I finally got to see Aunt Linda in SF. I had a few hours before my return flight and drove across the bay. Luckily she was home and had a small block of time to get coffee. Her little dog Bandito was a good trooper as we walked around town – except when skateboards are nearby – then he goes into attack mode. Linda is a huge animal advocate and always looking out for their well being.
Big T’s Cantina is where the old scary doll shop was downtown. This is a great improvement just in that alone. This is a small but good menu where you want to try everything. A few unique things on the menu which is something that we look out for. We went with a few neighbors so we got to try a number of things. We will have to go back to try the others – cannot wait.
Not pictured was the Holy Shrimp platter, Fried Chicken, and Flank Steak. I wanted to try their Masitas (which sounds similar to Mofongo that you would find in Puerto Rico) but they were out of plantains. The owner stopped by and told us to try the queso fundido next time too. I also saw sopapitas on the dessert menu and I will have to also try those next time.
The atmosphere is open with big windows and the staff was very helpful.
Mt Charleston is about an hour away and as it is at 7800ft it is about 20 degrees cooler than home. There is a lodge at the top that has a big restaurant and about a dozen cabins. We were lucky and found a vacancy in one of the cabins. They are real log cabins with a great view and a big semi private deck. There is an indoor fireplace, couches, hot tub and nice decorations.
We walked down to the Old Town of Charleston where there are a couple dozen houses, a small school, and library. We also drove to Lee Canyon where the ski slopes are. They have chairlift rides and Frisbee golf. We have come here before for day trips to hike Cathedral Trail and Mary Jane Falls. It can get very busy here in the summertime.
The Lodge is always has a LONG waiting list to get inside for dining. They have a pretty standard menu and do a good job considering they are 30 miles from the nearest store. There are hummingbird feeders all around and the view is worth the wait.
There are a number of Thai restaurants in the area which are good but not great. My favorite Thai restaurant /by far/ is Chatthai 92 miles away out in Pahrump. We had high hopes after reading the reviews for Nittaya’s. It is 45 miles away in a beautiful modern building and has a great menu and great wait staff. The first thing I noticed was they have both Shishito Peppers and Angel wings on the menu – 2 of my favorite things. They also have some unique items on the menu not commonly seen elsewhere.
I have only seen shishito peppers at upscale Japanese restaurants. These were supposed to be charred with garlic and scallions. Angel wings are tough to find – probably because they are hard to make. You take a chicken wing and carefully dissect the upper arm bone and meat keeping the skin intact. Mix the chicken with some pork, onion, veg and re-stuff it back in the wing. Fry it up and you have a strange looking egg roll. This by itself is worth the 92 mile drive out to Pahrump.
All in all it is the best so far in the Vegas valley but takes the Silver medal when compared the Chatthai kids in Nye county. It is a bit spendy (as we say in Minnesota) but we will go back as there are a number of other things on the menu that need to be tried.
We went back to Caesars to walk around in the Air Conditioning. The mall was busy and full of tourists. There is a fairly new Italian place right next to the Fountain of the Gods. It is loud with the running water. This place does have atmosphere. The food was better than I expected. The menu is just your typical Italian standards. Lots and lots of clams in the linguine. The Lasagna was still al dente and not a reheated mush (as typically found). The Eggplant could have been thicker but overall not too bad. The service was slow but we were not in a hurry.
Birthdays mean one thing around here: Food. One thing that is not commonly found on menus is the classic Beef Wellington. It is hard to make because you have to bake the filet inside a pastry sheet where you cant poke or prod it to tell how done it is. Chef Gordon Ramsey is famous for this and we happen to have 4 of his restaurants in town. (along with all the other FoodTV personalities)
The Pub and Grill is inside the wonderful Caesars complex (my favorite casino). The food and service was good, but the bill did reflect that. Casinos are expensive and you are paying for Gordon’s name.
Overall we would have to agree that the Beef Wellington across the street at the Paris Eiffel Tower was better in looks, taste, size, and sides. Plus you can watch the Bellagio fountains. Thank you for a fun birthday evening
The small town really puts on a big show for the 4th of July. The rotary club puts on a pancake breakfast followed by a parade and vintage plane fly over. The planes fly in small groups and go right over the main street.
The parade is unique in my experience as there are wet and dry floats. The dry floats are your typical entries of horses, marchers, classic cars and special interest groups. The wet floats have water tanks on board. The last 2 blocks turn into a giant water fight with the floats firing water at the crowd and the crowd shooting water at the drivers. I have made the mistake of walking back from the store after the parade ended and had buckets of water thrown on me.
The park then puts on a 30 minute firework show. They have a DJ pumping out crappy pop music and big crowds on the grassy areas. We watched from down by the airport this year which avoided the traffic and loud PA speakers.
We drove to Yellowstone last week. NV>AZ>UT>ID>MT>WY and back for over 2000 miles. We rented a Mazda from National and stayed at a Best Western at the West Entrance.
I knew about Old Faithful that blows every hour or so but I did not know that there are hundreds of other geysers, vents, and springs. It is a huge park and we only saw a small part of it. You could spend weeks here. Some springs are constantly boiling and venting. Some geysers go off regularly throughout the day. Some are unpredictable and go off every 100 years. Some smell like steam and others reak of sulfer. Yellowstone gets swarms of small earthquakes causing some to speculate that the magma below could erupt at any time.
We saw buffalo, a small black bear, elk, and deer. We did not see any moose or wolves. I expected to see more rabbits and rodents than we did – maybe the wolves are to blame.
It was nice to see S and T up in Bozeman. Thanks to K and A for watching Miss Lulu.
Below are photo albums broken into categories hosted at Shutterfly (click on picture to open in new tab (if on phone you may have to hold down on picture, select open in new tab/private tab)).
—>CLICK HERE FOR YELLOWSTONE VIDEOS <—-
If you thought cold-brew coffee was the definition of delayed gratification, you need to grow your own tea. When I was in Coleman prison in Florida, the pharmacist Jude introduced me to lemongrass tea. He had bushes of it at his house. He would cut off a large handful each morning and put it in a thermos of boiling water. In a few hours he would open the thermos and the room would smell devine. The most amazing tea I have ever had.
Go to your local asian grocery store to get large lemongrass stalks with as much root ball as possible.
Soak in water and put in peat moss – keep moist. Let the sun do it’s thing.
Wait….
Cut off 10 or so blades of grass, coil them up inside a thermos and fill with boiling water.
Let it steep for an hour or so.
If you are in a hurry you can boil them on a burner until you see it change color.
I come across so much awful Mexican food around the country in my travels. I need to restore my faith by hitting up the taco truck in town. The workers are super friendly and there is a good comradery among the other patrons as you wait for your order. Their street tacos are superb. So good that I have yet to get a picture of them. I did remember to take a picture of the Big Dam Burrito. I still have a few things on the menu I need to try.
