Its been really long since I shared my one of a kind experience. Taking a break after almost 4 years was a breather. December 22nd to January 2nd was a good long break but not enough to visit places in the US of A.
So, I had a look at my itenary one last time at the airport and it read Denver - San Francisco (via Las Vegas) - Tulsa (via Dallas) - San Francisco (via Dallas) - Las Vegas (road trip) - Los Angeles - San Francisco - Denver - Orlando - Ocala (road trip) - Denver (via Chicago). Interesting isnt it? Well out of the 10 days, a one day was being spent waiting at the airport, a day in sitting in an airplane and about a day and a half driving.
San Francisco; I never got a day to stay there, I could only spend 2 nights and the only thing I did was either ate or slept.
I never expected my journey to be eventful, but it turned out to be a one of a kind. Leaving Denver at 6 PM I was supposed to reach San Francisco by about 9 PM with a plane change at Las Vegas. Well the weather at Kansas City made sure my plan was late by 2 hours! At the end, I had about 15 mins to catch my connecting flight form Las Vegas to San Francisco. Well I was put on to a flight from Denver to Oakland where I would get a BART to SF International Airport. No clue what BART is supposed to be I landed at Oakland at about 8:30 PM. Now the task was to find out what BART was. I have got the strangest look when I enquired about BART and I got an answer "Bay Area Rapid Transport". So a journey began from Oakland to SFO - Catch a BART bus from Oakland International Airport to one of the BART stations and I was under the impression BART was a bus service. At BART station I managed to figure out that I need to catch a BART on the D Line. Hmm interesting, now what the hell is a D Line. Well lucky me, BART stations are equipped with Electric signs which displays the time remaining for every BART train and on what Line. So now I had one more journey to cover since, Oakland to SFO is a good 2 hour long distance.
Clueless of whats on the card next, I managed somehow to reach SFO and what a relief when I met my sister, after a good 3 year gap. Well as usual, I lost my baggage and didnt bother to ask more about it, just headed home. 12:30 AM and I was hungry, and the best place at this time of the hour is IHOP - International House of Pancakes.
Trivia - IHOP servers more than 700 million pancakes a year.
Next day, its time for me to go to Tulsa and I have absolutely no clue about my baggage. 2 hours before boarding the flight, we get a call, saying my Baggage arrived at SFO, so a quick peek at the baggage center and than rushed towards boarding our flight to Tulsa via Dallas. 5 minutes before boardin the plan, we realized, the flight is delayed by about 25 mins. So now its time for some food again and it was turn for some Mexican Bean Buritto at Chippotle.
A good 4 hour flight to Tulsa via Dallas, rather an un-eventful journey. A family get togather at Tulsa and we were done in 2 days. And it was back to SFO via Dallas again. Nothing major to shoot in Oklahama, since its a flat state wiht absoutely nothing, but I managed to shoot a few pictures at Keystone Lake, Manford which is right behind my uncle's backyard.
Trivia - Keystone Lake is an artificial lake in northeastern Oklahoma on the Arkansas and Cimarron Rivers
Now it was time for some fun. My next destination on the list was Las Vegas. We rented a Ford Edge (SUV) and were off to Las Vegas on Interstate 5 - with not so happening views. Probably this was the only time I spent at SF and I really feel because I had not captured anything in one of the most beautiful cities in the USA. Well got some off the road trip.
So it was sleeping time and in about 8 hours we were at Las Vegas. A city in itself. A completely different world all togather, where apart from doing drugs almost everything is legal.
Trivia - Las Vegas experiences about 2 million floating population a day. Las Vegas International Airport is the 5th busiest airport in the USA. I will run out of space writing about Las Vegas.
The biggest mistake was not to get warm clothes and forget my shoes. I had been to every part of Las Vegas including hotels, casinos, shows in my very own slip ons. An amazing experience I would say! Well some good memories at Las Vegas though.
So now it was back to LA, however via HOOVER DAM. Hoover Dam, also known as Boulder Dam, is a concrete arch-gravity dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, on the border between the U.S. states of Arizona and Nevada. The dam, located 30 miles (48 km) southeast of Las Vegas, is named after Herbert Hoover, who played an instrumental role in its construction, first as Secretary of Commerce and then later as President of the United States. Construction began in 1931 and was completed in 1935, more than two years ahead of schedule. The dam and the power plant are operated by the Bureau of Reclamation of the U.S. Department of the Interior. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1981, Hoover Dam was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1985.
On the way to Hoover Dam, I happen to see something that really excited me. A chopper ride over Lake Mead or Hoover Dam. Now this was my chance to do some kite aerial photography and what a subject - the hoover dam. Well everything comes with a price though. A 2 minute over Lake Mead would cost you $60 and a 5 min ride over Hoover Dam about $150. Well I just had an expereince over Lake Mead.
Now the next destination was LA. Once again, a very unique city, always covered with SMOG but people in LA says aah, what a clear day. Dont understand why they dont see the smog. A good trip to Universal Studio and the Getty Center was an experience. LA has a lot to offer, a lot of places to visit and spend time at. Nt much time and had to cut short the trip.
So it was time to get back to SF and this time on El Camino Real (The Royal road) - Highway 101. One of the most beautiful highways in USA as it runs over the west coast. Well the timing was not good, it was too sunnny, but just managed to get one good snap. Next time I would intend to get more for sure.
Well I did visit Florida and Ocala, but was more of a family trip and covered in 2 days. Dint go anywhere just watched TV, ATE and slept.
