Virginia: Mount Vernon & Old Town Alexandria

We took an overnight flight from Las Vegas to Washington D.C., with a short transit in Atlanta.

Free coffee in the airport lounge. Don't know how it taste, I didn't try

Thanks to my friend, we have free accommodation in DC and also New York. Friend's uncle, Uncle K and aunt (Aunty L) were very hospitable. It was like I got a free package tour including accommodation and meals to Washington DC. We were given separate rooms, and Aunty L even left bottled water in the room for us! Also, I am not able to provide any information on transportation as we were ferried everywhere. It was so comfy (coupled with tiredness) that I couldn't prop my eyes open on the day we reached there.

Back to Mount Vernon.

Potomac River, on the way to George Washington's Mount Vernon Estate.

Mount Vernon is the most popular historic estate in America, is the home of George and Martha Washington. It is along the Potomac River in Northern Virgina. Anyway, in short, it is estate of George Washington. Weather was not too great for outdoor activities, and we didn't visit the estate. LOL :P

I am guilty of not reading up or researching much on this USA trip, and even more so on the part of Washington DC area. However Uncle K had his own list of itinerary of the places he wanted to show us. In the list for first day - was the above George Washington Mount Vernon Estate which we just had a glance from the car, and Old Town Alexandria.

Old Town Alexandria is a quaint historic town on the other side of Potomac River. It was an important colonial port in the old days. At present, is a waterfront attraction with colonial houses, shops and restaurants.

Uncle K and Aunty L brought us to have an early dinner at Chart House. I was trying to behave myself, so I did not take any pictures on the food I had in DC, as I was dining with friend's uncle and aunt. But, those food were so beautiful, both presentation and taste. Also, looking out to the waterfront scenery.

After dinner, we had a walk down to the shops and initially planned to visit the Torpedo Factory but unfortunately it was closed earlier that day due to a booked event. It was said that torpedo were manufactured there during World War I and II. Now it acts as an art studio.

No, this is not the Torpedo Factory

Side note: Vietnamese coffee... yum ^_^

Arizona: Grand Canyon South Rim

... I have to add... Arizona: The amazing Grand Canyon.

Despite the not very imaginative name of adding the word Grand to the word Canyon, somehow it is probably the most suitable name for it. Sounds cheesy, but the Grand Canyon... is simply grand (*avoid flying slippers)

Anyway, a bit of reading on this beautiful place.

The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona. It is contained within the Grand Canyon National Park. It is a very large area, cover up to 446km long, 29 km wide and depth of over 1,800 metres.

Grand Canyon train... to break up the long text

Before we make any booking, I had a read up on Grand Canyon and one could visit West Rim, South Rim or North Rim. The North Rim itself is not as easily accessible as compared to the other two rims, also only open for a short period of time due to weather condition. It is higher than both West Rim and South Rim, hence it is said to be covered in snow for the colder months. Most people get to North Rim by driving and since that was not what we wanted to do, we were left with West Rim and South Rim.

West Rim is known to be the where the U-shaped glass walkway is located. It is also closest to Las Vegas. However the West Rim is not actually park of the Grand Canyon National Park, as it lies outside the park's boundaries. On the other hand, South Rim is positioned closest to the Colorado River, and offers water views as well as magnificient canyon views. This... I decided, was where I want to go, instead of West Rim.

Ok... back to my story.. once we reached the starting point, we were given some time to go to the washroom and spend some money at the souvenir shop. There were some nice goodies there :P
As I stepped out of the shop via the other door... this amazing view greeted me.

I thought to myself, if I know the other door opened out to this, I would've made up my mind faster on what to buy and spend less time in the shop. :P

I was rather hungry at this point but lunch was not far away then. Regardless, it was a late lunch compared to my usual time. Gourmet sandwich, (my pick: roasted beef), grapes, cheese, crackers and water bottle for lunch with the nicest view for picnic.

... and a bird joining us...

We stopped by a few view point, and I'm having a bit of trouble deciding which picture not to post up. Not that my photography skills are great or what, but I really love this place. It is definitely worth a stop, at least for a day trip, if you are at somewhere close.

And.. we stayed for sunset.. :)

Side note: BT mouse is back working... so I'm back blogging. I know how to use the touchpad and I do have a wired mouse...just.. haha :P

Arizona: Route 66 Seligman

I have a confession to make. I am pretty much clueless when it comes to United States, to the extend that I have no idea where San Francisco, New York, etc are. In fact, I didnt even know San Francisco and New York are so far apart. Ahem. So I can attest to travelling does increase Geography knowledge. LOL.

Route 66. I first heard about it a year ago, on a planned holidays which unfortunately did not materialize. Route 66 also known as the Main Street of America. It was first established on 11th Nov 1926, originally ran from Chicago, Illinois through Missouri, Kansas, Oklahama, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and Californa before ending at Los Angelas. In fact, one could do a road trip of Route 66, stopping at certain stops.

