Day 4…Henderson, Nevada…Posting photos from Norway continues today…Friends from Washington coming for dinner today!…

Slot machines in one area of the casino at Green Valley Ranch Spa Resort and Casino in Henderson, Nevada.

Yesterday afternoon, we purchased tickets online to see the movie “Oppenheimer,” which was playing at the Regal Theatre attached to our resort. We were able to get Tom a free small popcorn for signing up for the Regal app, which he used toward the purchase of a giant tub of popcorn that he consumed before the movie began.

The matinee for seniors was $12.50 each, which we thought was reasonable. His popcorn and large Coke came to a total of $8.75, less than what we expected. We hadn’t been to a movie in a long time, so we had no idea what to expect. We picked out our seats in advance and had a good time.

Since there was nothing for me to eat at the theatre suitable for my diet, I didn’t order anything or taste his popcorn. It would be hard to stop at one bite, so I abstained, as I always do. When the three-hour movie ended at 6:36 pm, he wasn’t hungry for dinner, which we expected.

When he was too full for dinner, I’d planned to order a salad-to-go to take to our room, but when the movie ended, I wasn’t hungry and decided not to eat. I didn’t eat again until breakfast this morning, 24 hours later, and felt fine doing so. Tom ordered his usual breakfast of ham and eggs but couldn’t finish it all. He’s still full today from that massive bucket of popcorn.

If you haven’t seen the movie, “Oppenheimer,” we won’t provide any spoilers but can suggest it as a good movie worth sitting still for three hours. We were never bored during the long movie and savored every moment since we seldom go to a movie unless we are in the US for a visit.

This morning, I felt good after my “mini fast” and perhaps may make a regular habit of fasting for 24 hours from time to time, which gives the body a rest from digesting a big meal.

We were able to reserve a comfortable booth in the Lucky Penny, where we’ll have dinner with Rita and Gerhard this evening. They don’t usually take reservations, but I asked the manager if he could reserve the booth so we’d have plenty of room to eat, relax, and catch up without feeling rushed.

We haven’t seen Rita and Gerhard together since 2022, except when Gerhard came alone to Marloth Park to sell the vehicle they’d purchased to use for their time in Marloth Park. They are heading back for a six-week visit next month and will rent a car as we always do. Gerhard had dinner at our place that evening and then took off the next day to return to Bali, in the same villa where we’d stayed years ao.

We are undoubtedly excited about them coming to Las Vegas for less than one day to have the afternoon and evening with us. Before retiring, Gerhard worked in management for an airline, and he and Rita can travel on stand-by when seats are available. They decided Sunday would be a good day to fly here since holidaymakers in Las Vegas are here for the long holiday weekend, ending this Monday after Labor Day. Few would be traveling today.

They’d like to see our hotel room in case they ever decide to stay here, so this morning, we tidied up and are now waiting for the housekeeper to come to clean. The flight they’re hoping to board arrives at 1:00 pm. They will text us when they know they can board, and we’ll be waiting for them at “arrivals” when we know their flight is in. They won’t have any bags since they fly back tonight when we return them to the airport.

How fun! We’re certainly looking forward to a special day with our friends.

Sorry, we don’t have any major photos to share today. We were preoccupied with the movie and going about a typical day at the resort.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, September 3, 2013:

Goats, a typical local food source, littered the highway as we zoomed past from Mombasa, Kenya, to Diani Beach. For more photos, please click here.

In reviewing the photos we hadn’t been able to post, it appears it will be very time-consuming and complicated to return to each post and add the photos we couldn’t post. As a result, we are posting some of the photos under the heading of each town over days, which can be found after each new day, listed as Part 1, Part 2 Norway, for example.

The new post with the photos is located below:

Part 3…Unpublished photos from the Azamara cruise to Olden, Norway…

Day 3…Henderson, Nevada…Posting photos from Norway continues today…Exciting upcoming event!…

My fabulous egg white omelet with chicken and cheese, cooked in butter, not oil, plus guacamole and salsa, is a delightful breakfast, keeping me full all day.

We continue to enjoy having a fabulous time in Henderson, Nevada, after last evening’s wonderful dinner at Lucille’s Barbecue with my son and his significant other. It was great to see them again after a two-year hiatus, and the four of us enjoyed a delicious dinner and drinks at the popular barbecue restaurant.

