LA, Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, Palo Alto, Boston!
What a whirlwind the last one week was! In 1 week, we did a road trip of over 2200 miles. The Dodge Grand Caravan and 5 of us went across 3 states, ate at strange hours and got very little sleep. The dazzle of Las Vegas, the beauty of the Grand Canyon, the engineering marvel that is Hoover dam and the allure of Hollywood - all in a space of 120 hours. Read on for the details.
Early on Monday morning, we left Palo Alto for LA. It was a longish drive. Helping us navigate was Microsoft Streets and Maps, a kickass software from Microsoft (with one of the people on board a Microsoftie, we couldn't use anything else if we wanted to!). Entertainment was handled by my trusty IBM Thinkpad ably assisted by an FM transmitter that leveraged the car speakers excellently. With our fuel tank full and spirits high, we set off to LA. On the way we watched 'Dil Chahta Hai' - our version of Inflight entertainment - DVD on a laptop screen. Thanks to mobile phone technology, I did an informational session (intended to be 15 minutes long but ended up at 45 minutes) with a London based investment bank on the road.
In LA, we first went to Santa Monica beach (lots of scenes of Baywatch were shot here). The boardwalk and the pier are nice (they were deserted so we had a leisurely stroll). Muscle beach has an array of gymnastic and balance apparatus. So, I did some swinging from ring to ring to feed the Tarzan in me!
Then we went to 3rd Street Promenade and had some Greek food. For the evening, the destination was Hollywood. So, we had a walk along Hollywood Blvd - saw the sidewalk with all the star names. We hung out at The Kodak theatre (venue of the Academy Awards ceremony) for a while. Finally, we got back to our motel. The next morning was the Microsoftie's niece's birthday. So we had some cake with the birthday girl who going to Disneyland for celebrations.
The rest of the morning was spent at the hill on which Griffith Observatory is located. Took some pics of the Hollywood hills and the famed Hollywood sign.
After LA, we hit Grand Canyon. It was late night by the time we reached our destination. Found a hotel and all of us slept like we hadn't slept in ages. Grand Canyon is beautiful. I aim to return there for a longer trip, hopefully for a week long hike.
Next destination was Las Vegas. Nothing can prepare you for the spectacle Vegas is. You build up all your expectations from what people have told you, movies you have watched (Ocean's 11 etc) and it blows everything away. We stayed at a casino away from the strip - Stratosphere. But most of our time was spent on the strip. Bellagio, MGM, Paris, Alladin, Caesar's Palace, Bally's, Venetian and more - we visited them all. Gambled a minimal amount on the slot machines, but could see how addictive it is. Going to Vegas can easily leave you with a sensorial overload. Everything looks plain after that! With a heavy heart, we returned to San Francisco.
Dinner was at Amber in Mountain View. Again, a couple of other friends I hadn't seen in years joined up and we caught up on life. The flight back was a 'convenient' red-eye which got me to Boston at 6:30 in the morning.
At Boston, I met up with another of my friends. We have been great friends for over 10 years now. Spent the day hanging out with him and a couple of his friends from his school. We went to Harvard and looked around the campus. It looks so much like the Dartmouth campus. Then I met up with a friend who showed me around MIT. I hadn't seen him in 8 years! Felt good to be meeting up again. We had lunch at an Indian restaurant and he gave us a wonderful guided tour of MIT. The research he is doing towards his Ph.D is quite interesting.
MIT is one of those places that makes you sit back and think about decisions you have taken in life. One of the choices I made was not to pursue a career in research within technology. If I had visited MIT 5 years ago, I probably would have made a different decision!!
To close the day, I had coffee with a friend from Sloan and returned to good ole Hanover.
I am so tired. I could sleep for days. But, there are cover letters to write and resumes to be sent. During Christmas vacation - I will catch up on sleep!
Lots of photos taken on the trip. (1.2 Gb!) Best photos are on Ofoto. Mail me for the link.
posted by Tagad_Tale @ 9:47 PM
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