As mentioned in my earlier post, we joined the Grand Canyon Sunset Tours by Grand-Adventures which was included a Route 66 Stop in Seligman, Arizona. Seligman is the birthplace of historic Route 66.

Angel Delgadillo (I take it that's the reason why Angel was written on the sand) was born and raised in Seligman. He who owned a barber shop in Seligman is one of the moving forces of Historic Route 66 Association of Arizona and in preserving this historic highway.

Juan Delgadillo, Angel's brother operated the Snow Cap Drive-In burger joint. I read that he was said to pull antics on tourists when they ordered food and drinks. That... still happens to this day, not by Juan himself of course, but by the person who currently runs the place. I ordered a chocolate malt drink there! :)

You see the yellow bits, that was the opening to order food/drink.

Behind the Snow Cap

On another note - Little P make me realised that all these places in Vegas related to some movie in a way or another. So, you asked, which movie is Seligman related to? It is said that Cars is loosely based on Seligman. :)

Side note: I just want my Bluetooth to work :(

Nevada: Hoover Dam

Las Vegas is a state in Nevada, United States. At the Hoover Dam area, I saw this sign "Welcome to Nevada, The Silver State". According to our tour guide to Grand Canyon, Silver is one of the top economy source of Nevada. From Wikipedia, Nevada is officially known as the "Silver State" due to its importance of silver to its history and economy.

Back to why I said tour guide, opposed to usual transportation between states in United States, we didn't drive. If you know me well enough, you would've known the fact that I ride motorcycle better than I drive, due to lack of practice on the latter. Though of course, if need be, I could. Anyway, after considering time and convenience factor, we decided to take a day tour to Grand Canyon from Las Vegas. After checking out some websites, we placed a reservation on the Grand Canyon Sunset Tours with Grand-Adventures Tour, priced at $150 per person. We got a 5% discount with discount code obtained from their page in Facebook. I like it as it was a very small tour group, only 8 of us. 6 others were married couples.

The price included breakfast and gourmet sandwich for lunch. Breakfast was McDonalds', whichever meal you want. By the way, do you know that they even serve oats in McDonalds'? Well, they do, in the States. Here's the proof. Taste wise, not bad oh.

Ok. I digress. Back to Hoover Dam. I've done some reading, Hoover Dam was previously known as Boulder Dam, is a concrete arch in the Black Canyon of Colorado River, on the border between Arizona and Nevada. The dam's generators provide power for Nevada, Arizona and California.

We did not go down to the dam itself, but view it from a bridge - The Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge. This bridge was the first concret-steel bridge built in the United States and opened on 19th October, 2010, linking Nevada with Arizona. This bridge is located about 30 miles (48 km) southeast of Las Vegas. It was built as part of the Hoover Dam Bypass Project.

Here's the dam from above...

... and if it looked like a hot day to you. Believe me, it was seriously hot, after all, it was desert. It doesn't help that I was in jeans, this being I only brought along a shorts and a khaki pants. As we were unsure if we need to do some trekking and climbing, so canned the idea of wearing shorts. As for the khaki pants, that was the remaining fresh clean pants, not entirely wanting to wear that to a dusty place. By the end of the day, I couldn't wait to peel off the jeans and had a hot spring bath. LOL, of course, there wasn't any hot spring anywhere. That was wishful thinking.


Side note: A few blinks and Saturday is gone :(

Las Vegas: Road Trip

After stuffing myself silly the day before, it was time to do a road trip out of Vegas. I really anticipated this part of the trip, it was at least something not in the city.

Though I have high tendency to doze off while on the trip, there were still times that I was awake.

As I looked at the blue sky... suddenly a certain song came to mind, something along the line, "I wonder how, I wonder why, Yesterday you told me 'bout the blue blue sky..." I don't think there's any link to anything just the word "blue blue sky" :P

I thought the cloud looked like a wolf?

Hmm.. just for the fun of it, a few more pictures :)

Side note: TGIF!

Las Vegas: Spice Market Buffet

One of the food stations in the Middle Eastern booth

Remember I mentioned about top 3 buffet in Las Vegas? I went to one on our first day there - Bellagio's. Here's another one of them - Spice Market in Planet Hollywood, said to be good food with value. We had lunch, $20.53 incl tax.

Here's part of my share...

Bits of Middle Eastern and Mexican food :)

I kind of started on the prawns before I remembered to take a picture

Some of the desserts - a very nice baklava and cannoli at the background

Oh.. and there's a pancake booth, you get to pick the fillings that you like, I shared one with friend. It was divine.

I think those cotton candy will be a hit with little kids, not the type of dessert I like though. Never really like cotton candy.

Ok.. back to the main meal's booth...
Oh.. entree first.

Side note: Hopefully people will like the beef rendang I'm bringing tomorrow...