so named because of the mountains having formed in the shape of an eagle spreading its wings. As mentioned earlier, Eagle Point is known for its skywalk which is a horse-shoe shaped bridge with glass panel floor providing astounding bird's eye view of the canyon. The glasses made of solid unbreakable stuff are truly hardy. Those having fright of heights can surely try to overcome their fear by walking upon the skywalk and peering into the beauty sprawled below. One bummer was, however, that photography was strictly forbidden on skywalk. They have their own photographers to click snaps and sell out. Some snap shots of our entire experience of Grand Canyon are attached herewith for you to enjoy and relate to.

Death Valley Trip

Our visit to Death Valley has been an impromptu one. On our way towards LA, we suddenly planned to stop by Death Valley, a desert valley located within Mojave Desert famed for its rugged and coarse landscapes. Known as the land of extremes and marked as the lowest place in North America, situated 282 feet below the sea level, Death Valley has the hottest and driest climate in the country, the hottest temperature so far recorded to be of 134 F (57C) at Furnace Creek in 1913. Summer is not an ideal time for travelling down Death Valley when temperatures frequently outreach 100 F. While travelling there, few precautions are to be taken seriously; one is to carry few bottles of drinking water as you need to drink water galore to keep dehydration away and second is to look around carefully while walking and touching anything for Death Valley swarms with some of the deadliest animals of the world including rattlesnakes, black widow spiders, bees, wasps, coyotes and mountain lions.

To complete a tour round the Death Valley National Park, in my estimation, you need to have at least 2-3 days in hand for the high air temperature and the dryness would surely take a toll on your health,  merely after few stopovers at 3-4 scenic points. As we had a long distance to travel from Las Vegas to Los Angeles, only 2 hours of time were slated for Death Valley trip. So we chose three points - Zabriskie Point, Badwater Basin and Artist's Drive and Palette. The breathtaking beauty of the surrounding landscapes is rejuvenating. I just wish we had few more hours extra to cover some of the must see points within Death Valley; the Racetrack, Dante's View, Ubehebe Crater, Scotty's Castle, Salt Creek, Aguereberry Point, Ghost Town, Eureka Dunes, Darwin Falls and Wildrose Charcoal Kilns to name a few.

Zabriskie Point

Before I begin recounting my experience, let me give you a quick informative guideline as how to reach Death Valley from Las Vegas without wasting time fumbling. Forget GPS if you want to rely on it for directions because in all probability GPS won't function few miles ahead from Death Valley, as the places nearby are very thinly or not populated at all. Furthermore, many a time travellers have been misled to dead end stops or closed roads by GPS instructions, so you ought to be careful. The route direction as detailed in the website of Furnace Creek Resort came to be of great use. Following their directions verbatim, we reached Death Valley National Park effortlessly. So I will recommend anyone planning for a visit there to have a look at their website:
 
http://www.furnacecreekresort.com/directions-533.html
 
 
Not only from Las Vegas, the site has the route directions mapped from Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Francisco, Reno and so much as San Jose.
 
It took us about 2 and half hours to cover 120 miles and reach Death Valley. As mentioned earlier, we had very limited time in hand, so we designed our trip in a way to make the utmost use of it. We first went to Zabriskie Point which composed of sediments from Furnace Creek Lake that dried up 5 million years ago offers breathtaking beauty of erosional landscape. The bewitching spectacle of the rugged badlands got me carried away hook, line and sinker igniting a snap clicking frenzy in me and I went on clicking pictures one after another until I was completely worn out. Some snapshots below:

Zabriskie Point

Zabriskie Point

Next we went to Badwater Basin. As the name suggests, it is a basin where bad water accumulates. There is no point to assume, however, that the water is poisonous. It's salty rather and home to one of the rarest animals of Death Valley - Badwater snails. The basin is the lowest point in North America 282 feet/855 meters below sea level. The sea level is demarcated clearly for your understanding.

 



The signboard says it all

 

See how the sea level is demarcated.

Badwater Basin

Artist's Drive and Palette is a one-way 9 mile long strip that takes you to a treasure house of breathtaking beauty. The road bends sharply at many places with steep undulations making it hard to exceed speed beyond 15 mph, resulting in half an hour tortuous drive to complete the loop. The surrounding beauty is truly picturesque, I had a feel as if a painter has sketched the mountains on a blue canvas. Artist's Palette is a natural marvel with the streaks of blue, pink, white and black manifesting on the clayish rock having developed naturally and not synthetically made up.

