SPRING MOUNTAIN RANCH STATE PARK – Phone: 875-4141
Broadway quality shows outdoors in summer! Drive a few miles beyond Red Rock Canyon and turn right into the Spring Mtn. Ranch Park. For less than $10 from June to August, you can enjoy fine quality evening musicals under the stars at temperatures a good twenty degrees lower than the valley in summer. Before the 8pm show bring your own chairs, food and drink (or rent chairs and purchase food there) and enjoy a picnic up close and personal with the Red Rocks. Stroll this former working ranch that now belongs to the public thanks to Howard Hughes, rent great horses and ride by the wild burros, or see the live reproductions of ranch life done spring and fall for the family. Find out what show you want to see at http://parks.nv.gov/smr.htm or call 594-PLAY for tickets and information.
BONNIE SPRINGS/OLD NEVADA – Phone: 875-4191 Best breakfast in the West & great entertainment for a family! I can’t live without a weekly fix of breakfast in Bonnie Springs just a few miles past Spring Mtn. Ranch. Their Wrangler breakfast is the only way to end a hike in Red Rock Canyon! Besides their funky western restaurant that will have you feeling like you got lost on the back roads of Colorado, the family can enjoy fine horseback riding, an unusual refuge for animals from lovebirds to bison and wolves, plus some fine recreations of Nevada mines and old towns complete with a hanging sheriff. This rustic place is more real than Disneyland and tons of fun! Hey, they even have a motel where you can fall asleep under desert stars far from the maddening crowd of Vegas. In fact you won’t believe that Vegas throbs just a half hour away.
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| Take
Charleston west to Bonnie Springs/Old Nevada |
Joshua
Trees frame the entrance |
Antique
buildings & train track. |
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| A
wonderful place to rent a horse. |
Or
just enjoy the cows, bison & petting zoo. |
Swans,
turtles and geese enjoy the pond alongside the restaurant. |
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I won't show you the
interior of the restaurant - you have to have some surprises! Let's
just say it is cowhand comfortable. |
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| The antique
train is a fun ride. |
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The family
will love the Old Nevada town. |
PAHRUMP WINERY – Taste local wines made in a desert! Drive 40 minutes beyond Bonnie Springs, past the wild horses often grazing on the schoolyard at Blue Diamond, pause at the amazing cactus nursery, and then climb the pass over those Red Rock mountains to the burgeoning little town of Pahrump. Lunch at their winery and enjoy the wine tasting – it is good! Real estate sales are moving out this way too.
VALLEY OF FIRE – A wonder of multi-colored rock just 40 minutes north of town! Follow Interstate 15 north toward Salt Lake City, but watch for the sign, Valley of Fire and exit right at the Piute Reservation. The first twenty miles on paved road is not impressive – don’t give up. The Anasazi Indians once lived here and they picked the most spectacular places in the Southwest. If you are a camper, this is a lifetime memory! If you hike here at 6am, you may be watched by herds of bighorn sheep and their lambs, coyotes, amazing lizards, and all kinds of hawks. By 10am the tourists take over and that’s when I head a few miles northeast to the Lost City Museum in nearby Overton to enjoy fine artifacts at the museum and decent burgers and milkshakes in the nearby town or go a few miles south to the marina at Lake Mead for a boat rental and ice cream.
LAKE MEAD – Phone: 293-6180 A massive lake for house boating but it has an astonishing bathtub ring as drought and our thirst shrink the Lake!
550 miles of shoreline wind behind Hoover Dam east of Vegas. Call for Nevada fishing licenses because despite the water loss, this is a fisherman’s pleasure as well as a house boater’s dream. I just like barbecuing at the national park picnic grounds on south Lake Mead.
