The adventures continue

Sunday we started the day with breakfast at Hash House a Go Go. Frank had the pork hash special of the day, Bob went with the chicken hash and I tried the apple cinnamon pancake. Food was good, service was slow, but it was exceptionally busy.

We returned to the condo to pack up for a day of off-roading. We planned to drive the Potato Ridge Trail, which goes over the spring mountains between Red Rock Canyon and Lovell Canyon outside Pahrump. It’s takes about five hours to drive the scenic five mile trail. We drove to Red Rock Canyon and purchased the yearly admission to the park. When we asked about 4x4 roads, the attendant suggested we don’t go, because the trail gets a bit squirrely and many people have been towed. Of course, that only encouraged us and made us more anxious to check it out.

The park was filled with hikers, bicyclists, picnickers and gawkers, it was the most crowded I had ever seen it. Everyone must have wanted to get out and enjoy the gorgeous weather. Also, wildflowers were in bloom so the 13-mile loop was especially spectacular on this visit. We entered the trail just passed the Willow Springs picnic area.

The mountains and vegetation are gorgeous throughout the trail and the first four miles or so are easy going most stock 4x4 can do it with ease, but the last mile requires high clearance because of rock beds and boulders that washed out the trail from flooding a few years back. Bob sat in front, so I only have pictures from the places we stopped. There’s a lot more beauty to be captured.



Bob gets a bird’s eye view



Looking back at the way we came



A postcard shot




And Frank… being Frank...



We cruised along the trail and gained elevation. We pulled over when we found a nice spot to break-in the shot gun.



Looking back toward the way we came



Bob and Frank had a blast skeet shooting. I even tried the shotgun, here’s my first try


I only fired a couple shots because I bruise easily and I didn’t want leave my arm/shoulder black and blue. Also, I don’t think women were meant to handle shotguns; it’s tricky to get a good hold of it when boobs get in the way.

We hung out for an hour and then picked up the shells and packed up the truck and set our sights back on the trail. We continued to climb elevation.

A panorama shot, it shows how the trail winds up the mountain (click for full-size image)

From there you make your descent down the mountain. When you we neared the end we finally reached to portion of the trail that is squirrely. There are lots of big boulders to dodge and rocks to climb. We took the easier routes since we traveling solo, had we been part of a convoy we could’ve made the trail far more challenging (which I know we’ll do in the future). Not long after the rocks we came across Lovell Canyon Rd which leads to Hwy 160.

Looking back at the last leg of the trail, those were the mountains we meandered down before we reached the rock beds.


We hopped on 160 and headed home. We had a great time. The scenery is gorgeous and Bob got a taste of four-wheeling. It was definitely a great run.

We cleaned up and then drove to Mirage. We had 7:30 reservations at Stack. The restaurant was busy, but not terribly crowded. Unfortunately, service was effected; it was the worst we’ve encountered there. Typically, service is excellent, but Sunday they certainly didn’t meet our expectations. Fortunately, the food was still superb.

We started with a Caesar salad, hot rocks and crunchy tuna tacos. The wasabi-mango sauce served with the tacos was not my favorite, however everything else was tasty.

Frank selected the lamb shank with lentils and twice baked potato for his main course. Bob opted to try the Kobe burger with Vermont cheddar served with fries. And I had the Kurabota pork chop and bacon-brie tater-tots. All of our dishes were excellent and prepared to perfection. We declined to look at the dessert menu because we wanted cookies from Carnegie Deli instead.

We walked over and picked out our cookies and then walked back to the Roasted Bean for coffee. We drank our coffee and snacked on the cookies on the patio outside. Afterwards, Frank and Bob dropped me off at home and they went to Planet Hollywood to gamble and play poker.

Monday I met Bob and Frank at Carnegie Deli for lunch. Frank and I shared the corned beef Rueben and I also ordered potato pancakes. Bob had smoked salmon on a bagel. The sandwiches were delicious. However, the potato pancakes were terrible. It was a major disappointment. They used to be among the best in town. I have no idea when they changed the recipe, but it’s a shame they did. To top off the meal we shared a piece of strawberry cheesecake. Now, that was delicious, and even better than I remembered.

I said good-bye to Bob and headed back to work. They went to Wynn to try their luck there. They played blackjack and ended with a losing session. On a whim they threw money into Megabucks, Frank ended up winning $250. That covered all his losses over the last 24 hours. With that, they took the money and ran…

Frank dropped Bob at the airport. We both told him it better not be another three years before he visits again. Now that we’ve spoiled him with Delmonico, I don’t see that being a problem.