Dream Tour: San Francisco, Las Vegas and Los Angeles
After a long planning finally the day had come when we had to start our dream tour, tour to San Francisco, Las Vegas and Los Angeles. Before starting the tour we did all the preparations.
Preparations Included:
Maps
Hotel Booking
Ticket booking
Flight Booking
Day 1 (Sat 27th Aug 2006): Portland to San Francisco
As it was our car tour so we planned to cover all the scenic areas and all the possible places to visit .We planned our tour in a way so that we could first cover San Francisco then Los Angles and at the last Vegas. It was Saturday Aug 27 2006.We woke up early & did some preparations for journey. I and Ankur both were very excited for the coming week. We left Portland at 6:00 AM and moved towards San Francisco. It was about 10 hour drive, which was quite boring for me but Ankur enjoyed his driving. After a long patience of 10 hours we entered San Francisco. Traffic on I 80 made us stuck on toll bridge for an hour. That was the tough part of the journey. Finally we reached hotel “Good night Inn” at 5:30 pm. The whole evening we rested in the hotel as Ankur was felling tired after the long drive.
Day 2 (Sunday 28th Aug 2006):
It was a cool morning! For the second day we had booked our Alcatraz tour for 9:30 in the morning. So we left hotel by 8:30 AM .As we had to take tour from Pier 41 we parked our car in the parking lot of Pier 41 n rushed in the queue for the tour. Blue and gold line boat drop us on the Alcatraz Island which was considered as America's premier maximum-security prison n was also called as "the Rock" home.
We paid a dollar for a self-guide book and go through the various places of interest. We took an Audio tour of about 35 min through which we learnt a lot about Alcatraz and the unsuccessful escape attempts made by prisoners many times. There were many isolated rooms on the island which means Prison inside the prison.
It would have been really a horrible prison at that time. Alcatraz also has the oldest operating
lighthouse on the
West Coast of the United States.
After a long tour of Alcatraz we were back on Pier 39 by 12:30 pm. Pier 39 is one of the most -popular tourist attractions of San Francisco and one of most attractive attraction of Pier 39 was
Sea Lions. We spent our whole day there. Then, in the evening we moved towards Golden Gate Bridge. The Golden Gate Bridge was the
largest suspension bridge in the world when it was completed in 1937. It connects the city of
San Francisco to the northern tip of the
San Francisco Peninsula which includes
Santa Clara and other cities. We took some pictures of the bridge from a Vista point and walked long way through the bridge. The Golden Gate Bridge was covered in mist that day so we were not able to see the top of the bridge but still it was awesome.
Day 3 (Monday 29th Aug 2006):
On this day we have to move to Los Angles, as we had planned to cover 17 Mile Drive and Hearst Castle ,so we took S CA 1 This was again a cool morning.17 mile drive was one and a half hour journey from our hotel. The world famous 17 mile drive is a private toll road and is located throughout the Pebble Beach and Del Monte Forest area of Carmel. The town surrounded by 17 mile drive is known as Carmel By- the-Sea. It was quite fogy and we were a bit early there. But the beauty of the sea with the roar of waves just made it wonderful. It is one of the most beautiful sights to visit, with the landscapes of land and sea meeting each other in rocky magnificence.
Within this area are world class golf courses, such as the Pebble Beach Golf Links, The Links at Spanish Bay, and Spyglass Hill Golf Course. Also to be seen is one of California's most photographed trees, the Lone Cypress. Many vantage stops are on the 17 mile drive with vistas that make you just gasp in wonder like Host trees and Bird Rock
The 17-miles-drive is classified as a most Scenic Way out of the other American’s Scenic Roads. Really a lovely place to drive through!
Then we move ahead towards Hearts castle. At the appointed time we boarded the bus for our tour. As the bus moved slowly up the hill a recorded voice described the wonders of Hearst's great and visionary creation. At the top of the hill we clustered around our guide. He delivered a discourse on
William Randolph Hearst, childhood, parentage and pampered life as the only son of an immensely rich minerals tycoon.
