Road Trip to Red Rock Canyon

Saturday, August 10, 2014

Time to explore the local area.  We took the morning and headed west from the city to Red Rock Canyon. The Canyon experience starts at the visitor center, just off route 159, and ends 13 miles later after traveling the Scenic Drive (a one way road).

Along the way there are several parking areas to take care of all your viewing needs.  Also at each of the parking areas, you have access to the miles and miles of hiking trails.

Beware – you are not alone out here.  Look down and DO NOT go kicking the low lying bushes around.  This is where the snakes and scorpions are shading themselves.  I only saw a 5” lizard running next to me for a short distance, before heading under a bush!

The views are breathtaking along the scenic drive. . . .

Just after we left the Red Rock Canyon, we headed south and we ran into these guys . . . . . $500 dollar fine if you feed them . . .   No – we did not feed them

But I left my mark on the way home.

Well, I guess this was a good day.  Started off cloudy with a bit of rain – and is looking good with the clouds leaving the area.

Should have more news on the housing front next week, the handy-man was replacing outdated and missing items and we are now ready for the appraisal. . . .

Best to you all.

Nancy and Dan

Hope to see you along the trail. 

It’s all about the journey!   

Busy, busy, busy

Hi all. Sorry it's been a few days. We are still alive and kicking in Vegas. Unlike the older couple who were hit by a car while jaywalking just a short walk from our hotel in front of the Palms. I will be careful not to do that!

I think these terraces at the Palms look like Olympic diving platforms.

Busy, busy, busy describes buying a house. It's hard work. There is a crazy amount of paperwork and explaining the paperwork and tracking down the paper work and signing the the paperwork and paying for the paperwork, faxing the paperwork ... I wish my printer wasn't packed away!

And phone calls. I hate making phone calls even when the people at the other end are nice and helpful. Thank you lady at Vermont Teachers Retirement Office. Thank you, our own, Katie Bessette at the Union Bank as well as Missy at the main branch. Thank you George in Las Vegas for finding me home owners insurance for $348 a year! Thank you Drew for the home inspection and helpful advice. Thanks also to the front desk staff at Extended Stay America for faxing my paperwork to various locations. 

Now on to the fun stuff. 

Dinner Saturday night!

Yup.

(The picture's not really blurry it's what the refill looks like!)

We also stopped on our way back from signing papers on Monday and enjoyed some great German food and beer.

Live music.

Black Forest Cake!

I have to stop eating like this!!!

Taigo checking out the neighbors this morning. House keeping thought he was cute!

This afternoon was the house inspection and I took a little time to check out the back patio. 

There were a few birds around waiting for someone to pay attention to them again.

A few sights along the way:

I might get a job driving one of these around all day! Not!

Clouds in Las Vegas. Who would have thought?

Rain too.

Classic yet strange cars. 

Tonight we spent a little time in the pool. Water therapy is good for what ales you, 

That's all for now. Our journey continues.

Nancy and Dan

House Hunting

We met our realtor, Karen, on Thursday, July 30 at 10:30 ... We found our house at NOON!

Now keep in mind we have been shopping online since March 30. We have virtually toured hundreds of homes. Some of them repeatedly. We have paper lists and computer documents and online  accounts for several real estate companies. We have lists of favorites and possibilities.  We decided to go with LVsweetHomes as our real estate agency.

As we toured 5 homes we felt like Goldilocks. The first home was cute but way too small. The second one was bigger but way too dirty. The third one was better but need new carpet/tile and a lot of paint not to mention landscaping. The fourth one was a lot like the third one

But the fifth one ... Aww the fifth one was JUST RIGHT!

This is me at the Hoover Dam today talking with the realtor just as she was explaining the offer was accepted with just a little clarifying on the counter offer.

I was having a hard time hearing her!

Our new address will be 10329 Birch Bluff Lane, Las Vegas NV!  But not for a few weeks. (Please excuse the quality of the photos, I stole them off the internet!) I'll get new ones when we do the home inspection on Tuesday.

