Death Valley: Ubehebe Crater

After Titus Canyon, we drove up to Ubehebe Crater. The entrance was indeed blocked. It was only construction horses so we didn't see the harm in quickly moving it out of the way for a sneak peek.


It's really a striking sight to see. This is a volcanic crater, it is a half-mile wide and 500-777 ft deep.


There are a few hikes around the crater. We'll have to check them out another time, when it's actually open to the public.

Death Valley: Titus Canyon

Jumping back a bit, while Amy and Nicky were here, we went to Death Valley. My mom and Blaine also joined us. We all piled in the Suburban and set off for our adventure. We got a fairly early start, it was about 9:00 when we left my mom's house. We entered the park via Bell Vista (from Pahrump). We first stopped at the Furnace Creek visitors center. We thought we'd make Nicky a junior ranger, but the program is geared for older kids. It wasn't a lost cause, we also found out Ubehebe Crater site was closed, Scotty's Castle was undergoing repairs, and there was also road construction. Figured, all would affect our plans, but we pressed on anyhow.

Our next stop was Titus Canyon. It's a deep, narrow gorge cut into the steep face of the Grapevine Mountains. The canyon is located on the east side of the park. It can be entered on foot from the west or by four-wheel-drive vehicle from the east. We came across it from within the park so we parked and hiked about 1.5 miles in. Mom and Blaine walked a few hundred feet and then turned back. Frank, Amy, Nicky and I continued onward, until Nicky showed signs of weariness.








You must keep an eye out around every curve. You never know when you might encounter a little monster... arrgh!






Livin' on the edge... AHHHHHH!


This one cracks me up. It looks like Frank wore him out so he resorted to crawling, really he was pretending to be an animal. A coyote, I think.


Here, he is climbing like a lizard.






Where's Frank?


Nicky found him.










Back to where we began.




Titus Canyon was a really neat sight to see. On another visit it we'll have to make the drive through the canyon. I'd like to see the rest of it.

A Much Needed Treat

Yesterday, rather than having pork chops for dinner, Frank said he had something else in mind. We went to Town Square to catch a movie and have dinner. At Yard House, of course.

They added a new pilsner to the menu, Czechvar. I was sold. Frank got Moretti. Both were tasty. We started with lobster, crab artichoke dip per the recommendation of our server. It was quite delicious.


Then we shared our entrees, angel hair pasta and jerk chicken & shrimp stack. The pasta is one of my favorite dishes. Eggplant, tomatoes, basil, garlic, feta and pine nuts. It was our first time having the jerk chicken. It was likely the most tender and flavorful piece of chicken I ever tasted. It was good. The shrimp enchilada was too. Frank liked the chili sauce best, but I preferred the tomatillo.




Yum yum. Since last week all I've wanted to do was catch a movie and dine at Yard House. His idea couldn't have been more perfect.

We headed home and he suggested we stop for a nightcap. We went to PT's. There was only one bartender. She ignored us for 5 minutes so we left. There are far too many VP Bars around to deal with shitty service. I suggested we try a new place that opened nearby named Straight Up. We went there. They don't have their gaming license, yet. Why open? Bizarre. We left and went to Village Pub. Ice cold EIB Hefe hit the spot. Frank played $20 on double double bonus. He lost it quickly. I tried my luck on double bonus, I played longer, but still lost $20. Then, we just chatted, laughed and reveled in our happiness. Life is good.

Last weekend of my 20's

This was the last weekend of my youth. In a few days I'll say so long to my twenties and welcome the thirties. I swear I was just 18. How does time sneak by so quickly?

Anyway, it was a great weekend.

The weather was beautiful. Spring is here. Officially. It should be warm from here out. I'm so ready for pool season. It's felt like our longest winter yet.

I finally caught up on all my laundry. I seriously didn't think it would ever end. My house is clean, too. Sad to wipe all those fingerprints away. But it was a huge relief to have that nagging to-do list fade away.

I baked five dozen cupcakes for Frank's employees. I make them for all the big sporting events. When it was for one property is was no trouble. Now, it's become an undertaking. I told Frank that if his crew gets any larger, we'll have to switch off for each event. The smell of cupcakes really started to get to me after the fourth dozen baked.

Also, ran errands and re-stocked the fridge and pantry. We were on empty. By the way, I have a quick bitch... 11:00 opening on Sundays blow when you get there at 10:00.

Saturday, I met up with the Vegas Message Board gang for a poker tournament at Binion's. This was my second time playing poker. Last year's tourney was my first. I busted out early then, but learned a couple lessons for this year. Those coupled with luck earned me third place. I was shocked. Making it to the final table was a big surprise, you can imagine my joy to collect winnings.

