Week Two in Las Vegas

My second week in the Las Vegas area began with a very laid back Sunday. I thought about checking out a local church, but I was very tired when I woke up and didn’t do much. One shortcoming about the casita I am renting is that all of the lighting is overhead in recessed fixtures. When I do desk work, I like to use a table lamp and turn off overhead lights to reduce glare on the computer screen.

So, late Sunday morning I went to Wal-Mart and found a nifty LED desk lamp for about $20. I plan to take it home with me, so I wanted something that would fit in my suitcase. I put on the table in the kitchen where I do some work and also use it to provide some base light while watching TV in the evening.

The afternoon was sunny and not too cool, so I went on the patio and proofed chapters in my book. I watch a little of Brian’s Akron Aviators play in Syracuse. Just as I turned on my computer, my phone had a bulletin about Kobe Bryant and his daughter dying in a helicopter crash along with 7 others. Brian texted me about that moments later.

For the rest of the day and evening, there were constant reports about the crash and mourning by fans. That evening, I wanted to watched Netflix to get away from the coverage, but the internet connection was bad, so I had to settle for cable fare that wasn’t too good.

Monday, I decided to go to Death Valley National Park, about a 2.5-hour drive northwest of Las Vegas. I didn’t leave until after 9AM to avoid the morning rush through the city. I drove for an hour and stopped at a convenience store in Pahrump, NV. Leaving that town, I missed the turn to go to the park. I drove about 20 miles before realizing that I needed to turn around and go back to Pahrump and make the turn. I took almost another half hour to reach the park Visitor Center. I used the National Park pass I bought last year to get a pass for Death Valley National Park.

The visit was well worth the drive. The valley floor is very flat and dotted with large white patches of salt interspersed with various plants. I visited two sites, the Artists’ Circle and Badwater Basin.

The Artists’ circle is a drive of about 13 miles along a one-way, one-lane road that takes you up into the hills on the east side of the valley. The rock formations and layers of colors are spectacular. The road twists, dips and turns between the formations and at times there were only a few feet of space between the rocky cliffs and the side of my car. It was almost like a slow-motion amusement park ride because the speed limit was 10 or 15 miles per hour in some places.

My next stop was Badwater Basin, the most crowded area of the park that I saw. Here a young couple took my picture as I posed near the sign that says this point is more than 280 feet below sea level. I then walked about a quarter mile out on the hardened salt out towards the middle of the valley. The salt flat extended hundreds of yards further out. The air was very dry and the temperature was 76 degrees and my lungs felt great. I have been battling asthma for years and the higher concentration of oxygen and dry desert air really felt great.

After leaving Badwater, it took nearly an hour to drive out of the park. But, I didn’t mind at all. It was warm enough to open the car windows and marvel at the scenery while driving on the east side of the valley. The drive back to Vegas also was scenic as the setting sun provided different hues to the Red Rock Mountains as I approached the city from the west.

When I arrived in central Las Vegas at rush hour, I missed my exit and got off the freeway in the heart of the Strip. I saw a couple of the large hotel/casinos and the new stadium for the Las Vegas Raiders. The outside is covered with dark tinted glass and it looks like a giant space ship. Fortunately, the traffic wasn’t terrible and my phone’s GPS guided me back to the casita. I slept well that night.

The next day, I went to a city recreation center called Black Mountain and signed up to use the facility through Silver Sneakers. It has a small, but very well-equipped fitness room with loads of machines. I had just eaten lunch so I waited for the next day to work out.

It was cloudy and cool, so I decided to drive to the UNLV campus to find the location of my classes in the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute program. The area is on the very southern edge of the campus and looks like it might have been an elementary school at one time. There is a large parking lot and about a half dozen one-story tan stucco buildings with the classroom doors opening outside.

I am taking three classes, “American West: History, Myth and Legacy”; “Nevada History” and “Comedy: What’s the Point?” I am looking forward to the classes and meeting my fellow students. Up to this point, I have been fairly isolated and I am looking forward to some interaction.

After I drove around the campus area a bit, I headed back to Henderson. I visited the campus of Nevada State College outside Henderson. My Airbnb host Lori is taking graduate courses in Speech and Hearing Therapy there. The campus has about a half dozen buildings and looks brand new.

Wednesday, I decided to try out the Black Mountain Recreation Center. Silver Sneakers participants are permitted to use a workout room off the main lobby. The machines were a different brand than I was used to, but I was able figure things out and I had a pretty decent workout. I had a bit of a crisis when I went to leave my casita, the electronic door lock didn’t work. I rang the doorbell on the main house and Ernie, my landlord’s husband, came out after a couple of minutes. After a couple of attempts, he determined that the batteries in the lock were dead and replaced them. So, I went on to my workout.

After my workout, I showered and went to lunch at the nearby Starbucks. It was located on the corner of a busy shopping area and I was surprised how large it was. I got there at the end of lunch hour and the place was extremely busy. Normally, I don’t have any problems with noise and motion as customers come and go.

But, there was one guy 40-ish and dressed in shorts, a white t-shirt and flip-flops who sat near me. He was on the phone constantly the whole time I was there, sometimes using a louder than normal voice. To make things worse, he would get up out of his seat and pace up and down the aisle while talking.

I’m okay with short phone conversations in public places as long as there is some consideration for others nearby. But, this guy was out of line.

The next day, I decided to go to see “1917” because it is getting good reviews and is up for several Oscars. Some years, I’ve only seen one or two of the best picture nominees, but I’ve seen several of them this year, so I’ll be more interested to watch the TV show.

This film blew me away. It is shot in such a unique manner totally with a single camera and the scenes are put together to make the story somewhat continuous except for one fade to black late in the film. It’s an amazing accomplishment to see long tracking shots following the main characters through a maze of trenches. The costumes, set design and effects give the viewer the true horror of World War One. It’s pretty amazing.

On Friday, I decided to go on another road trip. This time I drove two hours north of Las Vegas to explore the town of St. George, Utah. The drive up on I-15 was spectacular, especially the 15 miles or so where the road ran parallel to the Virgin River. There were twists and turns among the rock formations that were fun to drive.

St. George is nestled against a range of red hills that overlook the center of town. It had some very nice neighborhoods and a stunning roadway and bike trail up on the red hillside overlooking the city. There is a large, white Mormon temple near the center of town and this city is said to have been the summer home of Joseph Smith.

After lunch and an hour or so of sightseeing, I headed back to Vegas. I hadn’t noticed it on the drive up, but on the last 20 miles of highway entering Vegas, I noticed a lot of trash by the side of the highway and a lot of it had been blown into the desert hundreds of yards from the road. It was disgusting and put a damper on the otherwise good scenery I had seen that day.

Also, on the way to St. George that morning, I was driving east on I-515 before turning north toward Utah. Central Las Vegas is located in a valley and even though the skies were bright and sunny, there was a layer of brown haze over the center of the city. Obviously, the middle of the city has an air pollution issue, but I am staying far enough out of town to avoid that.

The week ended with another workout at the city rec center. This is one advantage this area has over El Paso, where I couldn’t find a place I really wanted to go to keep up with my weight training.

I’ll have more next week.