Artist's Palette

 
If wishing to stay overnight at Death Valley, then you may book a room at Furnace Creek Resort where besides staying, you may enjoy swimming and playing golf in the lowest golf course of the world. The same has a restaurant nearby where we enjoyed our lunch, the food served being warm and satisfying. Despite my fright of snakes, I was wishing to have at least one sighting of the infamous rattlesnakes the bite stories of which I have seen being covered in many documentaries showcased on Animal Planet. Alas ! No such luck came by :(

Regardless of the hazards involved in driving down the treacherous roads rife with undulations with miles and miles of wilderness for company, the mesmerizing backdrop of Death Valley surely makes up for all the effort taken. Overall, a very fulfilling experience!!
 
In order to help yourself mapping out your itinerary, you may visit the site below for reference. Some useful information is shared there.
 
 http://www.nps.gov/deva/planyourvisit/furnacecreekarea.htm
 
 
 

Mackinac Island Trip

It had been a while after Yercaud trip that me and my hubby didn't go anywhere for sightseeing. It had been more than a month that we were in US and having not been anywhere to explore an unknown place went quite contrary to our nature. We both have itchy feet and exploit every chance thrown our way to discover new places. Needless to say, a major portion of our pennies saved through our painstaking effort are spent in fulfilling our desire and thirst for knowing the unknown. With that thought we planned a sudden trip to Mackinac Island during the Easter break.

Mackinac Bridge

Located in Michigan State, the island offers a breathtaking view of Lake Huron and Lake Michigan. St. Ignace and Mackinaw City are the nearest two cities by the Mackinac Island. You may avail lodging and food facilities in both. However, we chose to stay in St. Ignace because St. Ignace is bigger than the Mackinaw City with better options for hotels, food chains and ferry services. Also, it is home to another attraction called "Mystery Spot' or what is popularly known as "G-spot' which is operational only during summer months. St. Ignace is located in Upper Peninsula of Michigan whereas Mackinaw City is in Lower Peninsula, both separated by Huron and Michigan Lakes and joined by the 3rd longest suspension bridge in the world and the longest in USA called "Mackinac Bridge." Driving down the bridge with both lakes on either side is an experience to be cherished. The vast expanse of the azure reflecting on the water of the lakes is bewitching. The magnitude of that natural beauty can never be captured in the frame of any man made camera.

A close shot of Mackinac Bridge

It took us about 6 hours to reach St.Ignace from Perrysburg, Ohio. We started late around 1 O'clock in the afternoon and reached there by 7 in the evening. Before checking into our hotel while there was still sunlight shining on us, we decided to take a round along the shore drive of St.Ignace city overlooking the Michigan Lake. The return journey along the same offered us one of the most beautiful sights of twilight with the Sun setting below the lake igniting the surrounding ambience ablaze with stunning shades of red, yellow and flaming orange contrasted perfectly with the backdrop of Blue Ocean. The view was just amazing !

Since St.Ignace is scarcely populated with hardly 1500 occupants, once the sun is set, darkness engulfs the entire city with hardly any choice of recreation remaining open. So before the city sank into darkness, we quickly bought takeaways and shot off to our hotel. The 6 hours long drive left us pretty knocked out and we retired to bed before our usual time. After all, a long day was awaiting us the next day.

Quite a few ferry service providers namely, Sheplers, Star Line and Arnold Transit safely carry passangers to the centre of Mackinac Island from St. Ignace and Mackinaw City. So if you plan the trip in advance, make sure to check out the schedules and timing for the shuttle and book your seats beforehand. We made a huge blunder of assuming that the ferry service will be operational throughout the day and didn't note down the schedules for the same. Consequently, we had to idle some precious hours away waiting for the next ferry, missing the previous ferry just by few minutes. Due to wasting time awaiting a ferry, we were left with only 3 hours to complete exploring the island before boarding on to the last available return ferry at 5 p.m.