Later that night, Frank and I went to the VMB party at MGM's Terrace Suite. It was Frank's first introduction to the gang. We had a nice time chatting and enjoying the view. It was 2004 the last time we were at a Terrace Suite. The view has changed quite a bit since then, it's more crowded these days, but it's still just as dazzling as ever. I would've liked to have time to chat with everyone at the party, but we cut out after a couple hours. Frank was beat and had to be up again early. Even so, it was treat to attend, often we miss out for one reason or another.







Sunday night arrived. Frank finished his whirlwind weekend. March Madness was finally behind him. We winded down with the return of Breaking Bad. I am thrilled it's back. I've missed good tv. Tonight, United States of Tara returns, too. I'm excited.

Pizza Picnic and the Park

Monday didn't go according to plan. First Frank came down with the flu overnight. Who knows why it took so long to take him down? The rest of us were all fighting allergies. Nicky hadn't been feeling great all weekend. Poor kid was stuffy and runny. I considered visiting the Lied Children's Discovery Museum, but they are closed on Mondays. Instead, I thought we'd spend a few hours at Pump It Up and that was the plan until we got up Monday morning. I was exhausted. Amy was tired. Nicky was congested and could hardly breathe. Running around like a fool was just going to take too much out of all of us. So, I opted for a morning swim. Nicky was happy as a clam.

Then, after showers and some lounge time. We headed out for lunch. We went to Amore Pizza & Pasta only they were closed. Apparently, they are now closed on Mondays. I wonder when that started? Amy suggested Little Caesars. I drove over there and picked up a Hot-n-Ready pizza, crazy bread, sauce and drinks. Then, I told Nicky we'd have a pizza picnic. We went to the park that was built across from my old condo. It opened shortly after we moved. It's really nice.

They have plenty of space, great playground equipment and splash pad, volley ball nets, picnic tables and pavillions. We chose a table next to the playground so Nicky could come and go as he pleased.


After I ate, I went to play with him. Amy hung back and kept an eye on our stuff. We rode the slides, climbed ladders and jumped on the draw bridge. Nicky got pretty frustrated with me when I refused to climb through the tunnels, but I was afraid of getting stuck. We played and played. Kids came and went. Came and went. It amazed me how many languages were spoken, I heard at least four. I love that Las Vegas is such a melting pot.

He made a number of friends while playing. One boy was 6. He wanted to play guards and assassins, with Nicky. Nicky just wanted to play Joker and Batman. They compromised. Nicky was Batman. The boy was an assassin (who's a good guy, by the way), they were fighting the guards who killed his family. Nice. Gosh they're cuter at 3. I don't want my favorite boy to grow up. They played. Later, we moved over to the swings. The boy joined us and his mom was pushing him while I pushed Nicky higher and higher. That's when Nicky asked, "is that his mom?" "Yes", I say. Looking puzzled, he replies, "the guards didn't kill his family?" "Nah, the boy was pretending... using his imagination... it's not true", I said. He seemed relieved.

Three hours had passed since we arrived. He still wasn't ready to go. Instead, he saw a family of four playing baseball. He wanted to play. He watched on until they invited him to play. Kinda creepy to stalk them, but his plan worked.


They invited him over and the two boys took turns with Nicky batting and pitching. He was just thrilled. The kid loves baseball. Him singing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" is just the cutest. Made me wish I scrambled for tickets for the Sox/Cubs series at Cashman Field. It would've been fun to take him to a game.

Then, the family was leaving for home so this was a great time to convince Nicky to leave, too. We had to stop at the dog park on the way back to the car. He wanted to see the dogs he missed his pup named Daisy. He told one lady "he'd bring Daisy on Wednesday". Again, he was super cute.

We had a fun day despite the change of plans. I got my first sunburn of the year. Co-workers thought I went to Mexico or Skiing with my time off. Nope, I was right here in Vegas at the park with my nephew.

Goin' for a swim

Weather was too cool to heat the pool, but we did swim a few times in the "little pool" or hot tub.












Saying hi... showing him how the camera works

Swimming & practicing holding his breath

Practice continues... Goodbye Camera.

Grammy's II

More pictures taken at my mom's, from Monday...


Time to collect eggs






I wish this was a crisp shot.


Thankfully, I caught this one.










I'll never tire of that boy's smile or desert sunsets.

Articles

I have two articles to share this week.

The first is Vegas Values: Grand Lux Café. Have a favorite dish there? Please share.

Secondly, there is a neat event happening tomorrow at Macy's Fashion Show Mall, check out Make Over America for details.

I'm baaack

Things are less hectic. I don't foresee anything to prevent me from catching up. So, now I just need to sort through photos and make sense of the last couple weeks.

