Love At First Sight.

Hi!

I had promised to write about the Grand Canyon trip and then, as someone said, I hit a writer's block ( see I am already thinking of me as a writer :) ). To be honest, I was just been lazy..must be something to do with all the Sodas and Starbucks that I have been drinking..tch tch...all the excuses that I can think of.

Going back to where I started- Grand Canyon has been featuring in our "sightseeing list" for number of years now..and in all our past trip to US, Sutapa always used to crib on missing out on Grand Canyon. So this year we had to make it happen...and we bought a day trip with one of the travel companies to take us from Vegas to Grand Canyon and back. We started early, very very early 6.30 AM from Vegas and the bus took us to the West Rim in Grand Canyon...and while Vegas was "vaguely fun", the Grand Canyon was "love at first sight". We took a helicopter and flew over the Canyon, and landed on the banks of Colorado river. The chopper ride was my "first in the life" experience, something that I will never forget ...

Before I talk more about my chopper ride, let me tell you a little bit about the drive to Grand Canyon. The bus was driven by a person called, Randy- a CUBS fan in Las Vegas!!!, with an excellent sense of humor, so we had a lively 3 hours drive. We saw the Hoover Dam on our way. Apparently when the Dam was built in 1935, it was largest electric power producing facility and the world's largest concrete structure (hmmm...largest concrete structure..must be..because the concrete jungle of Gurgaon did not exist then) . The best part of the drive - when I was suddenly woken up with lots of excitement in the bus and i realised that everyone was trying to click pictures of a buffalo, something called a desert buffalo...Did not understand what the excitement was all about, we see them ( atleast similar looking, slightly undernourished ones) everyday on the Gurgaon roads and we cooly drive by them without even a handwave... Funny.. forgot to ask Randy what was the whole excitement about. Other than me spilling fruit juice on the seat and Sutapa threatening to throttle me, if I sang ( rather recited) "Country Roads Take Me Home " one more time...the bus ride to Grand Canyon was without much excitement.

Back to the helicopter ride... We flew in between the Canyon gorge and the sight was breathtaking, the colour of the rocks where different at different places and the Colorado river looked very pretty from the skies. It never occurred to me, how safe these choppers are, till I read somewhere, much later, that they are operating at around much below Six Sigma. Which means quite a few of them actually crash!!!...and I paid over 150$ for it, without been aware of risks!!!! But it was risk worth taking and I don't mind taking it over and over again... The chopper landed on the banks of Colorado river, and we took a boat ride down the river. Do not look at the muddy waters of the river, but focus on the rocky mountains on either side, its a great sight with the mountains rising to a height of almost 4000 feet above the river. Sutapa was ready to throw me into the water, when I became John Denver'ish and started mauling (singing) "Rocky Mountain High". ( BTW guys-does anyone know about insurance that I can take against throttling and drowning...checked my travel insurance and it does not cover them :( )

After our helicopter ride, we went across to couple of viewing points- the Eagle Point and the Guano Point. The Eagle Point, has the SkyWalk. Anyone who goes to the West Rim MUST go on this. The SkyWalk is a Glass Platform, with glass floor, over the gorge. So when you walk on it, it looks like a sheer fall into the gorge..not for the weak hearts though.. you need to have a strong heart like mine, who is not afraid of been throttle or drowned or been thrown into the gorge when I kept signing " Top Of World". The Guano Point had a lovely view, and also a great lunch. I think I was taking too much from the buffet table, because the hostess came up to me and told me the story of how Guano Point got its name. According to her Guano means bird droppings (eeeksss!!!), and there are bird droppings every where and for some reason my appetite vanished after that story. Guys you can give Guano Point a miss ;).

On our way back to Vegas, Sutapa slept most of way and I fearlessly(!) sang " Every Breath you take, Every move you make... " Wonder why everyone in the bus slept...I never thought it was meant to be a lullaby......I think the "Sting" in my voice must have put everyone to sleep.

Bye for now...and keep coming back to the blog and leaving your comments...while I go back to humming ( now I am getting bold!!!) " chalte chalte mere yeh geet yaad rakhna kabhi alvida na kehna".....and before you guys click on the log out button..alvida for now and talk to you soon.

Keep singing

Ramen