A Daily Diary - March 2011

Entries for March 2011

NOTE: This month I am again featuring pictures taken during my weekly hikes.  You can enlarge any of the pictures below by just double-clicking on them. Then click on your browser's "Back" button to return to the original screen.

FRIDAY - 04/01/2011 - After a continental breakfast in the room again, we checked out and headed back to Henderson. After unpacking the car, I ran some errands, cleaners, gas, auto shop and car wash. When I got back home Connie and I went to Burger King for a couple of 2-1 burgers. When I got back home I opened mail and emails, paid bills and recorded my expenditures of the past four days. John called and let us know that he found a nice site at the Boulder Beach RV site on Lake Meade. We made arrangements for getting up early in the morning to go to the Hoover Dam and the Eldorado Mine for some more picture taking.

THURSDAY - 03/31/2011 - Had breakfast in the room and picked John up around 10:30 and drove to Oatman, AZ. Had lunch at the Oatman Hotel Restaurant and then took the long way back over and through the mountains towards Kingman. It was an absolutely beautiful curvy, winding ride through the mountains. As we came out of the mountains we saw more than a dozen wild donkeys along the road. After we dropped John off, we played a while in the casino at Harrah's. We then had a late dinner at their Beach Cafe before retiring to the room to watch the elimination round of American Idol, after which we went to bed.

WEDNESDAY - 03/30/2011 - Got up early and picked up coffee and a sausage biscuit for Connie at McDonalds and a egg McMuffin for myself. I then picked up John for our morning photography shoot at Grapevine Canyon. It was quite windy, but we still got some great Petroglyph pictures. Upon our return, we picked up Connie and drove to the AVI Casino for lunch. After a nice lunch and drive, we dropped John off at his RV and we drove down to the Colorado Belle and played for a while before heading back to Harrah's. Watched American Idol and went to bed.

TUESDAY - 03/29/2011 - Got up early and drove to Enterprise to drop off the rental and pick up Betsy. Came home and finished packing the car. Drove to Connie's hair dresser for her hair cut and then to GVR for a buffet lunch before heading of to Laughlin to meet up with Johnny. While at the hairdresser's, I remembered that I had forgotten to take our clothes hanging rack out of the rental and called to see if they had it. The people who had rented the car after me, brought it back to the rental office, so we had to drive over there to retrieve it before heading out to Laughlin. Arrived at Harrah's around mid-afternoon, hooked up with my cousin Johnny, who actually arrived before we did. Met him at his RV and chatted up for a while and then headed out for an early dinner at a little local restaurant called, Daniel's on the River. After a long leisurely meal we made plans for Wednesday and dropped John at his RV. We played for a while in the casino before heading to the room and to bed. 

MONDAY - 03/28/2011 - Got up bright and early and took Betsy to the car doctor. The garage got me a rent-a-car for the week at $19/day. When I got to the rental place, I upgrade to full-sized Ford Focus for an additonal $10/day. Drove home and picked up Connie and went to the "M" to use our last 2-1 Buffet coupon for the month. Came home and started packing and getting ready for tomorrow's trip to Laughlin to meet up with Johnny. Got word that Connie's brother will be here from April 4th through the 8th and that Jim Herring is arriving on the 8th and needed us to pick him up at the airport that night. Sounds like it's going to be a busy couple of weeks; though it is always nice to see family that we haven't seen for a while.  FLASH BULLETIN: 

Some great news!Just got a call from the garage and Betsy had been fixed and is ready to be picked up in the morning.  

SUNDAY - 03/27/2011 - Connie made French toast for breakfast which we ate over Sunday Morning, our weekly ritual. Connie did some wash and ironing and I played on the computer. At noon we ran some errands, Walgreens, the Bread Store, Smoke Shop, etc., before heading to GVR so Connie could play her $10 in free slot play. As we drove out of the driveway, I noticed that my speedometer was not working. Then the transmission started to 'slip' and a couple of times I had no forward drive motion. NOT GOOD! Connie ended up wining $40 on her free slot play, so we left and headed to the Henderson Pavilion attend the Young Artist's concert with the Henderson Symphony Orchestra. I seems like this is a spring ritual for us; I think we have only missed a couple since we moved here. There were three featured pianists and three violinists, all of whom were quite good, however one of the male violinists, 16-year old Tamas Toka, was outstanding. He got a standing ovation from the entire audience. After the concert we drove (very carefully) to Monstah Lobstah, where I had a free lobster dinner coming for my birthday. Connie had the fried seafood platter. The car was still acting up and we barely made it home. Had pumpkin pie for dessert, watched some TV and went to bed.

