Monday, December 22
248 miles
Lone Pine to Las Vegas (395 to 190 to NV 373 to Hwy 95)
What a spectacular, full and fun day!
We were both wide awake at 4:30a. We turned on the news and started our day on computers and whatnot. Showered, packed up and checked out and headed to the Alabama Hills Cafe (#1 rated restaurant by Trip Advisor…. just saying). Here is the beauty of Mt Whitney and the Southern Sierras at 6:55am and 36* taken from the parking lot of the motel.
We were the first people in the Alabama Hills Cafe. Bob had two eggs over hard with the yolk cracked, bacon, hash browns and wheat toast. I was going to have the same with obvious variations: tomatoes instead of potatoes, no meat, give Bob my toast blah blah UNTIL I heard that one of the daily specials was a two-egg scramble with asparagus, tomatoes, spinach, onions and mushrooms. Uh, duh. It came with fruit and toast; I chose jalapeno bread — all made that evening/ morning. The photo does not at all do justice to the flavors.
The jalapeno toast was beautiful texture but didn’t have much jalapeno so I only had a bite. I had a bite of Bob’s toast which was wonderfully hot and toasty and buttery. I ate every bit of my eggs and fruit. I got an oatmeal cookie to go ….which I forgot about in the glovebox….
Here is a photo from the street corner when we walked to get a coffee to go. Gorgeous, right???
We turned left onto Hwy 190 to head into Death Valley, leaving these moutains behind.
Military jets have permission to use Saline and Panamint Valleys to use as practice. Seeing one would have made a perfect day better.
These are more shots of our gorgeous drive.
A FAT coyote by the side of the road!
We stopped at Furnace Creek Resort which is a little oasis in the desert and has been there since the 1920s.
We thought about having lunch there but it was too early and we weren’t hungry. Then Bob got the brilliant idea of going to a bbq place that we had seen on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives in northern Las Vegas.
We had an easy drive out of Death Valley with one sad spot. At Death Valley Junction was /is the Amargosa Opera House, where Marta Becket performed. In the day it was quite the destination resort for people from LA and Las Vegas. When Bob and I first were there together, about 12 years ago, her longtime partner (lover?) in the operation and performances had passed the night before. Then people were still staying at the hotel and she was performing. When we drove by this time, the whole place was totally abandoned and decrepit. The web site for the hotel and opera house is not up to date but it seems the wikipedia post might be. If so, she is 90 years old…. It made us both sad to see another piece of history abandoned.
We drove by Area 51 and I said, ‘Honey what kind of a plane is that?’ Bob: “IT’S A DRONE! That is what drops those bombs!” Two seconds later he whips around 180* in the driver’s seat and yells, “There is another one just taking off!! TWO DRONES!” They are pretty damn cool!
So we plug John Mull’s Meat Market and Road Kill Grill into Gladys (the GPS). We are taken to a very residential part of Las Vegas and think, Oh Gladys f’d up…. BUT no. We drive into this:
And we see this:
Inside there is a retail counter on the right which was a dozen deep with people picking up orders. On the left is the bbq line. Check it out here. Bob had the hot link dinner which came with two sides, he got baked beans and maccaroni salad; I got the pulled pork sandwich with a side of collard greens. We also ordered a filet roast for Christmas dinner, 2 lbs at $24.95/lb. Absolutely gorgeous!
Before photos (we also got a side of Hot BBQ sauce which was addictive and delicious on Every. Thing.):
Pulled pork, not at all fatty but juicy and tender ($6.50).
Beans, greens and bbq sauce.
Hot links and mac salad ($10).
And the after… all the pulled pork: gone. All the collard greens (no bacon in them but definitely something was in there was cooked in bacon…. ): gone. BBQ sauce: mostly gone.
Hot links dinner: sort of gone. Forgot it also came with corn bread. They were two BIG links:
It was 73*, sunny and pretty breezy and we were eating outside on Dec 22. It was fantastic. We watched people loading sides of beef into their trucks. It was so delicious and clearly has a devoted following. Neither one of us will go back to Las Vegas without going there.
