Journal Entry for Thursday, Mar 1st

Clark County Wetlands Park Today Jim came over around noon and we went to our favorite ‘sub’ shop, East Coast Eats, and all had their huge Steak Bomb. It was actually too much food. Jim and I then decided to go over to the Clark County Wetland Park and see what was available. We were able to see some turtles, a white egret, hawk, and nearly a half-dozen Desert Cottentail Rabits. Unfortunately, the only thing I was able to capture were the turtles sunning on a rock. Still in the final stages of construction, this 210-acre nature preserve, bordering the Las Vegas Wash, makes for a quite enjoyable two to three hour hike. Read more here ... Clark County Wetlands Park. After our hike, we drove to the Stratosphere Tower on the Strip to take advantage of the 2-1 Martinis and appetizers at the 107 Lounge located on the 107th floor. We both had a vodka Appletini with our appetizers of Calamari and a delicious cheese and fruit plate. For dessert we enjoyed a delicious Chocolate Martini. Made with Godiva® chocolate liqueur, creme de cacao, Smirnoff® vodka and half-and-half, it was outstanding. Never having experienced a martini before, Jim thought they were both absolutely delicious. From here we went to the Wynn Casino and had another Appletini out on the Parasol Up bar’s patio overlooking the Lake of Dreams. The free Lake of Dreams Show spans over 20,000 square feet and employs thousands of underwater LED fixtures and props to construct a show that combines color and water with remarkable results. Though the one we saw was not the better of the several that are offered, it was still a very relaxing way to end out day.

Journal Entry for Tuesday, Feb 28th

Atomic Testing Museum Jim came over this morning and we all headed out to Mimi’s Café for a huge late breakfast. Both Jim and Connie had the new Cinnamon Brioche French Toast  with eggs and bacon. I had the three egg Mardi Gras Omelette that was filled with chunks of ham, sausage, bacon, cajun sausage, tomatoes and cheddar cheese. We also shared a hot banana bread. After breakfast Jim and I headed down to the Atomic Testing Museum, one of 37 national museums affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution.  This is a repository for one of the most comprehensive collections of nuclear history relating to atomic testing, the Nevada Test Site, the Cold War, and nuclear and radiological science and technology. The museum covers the period from the first test at NTS on January 27, 1951, to the present. Among its exhibits covering American nuclear history is a "Ground Zero Theater" which simulates the experience of observing an atmospheric nuclear test. Other exhibits include Geiger counters, radio badges and radiation testing devices, Native American artifacts from around the test area and equipment used in testing the devices. There are several videos and interactive exhibits on a variety of related topics. We both found it quite interesting; our self guided tour lasted over two hours. Click here to read more …http://www.nationalatomictestingmuseum.org/default.aspx.  Next we drove over to the “Year of the Dragon” exhibit at the Bellagio Conservatory and Botanical Gardens. Jim found it quite interesting and colorful. I still think that the mosaic mirror tiled Chinese horse situated just below the Dale Chihuly ceiling sculpture in the lobby is worth the entire trip. I recently dedicated a post to these two sculpture on my photo gallery site. Check it out! Mosaic Mirror Tiled Chinese Horse. We then traveled back to my place, picked up Connie and went to Bucca di Beppe Peppo’s for dinner, Jim’s treat. This Italian restaurant is know for its huge portions. As full at we were, we just had to order the Colossal Brownie Sundae – filled with twelve decadent chunks of freshly-baked brownies layered with six scoops of vanilla bean and chocolate ice cream, topped with caramel and chocolate sauces then buried in mounds of whipped cream and a cherry. Yea, I know that sounds over the top, but Jim is on vacation after all! Check it out here … The Colossal Brownie Sundae.

Journal Entry for Sunday, Feb 26th

Historic Tunnel Trail Hike Jim and I headed over to trailhead for the Railroad Tunnel Trail at Lake Mead. Though a bit cooler than yesterday, It was still a beautiful hiking day. We spent the entire afternoon doing a five-mile out and back hike along this wonderfully scenic trail. Once used during the building of the Hoover Dam, the trail follows an old railroad bed through a series of five tunnels on its way to the dam. Click here to go to my photography site where you can find pictures and learn more about this historic trail… The Historic Railroad Tunnel Trail. Though we were both hurting a little at the end, I think Jim enjoyed and got some great pictures. After the hike we drove down towards the dam area to take a walk out on the relatively new dam by-pass bridge. Though Jim and I were one of the first cars to pass over this bridge when it opened back on October 16th, 2010, on a return visit from the Skywalk at Grand Canyon West, he had not yet had the opportunity to walk out on it. Providing some awesome down river views of the dam, this engineering marvel has become a must stop for anyone visiting the Las Vegas area. Click here to go to my photography site and learn more about this amazing bridge… Mike O'Callaghan – Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge. After coming home and telling about our hiking experience and showing Connie all of our pictures, Jim called it a day and headed back to his house while Connie and I settled down with some lemon cake and whipped cream for dinner over the 2012 Oscars.