Hearts castle was created in 1947 by the imaginative creativity of Hearst and the instructions of architect Julia Morgan. Hearts castle consist of 165 rooms and 127 acres of
gardens, terraces,
pools and walkways. We were overcome by the magnificence of the first building we came across, however it proved to be only one of the seven enormous guest houses surrounding the main building The actual castle resembled a European church from the outside and the castle from inside was rich in ancient Egyptian, Greek and Roman statuary and the work on the ceilings describes the culture of Italy and Spain. Antique furniture, ceilings, doors, paintings, sculptures prove that’s William Randolph Hearst was one of the many wealthy American collectors in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The outside swimming pool was at one time the largest in the world. The indoor pool was lined with a million pieces of Italian glass, much of which was covered with 22 carat gold.
At the end of the tour we re-board on our bus and were back to the entrance complex. There we explored more about the life of
William Randolph Hearst and the Castle by watching IMAX movie. After completing our tour to Heart Castle we came to know how one can fulfill his dreams so beautifully.
And we moved towards Los Angles running alongside the lost hills.
We passed by many sandy mountains and wine yards. We reached LA hotel by 7 PM. We were so exhausted that we just took our dinner from a Mexican Restaurant and fell asleep.
Day 4 (Tuesday 30th Aug 2006):
This day, we went to the Universal studio. We woke up at 8:00 am and to avoid the crowd on the entry line we planned to reach there early, so we wind up our things and rushed to the Universal studio theme park. Universal studio Hollywood is not only a theme park; it is also a working studio where movies and television shows are produced. At entry we took the Hollywood map and started by taking the studio tour. It was great to see the places where they actually make the films! Tour covers different Studio sets including stops at the King Kong, Jurassic park, Jaws, Village Flooding and Earthquake attractions, as well as a look at the "Psycho" House. Subway earthquake and flooding scenes were brilliant. We also saw the old street of Mexico, London and Paris.
After that we did many rides like Revenge of the Mummy, Jurassic Park and Back to the Future. Jurassic Park ride was nothing short of excellent! There were several dinosaurs on display that attempt to scare you at odd times that are realistic. We however got very wet during the course of this ride. We also enjoyed stunt shows Waterworld, and Fear Factor Live, a 3D show Terminator 2 and a 4D show Shrek. Waterworld was really is a great show! There were some awesome effects - including a full size plane being thrown over the set towards the audience. In Fear Factor contestant drank cockrodge soup it was awful.
We then went to Van Helsing Dracula: fort, oh my God!!it was too scary that we had to wait for some people to move ahead. We also learnt the secrets behind King Kong, The Mummy and other big Hollywood blockbusters at the Special Effects Stages and at last but not the least we saw what happens when the world's most talented animal stars take over the show at the Hollywood Animal Actors.
After our tour of Universal Studios Hollywood, we explore Universal CityWalk which is just outside the park.There were many shops and restaurants and even movie theatres.By the evening we both got exhausted so we took our dinner at Pizza Hut and got back to the hotel.
Day 5 (Wednesday 31st Aug 2006):
Today I woke up feeling even more excited as today was the day for Disneyland. The idea of visiting Disneyland might seem a bit childish but it’s really a great fun. We reached Disneyland by 9:00 am and took one day hopper ticket for California Adventure Park and Disneyland and decided to cover California Adventure Park first. There we did many Big Thrills like California Screaming, Mulholland Madness Twilight Zone Tower, Orange stringer and Sun wheel (which was a bit boring).We also saw Monsters Inc. and a 3D Puppet show.
Then we moved to Disneyland. It was the place where one can say Dreams comes true. It’s a great place for kids and young ones too. One of the nice things about Disneyland is that they make good themes. There we started with
Indiana Jones Adventure,
Pirates of the Caribbean which was an adventure by floating gently through the Blue Bayou.
Tarzan's Treehouse it was Family Treehouse of Tarzan,
Enchanted Tiki Room which was an audio-animatronics attraction where we enjoy the colorful birds and flowers and the singing tikis.
Pinocchio's Daring Journey,
it’s a small world--- I love this ride with all my heart. This was a boat ride through scenes of singing dolls wearing dresses of different culture and countries singing a melodies song that is! Once you get it stuck in your head, you can't get it out for a day or two!! .
Mr. Toad's Wild Ride,
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh,
Casey Jr. Circus Train, ,
Star Tours,
Mickey's House and many more. We also enjoyed
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad- surely one of the best rollercoaster’s in which we came across the hills, tunnels and lake to its own mountainous island, feels like quite an adventure.
We also joined the noon Disney’s electric parade. With the whole wonderful day our evening ended with the awesome fire works which lighten the whole palace with glitter and glamour. Then we came back to hotel and we were ready for the next day as coming day was again a new excitement.WE HAVE TO GO TO VEGAS, finally.
