Skip to main content

Grand Canyon Trip in Memorial Day Weekend 2009

This was my first trip to Grand Canyon although I have been looking for this for more than a year now. I, Shusmita, Ahyan and Nitol took the US Airways from San Jose Airport 23rd May Saturday 9 AM and returned from there at 5 PM flight 25th May Monday. Ahmed Amin flew from San Francisco to join us in the Phoenix airport and he returned early in Monday morning.

The fun started at Phoenix airport while waiting for the rental car at Dollar Country. We were given a choice of either picking a PT Cruiser which I don't like or choosing a larger size Christler without any additional fee. We were delighted to get the bigger one and drove to a Mediterranean food center called Biaz market to finish lunch.

The drive from Phoenix to Flag Staff was scenic but windy and rainy. I drove a little bit and then gave the steering wheel to Nitol to go for a quick sleep as last few nights we didn't get time for proper sleep due to my neighbor Tufail Bhai's farewell from west coast to east coast. Amin took advantage of using his SLR camera to capture the scenic beauties of this drive just the way he did in the entire Grand Canyon trip.

We checked into Flag Staff Marriott late in the afternoon and ran for Sedona Park which is almost 35 miles from our hotel. So we were able to catch Sunset in Sedona park. The red rocks and the sun light reflection on those made the place an amazing dream spot to walk around. Amin and Nitol's cameras and Shusmita's iPhone were busy taking pictures after pictures. I was wondering if Sedona is so big and beautiful what are we going to see tomorrow in Grand Canyon?

We started very early in the morning at 6:30 AM for Grand Canyon Imax Theater which is just 2 miles before South Rim entrance. I liked the 34 minutes video and would ask you not to miss that as well. By the time we entered the South Rim and parked in Mather Point to have a look at where is The Grand Canyon, it was almost 10 in the morning. When we looked we were speechless. How big, deep and colorful are the great Grand Canyon. Amazing! I could only think of Niagara Falls to be as beautiful as this one although of different kind of its own.

The South Rim was 7000+ feet above sea level and the Colorado river that goes around the canyon is 2000 feet above sea level. The North Rim is 8000+ feet above sea level and typically you can't cover both the rims in a single trip. We parked our car and caught the blue, red and green line shuttle buses one by one to cover all the areas in South Rim and Grand Canyon Village where cars can't go but only buses.

Other than the youtube video in this post, you can also watch another small video here. To see the pictures of our Grand Canyon trip that Nitol uploaded in his Picasa Web Album, you may follow this screen.

Comments

Ashik Uzzaman said…
Check out Sedona here - http://www.desertusa.com/mag99/aug/stories/sedona.html

Popular posts from this blog

Moved To New House & Tuhin Bhai's Quick Visit

We moved to a new rental house near BART end of last month. We have stayed in LakeView Apartments for three and half years before moving here. I was too busy with my office works the last month and hence Shusmita did most of the packings. We got the new house key 1 week earlier than our move in date of first November. So we actually moved 24th October Saturday and took rest of the one week to slowly finish the moves. We rented DesiMovers who moved all out packed cartoon (30+) and many unpacked staffs. They disassembled the bed and assembled back again. Although a bit costly, they were quick and did a good job of transferring all the staffs and assembling those back again. All our friends in Fremont liked the house as we did. I wish I would not be a tenant but the owner of the house! However, buying house is very expensive in California and I can't simply afford it maintaining my current lifestyle, I let myself forget about it. Tuhin Bhai (Ripa's hubby) gave a surprise visit...

Bought New Car: Honda Accord 2009 LX-P Maroon Color

After a month of my Civic being completely destroyed in a car accident, I bought my new car yesterday. It's Honda Accord 2009 LX-P Maroon Color that I bought from Autowest Honda of Fremont . I have shopped around for car in Toyota and Honda. While Toyota Camry 2010 is also a very good car, somehow we ended up liking Accord. Whlile in Accord you feel the road and the power behind the car more, for Camry it's the smoothness of driving experience. Shusmita didn't want to even go for a test drive of Hyundai Sonata although that is also a comparable car at a cheaper price. I guess we are so used to our Honda Civic that only another Honda car would have been able to psychologically match our unknown requirements. I gave a four thousand dollars down payment and the rest my dealer financed me from American Honda Finance. While buying the car, I also bought the 6 years service, mechanical breakdown warranty, low jack safety and some service contracts. I came to know at that time t...

OPAR Cemetery: A Noble Initiative Born from Personal Experience for Eternal Peace

A few months ago, I went to visit my family in Dhaka, Bangladesh before joining my new job at Checkr in San Francisco. On this particular trip, my brother, Rasheduzzaman, the visionary CEO of OPAR Cemetery, took several of us on a journey to a serene location in Gazipur. This wasn't just a casual outing; it was an introduction to the very ground where a profound vision is taking shape—a vision born from personal heartache and a deep-seated desire to serve the community. My father Mohammad Shamsuzzaman has been working with him for a long time before they could buy the land there last December. I am truly honored and happy to share this initiative, which stands as a powerful blend of thoughtful business and heartfelt social responsibility. The Genesis: A Solution Born from Pain The idea for OPAR Cemetery wasn't conceived in a boardroom; it emerged from a deeply personal and challenging experience. Three and half years ago, when my father-in-law passed away in Dhaka, it was an in...