From there we went to Paris… checked in about 2p. The rooms are really nice:
We unpacked, checked email, cleaned up …. and headed out for a cocktail. Our plan was to go to one of the old downtown steakhouses, around Fremont Street. We had a couple of recommendations and had made (and cancelled) a few different reservations. On a whim, we went up to the bar in the Eifel Tower (I know; it seems so cheesy but it really is a nice hotel… ). What a find! It was just about sunset, great bar, wonderful bartender (Paige) NO ONE at the bar but lots of people already eating dinner. Pretty spendy for dinner — entrees $32-80 for the porterhouse (for one, not two). Excellent ‘grown up’ cocktails ($16). We started talking to Paige and told her where we going for dinner. “You can’t go there! They were in Dirty Dining last week!” I get on Open Table App and cancel our reservation while Bob is asking for her recommendations. She had two: The Steakhouse in Circus Circus and Echo & Rig which is owned by a butcher and his wife who is the baker. There is a butcher shop attached, downstairs. Since we had been already lucky that day with a meat market/restaurant combo, we went with that. Also she said it was a favorite of local chefs. And that it was about a $25 cab ride. We were in.
As we are in the cab and the meter is clicking Bob is saying, “That is a steak in a cheap place”. Click. “That is a steak in a pretty good place”. Click. “That is a steak in a really good place”. Click. “That is a steak in Whatshisname’s place” (Gordon Ramsey has his restaurant in the Paris). By the time we got to the restaurant it was $50. The restaurant was wonderful. It was modern but not cold and very busy with what definitely looked like locals. We were there at about 7:30. We could not stop laughing about the cab ride. Who are these people called Bob and Sharon who take cabs for $50?? There was a sommelier who introduced our waiter to us. We rolled our eyes a bit at each other but were still laughing at the absurdity of traveling so far when there are about 10000 restaurants within walking distance of our hotel… Bob: “How was that $50 Cab?” “Oh, I just sat there….”.
Our waiter brought up the tray of Off Menu cuts of meat that were impressive and would have been tempting if we hadn’t been to Road Kill Grill for lunch. There was a tomahawk porterhouse that was served to the six people next to us… cooked on the bone, sliced up and placed back around the bone….nice. Bob ended up ordering from the menu: the ribeye cap and a baked potato with horseradish cream sauce. We split a ceasar salad and I ordered the fried spinach salad and a side of roasted cauliflower with chilis — knowing I would get a few bits of Bob’s ribeye. The ceasar was perfect with crisp leaves, a touch of anchovy in the dressing and shards of dry parmesan. The fried spinach salad: a mound of flash fried spinach that had a soy dressing drizzled on it and some bits of chilis, broccoli and cauliflower florets mixed in. Bob even loved it! The cauliflower was browned and the red chilis were toasted. I piled some of the spinach into it and gobbled up every bite. Bob’s ribeye was one of the most flavorful pieces of meat ever. Bob had a steak knife but I was able to cut it like butter with just a table knife. The ribeye came with garlic chips (can’t even describe but super thin crispy garlic goodness) and a mushroom cap stuffed with spicy more mushroom stuff that I ate since I am fortunate to be married to a man who gives me most of his plate accoutrements. We had a bottle of Pinot from Monterey County and then a glass of Zin (Bob chose… I can’t remember but it was all good .. and we were taking a CAB!!)
Speaking of cabs… we went downstairs to the valet station to get a cab. We waited. And waited. And while we waited Robin Leach (Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.. ) came down to get his car. While the one valet ran to get it, the other valet said, under his breath, “Do you know who that is? Robin Leach.” Me: “He’s still alive??” Valet: “He’s a dick.” We burst out laughing, as we have been laughing All. Night. Valet: “And he was here with someone not his wife.”
If I had a real following on this blog I could get some ink!!!
Finally the cab came after about 20 minutes. He was an entertaining guy and was laughing with us about the distance but appreciated our ‘adventurous nature’. LOL. When he heard where we were from he assumed we were potheads. No but our dog was.. stories, stories. The cab ride back to the hotel was $60. hahahaha. So we get upstairs and Bob says, “So, sweetheart, how did you like that $110 Cab?” “Oh I just sat there…”.
Bob and Sharon's Travel Diary 