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After switching the rented car from budget rental in Flagstaff (they replaced our big SUV with a standard one. One minus point for budget), we arrived in Grand Canyon national park, South rim. It was snowing a little bit at the time. Since it was late evening we arrived there, we just drove along the Dessert view drive to stop at few view points and arrived at our lodge in grand canyon village. 

We had reserved whole next day for the canyon visit. We were so excited but when we get up next day, what we saw is, heavy snow fall :( We took the breakfast and waited a bit thinking that the snow fall would stop and the visibility would improve. That didn't happen though. Then we decided to enter the park and try whatever possible despite the heavy snow.

So keeping our hopes up, we drove up to visitor center and hiked to Martha point which is close to visitor center. It was still snowing and the visibility down there was Zero :(

That's when we realized "this is not our day". No point in waiting anymore. We came back to Grand canyon village and had lunch. Then our friends headed back home.

Our plan was to reenter the park and take dessert view drive to Page, AZ. So again, we drove along the snowy roads of the park amidst the heavy snowfall.

I must say the park was really beautiful in snow. It looked like a fairy land to me. However, that's not what we wanted to see. It's the GRAND CANYON !!

So we arrived in Page by evening, had dinner from a Thai restaurant and went to bed.

P. S. - We didn't give up. We visited the canyon again on our way back from Vegas. Wait for it :)
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Next day, we started our mini trip to Grand canyon. I call it a mini trip because my friend's family too joined us up to Grand canyon only. From there, we continued to Utah and Nevada but they had to turn back to return to work on Monday.

On the way to Grand canyon, we stopped in the small town Sedona which looks like a rock city. We stopped by few places to take pictures. Everywhere, there was a splendid background for pictures, made with beautiful red rocks.

The town was small but nice.

At this point, we had noticed a small crack on the wind screen growing continuously. We called budget rental and they offered a vehicle switch at their branch near Flagstaff, AZ. So we had to leave to do the switch before they close.
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We visited Utah, Nevada and mainly Arizona in early March, 2015. It was the end of a hard winter in Bloomington, IN but we still had snow. We really wanted to go somewhere warmer and sunny.

I have a school friend in Chandler, AZ and we thought it's a good idea to visit her too. So we arrived in Phoenix airport in the morning and rented a car from Budget rental. Then arrived at my friend's place for breakfast.

In the afternoon we went to see the water fountain in Fountain hills, AZ. It is said to be the 4th tallest fountain in the world. It performs every 15 mins and it was really a huge fountain :)

Then we payed a brief visit to Scottsdale, AZ and went home for the dinner. 
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We were coming back home via St. Louise after having a great time in South Dakota and Nebraska. We found this Lone elk park in St. Louise. It's a small park but it has many elks. We payed a quick visit and saw elks while driving around the park.

They say there are Bisons too but I don't think we saw any. However we enjoyed seeing elks.

World bird sanctuary is close to this park. That's also an interesting place to visit if you love birds. There are some big birds that you wont see everyday.

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Chimney Rock is a national historic site in Nebraska. There is a rock of the shape of a chimney which creates a nice background for pictures. We visited chimney rock on our way back home from Mt. Rushmore.

The drive from Mt. Rushmore was scenic and beautiful too. We were driving through prairie grasslands. The prairies spreads through a number of states and we enjoyed the scenery while driving in South Dakota too. 

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Custer state park is located close to Mt. Rushmore memorial. It is a beautiful and lively place with full of Bisons. We didn't have much time to spend in the park so we took two of the scenic byways, Needles highway and wildlife loop road.

Needles highway is scenic and beautiful. You can see the standing thin, tall rocks which look like needles. Wildlife loop is bit different. It loops through a meadow and you can see lots and lots of Bisons while driving.

This is a really nice place to spend the day if you have more time. There are few beautiful lakes too. We stopped by the Sylvan lake but couldn't explore others due to limited time.

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Mount Rushmore National Memorial is a carved four faces of four former American presidents on the granite of Mt. Rushmore. The four presidents are George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln.

It is a splendid creation. Carving someone's face with the specific features is not an easy thing to do.

Our next destination was Custer state park which is close to mount Rushmore.
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