Greetings from Las Vegas. This is Day 8 of our trip report, covering Monday,
April 10, 2000.
Once again I shuttled Roz down to Gold's Gym for her workout, a door-to-door
drive of about 6 miles each way.
Back at the villa, I phoned Eagle Sentry to update the plans for our home-theater
installation. We are already pre-wired for this, and I agreed with Eagle Sentry's
consultant that the best way to handle this will be to have an on-site meeting,
with our cabinet-maker also in attendance, as soon as we've taken title in June.
That will give all the parties time to finalize the cabinetry and theater components
between then and our August move-in.
Next it was lunch at Rubio's Baja Grill on Eastern, a place I imagine most
of you from Las Vegas, Arizona, Utah, Denver and Southern California are familiar
with. Back in our own home area, there are limited dining options, and we are
tired of the same old things. In this area, however, there are choices galore,
which we're really looking forward to. This one is in the new Horizon Marketplace
on Eastern. Rubio's Baja Grill calls itself the "home of the fish taco,"
and this is the first time I've tasted one. There's a lot of Tex-Mex stuff,
with many items on the healthy side. Roz had the HealthMex Combo, consisting
of grilled chicken in a whole-wheat burrito, a grilled fish taco, and sides
of rice and beans. My choice was a Lobster Combo, composed of a fish taco, lobster
burrito, beans, and chips & salsa. With beverages, a very enjoyable meal
for about $15.
We're trying to work out the best way to handle mail while we are in transition,
so after lunch we went across the parking lot to see what the new Mailboxes
Etc. outlet at that location could do for us. They do have a few services that
could help folks like us who have two mailing addresses and are in transition.
We could rent a mailbox there and have our mail held for us. Using the street
address of their office as our mailing address, we could have mail come there
and they would forward it to us via Priority Mail at agreed-upon intervals.
For now, though, we think there's no need to use Mailboxes Etc., but we'll revisit
the question from time to time.
Our next stop was to take care of a really important matter on our agenda for
this trip, the opening of a local bank account. After considering Nevada State
Bank as an option, we decided to go with the new guy in town, Washington Mutual.
Though in business for more than 100 years, this bank is just now coming into
Nevada, with more than 15 branches opening in Las Vegas/Henderson alone over
the coming weeks. Perhaps some of you who are familiar with Washington Mutual
will share your comments about your experiences with this bank.
Our account-opening process took two hours, as we learned everything possible
about all the services Washington Mutual offers. Their employees are informal
and friendly, and a visit to one of their branches is like nothing we've ever
before experienced. Don't look for the traditional separation between customers
and tellers here, as there are no counters and glass barriers between them.
Instead, the tellers work from free-standing counters in a rotunda-like office.
There are comfortable customer seating areas, playthings for children, public
restrooms, and many other amenities.
The main attraction of Washington Mutual for us was free checking with no minimum
balances. We did ultimately open a "Gold Account" which carries a
small monthly fee, but a fair number of extra benefits come with that type of
account.
You might ask why it was important to establish this banking relationship about
four months before our move. The primary reason was to have a bank account and
routing number for the retirement papers we are submitting when we return home,
which will allow for direct deposit of our retirement check with a Nevada banking
entity.
After leaving the bank, we made our first-ever visit to a Raley's Supermarket
to get acquainted with their layout and products. Very nice market, with a good
product selecection.
Our shopping caravan continued with visits to the Wild Oats supermarket near
Stephanie and Sunset, where we salivated over the healthy, creative delicacies
we'll be enjoying from this place, and then into Organized Living to look for
ideas to put into the new house.
We decided to have dinner in the same plaza on Stephanie where Organized Living
and Wild Oats are located. When we walked into the restaurant, the first thing
we noticed was that the cement floors were filthy .…..with the discarded
shells of diners who were eating peanuts from metal buckets on their tables
and then throwing the shells onto the floor.
This was Roadhouse Grill, one of three in the area, as well as the third restaurant
we've visited in two days that has the word "Grill" in its name. Roadhouse
Grill is a family-oriented steak joint with a high noise level and a friendly
bunch of staffers. With prime rib, steaks, pork chops, grilled and fried shrimp,
chicken dishes, salads, etc., there's not much "American food" you
can't get here.
Rosalyn had a combo dinner, which included a house salad, half-slab of baby
back ribs, Santa Fe grilled shrimp, rice pilaf and baked potato. Starting with
an icy-cold Fosters beer, my dinner was Caesar salad and a combo of an 8-oz
house sirloin and a half-dozen butterflied jumbo fried shrimp. In addition,
Roadhouse Grill serves a bread basket with incredibly delicious hot, soft yeast
rolls.
A great meal, total cost only about $42 with tip.
After dinner, we drove across the street to look at rugs in a CarpetAmerica
store, after which, our feet tired from the day, we called it quits.
End of Day 8.
--Best from David ...in Las Vegas
