This report covers Sunday, June 11, 2000, Day 7 of our Las Vegas/Henderson trip.
Out here in the desert, the sight of running water is soothing and cooling, but not when you wake up on a Sunday morning to find the water running out of a bathroom, from the base of a toilet, and onto your hallway floor.
There was trouble in paradise. Three days into residence and we were facing our first crisis: a plumbing problem of potentially catastrophic proportion.
What was the cause? We could think of nothing we did to precipitate the problem. To see if the difficulty was localized or general, I ran one of the showers for a minute or two and saw that the water was collecting in the shower basin and not draining.
Among the items given to us at the walk-through was a list of numbers to call for various types of emergencies, including a weekend phone number for plumbing problems. We called the number, and someone at Del Webb's contract plumbing company answered. We described the problem, and the plumbing-company representative said a service crew would arrive within 90 minutes.
The two-man crew rang our doorbell about an hour after my call. After observing the water situation inside the house, they went outside and removed the cover for the property's water exit pipe (sorry if I'm weak on the technical terminology for all this). They then unscrewed the cap on the pipe and started pushing a heavy-duty copper snake down the pipe.
In short order, according to what they told me, the snake encountered a solid object that they were able to break up with some vigorous back-and-forth pushing. As soon as they did this, there was an audible "wooshing" sound in the house. The water in the tub basin drained immediately, the toilet bowls drained, and everything was back to normal.
The diagnosis: A piece of construction debris was caught in the pipe. After we had used the system for several days upon moving into the house, the foreign object shifted and caused the blockage. We appear to have suffered no permanent damage. When we reported the incident to our quality assurance rep, she said to keep an eye on the tile, grouting and wood baseboards, and she said Del Webb would come and do repairs or replacements if we find any damage down the road.
We had planned to meet local friends, Ray and Marge Downing, for Sunday brunch at Trumpets restaurant at the Anthem Center, but we had to call the Downings and cancel due to not knowing if and when our plumbing crisis would be resolved. Now, with the problem fixed Roz and I still had time to visit Trumpets for the brunch.
Some background: I have already mentioned that the Anthem Center at Sun City Anthem is open for the public to visit, offering a spectacular view of the Valley from the southeast. Trumpets is a semi-gourmet restaurant at Anthem Center, and is also open to the public. I don't think we'll be trying it for lunch (other than the brunch) or dinner on this visit, but you can get a good idea of the menu by using the following link to the new Web site for residents, and then clicking on the "food and beverage" link on the left side of the screen. If you do a little exploring there, you'll find some sample menu items.
http://www.anthemlasvegas.com/sca/sca.htm
The Sunday brunch at Trumpets is $14.95, $18.95 if you want it with unlimited champagne and mimosas. Trumpets is a narrow but handsome restaurant, and the brunch was very nice, although far from the equal of the best brunches we talk about in these forums. Not bad if you are already living or visiting here and don't want to leave the property.
Here's what was offered at the Sunday brunch, all you can eat, of course:
Carved prime rib with horseradish sauce; field greens; pasta salads; salami salad; cheeses; tabouli; smoked salmon; peeled shrimp; chilled oysters on half-shell; French toast; fried potato wedges; eggs Benedict; bacon; sausage; omelets prepared to order; Oriental-style beef with vegetables; long-grain and wild rice; steamed vegetables; orange roughy in cream sauce; various cakes, pies, truffles, trifle, bread pudding.
The verdict: decent, but not great.
After the brunch, we piggy-backed on a tour of the Anthem Center that a guide was conducting for some visitors, learning more about the facility in the process.
We next returned to our home so that Roz could change clothes for her workout session. Returning to Anthem Center, Roz started her two-hour workout at the fitness center while I set up shop at a nearby table and wrote trip reports on our laptop. The facility has a number of convenient seating areas where computer users can plug in, and also a few areas with phone jack so folks can go online with a local phone call.
Having canceled our brunch date with the Downings due to our plumbing emergency, we rescheduled to spend the evening with them. Ray and Marge are a wonderful couple. A retired Detroit cop who is active on the Gambling_friends group mailing list on egroups, Ray is currently director of security for Desert Springs Hospital.
We met the Downings at Anthem Center and gave them the grand tour. As I recall, their opinion was that the facility is something more than a dump (gg). Then we brought them over to our house to see it in its present condition.
Following this, the two couples drove over to the Roadhouse Grill on Stephanie for some great conversation and good food. We visited this place in April, and it is really good, as I imagine their other two area locations are. Ray is one of those folks who is literally meat and potatoes, so a place serving beef in various incarnations seemed to fit the bill. We chatted and studied the menu while shucking peanuts and throwing the shells on the floor, and then we ordered a bunch of entrees that included New York strip sirloin, rib eye, boneless chicken, etc., along with Caesar salad, sauteed mushrooms, broccoli, and other sides. Roadhouse Grill also serves a fabulous basket of hot rolls that are among the best we've ever had. -Thanks, Ray and Marge, for some great company. We look forward to being your neighbors.
No matter how hot the days are, it is hard to beat most of the pleasant evenings that follow. Returning to the house, we passed a pleasant hour under the stars with neighbors David and Lea, discussing the many reasons why it is so nice to be in this part of the country.
And that was the end of Day 7, which started with a little flood and ended as we know so many others will.
Click below for a few photos related to this day's report.
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=657150&a=6635718
--Best wishes from David and Roz ...in Las Vegas/Henderson