Journal Entry for Saturday, Feb 25th

Cocktails by the Pool Having picked our friend Jim Herring up at the airport at 10:45 pm last night and driving him over to his house on the north end of Las Vegas, it was nearly 1:00 am by the time I got to bed. We both decided to allow some “sleep-in” time before getting together today. By the time Jim came over in the afternoon it was nearly 75-degrees and sunny without a cloud in the sky, so we decided to take our wine out to the pool and get a little sun. Jim and I even got a few shots of some Canada Geese in one of the golf course ponds next to our pool area. After a lovely couple of hours sitting around the pool, sipping wine and “chewing the fat” we came in and sat on our deck while I prepared some munchies. After our snacks we came inside and watched a Netflix CD, The Amazing Jonathan, a comic magician who has been playing Las Vegas for more than 12 years. We all agreed that he was quite entertaining. After our ‘show’, we headed out for dinner at the Claim Jumper, just up the street from where we live. Because it is part of the Landry’s chain, of which I am a member, we received immediate seating and avoided a 35 minute wait. They have a huge menu and all the food here is very good – even though the portions are more than any one person should be eating. I had some of the best baby back pork ribs I’ve had in ages. I had a $25 credit on my member card and Jim treated us to the rest. We all went home stuffed. Jim and I decided that we would hike the Historic Railroad Tunnel Trail over by the Hoover Dam tomorrow and decided to get some rest by calling it a night.

Journal Entry for Thursday, Feb 16th

Ravings by Linda J. Clarke “Ravings” are a series of essays written by my sister Linda J. Clarke. It was her hope that people who read them would gain a “tenderness and appreciation for the animals and plants who share this world with us.” For more on Linda and her book, “On A Planet Sailing West”, click here …Linda Clarke. The essay below is her latest writing.

Morning has broken – Like the first morning – Blackbird has spoken – Like the first bird Praise for the singing – Praise for the morning (Traditional Hymn) THE RABBIT Recently, near the North Pole, a few fossil hunters managed to dig out the complete skull of an aquatic reptile that haunted the oceans 155 million years ago. With eyes on top of its long head, immensely powerful jaws that could crush a Hummer, and hundreds of gigantic razor-sharp teeth, it was a creature of iconic fearsomeness estimated to be fifty feet long, "a crocodile on steroids". The world is still filled with unimaginably fearsome aggressors. A recently discovered colossal squid longer than a sperm whale and with grizzly bear-like claws on the end of its tentacles has been called the most terrible predator alive on the planet. Personally, I have a fondness for rabbits who do not horrify their neighbors and consequently have been unfairly labeled minor league players in the scheme of things. Because bunnies, ...

Journal Entry for Tuesday, Feb 14th

Valentine’s Day Brunch  at Ken & Connie's Having fasted since 8:00 last night, Connie and I were up early for an appointment to go get a blood test while Bonnie and Paul slept in. We were back before 9:00 and were starving. Connie grabbed a cup of coffee that Paul had made while I prepared us all a mid-morning brunch – scrambled eggs with onion and green pepper, sausage, raspberry Danish, garlic hash browns, English muffins, orange juice and coffee. Bonnie cleaned up the breakfast dishes while Paul and I did some computer “guy stuff”. Around 1:00 we drove out to Lake Mead and spent most of the afternoon taking pictures along the Lakeshore Scenic Drive. They were amazed at how vast looking the landscape views were. After returning to the house I made up some quacolmole dip which we had with crackers and cheese while we watched the 2012 Grammy Awards which we had recorded on Sunday. Afterwards I made us all banana splits. After another couple of hours talking, it was off to bed once again as they wanted to get an early start in the morning for their trip to Chris and Christina’s.