LAKE LAS VEGAS – Another stunning man-made lake but this one comes with a Tuscan village and Celine Dion’s private estate! Just a few miles west of Lake Mead, you enter a multimillionaire developer’s dream, a full-blown Tuscan village and fancy villas sitting on its own lake. The place is well done and relaxing. You take the 215 Beltway East from the city that turns into Lake Mead Boulevard east and follow the signs to Casino Monte Lago and enjoy shops, great restaurants, but best of all, every
Friday & Saturday at 7pm, May through October, there is a wonderful free
music concert on a grassy hill by the lake. Bring your own chair and picnic (or buy gelato, Starbucks, and other goodies there) and watch the sun set on Lake Mead’s hills while fine jazz musicians enchant you. This is too good to be true! Oh the golf is supposed to be amazing too. No wonder Celine settled in here.
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| A look-alike
to the Ponte Vecchio is actually the Ritz Carlton Hotel! |
A mini-Tuscan
village is sure to surprise and delight you. |
The shops are
unusual and varied - so is the restaurant selection. |
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| From May to
October, jazz concerts are free Saturday nights from 6 to 9pm. |
Park your car
with the valet at Casino Monte Lago, stroll down to the lakefront
& settle in on the lawn. |
Great shops like wind
toys, home decor are worth a visit too. |
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| While the
smooth jazz floats across the |
lake, twilight turns to sunset colors |
Is this the Mojave
Desert? |
HOOVER DAM – Phone: 293-8367 Straddles the Arizona/Nevada border to wow you with statistics!
I know this is supposed to be cool but look out for the crowds on a weekend. I’d rather go to Mount Charleston…
MOUNT CHARLESTON – Phone: 872-5500 Where chains and ski boots are required in winter and the dining is sooo cool in summer! Just 36 miles north of Vegas on Highway 95 north toward Reno, turn west on the Kyle Canyon turnoff and climb gently into a different world of pine forest and million dollar ski cabins. This is a cool place to hike in summer and a great place for snowball fights and skiing in winter, however I prefer a restaurant with mountain view at this stage of my life and so probably will you!
CAFÉ BELLAGIO – The greatest lunch/dinner view bargain in one of the prettiest hotels on the Strip! Leave your car with the Bellagio valet, stroll past the check-in desk into the magnificent Conservatory garden. They change out the theme every 3 months and
the best place to enjoy it is the Café open 24 hours a day with a diverse and reasonable menu to please every palate. Request a table with a view of the Conservatory (hey, a pool view is majestic too!) and relax with the homemade breadsticks. This is people-watching nirvana. Then have a gelato for dessert at the Gelato Café beyond the Bellagio shops at the entrance to that amazing pool world. I can make a wonderful meal out of that superb gelato. A 10 out of 10 experience!
ARCHI’S THAI KITCHEN – Phone: 880-5550 May be the best in town in a quiet environment within a strip mall!
Anything on the menu is superb and reasonable in this hole-in-the-wall type of restaurant on the north side of 6360 W. Flamingo, just east of Torrey Pines and west of Decatur. Their green beans have me on my knees in gratitude; no other restaurant vegetable can do that!
They do a bustling take-out trade.
DIAMOND CHINA – Phone: 873-6977 Another strip mall restaurant with the quality of a New York Chinese Restaurant!
If you love roast duck, Orange beef, or Rock cod in black bean sauce, you have to visit this hole-in-the-wall surprise on Sahara just west of Decateur. Classy, relaxed, totally unlike the exterior of the strip mall!
CLAIM JUMPERS – A chain restaurant that delights if you stick to the menu in the bar area!
No advance reservations but don’t wait in line for the oversized meals in the main restaurant at the corner of Rampart and Charleston!
Sit in the cozy, ski lodge type of bar and order from the marvelous appetizer menu and definitely try the 4 beer sampler. Great place for sports screens and conversation with great food!
CHEESECAKE FACTORY – Another chain that delights with a huge menu and quality, outside of the desserts! In Boca Park, just off Alta and
Rampart Blvd., this hilariously overdressed pseudo Moroccan restaurant has superb grub if you can just dodge the huge lines.