Back at the hotel by 8:30, we streamed a few shows, relaxed, and drifted off to sleep by 11:00 pm, again having a much-needed good night’s rest. This morning, we bolted out of bed, got showered and dressed for the day, and headed downstairs to the Lucky Penny for another fabulous breakfast. With our VIP status with Expedia, we get 20% off on all meals at the resort, and they have several good restaurants.

Today, we’re posting photos from our delicious breakfasts that we’ll have every morning while we’re staying here until we depart on Saturday, September 9, to fly to Minnesota, where we’ll stay for a little over a month until we go to South America. There’s been lots of moving around, but we are okay with all of it, especially after a few good night’s rest to recover. There is no jet lag here!

So, here’s the exciting upcoming event…Our dear friends, Rita and Gerhard, who live in Vancouver, Washington, are flying here to see us tomorrow, arriving around 1:00 pm, spending the day and evening with us, and flying back out tomorrow night. What an adventure for the four of us, and how thoughtful and generous they are to make this short trip for all of us to catch up.

As most of our regular readers know, we met Rita and Gerhard in Marloth Park, South Africa. They were (still are) long-time readers of our site and had come to Marloth Park based on our frequent postings about how wonderful it is. They booked a holiday house with Louise (one we had previously rented), and no more than a few days after they arrived, we met them, and our magical friendship began. Rita and I hit it off like we’d known each other forever, and Gerhard and Tom did the same.

Collectively, the four of us have been a great team, sharing our lives, our crazy travels, and the joys of living off and on in Marloth Park. Soon, in October, they’ll be returning to “our old house” and will be feeding our favorite animals, including Nyala Norman and his lovely family. Seeing their photos and hearing about their experiences in our absence will be fun.

Tom didn’t eat my fruit, so today, we excluded it. He savored his giant slab of ham, three fried eggs, hash brown potatoes, and two pieces of buttered. toast with jam. Their coffee and whole cream are delightful, with a full pot of regular for Tom and another with decaf for me.

Gosh, we’re looking forward to tomorrow and the lively conversations, sharing and reliving many extraordinary experiences together, countless surprises, and special parties we’ve had together over the past five years since our friendship began. When we’ve been apart, we’ve stayed in touch, as we have with many of the wonderful friends we made in Marloth Park.

Many other friendships have developed from our readers coming to Marloth Park after seeing our endless stream of photos and love for wildlife, nature, and the fine people in the area. We are so grateful for all of our readers and have loved the opportunity to develop lasting relationships with many of you over the years.

Once we finish today’s post, we’ll head over to the nearby movie theatre to see the three-hour movie Oppenheimer. It’s a special treat for us to go to a movie theatre when often they aren’t available in many countries we visit for extended periods. We can get the senior rate for the 3:35 matinee for $12.50 each.

Tom loves to eat a big tub of popcorn while I settle for a sugar-free drink since nothing works for me at the concession stands. As a result, Tom won’t be hungry for dinner tonight, and I suggested to Tom that we pick up something for me on our way back to the hotel. I can run into Whole Foods or Smiths for a salad, which will suit me.

Well, that’s it for today, folks. We hope you are all doing well, and for our US readers, be safe on this busy Labor Day weekend. We’ll be back tomorrow with more.

Be well.

In reviewing the photos we hadn’t been able to post, it appears it will be very time-consuming and complicated to return to each post and add the photos we couldn’t post. As a result, we are posting some of the photos under the heading of each town over a period of days, which can be found after each new day, listed as Part 1, Part 2 Norway, for example.

Photo from ten years ago today, September 2, 2013:

There was no post on this date ten years ago. It was a busy travel day to Kenya!

The new post with the photos is located here:

Part 2…Unpublished photos from the Azamara cruise to Haugesund, Norway…

Resolving the Las Vegas car rental issue…Challenges continue…Two days and counting…

We are thrilled with the quality of the photos using my new Google Pixel Pro XL6 phone. They appear to be more precise than those using our camera.