It is part of a triplex. It is one story on the end of the building. 

It is in a community called Cottonwood Terrace. It's gated just like Dan wanted. 

Here are just a couple of photos of the inside:

Living room on left. Master bedroom through center door and Dan's office on the right.

Large Kitchen. We have to buy a refrigerator. There is a laundry room just off the kitchen.

My favorite part. The landscaped backyard.

The pool, I wanted, is not too shabby either. And I don't have to take care of it. 

There is a fitness center, if we feel so inclined.

The community is located to the area of Las Vegas called Summerlin. Safe, clean and modern. There are lots of restaurants, shops and amenities very close by. The Red Rocks Casino is a mile and a half away. There is a Regal 16 movie theater, a bowling alley and a concert theater at Red Rocks as well.

Hey NASCAR fans, our new house is just 23 miles from Las Vegas Motor Speedway!  

Well lots to do again for a few more weeks, we meet the money people on Monday. I still have to figure out which bank I want to use out here. And we need a few items for the house. Going to check out some resale places. I hear rich people get rid of perfectly fine stuff all the time!

We took a mini trip to the Hoover Dam today. Dan hadn't been there before. 

He was quite excited about this motorcycle.  We have friends who are John Deer fans!

Heading out for dinner at a Mexican restaurant shortly with my sister and brother-in-law to celebrate.

I think we might go to the Strip tomorrow. We'll see how they roll on a Sunday! Buffet anyone?

By the way the kitties seem content with our temporary home. 

It's all about the journey!

Nancy and Dan

Finding Our Way Around

It's Friday already! Although I'm having a hard time keeping track of what day it is! 

I am feeling exhausted! Wednesday Dan worked, I shopped, did laundry and organized our little home.

When Dan was free in the afternoon we drove around to preview the houses/areas I would visit on Thursday with the realtor. 

Of course I forgot to bring water, something that should go everywhere with you out here! So we stopped to get water and a couple other items we needed. Dan couldn't resist this photo opp. 

We didn't even buy any donuts until the next morning. YUM. Interesting process of making and frying them. We scored free 'samples' hot off the conveyor belt. Light and airy.

On with our tour. The gated communities we could only see from the outside. The one house that wasn't in a gated area that I was interested in is nearish to my sister. Dan took one look at the neighborhood and we were out of there! 

We ended up doing a giant loop. 2 of the places we were interested in were only a couple of blocks apart but we didn't know that until we started passing familiar looking streets. I love my Google Maps but I think a paper map would be nice. I'll be on the lookout for one. 

We then ventured down to the Strip for a drive-by visit. 

It was beginning to get busy so we got off the Strip in search of gas and some pizza!  While we were stopped for gas I asked Seri to find pizza near me. There were several 'pizza places nearby'. A 10th of a mile away was one with good Yelp reviews. So we headed almost across the street to Gianna's Villa Pizza. We had a great pepperoni and mushroom pizza (large on special for 9.99). 

The guys, Ziggy and Felix, who were running the place were a hoot. We visited with them for quite a while. After our bill came Ziggy rushes out of the kitchen and tells us not to leave yet he had something for us.  Pretty soon he is back with a free piece of Lemon Italian Cream cake,

Heaven. So far all of the people we have met have been super nice. We will definitely go to Gianna's again!

It is monsoon season here which means the humidity is about 30% and it might rain in the afternoon while a thunderstorm is passing. We haven't seen rain yet! 

We see lots of people using ☔️ to keep the sun off them when walking or waiting for the bus though.

Speaking of finding my way around... Apparently I still need lessons in climbing the right number of flights of stairs before trying my key in the lock of the room directly below ours. What's worse after trying the key card and knocking on the door of the 'wrong' room I called Dan to let me in. He laughed and said, 'I'm opening our door ... Where are you.?' Duh!

Here are a few night shots of Vegas from our hotel.

And my favorite ... Love the colors!

Have a great evening. Tomorrow I'll tell you about house hunting.

It's all about the journey!

Nancy and Dan