It was a fun filled vacation for 10 days, a long one, but a rather short one. And I was lucky enough to be in 4 times zones in a span of 10 days!
So, I had a look at my itenary one last time at the airport and it read Denver - San Francisco (via Las Vegas) - Tulsa (via Dallas) - San Francisco (via Dallas) - Las Vegas (road trip) - Los Angeles - San Francisco - Denver - Orlando - Ocala (road trip) - Denver (via Chicago). Interesting isnt it? Well out of the 10 days, a one day was being spent waiting at the airport, a day in sitting in an airplane and about a day and a half driving.
San Francisco; I never got a day to stay there, I could only spend 2 nights and the only thing I did was either ate or slept.
I never expected my journey to be eventful, but it turned out to be a one of a kind. Leaving Denver at 6 PM I was supposed to reach San Francisco by about 9 PM with a plane change at Las Vegas. Well the weather at Kansas City made sure my plan was late by 2 hours! At the end, I had about 15 mins to catch my connecting flight form Las Vegas to San Francisco. Well I was put on to a flight from Denver to Oakland where I would get a BART to SF International Airport. No clue what BART is supposed to be I landed at Oakland at about 8:30 PM. Now the task was to find out what BART was. I have got the strangest look when I enquired about BART and I got an answer "Bay Area Rapid Transport". So a journey began from Oakland to SFO - Catch a BART bus from Oakland International Airport to one of the BART stations and I was under the impression BART was a bus service. At BART station I managed to figure out that I need to catch a BART on the D Line. Hmm interesting, now what the hell is a D Line. Well lucky me, BART stations are equipped with Electric signs which displays the time remaining for every BART train and on what Line. So now I had one more journey to cover since, Oakland to SFO is a good 2 hour long distance.
Clueless of whats on the card next, I managed somehow to reach SFO and what a relief when I met my sister, after a good 3 year gap. Well as usual, I lost my baggage and didnt bother to ask more about it, just headed home. 12:30 AM and I was hungry, and the best place at this time of the hour is IHOP - International House of Pancakes.
Trivia - IHOP servers more than 700 million pancakes a year.
Next day, its time for me to go to Tulsa and I have absolutely no clue about my baggage. 2 hours before boarding the flight, we get a call, saying my Baggage arrived at SFO, so a quick peek at the baggage center and than rushed towards boarding our flight to Tulsa via Dallas. 5 minutes before boardin the plan, we realized, the flight is delayed by about 25 mins. So now its time for some food again and it was turn for some Mexican Bean Buritto at Chippotle.
A good 4 hour flight to Tulsa via Dallas, rather an un-eventful journey. A family get togather at Tulsa and we were done in 2 days. And it was back to SFO via Dallas again. Nothing major to shoot in Oklahama, since its a flat state wiht absoutely nothing, but I managed to shoot a few pictures at Keystone Lake, Manford which is right behind my uncle's backyard.
Trivia - Keystone Lake is an artificial lake in northeastern Oklahoma on the Arkansas and Cimarron Rivers
Now it was time for some fun. My next destination on the list was Las Vegas. We rented a Ford Edge (SUV) and were off to Las Vegas on Interstate 5 - with not so happening views. Probably this was the only time I spent at SF and I really feel because I had not captured anything in one of the most beautiful cities in the USA. Well got some off the road trip.
So it was sleeping time and in about 8 hours we were at Las Vegas. A city in itself. A completely different world all togather, where apart from doing drugs almost everything is legal.
Trivia - Las Vegas experiences about 2 million floating population a day. Las Vegas International Airport is the 5th busiest airport in the USA. I will run out of space writing about Las Vegas.
The biggest mistake was not to get warm clothes and forget my shoes. I had been to every part of Las Vegas including hotels, casinos, shows in my very own slip ons. An amazing experience I would say! Well some good memories at Las Vegas though.
So now it was back to LA, however via HOOVER DAM. Hoover Dam, also known as Boulder Dam, is a concrete arch-gravity dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, on the border between the U.S. states of Arizona and Nevada. The dam, located 30 miles (48 km) southeast of Las Vegas, is named after Herbert Hoover, who played an instrumental role in its construction, first as Secretary of Commerce and then later as President of the United States. Construction began in 1931 and was completed in 1935, more than two years ahead of schedule. The dam and the power plant are operated by the Bureau of Reclamation of the U.S. Department of the Interior. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1981, Hoover Dam was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1985.
On the way to Hoover Dam, I happen to see something that really excited me. A chopper ride over Lake Mead or Hoover Dam. Now this was my chance to do some kite aerial photography and what a subject - the hoover dam. Well everything comes with a price though. A 2 minute over Lake Mead would cost you $60 and a 5 min ride over Hoover Dam about $150. Well I just had an expereince over Lake Mead.
Now the next destination was LA. Once again, a very unique city, always covered with SMOG but people in LA says aah, what a clear day. Dont understand why they dont see the smog. A good trip to Universal Studio and the Getty Center was an experience. LA has a lot to offer, a lot of places to visit and spend time at. Nt much time and had to cut short the trip.
So it was time to get back to SF and this time on El Camino Real (The Royal road) - Highway 101. One of the most beautiful highways in USA as it runs over the west coast. Well the timing was not good, it was too sunnny, but just managed to get one good snap. Next time I would intend to get more for sure.
Well I did visit Florida and Ocala, but was more of a family trip and covered in 2 days. Dint go anywhere just watched TV, ATE and slept.
It was a fun filled vacation for 10 days, a long one, but a rather short one. And I was lucky enough to be in 4 times zones in a span of 10 days!