We purchased our seats in Shepler. The indoor of the ferry was precious, furnished with comfortable wide seats and transparent glass panels providing a crystal clear vision of outside beauty. For people looking for outdoor seating, the deck was properly arranged with seats, with an open air roof directly under the sunlight. Though most of our co-passengers initially occupied the deck but once the ferry set sail, the chilly wind outside coupled with the cool water sprayed by the wave ripples created by the ferry in motion caused much discomfort and within minutes, more than half of the deck was empty. I basically like the comfort of indoor seating, but giving in to the demands of my hubby, I sat outdoor on the deck. Once the ferry began to move, I could not raise my head due to the heavy wind thrashing my open hair all over my face. Before long, I went downstairs and found myself a seat near the window. My hubby followed soon along with rest of the other passengers.

Mackinac Island State Park with Fort Mackinac in the background

Mackinac Island is home to 500 residents throughout the year. During the peak season, however, the population skyrockets owing to the surge of oncoming tourists. Besides ferry, the island can be reached via private boats, small aircrafts and in the winter by snowmobiles. The downtown of Mackinac Island is dotted with a string of hotels, restaurants, apparel stores and candy shops. Motorized vehicles being prohibited within the island, bicycles and horse drawn carriages are the only modes of transport available. You may bring your own bicycle or you may hire the same from one of the many bike rental services available in the island. All the ferry services allow passengers to bring bikes on board for a fee. The charge of the bike on rental is made by the hour. We shelled out around $ 50 for 2 hours. Since I don't know cycling, we were forced to hire a double bike whereupon my hubby performed the act of balancing and I merely put my legs in motion to maintain coordination. It was indeed a joy ride along the trail around the island enjoying the breathtaking sceneries popping fast in and out of sight.

About 8 miles in circumference, it usually takes about 2-3 hours to fully bike about the island, depending on the time spent in viewing each of the interesting spots met along the way. Since we frittered away some crucial hours waiting for a ferry, we fell short of time to fully circumambulate the island once in  our bike. Due to limited time in our hands, we missed out on some of the important landmarks including the Grand Hotel and Michigan Governor's Summer Residence.










The points covered by us include the State Park, Fort Mackinac (which unfortunately was closed in April), Devil's Kitchen and the Arch Rock. Historically significant, Fort Mackinac bears witness to a host of battles fought over American Independence in the 19th century. Now housed as a museum on the grounds of Mackinac Island State Park, Fort Mackinac is a popular tourist destination. 

The Arch Rock is one of the must see points in the island. Nearly 150 feet above the ground, it is a natural lime formation. The sun on top brought about a fascinating beauty by setting the arch aglow and I just adore the pic below captured by my hubby.

The Arch Rock aglow by the sunlight

Devil's Kitchen is another hallmark tourist point in Mackinac Island. The cavern, naturally formed into the shape of a human face with open mouth ostensibly fortifies the folk tale of cannibals, possessed by evil spirits, capturing and eating people, who came too close to this ill-omened location, alive.

Regardless of our erroneous planning, we succeeded to savor the magnificence of nature the island is blessed with. The bike trail around the island offers you the scope to witness one of the most enchanting panoramic views of nature in its glorious form. The iconic scenic beauty will definitely remain etched in my memory forever. Hopefully, I will visit there again in not so distant future.

Yercaud Trip

Our marriage anniversary was on 21st November which was Monday this year. The day went very dull with my hubby coming late from office after 8.30 p.m and me waiting for him :(....in order to celebrate the anniversary he planned a trip to Yercaud last weekend. Another couple from his office joined us in the celebration.

Yercaud is a small 'developing' hill station nestled amidst Shevaroy Hills in Tamilnadu state. I mentioned 'developing' because there are a host of things yet to be properly developed to metamorphose Yercuad into a full-blown hill station like Ooty. Only at 230 kilometres distance from Bangalore, indisputably, this is the next popular tourist destination in the making, among weekend revellers, after Ooty. It takes only about 4 hours through NH44 to reach Yercaud.Apart from the last leg of the journey when you need to swerve your car through the steep road of the hills, the road from Bangalore to Yercaud is smooth and trouble free. There are one or two pit stops at McD and Cafe Coffee Day where you may unwind and relax for a while on the way.

There are 20 narrow hairpin bends, properly guarded with railings, winding up to almost 2000 meters in altitude to Yercaud. Driving through the steep treacherous roads with gorges on both sides calls for some skill in the driver, and my husband seems to have mastered the art well within 2 years of driving experience. We started around 10 o'clock in the morning and reached Yercaud by 2.30 pm. In between we took a break at McD for 40 minutes.

