Greetings from Las Vegas. This is Day 10 of our trip report, covering Wednesday,
April 12, 2000.
The penultimate day of this trip. As usual, I drove Roz down to Gold's Gym
for her workout. There will be no need for anyone to do this after April 28,
when Sun City Anthem's 75,000-square-foot recreation center opens with its state-of-the-art
health club. But for now, residents and guests have to either use the free privileges
at the local 24-Hour Fitness Center or at nearby Sun City MacDonald Ranch.
After Roz returned, we went over to the Sun City Anthem model village to take
snapshots, digital photos and video footage of two models that interest my brother
and his wife, who are also thinking of moving to Nevada.
For lunch, we returned to Black Mountain Grill on Eastern to meet Marcia Rovins,
a recently arrived local who is active on a couple of the BBs where these reports
are being posted. Marcia, who works in broadcast media, was gracious in sharing
her experiences and discussing problems she encountered in having her new home
built for her. We learned a few interesting things that we need to keep in mind,
and we're most grateful for her generosity. Lunch was Asian grilled chicken
salad for Marcia, ginger-crusted tuna salad for Roz, and Dungeness crab cake
sandwich for me. I think all of us thoroughly enjoyed the food and the wonderful
conversation. Thanks, Marcia!
From here, we drove up to the Sun City Anthem sales pavilion, where Sheila
Holdren, our homeowner coordinator, met us and drove us over for the second
formal visit to our construction site. This time we were met by Del Webb's construction
superintendent, who escorted us through the house and pointed out many of its
features. We had lots of questions that we had been saving up, and the superintendent
handled them with aplomb.
This won't be anything new to those familiar with home construction, but one
interesting thing we learned is the reason for leaving a new home's roofing
tiles on the roof for a week or more before the tiles are installed. We always
thought it was just because this is a convenient place to leave them, but the
superintendent told us it is a requirement to make sure the roof and its supporting
materials can bear the weight of the tiles without bowing or buckling.
A lot has happened with the house in the week or so since we first saw it.
All the insulation is in as well as the plasterboard, and the outside stucco
will be applied in a few days. After the superintendent explained the number
and type of quality-control steps that will be performed before we return for
our final walk-through and closing, we left feeling confident that we're in
good hands.
After Sheila brought us back to the sales pavilion, we went over to the landscape
office to pick up the revised landscape plan we were promised would be ready
for us. We're satisfied with the overall plan, but we won't ask for installation
of the landscaping until we return permanently in August. The Sun City Anthem
regulations require that our landscaping be in within 90 days after closing,
so we'll come in under that deadline.
Leaving Anthem, we drove over to Office Furniture Concepts and The Desk Store,
located side by side on West Tropicana. There, we spent a couple of hours looking
at their products to help us determine whether we want to buy ready-made office
components for our respective home offices or commission furniture we design
ourselves. Rosalyn found a spectacular armoire that opens out to reveal a computer
desk with all sorts of innovative features. We've never seen anything like it,
but we have to think long and hard about spending $3,000 for a single item such
as this.
Shopping is hard work (gg), so this excursion ended with dinner at the Outback
Steak House on Flamingo, across from The Rio. A nice entrée of grilled
chicken with grilled vegetables and pineapple over rice for Roz, and a prime
NY sirloin for me suited us fine.
And so ended Day 10.
--Best from David ...in Las Vegas
