dangerous compassions

I call you / from the comet's cradle

Friday, December 28, 2018

super duper fun things to do in Las Vegas post

Ming started this list a while back, and I'm cleaning it up and annotating it.  It's a work in progress!  Check back for updates.

in town attractions / daytrips

Happy Earth Market 900 E Karen happyearthmarket.com
This is an art gallery with events, such as open mic night, meditation, workshops.  You can pay a fee to use their art supplies to make art.  The owners are kind and will give you a hug.

Each Thursday morning, we hold a peace vigil from 9 to 10 then have a brief prayer for peace.  Most Thursdays it's at the Federal Building.  Sponsored by Las Vegas Catholic Worker and Nevada Desert Experience.

Las Vegas Catholic Worker 500 W Van Buren lvcw.org 
Serving the hungry since 1983?, the Las Vegas Catholic Worker located in the historic Westside provides a nutritious meal four mornings a week, maintains a food pantry, grows gardens, and more.  Call to make an appointment for a tour or to learn how you can volunteer.

Peace Camp is an historic site where thousands of protesters have camped and made art out in the desert across from the Test Site.  Tunnels have historic graffiti, and there's sculpture to be found as well.  Contact Ming for GPS coordinates of Shadow Children.

Temple of Goddess Spirituality Dedicated to Sekhmet https://plus.codes/8586H7GF+6R sekhmettemple.com 
Located a 45 minute drive from Las Vegas, there's a gorgeous open-air temple at Cactus Springs where you can pray, sing, meditate, or leave an offering.  Rituals are held new moon and full moon.  Call ahead and speak to the priestess to let her know you're visiting or to ask about events.  There's also a labyrinth you can walk and a beautiful pavillion that can be reserved for events.

Barrick Museum at UNLV https://www.unlv.edu/barrickmuseum 
Free admission art museum with exhibits that change, free postcards, and an art bar where you might be able to make a collage or other masterpiece using free supplies.  There's also a little theater and a botanic garden outside.  Home to the Las Vegas Zine Library.

Now housed at the Barrick Museum, Las Vegas Zine Library contains more than a thousand zines, many of them local.  Self-expression, creativity, DIY.

Pinball Hall of Fame 1610 E Tropicana Ave pinballmuseum.org
This is a huge warehouse filled with pinball machines and other games.  Admission is free--just pay quarters to play the games.

Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area redrockcanyonlv.org
There's a one-way drive through the whole thing.  You can park and look, walk, take pictures.  Beautiful rocky colorful scenery that may be new to you, if you're not from the desert.  Gift shop and little museum too.

Hikes in the Las Vegas area such as those on http://www.birdandhike.com/index.htm
Ming likes to hike and this website is by someone who is helpful and knowledgeable.

Vegas Roots Community Garden 715 N Tonopah http://vegasroots.org/
Some days you can buy fresh produce grown here.  It's fun to look around at what's growing in the different beds, and there are chickens.

San Miguel Community Garden
This is a beautiful garden--special place, big and gorgeous, with a little orchard and chickens also.  There's a huge shade structure with picnic tables where you can hang out.

Desert National Wildlife Refuge fws.gov/refuge/desert
If you're crazy about desert plants, wildlife, or geology, don't miss this refuge.  If you have a four wheel drive vehicle, there are amazing places you can go.  The museum and gift shop have rangers and maps that can help you learn how to get there.

Clark County Wetlands https://plus.codes/85864X2H+ http://www.clarkcountynv.gov/parks/Pages/cc-wetlands-park-trailsmaps.aspx
This wetlands has concrete paths and some manicured dirt paths--it's very managed, less naturey.  But it's still a good place to take a walk and see a stream, maybe birds.

Sahara West Library 9600 W Sahara http://www.lvccld.org/about/branch_info.cfm?id=6 
I'm mostly immune to architecture, but Ming says this public library has a reputation for a beautiful building.  We saw a Buddhist sand mandala presentation there that I think I will remember my entire lifetime.  The library has some great free programs worth looking into.

