Our Daily Diary Notes - May 2008

05/30/2008 - This evening we attended a free open air concert on the green at The District next to Green Valley Ranch Casino. The featured artist was Tommy Rocker. Tommy Rocker may be the finest lounge performer in Las Vegas... blending old time rock 'n' roll with comedy to produce one of the finest one-man lounge acts currently playing in town. We can't wait to see him again. We got home just in time to see the last 10 minutes of the Eastern Conference Finals and watch the Boston Celtics finish of the Detroit Pistons in Game 6 with a 89-81 road victory. Paul Pierce poured in 12 of his 27 points in a spectacular fourth quarter.

05/29/2008 - Today we went to see the movie Iron Man. We pleasantly surprised to find that it was much better than we even anticipated. Besides the excellent digital photography, special effects, and continous action, it even had a story line. Don't wait for the DVD on this one; you must see it on the big screen. We give it a solid 5-Stars.

05/26/2008 - MEMORIAL DAY - We attended Memorial Day services with a neighbor at the Southern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Boulder City. It was a beautiful cemetery and we were quite impressed. Afterwards, we went to the Boulder Dam Museum and had a wonderful lunch at Matteo's Restaurant inside the historic Boulder City Hotel .

05/24/2008 - After nearly a week of record high temperatures, Wednesday a record setting 107 degrees, we have reverted to two days rain with the temperatures reaching only in the 60's and 70's. It is really nice to experience the "smell" of rain in the air, something we don't often experience here in the desert. Today we took in the new Indiana Jones movie. Though we would rate it better than the previous ones, it was certainly up to par. It was certainly fun and full of fast paced action.

05/21/2008 - We went to see Ice at the Riviera. It was an amazing display of Russian beauty and talent and placed an exciting new twist on traditional ice skating shows. The show presents an eclectic blend of skaters who put on an electrifying and entertaining ice skating show. All in all we thought it was a pretty good show, seeing we got two normally priced tickets of $89.00/ea for only $6.95. What a Deal! Click here for more ...

05/17/2008 - Today we attended a Bar-b-que at our apartment club house. They grilled up hot dogs and hamburgs (with all the fixings), served with potato and macaroni salads, chips, drinks and cookies for dessert. Got to talk with some neighbors we hadn't seen for a while and meet some new ones.

05/15/2008 - After a relaxing day at the pool reading our books we went to the last performance of the Henderson Symphony at the Pavilion. Under the baton of Taras Krysa, the Henderson Symphony Orchestra closed its 2007-2008 Master Series with Gustav Mahler’s Symphony #1 in D Major "Titan." Mahler’s symphonic masterpiece presented a mixture of echoing the continual conflict between idealism and realism. Click here for more.

05/14/2008 - Along with one of our neighbors, we attended the season's first free jazz concert held at the Green Valley Ranch outside pool. These will be held every Wednesday evening until the end of August. Tis the season, as these free concerts are held all over town. Free concerts are held at Lake Las Vegas, another of our favorite spots, on Friday nights. Tonight the weather was just perfect and made for a lovely evening.



05/11/2008 - Mother's Day! Pretty much a low key day. Connie opened her cards and a package she received from April and Cheryl. I prepared Connie a 'gourmet' breakfast brunch and then we watched the Players Golf Tournament from Florida, which we had been watching the past three days. It ended up in a playoff with Sergio Garcia defeating Paul Goydos (we were rooting for Goydos). Later in the evening we watched the finale of Survivor.



05/10/2008 - Today we attended the annual downtown Art Fest, billed as one of the largest street art festivals around. Though it was pretty good size, it seemed like a lot of the same vendors we saw last year at the Boulder City Art Festival in the Park. Joined by a neighbor friend, we had lunch in a local Chinese restaurant, which, though the price was quite reasonable, we were not overly impressed with.

05/06/2008 - Still part of yesterday's trip, we stopped at Rhyolite, Nevada. An old gold mining town, it was the third largest city in Nevada by 1908. And the population reached approximately 8,000 in the city! Today Rhyolite is a ghost town of dreams. Click here to see pictures

05/05/2008 - Today we traveled with a neighbor to "Scotty's Castle", located at the northern end of Death Valley in California. Built in the late 1920's, this was a magnificent estate. There were actually two "waterfall walls" built within the house as well as a "swamp cooler" air conditioning system, hot and cold running water, and an actual refrigerator (not an icebox). Click here to see pictures


05/03/2008 - Today was the 134th running of the $2,000,000 Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs and Connie had a bet placed on Colonel John. Unfortunately, even though he was the second favorite prior to race time and had won 4 of his last 5 races, he only placed 6th. The winner was Big Brown, who bounded home to an impressive 4 ¾-length win.


05/01/2008 - Today we went with a neighbor to the Guggenheim Hermitage Museum at the Venetian to see the exhibit, "Modern Masters from the Guggenheim Collection" This exhibition included masterpieces from artists such as Manet, Picasso, van Gogh, and Cézanne, and many others, that charted their experimental interpretations of the academic themes of portraiture, landscape, still life, and genre.


Though we were not overly impressed by some of the paintings, it was still a nice experience. Two of Connie's favorites were, "The Palazzo Ducale" by Claude Monet and "Before the Mirror" by Edouard Manet the Afterwards, we ate lunch at one of our favorite restaurants, The Grand Lux Cafe. The soup of the day was an outstanding cauliflower and cheese. We topped this off with a delicious Pasta with Grilled Chicken, fresh tomato, basil & mozzarella, topped with roasted tomatoes and a touch of garlic. It all made for a lovely afternoon.