We put up at a resort called Regent Hill Park side owned by Mr. Visu Kaliyappa.Built way back in 1861; the resort was originally a home of a British administrator. Now renovated into a resort, Mr. Kaliyappa has tried to retain the old English look and feel of the place. The switchboards as well as decoration of the rooms exude an impression of antiquity. The spacious lavish bathrooms of 400 sqft recreate the ambiance of the royal British life style. Mr. Kaliyappa himself was quite hospitable and took utmost care to treat his guests with satisfaction. However, I was a bit put off by the frequent load shedding and that the generator was turned on manually. Post-midnight when the staff members went to sleep and there was no one to regulate the generator, the entire resort plunged into darkness due to load shedding, leaving us in pitch-dark for the whole night. But the weather being salubrious as it was heavily raining outside, we didn’t feel the absence of ceiling fans. Oh yes, the resort is yet to accommodate an air-conditioning facility. Some snapshots of the resort are below:

We went to Yercaud amidst rain. The sky was overcast and it was continuously drizzling the day we arrived there. Mr. Visu got a fulsome lunch prepared for us - fried rice and chicken as per our request. The meal was good. During lunch in the beautifully ornate dining room, one thing came to our notice....Mr. Visu has an impressive collection of recipe books. From Italian to Mexican, he has an entire encyclopaedia on cooking at his disposal. What was more exciting was those books were available for reading to his guests. Taking advantage of the moment, I chanced to peek into a handful of books and took down some recipes.

We chose to spend the evening at the resort itself due to incessant downpour outside. We ordered onion pakoda, tea and coffee as evening snacks to spike up our chat session. At dinner was served Kerala paratha and chicken curry. It was a lovely evening spent with friends and we enjoyed a lot.


Next morning the sky was looking clear with the sun smiling from behind the wisp of cloud. We ventured out finally to do some sightseeing. First we went to Lady's seat which provides a bird's eye view of the luscious plains spread below. The panorama viewable from Lady's seat was of scenic beauty, but if you find a troop of monkeys keeping a watch on your every movement and waiting for a chance to seize food items from your hands, it's unnerving and I got scared the way one monkey, perched on a barricade, was sizing up my husband as he got his hand inside the backpack to take camera and related accessories out. I apprehended that it might snatch our expensive DSLR camera mistaking it for a piece of eatable. We didn’t linger around long and preferred to leave within 15 minutes.

Next we went to Kiliyur Falls which in the itinerary was suggested as a must visit. The ideal time to visit this falls is during or just after the monsoon because the falls remains dry otherwise. It is a 300 feet high waterfall with a beautiful view in the backdrop. You have to clamber about 300 steps down to reach the base of the waterfall. The stairs are properly cemented and supported with balustrades. Being careless by nature, I wore 1 inch high heels to the waterfall, and after the up and down climb, every nerve and muscles of my legs were strung to a breaking point. My sedentary life style has atrophied the stamina and agility of my body and that I realized with every step I took back and forth. My legs were trembling from sudden exhaustion once we reached the foot of the falls and I had to halt after every 15 steps climb to catch my breath on our way up. The muscles of my legs are still sore all over :(.....But yes, the breathtaking beauty of the falls cascading down in ripples made up for all the exertion taken. The sight was overwhelming.

The to and fro journey of the falls left us all sapped and gasping. So we returned to our resort for freshening up. Since we had done a heavy breakfast with idlis and masala dosas, we ordered only chicken sandwiches for lunch.We left the resort finally around 3.30 p.m planning to take a quick boat ride in Yercaud Lake before starting out for Bangalore. Yercaud Lake is a beautiful lake against a fascinating green backdrop of lush woods. 60 ft deep this lake is a natural lake unlike the ones in Kodaikanal and Ooty which are man-made. There are two kinds of boating options available. You may hire either paddling boats or rowing boats. We opted for rowing boats because we were too tired to paddle boats on our own. Moreover, rowing boats were safer and more comfortable because a rower pulls the oars for you, leaving you to enjoy nature at its best.

Since except my hubby, none of us in the group knew swimming, we wrapped ourselves in life jackets praying to the almighty to keep our boat safe from capsizal. It scared the hell out of me when the boat was in the middle of the lake, the rower stood up to capture our snaps and the boat was swaying sideways in heavy wind. Finally, after a chilling 20 minutes ride across the lake, we set off for Bangalore.  