No advance reservations. Eat early or late, or sit in the bar, but eat here. There is something for everyone like the amazing Luau Salad or Symphony Salad, chicken tacos, fine Shepherds Pie or pasta. You can count on this one.
MARCHE BACCHUS - Phone: 804-8008 Just
east of Sun City Summerlin, is the community of Desert Shores, a mix of
housing, restaurants, offices - including that of Sunland Homes Nevada - and
a gigantic man-made lake which winds amongst the houses. If you are aching
for a little water after months in the Mohave Desert, I recommend you visit
Marche Bacchus for lunch (10:30am-4pm) or dinner (5pm-10pm) on
the water! You wouldn't believe its manmade especially if a wind
is whipping up the waves and the swans and geese churn by. Besides waterside
dining, Marche Bacchus offers a good French menu, an open kitchen, a
little deli and an amazing wine store, with wooden crates overflowing with
wines from around the world. You just have to try this, go west on Lake Mead
to Buffalo, turn right (north) to Smoke Ranch, turn left and follow Smoke
Ranch around the lake, past the beach and turn right at the Pub and proceed
to the back of the parking lot to Marche Bacchus 2620 Regatta Drive,
#106.
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| Outdoor seating is
cool for lunch |
or dinner at Marche
Bacchus |
but so is the indoor
seating. |
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| Try the deli section
but best of all |
ogle the wine store
for new tasting |
experiences. |
CULTURAL FESTIVAL & CONCERTS AT CLARK COUNTY AMPHITHEATER – Phone: 455-8242 Fine entertainment, often free, in a grassy amphitheater outdoors, at 500 S. Grand Central Parkway, the first exit off the I 15 just south of the I 95 freeway.
Clark County’s long-running, free summer Jazz in the Park series celebrates a strong lineup of nationally known artists, which you can enjoy in a grassy amphitheater across from a classy Las Vegas Outlet shopping center.
My favorite is the late April, free International Food &
Folklife Festival – from 11am to 9pm, there's non-stop ethnic entertainment
of high caliber outside on the grass. Bring a huge appetite for the endless food
stalls from around the world - it's worth every calorie! Also there's indoor craft/music
demonstrations and children's craft tables that can keep you busy from morning to evening.
What a delight if you love a cultural melting pot!
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| Korean dancers are a
visual treat even if rain threatens. |
Grand entry to the
Clark County Gov't buildings & Ampitheater |
Spectacular Indian
kiva architecture in local sandstone colors. |
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| Vegas has a large
Hawaiian community. Nani Ola Hawaiian
Halau |
is taught
by our very own Sun City Kuma Hula (teacher),
Kanani. |
Kanani is a true
gift from the islands! We love her chants! |
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| Irish lasses will
thrill you while you drink their Grandpa's Irish Coffee! |
Philppino dancers
& their food are great! Vegas has a large community. |
A lean crowd on a
cloudy 2005 day but great place for kids to play! |
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| Eritrea has a large
performance group that made me yearn for Africa! |
Shirley Chen's
Chinese troupe is a must see! Amazing choreography! |
These little drum
dancers were beautiful to watch. |
GREEK FESTIVAL - Phone: 221-8245 Come eat and dance under the stars with home-cooking Greek style! Friday, Saturday and Sunday night on the third weekend of every September, St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church offers the finest in Greek dining, drinking and dancing, west of Mykonos – the various forms of baklava alone are a work of culinary art – all handmade by ladies of the church as a benefit! Park some distance from the church and let a shuttle bus take you to the wonderful scene at 5300 S. El Camino Rd, west of the Strip.
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| Tour the
wonderful church. |
Find a
table at sunset before the crowds. |
Such great
cooks, so many booths = calories! |
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| Ah the
dance floor at sunset before the great |
band
strikes up and soon the Greek dancers |
are
whirling about the floor - what fun! |
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| Kids are
always welcome here! |
Shopping
for paintings, jewelry or icons! |
Try retsina,
dolmathes, gyros & baclava! |
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