Day 6 (Thursday 1st Sept 2006):
We left hotel by 9:00 am and started for a new journey to Las Vegas. We were full of enthusiasm. After about 5 and a half hour journey we reached our Hotel ‘Nevada Landing Hotel and casino’. We rested for an hour or two and moved to see the night life at the Vegas. Our hotel was off the strip and was about 26 miles from the Strip area. Visiting Vegas is entirely different than other cities, its Vegas where there are lights, buildings, malls and casinos. Las Vegas was as trashy, tacky, and glamorous and exciting as one can imagine. You can drink, gamble and eat 24 hours a day in Vegas. It's the only place in America that I have seen or heard where people walking down the street with open beers and all. We reached there by 5 pm but still the temperature was in the nineties. I could remember India that time. That day we visited New York, MGM, Excalibur, Aladdin, Paris, Bellagio and Mirage. Each large hotel has a mall and casino in it. They all have a themes like Paris has a half size replicate of the Eiffel Tower, Luxor is a pyramid based on Egypt ,New York has a Statue of Liberty etc. The most impressive of the all we visited was Aladdin, having a glance of an ancient Arab with fake sky and buildings. One could get tired but its still not over .We also liked the Musical Fountain in front of the Bellagio. Beauty of Vegas is in Night, when it’s full of lights and Music.
It was 11 already and we had to leave for Hoover Dam and Grand Canyon the next day. So it was time for bed.
Day 7 (Friday 2nd Sep 2006):
We started our day at 9 am and dropped at Hoover Dam first. Hoover Dam is on Colorado River, which lies along the border of Nevada and Arizona. It also shares two time zones – so we were technically have one foot an hour ahead, and one behind the other. The Dam provides electricity for most of the Southwestern United States. Ankur parked the car at the Visitor Center Parking and we walked down to the Visitor Center by an elevator. There we decided to take the Discovery Tour which was the thing we did not plan for. Our tour started with a movie about the dam. Movie not only covered the design and construction, but the reasons for building the dam. Best part about the construction of dam was that it was over in 2 year which was before its actual time that also includes the time used to make two tunnels to divert river Colorado.
After movie we got the chance to see the parts of the working dam .We were led down by an elevator to a long dark tunnel to the power generator room. The guide for this section was good.He gave us an interesting knowledge on how the power generation works and how often the generators run. He also showed us the tunnels which were made to divert River Colorado from the construction area.
After the tour they dropped us at the Observation desk. Observation desk offers different viewpoints of the bottom of the dam and probably the most beautiful views of Lake Mead. As the top of the dam was open to pedestrians, we took walk along the sidewalks, looking over the dam and enjoying the scenery. The view of Hoover dam was amazing!!!! The Dam is really an engineering wonder.
After another 4 hours of drive beyond Hoover Dam we reached the Grand Canyon National park. Which is one of the Seven Wonders of the World. The canyon itself was an imagination, a massive piece of art. We just couldn't imagine how vast it is until we saw it ourselves. We covered many view points with our car and then we took a bus shuttle which drops us at the couple of view points. At some points we were able see the Colorado River at the bottom of the Canyon.
There were two rims to cover canyon North Rim or South Rim. The North and South rims offer different perspectives of The Grand Canyon. The North’s views are more horizontal, whilst the views from the South allow you to see all the way down to the Colorado River at the bottom. Temperatures on the North rim are generally cooler than the South because it is slightly higher and more exposed. We covered the southern rim.
No matter what you read about The Grand Canyon, no matter how many pictures you see, the television documentaries, the magazine articles: whatever the medium, NOTHING can prepare you for that first impression on standing at the edge looking 1 mile down or 10 across with its length winding as far as the eye can see in both directions. The Grand Canyon far exceeds any natural wonder.
After that we stopped for IMAX movie about the Grand Canyon which was an excellence in itself. We took our dinner and moved back towards the hotel. This journey was a bit scary as it was dark and there was desert all around but by God's grace we reached hotel safely at 1:30 am.
Now we were left with only one day of our vacation and still too many things to do. We were in Vegas and till now we didn’t gambled for a penny. Ankur was very excited about that so we planned to go down to our hotels Casino to learn how to play. We grasped a penny Machine and soon we lost many dollars. So we realized that it would be good for us to go to bed.