Chicago Trip

We went to USA in March, 2011. The week before returning back to India, we made a trip to Chicago which is about 270 miles of distance from Perrysburg where we were staying in US. Chicago is the largest city of the state of Illinois and indeed, it stands true to its name "the Wind city" because due to frequent gusts of wind it's almost impossible to keep your hair neat and combed and since we made our trip just when Winter has started receding, chilliness was still strongly felt in the air. From May till September, the weather in Chicago remains salubrious but from October onwards, it gets covered beneath thick layers of snow.

Like any other big city of USA, Chicago too is replete with buildings towering over you. Its fascination with skyscrapers is prominently manifested in the view of downtown Chicago where most of the buildings seem to be more than 60 storied high and I litreally had to stretch my neck back to catch a good view of the topmost point of those monumental buildings.

On reaching Chicago first we went to the Willis Tower popularly known as Skydeck for this 108 storied edifice has a skydeck at its 103rd floor offering breathtaking view of Chicago downtown from about 1,300 feet above. But since there was a huge queue waiting outside, we preferred to catch other attractions of Chicago and make our trip back to Willis Tower the next day early in the morning when the rush of tourists visiting the skydeck is expected to be thinner.

 

We then bought tickets of Chicago Trolley and Double decker company for multiple day downtown tour at the price of $35 per person.This tour is specially designed for tourists with a guide providing comprehensive view of the Chicago downtown and its growth over the years. The buses are available at the gap of every 15 minutes and so you can alight from the bus to see the attractions at your own leisure and then catch the bus again to drop by the next attraction. The tickets we bought were valid for 7 days. Since parking in Chicago is inconvenient and a costly affair,it's advisable to park your car at some place and opt for the public transit system.

 

   



Chase Bank..World's tallest bank building





Millennium Park located on Michigan Avenue was the first attraction we paid a visit to in Chicago. This park is one of the most popular haunts for tourists and locals alike. Its appeal lies in its four major features - the Jay Pritzker Pavilion, Cloud Gate, the Crown Fountain, and the Lurie Garden. Cloud Gate is an attractive structure made of steel and because of its legume like shape, it has earned the sobriquet "The Bean". Its glass-like reflective surface provides distorted images of Chicago skyline and visitors feel amused to see their warped reflections on "The Bean".

                                                                                                                                                

  



 

Crown Fountain is an artful video sculpture composed of two translucent glass brick towers facing each other. Various human faces appear on the surface of each tower with lips slightly puckered to ooze out water from the nozzle set on the front face of each tower.Water spouting through the lips of the images reflecting on the towers is a fascinating sight.

 

The Jay Pritzker Pavilion is the cynosure of Millennium Park. With the facility of 4,000 fixed seats and a huge lawn accomodating an additional 8,000 people, this pavilion has been a host to a series of musical shows including symphony, orchestra, classical music and so on.

 

On completing our tour around Millennium Park, we headed towards Michigan Lake. It's a huge lake almost as big as some of the seas of the world like Caspian Sea and Red sea. Lake Michigan has a significant role to play behind Chicago earning its popular name "the wind city".

After that we took another ride in Double Decker bus and roamed around the downtown of Chicago city. The guide poured out information regarding the development of Chicago familiarizing us with the buildings found in Chicago downtown. The pic below is of Trump Tower which was originally meant to be the tallest building in USA but post 9/11 attack Donald Trump revised the design and made it the second tallest building of US.The Trump Tower is a hotel cum condominium, only second of its kind to Burj Khalifa located in Dubai.

The skyscraper below is the head office of Wrigley Chewing Gum Company. Built way back in 1920, interestingly, it was the first office building of Chicago that was equipped with air-conditioning facility.

The pic below is of Marina City,a luxurious residential/commercial building complex.The corncob shaped 65 story tall towers were the tallest residential buildings in the world when built way back in 1964, but in 1977 they have been transformed into condominiums.

The snap below captures "Thompson Center" that boasts of a stupendous collection of arts. The bizarre-looking modern sculpture displayed at the entrance reflects the artistic heritage of the building.