What a whirlwind. I'm exhausted. I cannot tell you how happy I am that the weekend is nearly here. I need sleep. My house desperately needs a good cleaning. I've been doing laundry all week, but I'm still not caught up. My silverware drawer is empty, everything is in the dishwasher. I ran it, but forgot it was clean until after I added more dirty dishes to it. Then, I ran it again. Only to later realize Nicky turned off the heat dry setting. Air drying with hard water does not work. Yesterday, I dumped a bunch of vinegar and ran it again. The third time better be the charm.

I miss my husband. He's been working lots of hours. Free time was spent with family. He got the flu and suffered Monday and Tuesday. This weekend he'll be working, March Madness is one of the busiest weekends of the year. Then, with any luck things will settle down. We should at least get out for a celebratory birthday dinner on Thursday. Where I choose depends on whether he can get off work at a decent time. Next weekend, we're headed to Phoenix for Spring Training. That'll be fun. A nice road trip through the desert is good for one's soul. Must remind Frank to get the speakers replaced in the Firebird. They've been blown out for quite sometime. I told him I'm not suffering with poor sounding tunes the whole way.

Weather has warmed up, finally! Yesterday was 80, of course I was stuck inside working all day. But it felt wonderful afterwards. I ran over to Town Square and soaked up the warmth. When I ran into Walmart on my way home it was just as nice, but when I left. The skies turned gray, the winds were insane, and the temperature dropped a good 15 degrees. When I was being pelted with dirt and debris, I had to laugh at all the women in their super short barely there sundresses. They worked so hard to keep warm and keep from being exposed. Anyway, the weekend calls for sun and 70's. That ought to be nice.

Off to be productive. Photos and stories to come.

Time is not on my side

I don't mean to suck. I'm just swamped. There are dozens more photos to share and a few stories to tell. Amy and Nicky left last night. It's always sad to see them go. We had lots of laughs and created many memories. Now, it's time to fall back into to regular routines. I hope to get all caught up soon.

In the meantime, here's an LLV article I never shared. Vegas Values: Pad Thai Throwdown. Check it out for the scoop on my favorite place for Thai. Hurricane Mikey, gave Archi's a try based on my recommendation. He found it to be a tasty bargain, too.

Keepin' up with Rockstars

Last weekend friends came in from Chicago for the Bon Jovi concert. They were staying at Monte Carlo. We planned on dinner and drinks with them and uncle Pete. We opted for dinner at Diablo’s Cantina. Which was this week's topic for the LLV column, check it out Vegas Values: Diablo’s Cantina.

Here are a couple other photos for you food porn lovers out there.









After dinner and few margaritas we walked over to the Pub at Monte Carlo. There was a $5 cover, because Zowie Bowie was playing. However, the cover is waived for hotel guests. So, Marie and Irene were able to get us in for free. They thought it was fun to comp us since locals are usually the ones with perks.

We ordered a round of drinks. I went with my current favorite draft, Redhook Slim Chance. They had some happy hour special going on so I got two for one. I hate when they bring ‘em up front, though, the second one gets warm while it waits in the wings. Oh well, it just encouraged me to drink faster. Only issue was the second beer was not Slim Chance. It was some beer that tasted like cherry cough drops had dissolved in it. Blech. The next round, Marie, convinced me to try Longboard Island Lager. Not bad.

Meanwhile, Zowie Bowie took the stage. I’ve never seen them perform but they’re names are unavoidable between promotions, billboards, ads and special events. They played pop music, a lot of Black Eyed Peas, and they butchered Lady Gaga. They did get the crowd going, but they were pretty ridiculous. Better than other wannabe lounge acts, but I expected better. The chick in the duo continuously sang into a wind machine. Blowing of the hair and half nakedness must help her belt it out. The douchy guy was on stage most of the time with another guy that bounced about, he filled in while chickie disappeared every third song or so. I never imagined I’d say it, but I actually prefer Cook E. Jarr at Carnaval Court. He’s notoriously terrible, but that’s part of the act. Zowie Bowie plays the same stuff, it’s cheesy as hell, but I think they’re supposed to be taken seriously. Anyway, the more I drank the better they became.

It was all good fun. We had lots of laughs. 2am rolled around, I was beat. Frank and I decided we’d take off. Leaving the trio behind to party it up. I gotta say they’re rockstars, I pooped out before they did and I’m 20 years younger.

Smiles and belly laughs

No time to write today. Here are a couple videos, instead.

Nicky plans to scare uncle Frank. The kid is a trip with balloons. He kept popping balloon after balloon "I will scare you out of crap".

This one is from bowling on Sunday. You gotta love the attention span of a 3-year old.