Tule Springs at Floyd Lamb Park

SATURDAY - 03/26/2011 - I spent most of yesterday and this morning working on pictures from Thursday's hike and creating posts on my photo gallery. I cooked up some garlic and asparagus on toast points with melted cheddar cheese for lunch. Simple, but delicious. We watched a couple of movies we had prerecorded on our DVR player plus a Netflix movie titled, Wild Target. For a British production, we found this movie to be pretty good with just the right amount of pathos, humor and action. Later in the evening I called my mother in Tahoe and talked for a half hour. Other than complaining about all the snow they have been getting, she sounded pretty good. I made Ramin soup with pea pods and water chestnuts for dinner - watched a couple of TV shows and headed off to bed.

Peacock at Tule Springs

FRIDAY - 03/25/2011 - Connie made waffles for breakfast. Besides working on Thursday's hiking pictures, I spent a couple of hours communicating back and forth with my cousin Johnny who is currently in an RV park in New Mexico. He is heading this way to visit us before weaving his way through Utah, Colorado and Wyoming on his journey back to Chatham New York for the summer. We made plans to meet him in Laughlin, where we will spend several days visiting and taking pictures of local sites and points of interest. I made reservations for three free nights at Harrah's Hotel and Casino. After a lunch of chicken salad sandwiches, we went to the water store and then over to Southpoint, where Connie had $15 in free play. She won and I lost again. Next, we made a stop at the "M" where they were giving out free bottles of Finlandia Vodka. We then drove to GVR where she had $10 in free slot play. She won again and I lost some more! Oh well, better luck another day. Came home and made supper and watched TV before going to bed for the evening.

Bristlecone Pine Snag

THURSDAY - 03/24/2011 - Today was another 'hiking' day with the rock hounds from the senior center, so it was up at 5:30 to get ready for the day's excursion. Today's trip was to Cold Creek Nevada with stops at Corn Creek and Tule Springs park. Click here for a description and pictures of ... Cold Creek Nevada. I also got some great pictures of peacocks at Tule Springs. Check them out here ... Indian Blue Peafowl. 

TUESDAY - 03/22/2011 - After our normal morning routine we headed to Mimi's Cafe for a 2-1 breakfast. Connie had her usual, the asparagus and brie quiche with bacon and tomatoes with fresh fruit and orange juice; I had the 3-egg avocado BLT omelet stuffed with garlic spinach, diced tomato, and topped with tomato, bacon, jack cheese and avocado with red skin fries, blueberry muffin and orange juice. Add a milk and coffee and we were stuffed. Heck of a meal for ten bucks. We then went to the Silverton casino where we had to play some slots to maintain our $25 in comp points. I broke even and Connie only lost $2. We then drove to the South Point casino to see the movie, The Lincoln Lawyer with Matthew McConaughey. We both liked it. After the movie Connie played her $15 free slot play and made $30; I won $12 in the poker room. We then went to the "M" where Connie broke even and I lost in the poker room. All in all a good day. Came home and heated up some oyster soup for dinner over a couple of TV shows. Having been a vey long day, we then retired for the evening.

Roy Purcell's "The Journey"

MONDAY - 03/21/2011 - Connie's cold wasn't much better, but she still wanted to get out, so after our normal morning routine we drove to the library to return some books and then to GVR so Connie could play her $10 in free slot play. We then went to "Five Guys Burgers and Fries", a new hamburger joint that just opened over on Eastern Ave. Originally an East Coast establishment, they are particularly famous for their French fries and fresh (not frozen) beef hamburgers. They now have more than 750 establishments country wide. All we can say is OMG, the French fries are outstanding! Great hamburger too. After both picking up some money at GVR we headed over to the "M" where Connie had some more free slot play. Connie lost a little here,  but I won a small amount in the poker room, making it a clean sweep for the day for me. Came home and had Ramon soup for dinner over some TV shows before retiring for the evening. I finished working on a post of a past hike to my Photo Gallery ... Roy Purcell Murals.

Desert Sand Verbina

SUNDAY - 03/20/2011 - I spent most of the morning working on creating postings of my Death Valley pictures for my picture blog. You can check it out here ...Death Valley National Park. After lunch over the "Sunday Morning" show we went to GVR for a little 'play'. Connie won and I lost. Came home and had steamed asparagus with garlic and cheese on toast points for dinner. Watch a movie and some TV shows and went to bed. Click on the flower on the left to view in more detail.

