Inter state trip for labor day week end

It was just Portland for labor week end 2009. This time, it’s whole different experience. There is no long plan involved, Agassi just asked me to come to Santa Ana for long week end and the thread got extended in a random manner.

September 3rd 2010 - South California by South West

It was total different experience with South West. There was no seating assignment and you will be given code somewhere between {A1 to A60} to {C1 to C60} with good priority to passengers who planned and brought their tickets early. Though i was allotted B20's, i got window/Aisle every time. Crew was totally attentive. Ah! I don't like middle-aged crew, but it happens with every airline in US. There was lay over at Las Vegas, so in a way, South West gave me first LV experience. It started with amazing view of red rocks and red soil. Curiosity level doubled while departing LV to Santa Ana. On reaching Santa Ana, took a cab to La Quinta Inn hotel. Surprised, to see unhappy cab driver though I offered $2 tip for 10$ worth travel. Hotel receptionist was the first happy person i saw after landing. Dropped my luggage and planned to hang out whole afternoon, when asked for the right place, hotel guys pointed me to south coast mall. Couldn't really understand what makes mall a hang out place. But with no option, went ahead. Again, i could see no smile around that area.
So, high lights of the day were "lay over at LV", "Lunch at Italian Cafe and tasty wine", "Dinner at Indian restaurant".

September 4th 2010 - On our way to Grand Canyon

Here comes Agassi, Suman later joined by Vinay and Rakesh. Agassi is the only person known to me, but it wasn't long for others to have easy talk. We started off with lunch at "traditions" and then buying camera and aux cable at radio shack. It was an eye feast watching Californian Mountains and then Arizonian red mountains. We reached best western hotel at Williams and took rest. Denny's was real bad experience for us. I vowed myself never to visit Denny's again. They took one hour for our To-Go, which almost made our friends sleep after tiresome drive and they were defiant.

September 5th 2010 - Canyon Experience

Till now, it was more of food and drive experience, activity actually started today.

We booked Jeep Safari at 11:15 AM from Grand Canyon to visit Canyons. We were to be picked at 11:00 AM at McDonalds. So, we went around and William's beauty and its railway station. We didn't count on minutes as we had lot of photography. At 11:10, we realized that we are 60 miles away from Grand Canyon. Grand Canyon also got Best western hotel and McDonalds sitting closer. So we missed Jeep tour and management was kind enough to void our charge. Same people booked our Helicopter tour for afternoon. We reached Grand Canyon and rushed to check-in at Helicopter tours to make sure we won't miss it again. But it was a windy day and we were asked to expect delay. So we were off for lunch and by the time we came back, stage is set for tour. We missed safety video and rushed to helicopter. We couldn't wait any more for that exciting trip. We posed for a pic and soon started our trip after fitting safety equipment. Though pilot was less interactive, we got over this when we were over canyons. Awestruck! Once in a life time experience. We had some bumpy ride due to winds, but it is all negligible after flying closer to Canyons. Nothing else was closer to exciting after this tour.

September 5th 2010 night - Entering Sin city

Traffic was not that bad. Everyone was super excited to visit LV. It started off with Hoover dam followed by few Casino’s followed by stunning view of Vegas. Is there any one, who is not excited about Vegas? From the day i started poker, i always wanted to play at Vegas. I hated slow moving traffic, not even interested in capturing alluring view of Vegas. Want to sit at table as quickly as possible. We crossed MGM, and decided to make fortune at Bellagio. Couldn't get parking for long time. Oh no! We got it early and we were waiting for other car to back off. As it was taking time, we allowed the car behind us to move on. It may be funny/foolish, but we considered it rude behavior to make our-self comfortable :-). It is downtown Vegas...Moved on and took a room at Bellagio. Woo! Hot girls, well dressed people. We are so tired and i wanted to step into room ASAP to avoid being odd.

There are many items in fridge, but touch it if you want it, otherwise ignore it. They got motion sensors..loll..if you have to use internet, you have to pay. Man! Insane prices and limited facilities. I stepped into poker room and started off losing 100$ (I got 2 K's, but 2 8's won the game..dang). I continued with another 100 and made decent profit of 110$ on a whole. Later i stepped into Vegas streets along with Suman. We had dinner-fast at Subway and continued to mm..some other places.

Again visited Bellagio and played Blackjack and made profit of 75$.

September 6th 2010 - Back to Santa Ana

Pretty tired and back in La Quinta. Postponed my flight few hours late so that i can sleep enough. It was so sad, but unavoidable, had to come back to Seattle on 7th by South West.