Boston
Boston is one of the old styled cities with red bricked houses, large parks and good places to eat. It is home to MIT and Harvard which have their own large campuses
The New England Aquarium has a nice collection of aquatic animals. It is informative and entertaining to spend time, specially for kids and animal enthisiasts
Boston is one of the best places to go whale watching. You will have to go on a large boat into waters 1-2 hours away from the cost to see them. Humpback whales are the most prominent variety I saw. They are quite huge- one of them came vertically up and I was taken aback by the size.
Each whale has a unique print on the tail fins to identify them. You will see them coming to surface to breathe and blow out water from a hole.
Some of the best moments can’t be captured on photos since the boats keep rocking, there are people covering views and the time span for which the whales come out is usually very short. We saw a whale come vertically up and swallow planktons. The operators are professional, giving enough space for whales without disturbing them
Once they have taken enough oxygen, they go deep inside water- typically indicated by the tail slap. It will take a lot of time for them to come back after the tail slap- you can move on to finding other whales till then
Where I stayed
HI Hotel Boston is a nice hostel in the city centre by Hosteling International
Niagara falls
I took a flight to Buffalo and then an Uber to the falls, which is about 40 minutes away
Niagara was like a bride- white, pomp and full of energy, aptly having a portion of the calls called Bridal Veil. You can go on a boat to the mouth of the falls for a surreal experience. You are given ponchos to avoid getting wet, however, expect some water to fall on you from the corners
Niagara was like a bride- white, pomp and full of energy, aptly having a portion of the calls called Bridal Veil. You can go on a boat to the mouth of the falls for a surreal experience. You are given ponchos to avoid getting wet, however, expect some water to fall on you from the corners
Plan to spend a full day here- there are many walking trails. The falls gets lit up in the evening, so stay back to see the colors in the night
I had some time to kill, so ended up visiting the Old Fort Niagara Castle overlooking lake Ontario. It was a nice, peaceful place with water on all sides, a lighthouse and old castle. You can take the free shuttle from the falls to reach here
Where I stayed
Budget options were quite limited. I ended up staying in Gorge View
Miami
The beachside city famous for housing holiday homes of rich and famous. Frankly, I felt the beach was like any other seaside city in the US.
Everglades national park is a good diversion- It has a good network of mangroves. You can go kayaking here
Las Vegas and around
Vegas is home to large casinos. You can see hotels in all shapes from Eiffel tower to pyramids trying to woo people to come in and gamble
These casinos are so large that it is easy to get lost- maybe that is what they want to achieve to keep you continue gambling inside. I had bad legs at the end of the day after walking so many steps
Bellagio fountains is an interesting attracting having timed shows with music almost every hour- it was a nice experience to witness it with tourists all around the fountain. It gets lit up in the night with colors, another different avatar worth watching
I went on a 2 day tour from Vegas covering Hoover dam, Grand canyon and Antelope canyon.
Where I stayed
Courtyard by Marriott Las Vegas South on redemption
To be frank, I was quite disappointed with hospitality levels in the US after being used to hotels in India and Asia (nothing specific to Courtyard). It almost felt like a self serve hostel- there was no breakfast, had to come to reception to collect small bottles of drinking water and overall hospitality felt cold. While I am not a high maintenance person, I just felt it was not worth the price you pay outside the US, where you can get much more for similar prices.
Hoover Dam
I had seen the show Megastructures describing the architectural marvel Hoover Dam on National Geographic. You feel proud of human endeavor and will power
We witnessed people trying to climb the walls of the dam, most likely from army
Grand canyon
Although I had seen many photos, witnessing these canyons in their real-life scale was an experience that cannot be described in words. You can see river Colorado carving its way out at the bottom
Grand Canyon is quite deep. Many tourists underestimate and start walking downwards to realize it is too far away from the surface, then needing help to be rescued. During March, there were patches of snow on the canyons- a view which I had not seen in any of the pictures
There are elks roaming around. Keep a distance to be safe
Helicopter tours are quite popular. I skipped it as the views from land seemed equally spectacular. You can get a better view of the length through aerial tours
Skip the Skywalk- we heard it is overrated from many people (we did not go ourselves)
Antelope canyon
While not as well knows as big brother Grand canyon, Antelope canyon was equally impressive with its smooth formations. We had a local Navajo guide with us inside the canyon. These formations are caused by running water and air across thousands of years
You step inside the canyon using temporary ladders. After taking thousands of photos, I still didn’t feel like coming out
Chicago
Famous for architecture of the buildings. Each building is designed so that is visible from other places without blocking view of another building
Chicago Bean is a famous photoshop inside Millennium Park