SATURDAY - 03/19/2011 - Got up bright and early this morning and headed to Death Valley National Park with my next door neighbor Marc to see if we could get any 'wildflower' pictures. It was a very disappointing day. Not only was it extremely windy and cold, this turned out to be a very bad year for wildflowers in the park. So after driving for more than 7 hours, we came home with only a handful of wildflower pictures, though I did get some of other scenic stops and points of interest within the park. Connie has been suffering from a bad cold the past couple of days and slept most of the time I was gone.

I cooked up a package of frozen Orange Chicken and rice for dinner which we ate over the movie "Unthinkable" staring Samuel L. Jackson that we had recorded off of a free weekend of Showtime a couple of weeks ago. It is a psychological thriller centered around a black-ops interrogator and an FBI agent who press a suspect terrorist into divulging the location of three nuclear weapons sets to detonate in the U.S. We both thought it was a very good movie. I worked on some pictures for a while and then we watched some more TV shows later in the evening. After Connie headed off to bed, I finished working on cleaning up the days' pictures and started creating some posts for my picture gallery blog.

WEDNESDAY - 03/16/2011 - Connie felt like she was coming down with a cold, so we sat around most of the day doing our normal computer and reading thing. After we finally got showered and dressed, we drove up to the District to have lunch at the Elephant Bar, one of our favorite local restaurants. We split a full rack of the barbecued baby back ribs and a macaroni and cheese side. We then went over to GVR for some free slot play. Connie won, I lost. Came home had a light dinner, watched some TV and went to bed.  

TUESDAY - 03/15/2011 - After our normal morning routine we showered and dressed and headed to our clubhouse where they were putting on a 'Welcome Spring' luncheon. They had 1/2 barbecued  chickens, Caesar salad, pita bread, baklava, and beverages. It was all quite good and we got to see and talk with some of our neighbors. After lunch we drove up to GVR where Connie had $10 free play. After playing for the entire afternoon, Connie picked up $20 and I won $75 in the poker room. Came home and made salami, avocado, onion and cheese sandwiches for dinner. Had some chocolate cake for dessert over a couple of prerecorded TV shows and went to bed. Today's picture is of a Mallard that I captured at the Wildlife Habitat area while we stayed at the Flamingo Casino on the Strip last week. 

MONDAY - 03/14/2011 - Woke up early and worked on the computer cleaning up some photo files and creating some new business cards. I worked on adding some more photo pages to my blog gallery while Connie read. I made us some sandwiches for lunch which we ate over a couple of TV shows. We then drove to GVR and played most of the afternoon. Neither of us had any luck. We had dinner at the Tides Oyster Bar, their signature seafood restaurant. Connie had the Seafood Cobb Salad with Crab, Shrimp, Avocado, Bleu Cheese, Bacon and Eggs and Louie Dressing - always a winner! I had the fresh fried oysters that are always outstanding. Came home watched TV until we headed off to bed.

SUNDAY - 03/13/2011 - Today was another nice day, in the low 70's. I decided to go check on Jim Herring's house over in North Las Vegas. On the way I stopped at the Red Spring at the Calico Basin near Red Rock Canyon to snap a few pictures. When I got home we headed up to GVR for their lunch buffet. Connie got $40 in free slot play and came out a winner. I picked up $85 in the poker room. Came home and watched some TV and then Connie read while I worked on the pictures I took in the morning. Here are a few shots I got of some Petroglyphs ... Petroglyphs. There was a couple having an outdoor Japanese wedding while I was taking pictures at Red Springs. The picture on the right is a shot I took of the bride and groom after the wedding.  

SATURDAY - 03/12/2011 - I had a $30 Groupon for the Blvd Bar & Grill opposite the South Point casino, so at noon we headed over there for lunch. Even though we had eaten here once quite a long time ago, we only had a hamburger and forgot that they actually specialize in Italian fare. Today we had the stuffed mushrooms, meat lasagna and eggplant parmigiana. The mushrooms and eggplant were just average, however, the lasagna was outstanding, probably the best since we moved here. Connie had $30 free slot play at South Point, so after lunch we headed over there. From there we drove to the "M" to pick up the gift of the day, a free bottle of Jameson Irish Whiskey. Connie ended up winning for the day, I lost a hundred in the poker room. When we got home I placed some frozen hors d'oeuvres in the toaster oven for dinner. After watching some prerecorded TV shows, Connie headed off to bed and I went into the den to work on adding some photos to my blog.

