Wild Wild West....

So, after such a warrrm welcome, does ANYONE need anything else to brighten up their day... Nah!!! The day had awesome things in store for me and so did the entire trip... But just one thing that was negative and was common thru out this trip....
1. I was coooooooooooooold... And therefore, I was troubled...
2. And I troubled kiddo the most who really did not know what more could he do....

Disneyland
As usual, I did something unthinkable :) I arrived from India and left directly for Disneyland :))) No time to recover from jet lag, no time to get ready (tho I did freshen up at the airport)...
Comfy shuttle ride till Disneyland after which I got the first excitement of using credit card Vraj gave me.... Yeah!! it worked :))) Then from the 3 options available, we selected Disneyland coz we wanted something veryyyy authentic Amrikaaa to make the trip memorable (tho as I told kiddo that it was memorable coz I was with him).... Then we saw all the things there.... You know that s the good part about kiddo.... Like me he also has this "paisa vasool" funda.... So, he dint like say chal na - lets not see this.... He was like we are paying so much so we need to see everything :)) and I liked that... So, yes - these 2 crazy people from India saw the whole of Disneyland (we actually marked every place we say on the map they gave us to enure we dint miss anything) and finally, at midnight took a taxi to Hollywood where M was waiting for us.... And ya, we were so fortunate to have a Disney parade and a fireworks + "Fantasia" show being performed that day for the first time.... So, huge majja came when we could actually see all Disney characters (in human form) walk down in front of us telling us their stories :))))

Universal Studios and Santa Monica
Reached Motel 6 at around 1:15 am and were fully exhausted... We hardly spoke in the car and after reaching we dint stop talking :))) (M was meeting kiddo after 2 years) General chit chat, catching up, spewing hatred for terrorists etc. after which we slept (I dont even remember when I dozed off)... Started off our day pretty early around 8:00 am with Walk of Fame.... As I have told hajar people, walking stars drawn on the ground isnt too much fun.... But - no one believed me... And guess what!!! Kiddo sees those stars, I say its walk of fame - he says "Pagal hai kya!!! Its a spoof on the actual walk of fame...." Ha ha ha... Finally, we clicked snaps with random stars ONLY to make kiddo happy that we actually saw a landmarkish place :))) Had a heaaaaaavy breakfast (its worth mentioning coz I have never had such a huge omlette like I had thr), we took a cab and got fooled... went to Santa Monica coz of some stupid driver's ultra stupid calculations and then clicked some aweeeeeeeeesome pics... After this went to Universal studio where I showed my awesomeness again... Collected some discount coupons which gave us $8 off on every ticket... (thats substantial you know) Then we saw the studio tour, Jurassic park, Simpsons (where we were plunged down from haajr feet in air), Mummy ride etc. Each of them was aweeeeeeeesome and more mind blowing than other... One day is just not enough for Universal... Esp when it is a holiday and EVERYONE seems to have come there... It doesnt help either that it closes at 6:00 pm and not midnight... Anyway, fully satisfied all of us met C who was supposed to drive us down to Vegas....

Las Vegas
First impression - WoooooooW!! All lights of USA are used up in Vegas.... Second impression - it is made by engineers and most probably from IITs - coz everything is a duplicate here... Fake paris, Fake NY, fake Disneyland etc. Then went to our hotel - thanks to M - we were put up in MGM Grand :))) That was awesome too... We booked the room for 2 only and then had to smuggle other 2 in... So, guess what we did... Me and M pretended to be the 2 people staying there (and the reception guy says - I am going to make sure you girls have an awesome room so that you can have loads of fun... I mean - how corny is this... I think he assumed me and M were lesbians or something :)))...) Anyway, then we got kiddo and C to join us after all procedures were done... Then we went to the LV strip... Slept around 5:00 am and then left for the Grand Canyon trip later in the day.... After the trip when we were back in Vegas - we gambled, we lost :(((( But, we realised how these people make money... When you are at high stakes game - more waitresses come and offer you free drinks so that you put more money to try and win.... We were at Blackjack table and we got drinks.... We came at 1 cent slot machine and no waitress showed up :))))

Grand Canyon
It was a trip which people like me cannot appreciate it to the fullest... Nature, power of nature, beauty of nature etc. gets lost easily on me... But kiddo did a fair bit of job making me all enthu for the trip... The first place where I was late.... First place where I wore 4 layers of clothing and was still numb... The first place where I slept for hajar hours (Kiddo will say I did that over the entire trip after this :)))...)... It is beautiful no doubts about it... But I wish I could either have the money to do the helicopter ride or the boy fat which allowed me to do river rafting :))))


Drive back to San Francisco
One seasoned driver and 2 novices split this journey which culminated in an AWESOME apt and an AWESOME time listening to buttons, talking to friends on phone and good times concluding with some nice pictures taken....

This was my last day with the 3 fun people I met for these 5 days and who ensured I have loads of fun and loads of warmth (thru their actions and thru the warm clothes they kept givin me ;)...) C drove me down to Stanford where the "official" exchange program awaits me... I had an AWESOME time - with people close to me, with places full of life and finally at a time when I had not too many worries bugging me.... I dint whine at all in the entire trip (cold whining not included) and that speaks a lot about the trip (people who know me - KNOW its a big deal...)