Day 8 (Sat 3rd Sep 2006):
While writing the blog I realized that it’s very hard to describe your last day of the trip. The day had come when we had to go back to Portland .We had our flight at 9:00 pm and had to drop our car by 7:00 pm. So we had only few hours in Vegas. We check out from hotel by 10:30 am and moved to the strip again. All the remaining hours, we spent on Vegas Strip. As a souvenir, I bought a T shirt from LA that says “Feeling Lucky in Las Vegas”.
As per schedule, we returned our car and reached Las Vegas airport. We couldn’t believe that even the airport had slot machines. We had our flight on right time. We took our dinner at airport and by then it was the time to be on board.
Wow! What a week! We had so much fun…..We had seen too much in the past 7 days that we had ever thought of. Finally it was time to say Good Bye and to keep all the memories in our heart forever. It’s truly said…."
We shall never cease from exploration, And the end of all our exploring, Will be to arrive where we started…"
of enthusiasm. After about 5 and a half hour journey we reached our Hotel ‘Nevada Landing Hotel and casino’. We rested for an hour or two and moved to see the night life at the Vegas. Our hotel was off the strip and was about 26 miles from
the Strip area. Visiting Vegas is entirely different than other cities, its Vegas where there are lights, buildings, malls and casinos. Las Vegas was as trashy, tacky, and glamorous and exciting as one can imagine. You can 
drink, gamble and eat 24 hours a day in Vegas. It's the only place in America that I have seen or heard where people walking down the street with open beers and all. We reached there by 5 pm but still the temperature was in the nineties. 
I could remember India that time. That day we visited New York, MGM, Excalibur, Aladdin, Paris, Bellagio and Mirage. Each large hotel has a mall and casino in it. They all have a themes like Paris has a half size replicate of the 
Eiffel Tower, Luxor is a pyramid based on Egypt ,New York has a Statue of Liberty etc. The most impressive of the all we visited was Aladdin, having a glance of an ancient Arab with fake sky and buildings. 
One could get tired but its still not over .We also liked the Musical Fountain in front of the Bellagio. Beauty of Vegas is in Night, when it’s full of lights and Music. 
All the remaining hours, we spent on Vegas Strip. As a souvenir, I bought a T shirt from LA that says “Feeling Lucky in Las Vegas”.As per schedule, we returned our car and reached Las Vegas airport.
We couldn’t believe that even the airport had slot machines. We had our flight on right time. We took our dinner at airport and by then it was the time to be on board.Finally it was time to say Good Bye and to keep all the 
memories in our heart forever. It’s truly said…."We shall never cease from exploration, And the end of all our exploring, Will be to arrive where we started…" 
of enthusiasm. After about 5 and a half hour journey we reached our Hotel ‘Nevada Landing Hotel and casino’. We rested for an hour or two and moved to see the night life at the Vegas. Our hotel was off the strip and was about 26 miles from
the Strip area. Visiting Vegas is entirely different than other cities, its Vegas where there are lights, buildings, malls and casinos. Las Vegas was as trashy, tacky, and glamorous and exciting as one can imagine. You can 
drink, gamble and eat 24 hours a day in Vegas. It's the only place in America that I have seen or heard where people walking down the street with open beers and all. We reached there by 5 pm but still the temperature was in the nineties. 
I could remember India that time. That day we visited New York, MGM, Excalibur, Aladdin, Paris, Bellagio and Mirage. Each large hotel has a mall and casino in it. They all have a themes like Paris has a half size replicate of the 
Eiffel Tower, Luxor is a pyramid based on Egypt ,New York has a Statue of Liberty etc. The most impressive of the all we visited was Aladdin, having a glance of an ancient Arab with fake sky and buildings. 
One could get tired but its still not over .We also liked the Musical Fountain in front of the Bellagio. Beauty of Vegas is in Night, when it’s full of lights and Music. 
All the remaining hours, we spent on Vegas Strip. As a souvenir, I bought a T shirt from LA that says “Feeling Lucky in Las Vegas”.As per schedule, we returned our car and reached Las Vegas airport.
We couldn’t believe that even the airport had slot machines. We had our flight on right time. We took our dinner at airport and by then it was the time to be on board.Finally it was time to say Good Bye and to keep all the 
memories in our heart forever. It’s truly said…."We shall never cease from exploration, And the end of all our exploring, Will be to arrive where we started…" 