    

Mandarin Ducks at the Wildlife Habitat

FRIDAY - 03/11/2011 - Got up early and headed back down to the Flamingo Poker room for the free-roll tournament. There were over 100 people in the tournament and when it got down to a little less than 20, everyone wanted to "chop", rather than play it out.  I ended up with $125.00, Not bad for nothing! It was absolutely beautiful out, in the low 80's; so I stopped by the wildlife habitat to take some more pictures. Pairs of Mandarin Ducks, such as those above, are often given a wedding present in China. I then headed home, picked up Connie, and drove to GVR for lunch. We had a 2-1 lunch at the buffet and then played for about three hours before going home. Connie had $10 in free slot play and only ended up loosing $5 for the day. I picked up another $85 playing hold'em in  the poker room. When we got home I heated up some 'appetizers' from the freezer and we watched some prerecorded TV shows. After Connie went to bed, I stayed up and worked on the photos I took over the past several days. Pairs of Mandarin Ducks, such as 

Chilean Flamingo's at the Wildlife Habitat 

THURSDAY - 03/10/2011 - Breakfast was so good at the Victorian Cafe at Bill's Gambling Hall yesterday, that we went there again today. After breakfast we checked out of the room and then played for a couple of hours before picking up the car from valet and heading home. Counting this morning's play, I had enough hours to play in tomorrow morning's $2,500 free-roll tournament in the poker room. Got home, picked up the mail, unpacked, sorted mail, read emails, made chicken salad wraps for dinner and watched several prerecorded TV shows before heading to bed for the evening. It had been quite a busy four days, and having stayed up later than normal a couple of nights, we were rather tired. Besides, I had to be back down at the Flamingo by 8:00 am to play in the free-roll tournament. 

Bill's Gambling Hall

WEDNESDAY - 03/09/2011 - We has a late breakfast in the Victorian Room at Bill's Gambling Hall which is located next door to the Flamingo. After a very filling breakfast, we headed back to the Flamingo where we gambled until it was time for dinner. Connie only lost $40 for the entire afternoon, however, I picked up $280 playing poker. Around 5:00 pm went to the room and freshened up an picked up the car at the valet for the drive over to Palace Station or dinner and a show. We had dinner in the Grand Cafe. Connie had and extremely tender prime rib dinner special and I had the NY sirloin. After dinner we had tickets to see the Louie Anderson show, one of our favorite comedians. Louie was everything we expected him to be. We laughed our asses off. After the show we drove to the South Point Casino where I had $15 in free slot play; made a profit of $7 dollars. It was nearly mid-night by the time we drove back to the Flamingo and called it a night.

River in Wildlife Habitat at Flamingo

TUESDAY - 03/08/2011 - After a good night's sleep we went down to the Flamingo's buffet and enjoyed a nice big breakfast. With a $5 off LVA coupon and some poker comps it ended up being half price. I grabbed my camera and we went outside to the Flamingo's Wildlife Habitat. A photographer's haven, the habitat is filled with lush foliage imported from around the world including varieties of pines, palms and magnolia. Strolling alongside streams and waterfalls, or on bridges over lagoons and ponds, you get the chance to see more than 300 birds, including Impeyn and silver pheasants, Gambel's quail, a Crown crane, two ibis, swans, ducks and parrots, and of course, the most notable, the Chilean flamingos. But birds aren't the only wildlife that can be seen in the habitat; there is an abundance of turtles and koi as well. I got some great pictures. After more than an hour of picture taking, we picked the car up from the valet and drove to Bally's to meet with Jim prior to his playing in the tournament. We then went to the Palms where Connie lost at slots and I picked up $85 in the poker room. At 4:00 we were back to the Flamingo to attend the Nathan Burton comedy magic show. Considering the fact that I got these tickets for free, this was a great show. After the show we proceeded to Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville for dinner. Connie had the fried shrimp and I had the Jerk Salmon, which by the way was the best salmon dinner I've had since coming to Vegas. After dinner we headed to O'Shea's Casino to see Dirk Arthur's "Wild Magic" show. The up-close, in-your-face look at his majestic cast of exotic cats was amazing. The Dirk Author theater is quite small and we had center seats in the second row for an in-your-face opportunity to witness a variety of exotic cats including a Liger, Leopards, Bengal Tigers and a pure White Snow Tiger. The magnificent tigers just beautiful. We headed back to our room at the Flamingo after the show, watched a TV show and retired for the evening.