Writer's Block https://www.thewritersblock.org/ My favorite bookstore in the world, they moved somewhat recently and have a cafe now.  Artificial bird adoption, ask a question of King Pigeon, beautiful stationery, and books too.  They have events and readings.

Valley of Fire http://parks.nv.gov/parks/valley-of-fire
Beautiful park about an hour away from Las Vegas.  Lots of hiking--worth visiting.  Petroglyphs.

Ethel M Chocolates 2 Cactus Garden Dr., Henderson ethelm.com
Free, but there is little to see, factory-wise--some conveyor belts and workers in there, through the glass, on work days.  The free sample is ok.  The cactus garden is good, if you like plants.  We saw a roadrunner there.

Death Valley National Park
This used to be my favorite place in the world.  The huge, impossible expanses, the amazing colors of rocks, the specialness of Badwater, which is the lowest place in North America--walking on all that salt.  It's extreme and unique--some might say barren?  There's camping and a hotel, but you can do it as a daytrip from Vegas, depending on how much you want to see.

Tecopa Hot Springs 368 Tecopa Hot Springs Road, Tecopa delightshotspringsresort.com
Tecopa is a small town less than two hour's drive from Las Vegas.  There are hot springs there visited by people from all over the world, prized for their medicinal waters--wild hot springs by the side of the road, a place run by the city I think where men and women are in separate areas and naked, and then there's Delight's, which is more expensive and has private rooms.  Best visited in the winter.

China Date Farm and Ranch chinaranch.com 
Near Tecopa is a very special date farm.  It looks like another world.  There are orchards with different types of date trees, places to walk or hike, a gift shop where you can sample different types of dates, buy date shakes and special honey, look at books, and buy postcards.  Outside there are places to picnic, but some months there are these evil huge flies that bite, so be careful.  It's definitely worth a stop if you're already going to Tecopa.

Jewelry and Mineral of Las Vegas 410 E Sahara jewelryandmineraloflv.com 
One of the weirdest stores I've ever been to, this jewelry and mineral shop is huge and has fossils, crystals, jewelry, beads, art.  Some areas of the store seem neglected and things are falling apart and in disarray.  I went there for a hunk of amethyst for my birthday and liked what I found.



restaurants and food

pasty - Cornish Pasty 10 E. Charleston Blvd cornishpastyco.com 
Pasties are like big empanadas or calzones.  They can be stuffed with all kinds of foods.  I like all the vegetarian options here, the bread and butter, the super-rich mushroom spinach walnut soup, and the pavlova.

thai, slightly fancy - Pin Kaow 1974 N Rainbow pinkaow.com 
Some of the best Thai in town?  Well, the red curry is great.  I like it there but the lunch special comes with a soup that usually has meat in it and an eggroll that has meat in it...you can get salad instead but I wish it wasn't like that.

thai, youthful and relaxed - Jackie Bee 6250 W Charleston 
This one is cheaper and gets a lot of students from the community college across the street.  There are games you can check out and play, and sometimes anime is on the tv.

papusas - Salvadoreno 720 N Main
This is our favorite restaurant, partially because the pupusas are around two dollars each, so you can get full for about four dollars.  A favorite of the Catholic Workers and nearby with nice waitstaff.  I heard the bathroom is terrible, so you might want to use the bathroom before you go.

japanese curry - Curry Zen 5020 Spring Mountain http://www.curryzen.com 
This Japanese curry is good and you can get it vegetarian.  You can customize your spiciness level and get extra spinach or extra rice...
It's fun to order mushrooms, corn, or asparagus and cook it yourself on the grill in the middle of the table.  They bring you small bowls of sides, which are free--seaweed salad, fishcake, marinated cucumbers, kimchi, macaroni salad...  I love the tempura kabocha squash which is like pumpkin.  They give you sauces to dip everything in and it's just a nice experience.  Fun to go with friends and not too expensive for us since we avoid the meat.