I was shivering in freezing cold seated at the top compartment of the Double Decker bus under open sky, more so because the weather was so windy that it seemed as if the breeze generated from Michigan Lake directly was hitting us and I was not at all prepared for such windy weather. The jacket I was wearing that day was of flimsy fabric, hardly insulating enough for warding off cold.I started feeling pretty dizzy by the time we finished our trip and got down from the bus near the parking lot where we had our car parked.But a misfortune as it seemed was awaiting us. To our utter astonishment and horror, when we reached the parking space, we saw our car vanished. Upon enquiry, we discovered that our car had been towed. None but Debu gets the entire credit for forgetting to put the parking ticket on the windshield. In the absence of a parking ticket glued to the windshield, they assumed that we had not paid for parking and hence our car was towed. I literally freaked out in frustration. Chicago was totally an unknown place and to retrieve our car from the towing people, we would have to shell out $250 as fine and that too when we had already paid for the parking ticket. I was on the verge of tears when a guy and a female security guard at the parking lot came for our help. That guy was an absolute angel who not only convinced the security guard to drive us to the towing office but called the people there requesting them to let us go as we were foreigners who unmindfully didnot go through the parking ticket properly and hence slipped putting it on the windshield.Only and solely for that godly person who appeared from nowhere to help us we got ourselves extricated from an ugly situation, which could have ruined our total trip, without paying any amercement.

Debu has innocence writ large on his face, may be due to the fact that he is a kind of person who would never harm a fly and so the towing people there took mercy on him (thanks to the phone call of that angelic person we met at the parking lot) and gave our vehicle back to us without charging a fine. After such miraculous escape (it's nothing short of a miracle that we were let go because in US, towing rules and regulations are very strict) we were definitely very happy though I was seething inside over Debu being so careless to miss reading the parking ticket carefully, but on reaching hotel my anger subsided and we decided to go for a night stroll after dinner. Our hotel was exactly located at Magnificent Mile in Chicago downtown and hence every restaurant or attraction were within walking distance. We chose a Japanese eatery named "Sliver Spoon" and consumed some very delectable Japanese dishes.

Post dinner we visited John Hancock Observatory which is a 100 storied tall skyscraper with a restaurant at its 95th floor providing a panoramic view of the Chicago skyline. The entire city illuminated at night looks dazzling and ornamental.The view is simply breathtaking and inexplicable in words.Unfortunately, the building shuts down at 11 o'clock and since we reached there few minutes before the closing time, we could linger for half an hour only.

Next day we started early in the morning for Willis Tower. As mentioned earlier Willis tower is a 108 storied high-rise building,which formerly known as 'Sears Tower',is popular among tourists and locals alike for its skydeck situated at 103rd floor of the tower. Skydeck is nothing but an observation deck which slightly protruded from the main frame of the building is made of glass boxes and hence standing upon the skydeck at 103rd floor, if you look through the glass below you may find the entire city sprawled beneath your feet some 1,400 feet below. The experience is quite scary and unnerving if you are height phobic, but super exciting.The skydeck apart, the astounding view of beautiful Chicago skyline meeting the Michingan Lake is a paradigm of nature juxtaposing with modern architecture.  

 

Usually the glass balconies known as skydeck remain so crowded that you need to squeeze through the crowd to get inside the balcony and wait for your turn to take snaps. So just in case if you are unable to capture your family without a stranger appearing in the same frame, you may avail a facility of getting your snaps taken by some professional photographers at the pay of $25. The pic below featuring me and my hubby standing on skydeck is one such pic clicked by one of the professional camera men.

Buckingham Fountain, located at the heart of Grant Park of Chicago, is one of the largest fountains of the world, designed after the pattern of a three-tiered wedding cake.The fountain surrounded by a stream of seasonal plants and flower beds is a visual delight. Functional only through the months from April till October, this fountain hosts many water shows and evening color-light shows in order to attract tourists.

 

 

Navy Pier in Chicago is another sought-after tourist destination. Standing 150 feet tall, the Ferris Wheel so distinctly conspicuous from even farthest of skyscrapers is a popular attraction here. The ride in Ferris wheel will expose you to a beautiful scenic view. Besides, parks, gardens, shops, promenades and restaurants make this place throbbing with activity. Numerous entertaining shows arranged within the Navy Pier building are also huge crowd-pullers.

 

Navy Pier was the final destination of our trip after which we wrapped up our journey and started towards Perrysburg, our home during the stay in US.