Calamus

When you are flanked by only sand around you for hours at length, it’s hard to imagine that a little further down in the middle of the desert lay one of the world’s most richest cities – a city that never sleeps. Las Vegas, billed as the Entertainment capital of the world is famous for massive and lavish casinos, the unrestricted availability of alcohol and adult entertainment which seems ubiquitous no matter where you turn in Vegas. Because of these reasons Las Vegas came to be more popularly known as the Sin City. The city owes its current growth to the American mafia. The mafia gang lords first built the original casinos, which have now developed in to the posh and luxurious hotel cum gambling joints that Vegas is hugely famous for. The Las Vegas Strip is roughly 4.5 miles long. This strip of land is where all the action is - Caesar’s palace, Stratosphere, The Venetian, MGM Grand, Bellagio, Mirage, New York-New York, Casino Royale etc are a few of the mammoth hotels along the Las Ve...

We were on time at the onset of our trip, despite having pushed a number of items to do till the last moment. As we crossed Portland, we stopped briefly for dinner. Dinner was delicious. Fried shrimp, aaloo paranthas, curd rice and tamarind rice. It was a cold December night with small showers intermittently. After a couple of hours we stopped at a nice motel somewhere near the Oregon-California border, to spend the night. Next morning, breakfast on the go, we had a long drive ahead of us to San Jose, our first stop. As we entered the state of California, a snow-capped Mt. Shastha was clearly visible. Contrary to the rest of the state, this small stretch near the Oregon border is white with snow. As for us, we were looking forward for some respite from the chilly Seattle weather when we planned this trip. And California is famously known for its bright and sunny weather even in winter. But that didn’t stop us from enjoying the cotton white snow. Seattle is a funny place, though too co...