July the Fourth

It's been a busy week celebrating our anniversary and the Fourth of July.  So I am finally taking a few minutes to update the blog before we head out again!

The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway - Getting our Red Neck on again. Stock car racing at its finest. For our anniversary we headed to to lunch at the Aliante Casino in north Las Vegas.  Then caught the Terminator Genisys.  We splurged on the IMAX version.  (Arnold was BACK.) We heard about  the Night of Fire at the speedway and decided to check it out.  Lots of fun.  Spectator sport all the way, like Thunder Road in Barre, VT. (Let's just say what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.) We didn't end up staying for the fireworks or even the main event.  It was 108 when we got to the track at 5:00 and it had cooled a whopping 4 degrees by the time we left at 9:00.  We weren't sitting in the sun at all and there was a nice breeze ... I might have made it through the whole event if we had arrived later and if I wasn't still recovering from the knee surgery.  We'll give it another try next year.

Skid Racers - Pretty funny - Little control!

Las Vegas Drift Cars

The drift cars like to go fast and slide around the corners. Fun to watch!

Here is a nod to TwinState signage.  Nevada's twin state is Arizona.

These Bandolero cars were driven by young kids,

Bandolero cars

This young man won the first race.
The cars are so small they open the roof to get in and out!

The LVMS mascot and a young driver pose!

Basic stock cars

Summerlin Patriotic Parade

On the Fourth of July, Summerlin hosts the only parade in Las Vegas. I unfortunately overdid it on Friday so Dan went to the parade without me. It was only 2 miles from our house.  Here are some images Dan snapped.

Masonic Brothers

Pink Caddie

Lots of nice old cars

Honor Guard

Dan thought these guys should have been in the parade!

Storm Troupers of course.

The final bow!

Red Rock Canyon drive through Sunday morning.

Woman rock climber.

Rainbow Mt. on the left, Bridge Mt. on the right

Mount Wilson on the left, Rainbow on the right.

Saw a review of a new restaurant in town called the Chile Addiction.  New Mexican cuisine which features burn your face off special Hatch chilies. We didn't know about the burn your face off part until we got there.  Good dinner though.  Different from traditional Mexican food.  After dinner we headed to my sister's house just in front of a major rain storm!

Big Rain (Someone took this photo of the storm from an airplane!) Pretty sure this is a perfect example of a CLOUDBURST! We waited out the storm and then drove through some fast water (on the street). The runoff (flash floods) clear out pretty quickly but such power! There is a new law that says you have to pay for rescue if you drive around a barrier and your car gets in trouble!

Las Vegas is a giant bowl and we live up on the outside western edge of the bowl thank goodness! Downtown people aren't so lucky. This screen shot shows the areas of flooding soon after we arrived home.  Red = Bad!

I started physical therapy on Monday.  Total Sports Medicine is my surgeon's office and the physical therapist's office conveniently located about 2 miles from home.  Lisa, my therapist, is a native of Scotland.  Nice young woman.  Love her accent! Here is the view from the therapy room.

Compression therapy.

The view out the window just over my left knee.

The view from a window on the right.

Therapy is going well.  I spent time in the pool this morning doing some exercises!

This afternoon we are headed downtown to the Thomas and Mack Center to watch a couple of NBA Summer League games.  We have free tickets, thanks to our neighbors Marie and Chuck, to see the Minnesota Timberwolves take on the LA Lakers and then the Cleveland Cavaliers play the Golden State Warriors.  Dan says, "What ... No Boston?!" Sorry, not on today's schedule. Saturday we head north and east about 3 hours to Pioche, Nevada to attend an Eastern Star event. Pioche is an old silver mining town with a current population of 1002! Should be an excellent adventure!

It's all about the journey!

Nancy and Dan