The Flamingo - Our Residence for the next 4 days

MONDAY - 03/07/2011 - Today was the start of our in town 'mini' vacation at the Flamingo Casino on the Strip. After we finished packing we headed to GVR to play Connie's $10 free slot play. We then drove over to the "M" where she had another $5 in free slot play. Used a 2-1 coupon and my poker comps for two free lunch buffets. We then headed over to Jim's new apartment and picked him up to go to the Flamingo to check in for the three free room nights he was letting us have that were part of his Hold'em tournament package. After he registered for Tuesday's Texas Hold'em tournament, I drove him back home and we went to Johnny Rockets back at the Flamingo and had a burger, fries, onion rings and a shake for dinner. I went to the poker room to play and relax a little and Connie played some  more slots. At the end of the day, Connie had played several hours of slots in three different casinos and won $20, while I picked up $14 in the poker room at Flamingo. After a long day, we finally headed up to the room and retired for the evening.

Lost Creek Falls

SUNDAY - 03/06/2011 - I spent the first half of the morning catching up on this blog. Then I got out the suitcases and started packing for our upcoming 4-day stay at the Flamingo Casino starting tomorrow night. Next, I then vacuumed the house and washed and waxed the kitchen and bathroom floors while Connie did wash and ironing. We then watched a Netflix movie, Transporter 3, over salami sandwiches that I made for lunch. Even though it was kind of a 'B' movie, it had a ton of action, right up our alley. After the movie we showered, dressed and went to GVR to play Connie's free slot play. Connie lost $25 but I picked up $85 in the poker room.  Came home, popped a pizza in the oven for dinner and watched some prerecorded TV shows before calling it a day and retiring for the evening.

Viewscape off Lost Creek Trail in Red Rock Canyon

SATURDAY - 03/05/2011 - I worked on placing pictures on my photo gallery blog while Connie finished her book, Rose in a Storm by John Katz. She liked it som much that she suggested that I add a review of it to our blog. Click the title to read her review. I had enough pictures from this last hike to make three separate pages on my blog. They can all be accessed from the Red Rock Canyon page.

FRIDAY - 03/04/2011 - I started working on yesterday's photos while Connie read. At noon we showered and dressed and drove to the Strip again to pick up some more show tickets for next week. Again using our LVA book we were able to get 2-1 tickets to Dirk Arthur's magic show at O'Sheas Casino. Stopped at GVR and had two free lunch buffets on my poker comps and then played for a short while. After both picking up a few dollars here we headed to the "M" where they were giving away some nice long sleeved anniversary shirts. Unfortunately we both had a loosing session here. Came home and had PB&J sandwiches for diner. Watched a movie on TV and then retired for the evening.

THURSDAY - 03/03/2011 - Today was hike day again with the senior center rock hounds. We went to Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. Even though we have visited this area several times since our move here, each visit promises new and different pictures depending upon the season and time of day. We did visit an area, Red Springs at Calico Basin, that I had not been to in the past. After I got home, we went over to the "M" and had dinner at the Vig Deli.

WEDNESDAY - 03/02/2011 - Today we drove to the Strip to pick up some show tickets for next week's stay at the Flamingo. My ex-neighbor Jim received an offer of three free nights and entry into a Texas Hold'em tournament at the Flamingo and gave the free room offer to us. We got two free tickets to the Nathan Burton at the Flamingo Casino and 2-1 tickets to see comedian Louie Anderson at Palace Station Casino. Using an LVA coupon, we had a huge 2-1 lunch at the Ellis Island Cafe. On the way home we stopped at the Palms where Connie had $20 in free slot play. She ended up wining $20 and I walked away with $130 from the poker room. Came home, watched some TV and headed off to bed.

Corn Creek at Desert National Wildlife Range, NV 

TUESDAY - 03/01/2011 - Connie appeared to be in more pain than usual today and even after several drugs and a long shower, still decided not to go out. I still had a 'sick' headache. I finished my photography book while she read on the den couch. I had to go to the water store and the Bass Pro Shop to pick up a vest for this Thursday's hike. Made a salad and heated up the curry chicken and rice leftovers for lunch. Watched a couple of TV shows and then both took an afternoon nap. Made some photo shooting notes on my phone while Connie read. Had PB&J sandwiches for dinner and cut up some fresh pears for dessert. Watched some TV shows and then headed to bed. I created the above picture by playing with the exposure and color saturation in my PaintShop program.

Previous Entries by Month