Nevada: Boulder City, Summer 2018

Boulder city is a very small little town outside of Las Vegas, where gambling is illegal within the city limits, and there's only a handful of traffic lights (if that). It's a quiet place, where families that tire of the excitement (and crime) rampant in Vegas proper can go to escape the city, while still benefitting from the predictably arid, sunny climate and close proximity to all the entertainments of the city. I actually spent a few years living in Boulder City when I was younger, and was exceptionally bored by the quaint, quiet little town as an energetic teen. Now that I'm older, and presumably wiser, I suppose I can see the allure to moving out of Vegas for Boulder City, if you're 60. It's a great place to retire, and if you can afford one of the homes on the slope towards Lake Mead you'll have an excellent view of the dwindling resources at the bottom of the hill. Of course, the ongoing drought has impacted some of the landscape choices in the area, but there are still plenty of open, green areas where the Big Horn sheep of the area will congregate to graze and get their fill of grasses. In a town as small, and quiet, as Boulder City, it should come as no surprise that the cops get stuck playing sheep-herder when the stubborn sheep begin to wonder perhaps a bit too close to the nearby residences. 

If you like outdoorsy or water-bound activities, having Lake Mead in your backyard is certainly a boon, despite it's drying out. As bored as I was throughout much of my angsty youth, I have to admit certain gratitude for the friends I made in that little town, the experiences and mischief we shared in that safe little burb, and the opportunity to explore. I'm certainly not going to be moving back any time soon, but for old time's sake it was fun to breeze through. We didn't stop for lunch, like we normally would, as we'd had plenty of snacks out at the Lake and had been driving for a while by this point. We were more eager to get home and grab a shower than to get down on some grub. Given as much, the photos are going to be a bit scattered. Still, I hope you enjoy!

Vegas: Tony's Pizza in Boulder City

After all the driving, the hiking, the climbing, and the outdoors, we were ready for some food. Some hot food. We had initially planned on going to the Coffee Cup, a place we'd visited in the past after an overnight outing not far from Boulder City, but by the time we arrived we found that they were nearing their closing time for the day and there was a sizeable church group already waiting at their doors to enter and order. 2pm, people, that's when they shut their doors! So ideally you'd want to be there by 1pm at the latest, as no one should ever want to be those last minute jerks who rush in right as a restaurant is preparing to close for the day... trust me, I've worked in restaurants and seen how the cooks react to being made to unpack the food and re-open the line after shutting down and closing for the day. It's not pretty.  Spare yourself the potential digestive disturbance and the cooks the misery and take your hungry party somewhere still open for another couple hours. In this instance we decided to go just up the street and grab some slices at Tony's Pizza, an institution I've been dining at since sometime in middle school when my dad hauled us out to Boulder City for the remainder of my middle and high school career. It's a small town, so small there's only two real stop-lights,  so there weren't many options when it came to food... during my highschool years there were two Chinese restaurants, two sit down Mexican restaurants,  a local coffee shop that eventually got bought out by Starbucks, a Port of Subs and Subway, KFC, A&W and a Taco Bell. No Wal-Marts. No Casinos. There's actually no gaming in the city limits of Boulder City, which is why you'll find the Railroad Pass on the outskirts as you head in from Vegas. Last I checked there was even a cap on building growth, limiting the amount of homes or residential buildings created every year.  Given as much, it's really no surprise that Tony's Pizza is almost exactly as I remember it, down to the people working. Things don't change as fast in Boulder City, and that's okay if that's what you're into. It is kind of nice in a nostalgic way. The food was tasty and hot, fresh out of the fryer when it came to our fried zucchini, chicken tenders and fries. We were satisfied with our meal and pleased when we hopped back into the van for our trip back into the city. 

Until next time!

💖

XOXO,

NAU

Boulder City: the Coffee Cup & Hemenway Park 2015-10-01

Just hanging with some of the locals, you know? Chilling.

These were taken in Hemenway park, in Boulder City. 

The park has long been known for it's popularity for grazing among the local Big Horn sheep population. When we initially drove past we didn't see any of the rams, but after stopping for breakfast at the Coffee Cup diner we were willing to give it another shot. Good thing we did!

First thing first, a girl has got to eat!