And you may find yourself in another part of the world, and you may find yourself behind the wheel of a large automobile.

     Ok not a LARGE automobile a sub-compact. Eventually we got to the terminus of the Strip and Route 95, no a different one, after passing many more casinos, including but not limited to the Venetian with its canals, Treasure Island with the pirate ships that fight every night, the Stardust, the Riviera, Circus Circus, the Sahara, and towering over everything, the Stratosphere, as well as many Wedding Chapels including the one we would wind up at in a few days, the Graceland Wedding Chapel. Man that was enough sightseeing for a day, and thanks to gaining three hours due to the time difference, it was only lunchtime. Turned onto 95 North, took it to the Cheyenne exit, got off, made a left on Tenaya Ave. There was lots of traffic on the highway as well as the secondary roads with some newer cars and lots of older semi beat up junkers that shouted, REDNECK, but it moved well and never congested. One more turn and, voila, we were at the brewpub. It was quite a nice looking building. A little yuppified but I don't let fancy looks put me off any more. They sold beer they made themselves. I don't care how much you dress it up that still spells blue collar in my book. We went inside.

     Fancy nice inside too. We took a seat at the bar and discovered what was a fixture at almost every bar in Vegas. Video poker machines build right into the surface of the bar at every seat. You had to work around them. That is unless of course you wanted to play, which the other three people seated at the bar were. We asked if the brewer was in. No luck there. He had left in the morning.  There was a dining room but Marylou and I prefer to sit at the bar unless we're having a full dinner or something special. We checked the beer menu, ordered a pint of hefeweizen for me and a smaller glass of pale ale for her and perused the lunch menu. The prices explained the looks of the place. Lunches started around $8. with appetizers around $5. We split an appetizer and a sandwich. We got the steamed clams in beer sauce and a buffalo burger with onion rings instead of fries. The clams were great with a buttery pilsner sauce with plenty of garlic and tomato. The burger was a little disappointing though. A frozen patty that was overcooked but served on a nice bun with tomato and onion slices. The onion rings soaked in the sauce for the clams were excellent. The beers were very good as well . The hefe a nice cloudy yellow that was crisp and refreshing. The Pale ale good too, great color, a nice hop note but not overwhelming, as some western brewers seem to think all American Pale Ales should be.

     We started talking with a fellow named Robert who was sitting at the bar about beer. He said that he worked in the kitchen but was interested in good beer as we were, having made a trip or two to Oregon in search of superior suds. He told us that the brewer, Tim Etter, was very conscientious about the water in the beer, filtering it before he brews. This insures he starts with a clean slate. There is an Urban Legend in the area that one of the many military bases nearby has been leaking jet fuel into the groundwater for ages. Robert also told us that we had picked a good week to come to Vegas as it had rained more in the last week than it usually does all year. So we dallied for a while talkin' and drinking beer. I had one of the Pale Ales and later a Porter which was roasty and toasty, delicious. Robert told us about the other brewpubs in Vegas, recommending the one at Main Street Station as the next best to Tenaya Creek also giving Holy Cow! an honorable mention for having a few good brews. We certainly hope to visit them later with Dip and Dawn when they hit town. It being 3:15 we said good bye to Robert and our bartender and went on a quest to find that thing we never travel in a rental car without. A styrofoam cooler.

     The air out here is so dry that my mouth dries out even faster than back east so a fresh supply of drinking water would be a must for me on this trip. We stopped first at a liquor store but they only had very small coolers. Big enough for a sixpack, not good enough. Next stop Target. All they had were regular plastic coolers, too expensive as we needed something to dispose of at the end of the trip. We were going to go to the Sev but I pulled into a gas station with a mini-mart on a hunch. We went in and Marylou found the last styrofoam cooler they had in stock. So we picked up a gallon of water, a couple of small bottled waters which we could refill from the gallon, some snapple, a six pack of Killarney's Red Lager as they didn't have much of a beer selection and I wanted to give it a try, eeeehh, nothing special, should have bought a growler and filled it at Tenaya Creek, some candy and, of course, ice. We loaded up the cooler and headed to our next destination, the Lake Mead Resort Marina.

     When we were driving up 95 North the last exit before Cheyenne had ben Lake Mead Blvd. so we got back on 95 South got off at Lake Mead Blvd. and headed east to the lake. It took quite a while to drive through North Las Vegas as the town continues to sprawl in all directions as the population keeps rising exponentially. Lots of new construction homes, most in gated communities, all with terra cotta roofs. Guess it's too hot for asphalt shingles. Lots of traffic again, with lots more junkers but it doesn't back up so it's not too bad. All the Nevada tags have three numbers then three letters. All of them. No letter, number mixing in this state, dammit. We want to keep our integers pure. Finally the town disappeared and open country took it's place. We passed a shop with a sign, "Bait, Tackle, Beer, Ammo, Ice, Worms." This needs no explanation. I was starting to wonder if we were on the right road.

     And you may ask yourself, where does that highway go? And you may ask yourself, am I right?...am I wrong? And you may ask yourself, MY GOD ... WHAT HAVE I...Oh, there it is.

     We had to pay $5. for the car and $3. a head to enter a " U.S.Natural Area"  or something that was the immediate vicinity of Lake Mead.

     Not long after that we located our crash point, checked in, hit the room and relaxed. Same as it ever was. Same as it ever was.

Our Place at the Lake

Lady of the Lake

Thanks to David Byrne and the Heads