The Long Way to Las Vegas - BBQ at the Red House

Home to Tehachapi, CA

Sunday, May 11, 2025

It was finally time to hit the road and after doing our final packing and taking care of a few things around the house, we were on the road by 11:00.  As usual when we head southwest, we made the short drive to Tehachapi for our first night.

An overview map of our road trip.

It was a pretty easy drive, and we got to Tehachapi just after 2:00.  We decided to eat early as we didn’t have any lunch before we left so we were hungry.  One of the main reasons why we stay in Tehachapi is the Red House BBQ so that’s where we were headed.  It was Mother’s Day, and the Red House was pretty busy even though it was the middle of the afternoon, but luckily there was one table available for us.  The ribs were good as ever and we really enjoyed our meal; we hadn’t eaten BBQ ribs since we returned from New Mexico last fall.

Val caught me eating my first rib, not very flattering, but the rib was delicious.  Along with my ribs I had cornbread, mac & cheese and red slaw, an excellent meal.

There were a few new things on the menu we hadn’t noticed before and one of them was fry bread.  Frybread with powdered sugar and cinnamon is one of our favorite treats when we visit the southwest, so we decided to get an order to go and enjoy our dessert later.  It was a smart thing to do as it was delicious, and we will probably have it again on our next visit.

We were both tired tonight, so we spent the rest of the evening relaxing.  Tomorrow we’ll head to the Eastern Sierras.

The Long Way to Las Vegas - A Note About the Blog

 Saturday, May 24, 2025

 This is a quick note about the publishing of this blog.

First off, we're back and, spoiler alert... we had a great time.  We have several things going on that are going to mean this blog will be published slowly and sporadically with probably a long gap at some point.

In two and a half weeks, Val and I leave on another two week trip, this time to Michigan for a cousin's reunion for my mother's side of the family.  I may or may not publish a blog on that trip, I haven't decided on that yet.

The other thing is the annual maintenance and cleanup that has to be done every spring on our koi pond, fountains and patio area.  It may not sound like much, but it is quite a bit of work, especially the pond, and as we have gotten older, it takes us longer and longer to get things done.

So, the blog will probably not get fully published before we leave for Michigan, but after we get back we have no further travel plans for the summer so I'll have time to catch up on everything (I hope 😊).

The Long Way to Las Vegas - Another Road Trip Is Planned

Friday, May 9, 2025

The last time Val and I were in Las Vegas was in February of 2020 for my birthday.  A few weeks later the whole world shut down and we were in the midst of the COVID Pandemic.  Little did we know then, but it would be the last time we'd visit Las Vegas until now, five years later.

Finally, this year, we thought it was time to return and decided to go back to Las Vegas.  We set the dates, booked our hotel and the trip was on.  Val said she’d like to revisit Valley of Fire State Park which is less than an hour’s drive from Las Vegas and that seemed like a good idea as it is a very beautiful area.  Our trip started to evolve from there and turned into a mini road trip through the scarcely populated remote areas of Central Nevada.

Instead of going straight to Las Vegas, we are going to go up along the Eastern Sierras and into Nevada making a loop across the middle of the state and down the east side of Nevada before finally making our way to Las Vegas.  Along the way, we’re going to (hopefully) see some wild mustangs, some ghost towns, take a ride on the Nevada Northern Railway, visit Basin and Range National Monument, Cathedral Gorge and Valley of Fire State Parks and anything else we find interesting along the way.

Our trip is only a few days away and we can’t wait to get going.  As usual, you won’t be reading this until after we get home.