Guard Those West Wendover ASSETS

My husband, the defending Champ of the Utah Senior Open, extended an invitation for us to accompany him again. Another year, another golf tournament, another chance... I am proud of my husband and wanted to offer my support. I had a Tuesday Night Group Meeting and appointment and he had a Wednesday 9:00 a.m. Tee Time. How could we make this work? Rick and his pal, Lester decided to go the night before. It was too late for me to schedule a babysitter while I attended my evening committments and so Noah decided to ride with the guys...two gentlemen in Wendover?? Mmmm maybe Noah would be an ASSET. Gambling and late nights would be difficult with a youngin' around. Naturally, I would miss them and the pressure would be on me to awake before the dawn so that I might make it to Wendover before Rick's Tee Time.

The morning came all too soon. I was on my way heading West down a long stretch of road. As I pulled to the edge of town, I wondered about this little place of Wendover that sits on the border of Utah and Nevada. The Utah Open would be in the Nevada part. There wasn't much to this seemingly small town, but with Noah around, there is always something to do.

I arrived at the Rainbow, met up with Rick and Noah. I then delivered Rick to Toana Vista Golf Course and saw that it was the only green in this desert land. Noah and I had the day. Swimming would be the absolute top of the list. If we wanted an outdoor pool, we had to travel to Montego Bay. It wasn't far, but it wasn't convenient either and Noah was bothered by the elderly folk that didn't want to be splashed. He let me know that our next swim would be the indoor pool at the Rainbow.

That evening, there was a special dinner for the golfers and their companions. There would be a short program, a few honors and awards. Noah was in a room full of adults. That did not seem to bother him as he hangs with his adult parents all the time. Rick's pal Lester is an Attorney. Noah had established a relationship with him on the ride out the night before. (Commercial Break)Noah has also wanted to watch a few certain movies over and over again. I have let him know my reasons of not approving of his choices, most of it being because of the language. He was always asking, "Mom what's an a$$30!@ ? or what is a sh**head ?" I did not even like hearing him use those words in his innocence and so I started saying every time we heard a swear word, "Please don't ever say that, that is a bad word."

So we are sitting around the table with a group of golfers. Lester had a story he wanted to tell this group of guys. Lester says, "and I needed to help this guy protect his ASSETS." Noah immediately piped up, "Ah you said a bad word." The poor Attorney tried to explain what ASSETS were, but every time he used the word ASSETS, Noah would talk over him, "bad word, bad word that's a bad word."To watch Lester finagle his way out of that one was a sight to see. The more Lester tried to explain ASSETS, the deeper the hole he dug for himself. The whole table of men folk found Lester being called out by a kid... and though he didn't speak the bad word...it was hilarious.

So just what are West Wendover's ASSETS? Noah and I drove around the little town in search of them and this is what we discovered:
*Well, if you stay at the Rainbow, you do not need to put on sunscreen when you take a swim because the pool is indoors.The water is also unbelievably cold even though Noah thought it was refreshing.
*Noah was sure that this was the little town in which CARS the movie was filmed and if not CARS, then TREMORS (a movie about huge worms terrorizing a little town starring Kevin Bacon)
*I always look forward to the friendly wave of the giant cowboy that stands ready to greet any visitors

*There's one grocery store and that saves you the comparison shopping
*The Golf Course really adds a bit of color
*The Buffets, that is if you like food
*Huge open parking lots for riding on chariots
*Interesting fire hydrants

*Desert Views
*Junior and Senior High School in the same building
*Exercise TV if you can't make it to the exercise room because of an underage child
*Tinted windows (don't have to be bothered with protective eye wear)
*Huge Jaw Breakers in small gift shops. Noah wanted one of those ginormous Jaw Breakers real bad. I took one look at the price and then saw the size of it--there was no way Noah could get his mouth around that thing. "N-O spells No and I mean NO!" So what did my bright little boy do? He licked it. Yep, he licked it and voiced rather loud, "Now you have to buy it."

It is obvious the citizens of Wendover hope you will spend time and money in the Casinos gambling. There were big beautiful flat screen TV's, but the remotes didn't work. There were Mario games, but you had to pre pay at the front desk and then hope you would be refunded for the amount of time not used. There was no Wireless Internet, oh unless you had a credit card. I didn't!!! I searched the hotel room drawers--no postcards, no stationary, no room service menu, no visitor information which meant a a run to the gift shop and restaurants. Their greatest ASSET is mankind's weakness--GAMBLING!

What I learned from Noah: Some ASSETS can sound like bad words, but is usually something good.