Alex wanted to take us around town and show us some sites today. He has been in Las Vegas for 7 years now which pretty much makes him a long term resident in this very transient town. I arranged to meet him at the security gate of the Air Force Base to sponsor him. The last time we tried to get a guest on this base it was a mess, and we failed due to the complexity. I was expecting to have to fill out a bunch of paper work and told him to meet me at the visitors center. Alex and I arrived at the same time and I heard the Airmen guarding the gate telling him the visitors center was closed. I asked the Airmen what I needed to do to get him on the base and he replied, just get in the car with him, sir! What a change a few years makes.
Despite covid three new casinos have opened in Las Vegas in the last six months. Alex wanted to show us one of them in the Fremont area of town. Ton and I are not gamblers, we enjoy watching the people in the casinos. As usual we were not disappointed, the people watching was superb.
Alex also took us to the arena where the Knights play as he shares season tickets with a few friends. Ton was intrigued with the Hersheys Chocolate store and we ended up walking out with a bag full of chocolate bars. Our chore for the rest of the day was to try to keep them from melting in the 112 degree heat, we kind of succeeded.
Ton and Alex had been cooking up a fathers day outing which was the real reason for going out today. We started out at a very good brewery called Able Baker brewing. The brewery is named after the first two nuclear bombs set off in the Nevada desert. The government used to test nuclear bombs about 70 miles outside of Las Vegas. When a test was scheduled people would gather outside to watch, presumably they made sure the wind was blowing away from town to keep the radioactivity down. Both scarier and simpler times. We ended the day with a delicious Mexican meal in the arts district, which is the old downtown of Las Vegas before the casinos came in the 1950’s