This morning, a kindly Uber driver picked us up from our hotel and took us to the nearby CVS pharmacy for our Covid-19 PCR tests, which we’ll use to fly to South Africa in two days. The driver picked us up at 10:30 and returned after one more stop at Smith’s market to pick up our curbside order of Crystal Light iced tea.

We couldn’t purchase enough iced tea to last for the next year, but it was enough to get us through the next few months until we placed an order on Ubuy, an online service that ships to South Africa. Crystal Light is not sold at any of the markets in the country. We’ll pay a premium price for the product, but it still will be less than shipping it from the US.

The walkway over the main pool at the resort.

Although we’ve given up many of our favorite products since we began traveling almost ten years ago, there are some items that we haven’t been willing to stop using, and this is one of them. Finding alternatives to many grocery items has been easy overall with our limited way of eating. Still, we search for a specific item and have trouble finding it from time to time.

The past 24 hours have been somewhat wacky. We’ve been busy taking care of phone calls necessary to ensure we’ve received proper credits for multiple scenarios, including the charges still showing on a credit card for the rental car we weren’t able to obtain from ACE car rentals on Sunday when we couldn’t produce a Nevada utility bill.

A portion of the attractive grounds at the resort.

The credit card company’s service rep was accommodating. After about 40 minutes on the phone, they credited our card the US $366 and will contact us if there are any future issues in processing the credit from the company, Wise Cars, which we’ll never use again. All of their phone numbers were disconnected. Is it any wonder?

This morning, we stopped at the concierge desk to speak to kindly Douglas once again. Could he arrange for a ride for us to the airport on Sunday at 4:00 am? As it turns out, there’s this huge event going on now, EDC, Electric Daisy Carnival, which brings hundreds of thousands of visitors worldwide to participate in the 24-hour-a-day partying event.

With it around 100F, 43C, outside, we had no interest in sitting by the pool at the resort.

Subsequently, getting an Uber or a taxi at this time in the morning is impossible since many of the shows on the strip end in the middle of the night. Douglas said he’d start calling around to see what he could find. The only option was a private limo at three times the cost of a taxi at US $74.26. With a tip, the cost will be close to US $100. We authorized Douglas to book this for us.

Then, when the confirmation document arrived from the limo company, we noticed it said 4:00 pm not 4:00 am. That resulted in another phone call and email. We have the corrected confirmation and can plan to be downstairs with our luggage at 4:00 am on Sunday. We will have to get up at 3:00 am to shower and dress to get downstairs on time.

The next time it is 4:00 to us, we’ll be on the flight from Newark to Johannesburg. The next 4:00 am after that; we’ll be getting up again from the partial overnight stay in the airport hotel in Joburg to ensure we get to the gate on time for our final leg on the flight to Nelspruit/Mpumalanga/Kruger airport to pick up the rental car to begin the 90-minute drive on the N4 to Marloth Park.

The cabanas are appealing, but the suffocating heat is unappealing at this time.

This crazy schedule means getting up at 3:00 or 4:00 am for three nights in a row, considering the only sleeping time we’ll have once it begins when we’re at the airport hotel in Johannesburg, where we’ll try to get some sleep for a few hours. It’s hard to get much sleep when we know we have to wake up in the middle of the night.

Still feeling weak and tired from Covid-19, this schedule won’t be easy. The key will be to get through the 6½ hour layover in Newark and be able to sleep a little on the flight. The plane will be full, but we won’t know for sure until we board. Then, if either of us can end up with two empty seats beside us, we may be able to lay down and get some rest.

This makes me exhausted just writing about it. If we weren’t recovering from Covid-19, this would be easier. And although we are making every effort to be optimistic, we aren’t foolhardy. We’ve traveled on long flight itineraries for many years, and we are well aware of the challenges.

Today, we’ll continue with more tasks we need to accomplish and hopefully get a good night’s sleep tonight; the last night we’ll have until next Tuesday when we arrive in Marloth Park and move into our new house. Since we’ll arrive before noon, we’ll have time to start unpacking, perhaps take a nap and head out to Jabula for dinner. Gee…that would be nice.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, May 20, 2021:

These two wildebeests visit often. The one on the left is CF, for Crooked Face, and his loyal friend is Hal. For more photos, please click here.