Touristy day

I have a friend visiting from out of town, so took the day off from poker and did a few touristy things.

1. Went to lunch at Rosati's Pizza. I had never been there before. Excellent.

2. Took a tour of the Ethel M chocolate factory. Unfortunately, they're not cranking out candy 24 hours a day--just on an as-needed basis, and we happened to catch them when there was not much happening. But everything still looked yummy:












I bought a 4-oz. bar of mint chocolate and a 24-piece sampler box. Haven't tried them yet (a little too full of pizza), but I anticipate all goodness.

3. Kind of strangely, connected with the chocolate factory is what I think is the only desert botanical gardens in the valley. It showcases plants that are native to the southwest/Mohave desert/Mexico areas. It's a really nice spot to walk around for half an hour or an hour, depending on your interest in such things and heat tolerance. Lots of cute little lizards running around, too. There are a lot more different kinds of plants native to the area than I would have guessed. Some of them even have color! I wished I had brought my good camera, instead of just the crummy cell phone camera.




























4. Finally, we stopped by the Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve. Unfortunately, we hadn't checked the schedule beforehand, and just assumed it had normal hours of operation. Nope. It closes at 3:00 p.m., with last entry at 2:45. The clock in my car read exactly 2:45 as we entered. So all we could do was kind of see one edge of the pond and the beginning of the walking trail--couldn't walk around or do it justice. But it sure looked like another nice place to spend a little time. I imagine it would be best very early in the morning (they open at 6:00 a.m.). But getting a poker player up and out of bed and actually at something early in the morning? That's just not going to happen.