Merkato Ethiopian Restaurant 4970 Arville St merkatolasvegas.com 
If you get the veggie combo, you'll be delighted by the many different dishes bursting with spicy flavor, and it's enough to share.  They burn incense and there are usually Ethiopian music videos playing on the tv.  The servers are nice and bring you all the injera you want.  There's honey wine, if you would like a special alcohol to drink.  It's welcoming and cozy there.  Also they are open super late, I think till 2 am.

indian - Mount Everest 3641 W Sahara http://www.everestcuisine.net 
This may be the best Indian food in town.  The lunch buffet is $13.  They always seems to have spinach, our favorite.  I think the malai kofta is more delicious at dinner ordered off the menu, but I don't know why.  The veggie samosas aren't always hot, but the veggie pakoras are great.

indian, airport view -- Pure
This Indian food is a close second, and you can watch the planes take off through huge windows.  The weekday buffet is a similar price for lunch, but if you go on the weekend I think it costs more, but with champagne included?  Very yummy, complex food.

special chinese vegan - Chef Kenny's Asian Vegan 6820 Spring Mountain Rd Ste 111, Las Vegas, NV 89146 https://www.chefkennysasianvegan.com/
This place has delicious flavors and textures and nice veggies and great fake meat.  My favorite is the walnut shrimp, but I've loved everything I've tried.  Special, what a treat, but not too expensive.  Great place.

vegan fast food - VegeWay 7790 S Jones Blvd http://vegewaylv.com 
Wow, it tastes so delicious, but in that way where you know it's really not good for you.  It tastes just like fast food--I guess it is fast food.  I like the burger, the curly fries, and the chicken nuggets.  All vegan!

Veganos -- vegan Mexican food, very nice.  They have pozole, burritos, breakfast burritos.  They have pizzas, impossible burgers, pretend chicken burgers.  Very chill and unassuming, not too expensive.

Mr Sandwich 4626 S Maryland 
We go here for the huge bowls of delicious, nourishing vegan pho.  They also have a ton of flavors of boba drinks, but they're all kind of too sweet.  It's across the street from the university.

popcorn - Popcorn Girl popcorngirlvegas.com 
This is special gourmet popcorn worth trying, the best popcorn I've ever had.  They give samples to help you decide.  The cheese flavor is my favorite.  Ming like spicy ones.

Rainbow's End - 1100 E Sahara rainbowsendvegas.com 
This is a small natural foods grocery store when you can get special things you might need if you want to buy independent, avoiding Whole Foods or Sprouts.  They also have essential oils and body care.  They used to have a cafe too, but it closed.

boba tea - Kung Fu Tea 5030 Spring Mountain kfteausa.com
This is the best boba in town, customizable with lots of options, in a hip atmosphere in Chinatown.

ice cream custard - Lov-It 505 E Oakey http://www.luvitfrozencustard.com 
You can check their website for flavors of the day before you go.  We like the Western Special with caramel sauce, hot fudge, and pecans.

Albo's Pizza--1510 S Las Vegas Blvd
Their carryout large one-topping special is a good deal, and they offer fresh garlic as a topping.  Delicious flavor and texture, but they've burned the bottom so we always ask them to cook it a little less.

donuts - Ronald's Donuts 4600 Spring Mountain
People come from all over to eat Ronald's vegan donuts, which are amazing, yet it's not expensive and fancy, like Voodoo Donuts in Oregon, for example.  The vegan ones are the top two tiers.

Hare Krishna vegan -- Govinda's
Delicious ten dollar vegan buffet with different salads and curries, it opened in January 2019.  Seems similar to the other Govinda's we've visited.

Ikea -- They have vegan hot dogs for 75 cents.

POTs--delicious vegan Egyptian

coffee - Madhouse 
International Marketplace 5000 S Decatur Blvd
Ehren Watada - Bachi Burger 470 E Windmill Ln #100 https://bachiburger.com/

posted by Laura-Marie @ 8:17 AM  

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