Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers

Last night we traveled to Las Vegas to see Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers. It was a great show, we were especially impressed with Woody's voice and Nicky Sander's fiddle playing. Everybody on stage was truly talented.

The question we had before going was would it be mostly a music show? It was lots of great music mixed with jokes that had the audience laughing out loud for most of the night. Steve Martin is still an incredibly funny stand up comedian.

Having seen a lot of bands performing old standards, I was happy to spend the night listening mostly to new music. Your mind gets sluggish and lazy when you listen to the same stuff all the time.

They did play a fun version of orange blossom special to end the night with Nicky showing his talent as a fiddle player. Go see this really fun show you'll enjoy every minute.

Jim




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Location:Las Vegas

Train ride

After flying into Orange County airport in California, spent the night in nearby Costa Mesa. The next day I needed to travel to LAX as I was on call for another day. Not being in a hurry decided to take the train up to downtown Los Angeles.

I went back to SNA on the hotel van and caught a shuttle to the Santa Ana train station where I purchased a ticket for fifteen dollars. After waiting for about 15 minutes a train arrived. The upper deck had plenty of open seats that were comfortable and provided a great view of the areas that we passed through. The storage areas above the seats were a bit on the thin side so a thick or overstuffed bag wouldn't fit. No one was seated next to me so I left my bag on the floor.

The train accelerated smoothly and was very quiet. The ride was fairly soft and pleasant. It may not have been as comfortable.if the train had been full but today we had plenty of room. The station announcements were easy to understand so it would be hard to miss your station unless you were sound asleep.

The bus from Union station to LAX was seven dollars and took less than a half an hour. The trip took longer than the shuttle van would have but we didn't have to sit in rush hour traffic nor did we have to go through security as on a plane. In the past I had taken a United Express flight but no flights were available today and I don't know if the route is being flown anymore.

Diving Kauai

For our first vacation of 2010 we traveled to the Hawaiian Island of Kauai. We did our diving with Fathom Five Dive Shop in Koloa. It's very close to Poipu beach where we had rented a condo.

We did a shore dive at Koloa Landing to start as we had my cousin's teenage son who wanted to do a padi discovery dive. Our instructor James did a great job and we all had a great time. We couldn't get too deep on the discovery dive but the area was very interesting in the shallow water. We got to see a dragon moray eel, a scorpion fish and other very beautiful animals such as Hawaiian sea turtles.

We would like to do this dive again as there's much to see and Fathom Five is a great dive shop.

Sea Turtles in Hawaii

I'm amazed at how many turtles we see when snorkeling at Waikoloa on the Island of Hawaii. They are supposed to be left alone but they seem to be everywhere and will sometimes swim up to you to say hi.

At home when paddling Black Canyon from Hoover Dam the birds and land animals are the most interesting with the large herd of big horn sheep that are commonly seen.

In Hawaii being in the water is really fun at there are lots of interesting fish, turtles, and whales.

Snorkeling in Maui, came upon a leatherback sea turtle sleeping on the bottom and left it alone. I was impressed by the size sea turtle and later read that they can reach 2,000 pounds.

The above image is of a Hawaiian Green Sea Turtle.

Japanese Food in Waikiki

There are many great Japanese places to eat in Waikiki.

Today I had a great katstu-curry at Tonkatsu Ginza Bairin at 255 Beach Walk. Their phone number is 808-926-8082. I heard both English and Japanese spoken there.

Tonkatsu is a breaded deep fried pork cutlet, very popular in Japan.

The restaurant is very beautifully decorated looking like it could be in Japan. The tonkatsu was as good as the best that I've eaten at in Japan. I really love tonkatsu, when in Japan, my uncle Mamoru and I seek out the best places to have tonkatsu for lunch.

Winter Paddling near Las Vegas

The weather has turned cold in Southern Nevada, the kayak tour business, near Las Vegas and Hoover Dam, has slowed. This is actually our favorite time to paddle from Hoover Dam as the hot springs are wonderful when the air is cool.

What we consider cold isn't all that bad as it stays above freezing most of the time. The sunny days, with the temps sometimes getting into the 70's, actually feel warm, especially for someone who went to school in Nebraska.

Another great reasons for visiting Black Canyon this time of year are that there are few people on the river for a nice wilderness experience.

Desert Adventures is using this slow period to sell used tour and rental boats to make way for the new canoes and kayaks coming in the spring. These boats are a great deal as they sell for half of the retail price of a new one. The boats have had many trips down the Black Canyon of the Colorado river and on Lake Mead but have lots of life left for a private owner.

Our store is a 1647A Nevada Highway in Boulder City, Nevada 89005. Phone number is (702)293-5026 email: info@kayaklasvegas.com.

Flying, Lake Mead, Colorado River

My friend Joe Kahl and I flew a Cessna 170B borrowed from friend Doug Mueller to Pearce Ferry today. Joe works with birds and other animals for the Bureau of Reclamation in Boulder City, Nevada. His field work takes him along the Colorado River between Lake Mead and Yuma, Arizona.

Joe also hosts an American folk music program called patchworks on Sunday afternoons with KUNV 91.5 for the university of Nevada-Las Vegas radio station.

We flew over Iceberg Canyon and ended up at Kingman for breakfast. The airport restaurant is a popular place to fly into for a meal. We met with up with Paul Gaines that owns a composite aircraft repair shop at the Kingman, Arizona airport.