Holiday trip 2011: Last days of 2011

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

On my last visit to Vegas I had found a little independent coffee shop, The Beat Coffeehouse on Fremont across the street from the El Cortez. One year later and the place hasn’t changed a bit.

After coffee and breakfast sandwich, Barb pulled up in her little white Jeep and we sped away to figure out the days’ adventure. Eventually we settled for a road trip to the Hoover Dam bypass bridge – the Mike O’Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge – but not before enduring a traffic bottleneck on the main drag through the north side of Boulder City.

Returning to Boulder City for a hit-and-miss lunch at The Coffee Cup [see blog post], smack in the middle of Old Town, followed by a walk around the neighborhood procuring gifts at the quirky Sherman's House of Antiques and the Western & Mexican Center.

Spying the Boulder Dam Brewing Company, we partook some brews and an order of onion rings. The microbrewed beer and the batter-dipped rings were par. But the Cholula sour cream dipping sauce was a zippy eye-opener, although in fairness I’ve made the same thing at home countless times.

Resolving that evening to sow some oats I ventured out to several bars downtown [see blog post], followed by post-alcohol hot dogs at the diner in the Gold Spike [see blog post].

Thursday, December 29

The next morning with two ibuprofen dissolving in the belly, I loafed in bed, mostly blogging about my escapades so far.

The lunch hour comes and I set off on an RTC bus to In-N-Out Burger for a late lunch [see blog post]. Sated I come back downtown for some supplies and idle browsing at the failed Neonopolis mall. Other than carryout from Uncle Joe's Pizza on Fremont for dinner [see blog post], I kept to the confines of my hotel room for the evening. About as lazy a day as it gets.

Friday, December 30

On this morning I make a final visit to The Beat Coffeehouse and stumble across a crime scene [see blog post]. Afterward I check out of the Gold Spike to spend the remainder of my visit at Barb & Al’s. That evening I do the cooking and fixed up a vegetarian spaghetti sauce with what I could find in the pantry and fridge. Onions, carrots, celery, canned tomatoes, soy crumbles, black olives, jarred spaghetti sauce and assorted spices. The night finishes with a few games of Wahoo, and idle time worshiping the idiot box.

Saturday, December 31

It was a workday for both Barb & Al so I contented myself at home with public television. Feeling rather sore in the groin especially when sitting I figured I pulled a muscle wrestling my luggage the day before on the city bus. However as the morning progressed I found myself frequenting the bathroom more and more. Fearing that I had an infection I walked the 1-1/2 miles round-trip to the nearest grocery to score some cranberry juice.

Dinner that night was at Diamond China 2 with Barb’s parents. Fried items were all crunch and grease, and the mixed vegetables were laden down with an unappealing cornstarch-thickened sauce, cubes of tofu interspersed could have used some extra time to drain.

A few games of Wahoo at Barb’s folks’ gated community residence in Summerlin complete the evening before leaving for the airport, getting there with minutes to spare to board the van bound for Kingman. No shotgun on this trip, but I did get a rear bench all to myself.

Woke up at our scheduled stop in Laughlin, taking the time to walk to a nearby In-N-Out Burger for cheeseburgers al fresco. Leaving we stopped briefly to watch the local New Years’ Eve fireworks. So ends 2011.