Las Vegas Battista's Hole in the Wall

January 2015 - Las Vegas NV

On one of our last evenings in Las Vegas this week we had intended on going to an old favourite for dinner but then decided to try our a LV landmark instead. Battista’s Hole in the Wall, Italian restaurant located behind the Flamingo hotel.
We have passed this place so many times so finally we are trying it.

It was actually raining when we left and were planning our parking options. the restaurant has a parking area but it is usually so packed. However, we scored a spot RIGHT in front.

Our reservation was for 7:30 but it was only 7 PM when we arrived so we went to the bar where I took several photos. All photos were taken with our phones.

Our table was then immediately available and we were led through a labyrinth to a room at the back.
the room was full and we were given a table in the corner which was perfect.
Photo was taken later in the evening.

We told our server, Eric, that we would finish our drinks before placing any orders to which he was amenable and then placed a carafe of white AND red wine on the table.

There was a bus boy who kept asking if we wanted our salad or soup to whom we kept telling no we would wait.

The menu is on the wall and you can have soup or salad, garlic bread and a main course. There is unlimited wine and a cappuccino at the end.

We placed our orders and were served our salads. The salad had a slice of salami and banana peppers on top and was really good along with the garlic bread.

The room started to empty out, these people must have arrived at 5PM!

John had spaghetti and meat sauce and I opted for veal marsala after vacillating between eggplant parmesan or veal parmesan. It was all good, don't expect gourmet dining but quantities are plenty.

This is when it started to fall apart. The room is now empty, it is only 8:30 and they are open until 10PM.
The servers start whipping table linens onto tables, clattering cutlery and bustling about. We were asked several times if we wanted our cappuccinos, no.
Our servers disappeared.
Another server appeared with cappuccinos - "here's your hat, what's your hurry"?

John is a very generous tipper usually, but not tonight, he did write on the back of the bill about the dismal service.

Bluff Utah

April 2006 - Bluff Utah

On the road to Bluff.

This 200 foot roadside oddity near Monticello is called Church Rock.

 Hole "N the Rock UT
.

Hole in the Rock is a narrow and steep crevice in the western rim of Glen Canyon, in southern Utah. Together with another canyon on the eastern side of the Colorado River, it provided a route through what would otherwise be a large area of impassable terrain.

In the fall of 1879, the San Juan Expedition of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was seeking a route from south-central Utah to their proposed colony in the far southeastern corner of the state. Rejecting two longer routes, they chose a more direct path that initially took them along the relatively benign terrain beneath the Straight Cliffs of the Kaiparowits Plateau. However, when this led them to the 1200-foot (400 m) sandstone cliffs that surround Glen Canyon, they needed a way to cross to the eastern rim. They found (and named) Hole in the Rock, a narrow, steep, and rocky crevice and sandy slope that led down to the river. 

They worked for months to prepare the road, using blasting powder to widen the upper section and hand chisels to carve anchor points directly into the sandstone. On January 26, 1880 the expedition (250 people, 83 full-sized wagons, and over 1000 head of livestock) began their descent to the river. Wagons were heavily roped, and teams of men and oxen used to lower them through the upper crevice, which has slopes approaching 45°. Further down, a wooden track had been constructed along a slickrock sandstone slope. Posts in drilled holes supported horizontal beams to allow passage of the wagons.

After an even more difficult journey on the east side of the river, the expedition founded the community of Bluff in southeastern Utah. They used the Hole in the Rock route as a supply road for only a year before replacing it with an easier route to the north, at Hall's Crossing. Decades later, miners of the Hoskaninni Mining Company carved steps onto the same path used by the Mormon pioneers. The blasting holes, anchor points, and gouges from the hubs of the expedition's wagons are still visible in the walls of the crevice.

Today it has a souvenir shop, petting zoo and fun attractions.

We spent the night at the Desert Rose Inn and Cabins in Bluff.

We went for a drive around town.

Looking down at the restaurant.

At first, the residents of Bluff met under the old cottonwood tree on the banks of the San Juan River. After a swing was attached, the tree became known as the "Swing Tree." A more substantive meeting place was necessary, and Bluff's residents built a double-length "cabin" in which to hold meetings. A new section was added making it three times the length of a family cabin.

This building also served as the school, court house, and community center.

Cemetery Hill - For the Bluff pioneers, this terrace above the river offered the most sensible place to bury their dead. 

 

Twin Rocks