Journal Entry for Monday, Feb 13th

Bonnie & Paul Paul & Bonnie Today my sister Bonnie and her husband Paul arrived from Tahoe for a two night stay on their way to visit her son and daughter-in-law in Kansas. They were surprised to see that we had left up all of our Christmas decorations in order to provide them with the warm family feeling of a "holiday" homecoming . After sitting around talking most of the afternoon, we went out to TGI Friday’s for dinner. We hadn’t been there for years and were pleasantly reminded of how good it was. (Click either photo to enlarge) 10-oz Sirloin & Grilled Shrimp Scampi Three of us had the steak and shrimp dinners, while my sister had the Parmesan  crusted chicken dinner that looked quite good. With two 2-1 coupons, we ended up with $35 off the bill; such a deal. We then came home and sat around talking until nearly 10 pm, before we all headed off to bed as Connie and I had to be up by 7:00 am for an 8:00 am medical appointment in the morning.

Journal Entry for Friday, Feb 10th

Movie Review Here since last Sunday, Super Bowl day, Connie got to spend several evenings going out to dinner, seeing a stand-up comedy show and touring the Strip with her brother Rick, who was in town from Bayfield Colorado for some work related training. As he is flying back tomorrow morning, we decided to end the week by going to see a movie together. We chose the latest release, Safe House, starring Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds.

RELEASE: 2012; GENERE: Mystery & Suspense; Action & Adventure; RUN-TIME: 1 hr, 54 mins; RATED: R; STARRING: Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds; DIRECTED BY: Daniel Espinosa;

REVIEW: This is a fast paced, action packed thriller with a thin script and a lot of overly shot, choppily edited action scenes that cause the movie to appear “jerky”. We thought both Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds turned in strong performances, which actually save what would otherwise be just a third rate action movie. In spite of its flaws, you will not be bored. There are enough bullets and flying fists to deliver an action junkie’s bang for the buck. We were not sure it was the movie or the theater, but it was way too loud for all of us. Safe House is gritty, exciting, violent and pretty much predictable. We give it 2.5 Stars.

SYNOPSIS: Denzel Washington plays a dangerous renegade operative from the CIA, who comes back “onto the grid” after being on the run for more than a decade. When the South African safe house he's remanded to is attacked by mercenaries, Ryan Reynolds, a rookie operative who’s job it is to protect him, escapes with him. With all kinds of seedy operative, double agents and spies after Denzel, they must become allies to stay alive long enough to uncover who wants them dead.

Journal Entry for Tuesday, Feb 7th

Dinner At The Boarder Grill After giving Rick a day of rest, we drove to the Strip and picked him up at his hotel and drove to Mandalay Bay Casino & Resort to have dinner at the Boarder Grill. When Rick asked if we had eaten here before what I thought of it, I told him that we had been there several times and thought it was probably the best Mexican restaurant in town. He was not disappointed. We chose to eat out on their heated outside deck, which provided the perfect atmosphere for conversation over some  Mexican beers, and a delicious guacamole dip and chips. For the main course, both Rick and I had the Grilled Skirt Steak. Cooked to order it was served with a charred corn relish, black beans and handmade corn tortillas. Connie had the Shrimp Corn Tamale special that was absolutely delicious. After dinner we drove to the Bellagio to see the Chinese New Year’s exhibit at their Conservatory and Botanical Gardens. Representing the “Year of the Dragon”, there were dozens of colorful dragon sculptures spread throughout the exhibit. Rick was impressed with its beauty and how colorful it was. Click here to view a picture collage of this exhibit … Year of the Dragon.

Journal Entry for Sunday, Feb 5th

Super Bowl XLVI Sunday We started the day by heading to the airport to pick up Rick, Connie’s brother, who was going to be in town for a week of training. After a “beer” stop, we headed to our place where we spent a couple of hours “catching up” on each others lives before settling down to watch some of the pre-game hype. For those not aware, the game was between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion New York Giants. By the time the game started at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana, we broke out our traditional Mexican salad, boneless chicken wings, crab cake appetizers, breaded mushrooms, and of course, don’t forget the beer. Needless to say, as we were rooting for Tom Brady and our New England Patriots, we had a very disappointing afternoon. We were defeated 21-17 by the Giants, who by the way, set a new record for the worst regular season record (9–7, win percentage of 56.3%) by a Super Bowl champion. The good news was that Connie got to share watching the game with her brother. After one last beer to drown out our sorrows, I drove Rick down to the Orleans Casino where he was staying for the week.