It’s no secret that we love Las Vegas.  Our favorite city never ceases to surprise us with new things to do.  Recently, The Coffman Team heard about land sailing just 30 minutes from the Strip on Ivanpah Dry Lake – and had to give it a try.  The fact that we had no sailing experience (water or land) was not a problem.  After some simple instructions from our great tour guide Pete, we were off and sailing.  We even have the video to prove it!

Land sailing is an amazing experience (it feels like you’re flying), and we will definitely be sailing with Pete again.  To get more information on land sailing and Land Sailing Tours, go to www.golandsailing.com.

In one corner, we have Team Burger Bar. The Burger Bar, located in the Mandalay Bay, lets you build the burger of your dreams. Starting with your choice of meat (Angus or Kobe beef, turkey, lamb or veggie), you can add any topping you’ve ever thought of, and some you haven’t (anchovies? truffles?). You even have a choice of fries (fat, skinny and sweet potato). The members of Team Burger Bar feel that if you want the ultimate burger experience, the Burger Bar is your place.

If you are looking for a great burger, but don’t want to drive to the Strip, then you are a member of Team LBS. LBS: A Burger Joint, located in Red Rock Station, offers a choice of meat (beef, turkey or veggie) and a smaller, but still respectable, choice of toppings. Team LBS points out another benefit of their favorite burger place: it’s close to a Ben and Jerry’s (also located in Red Rock Station). This is a purely theoretical argument since no member has ever had room left for ice cream after eating the gigantic burgers at LBS, but they wanted it stated for the record anyways.

Where to get the best burger is a debate that might never be settled among The Coffman Team, but we are always on the look-out for new and better places. Perhaps there is a burger out there that will unite the team. I’ll keep you updated!

The Pumpkin Squash Festival is a reminder of the small town Vegas used to be - The Farm's owner, Sharon Linsenbardt, is there to visit with her guests, just like she has been for the last 42 years. The Festival is free, and runs every weekend in October, from 9 am to 9 pm.

Before radios, fire services communicated using fire alarm boxes on street corners. When a fire alarm was pulled or dispatch needed to alert the department members of certain events, the bells at the fire stations would ring in a code telling the location of the box or the type of event. Three sets of five bell tolls told everyone in the department that a firefighter had just been lost in the line of duty.

In addition to the tolling of the bells, an American flag that once flew over the World Trade Center was flown at half-mast at Fire Station 5 on Hinson Street, where a piece of steel from the World Trade Center is also on display.

Established in 1955, the Ranch House is the oldest existing restaurant in Las Vegas. It started when the original owner, Bob Taylor, would barbeque for his friends and neighbors. When demand for his barbeque grew, he turned his ranch house into a restaurant. The barren desert that surrounded The Ranch House back then has been enveloped by the ever-expanding city, but the wood-paneled house covered in western memorabilia still serves great barbeque.

It’s a favorite of the Coffman Team, even though a pair of chickens wanders the front yard lawn. Every member of the team has been attacked by fowl during their childhoods (a hazard of growing up on a farm, or else we just have bad luck with birds) and some members still have a fear of chickens. These chickens don’t seem like the attacking type, even if they did follow us to the door (I think Andrea might have been encouraging them in order to get a better picture). Don’t let the threat for chickens keep you from this Las Vegas tradition, just walk briskly through the yard (like I do) and you’ll be ok.

For more information on The Ranch House, go to www.bobtaylorsranchhouse.com.

Tons of logs, boulders, sand and water were brought into the arena to form outdoor obstacles for the racers. There was even a "night" race - where the lights in the arena were turned off, and riders had to race using only their headlights.

EnduroCross is returning to the Orleans Arena in November, and is definitely worth checking out.

Those looking for more of a challenge could enjoy a 9-mile fun run (I am not kidding you, the Summerlin Striders, a Summerlin-based running club, was referring to it as a "fun" run. Just shows that people's definition of fun varies widely).

The Summerlin Trail System features several types of planned trails in its extensive system, including natural, village and bike trails. For more information and a map of the trail system, visit www.summerlin.com.

Around 500 motorcycle riders showed up including a detachment of the Marine Motorcycle Riders of Las Vegas. Kerry was one of the riders that participated, and he really enjoyed the event and the ride.

For more information about Dave you can go to www.getwelldave.com

Excited to have the opportunity to see her alma mater, Pepperdine University, try to “advance to the dance,” Andrea went above and beyond to get us close to the action with floor seats. While I appreciated her enthusiasm, there is perhaps such a thing as too close to the action. Both Kerry and I ended up catching out-of-bounds basketballs (Kerry threw his back to the referee, while I took the safer-and-saner approach of waiting for someone to come collect it from me), and I did have some concerns of having a player end up in my lap.

While we’ll have to wait until next year for Pepperdine to go all the way, The Coffman Team had a great time at the championships, and walked away injury-free. I’ll have to work on my ball-passing skills for next year!

This last weekend, the Southpoint’s Equestrian Center hosted the American Quarter Horse Association Silver Dollar Circuit – free to the public to boot! The event brought back memories of The Coffman Team’s days of horse showing (like the time Andrea’s Quarter Horse, Little Bar, grabbed a cinnamon bun away from a little kid at the Ventura County Fair - that horse had a terrible sweet tooth, and wasn’t above a little thievery). The day spent at the show hasn’t convinced us to take up horse ownership again (the memories of waking up at 5:00 am to feed horses in the rain is still a little to fresh), but we will definitely check out more horse shows when they come our way.

To see all of the pictures click on: Summerlin Snow Day

In addition to offering thousands of people the chance to run around in Santa suits, the Santa Run raises money for Opportunity Village. In attendance this year to support the running Santas were Mayor Oscar Goodman (accompanied by the Champagne Showgirls – only in Las Vegas!), Senator John Ensign, Vegas favorites Siegfried and Roy, and, of course, Santa Claus himself.

Running Santas and supporters were treated to live music throughout the event. Don't look for The Coffman Team amongst the Santas, we were merely spectators this year. But, next year (December 5^th, 2009) we hope to be suited up and ready to make the run! This is a Las Vegas tradition not to be missed. For more information, go to www.lasvegassantarun.org.

The ride was a huge success! Even before the ride started, the Marine Riders had collected $4,500 from local businesses and individuals. The Mattel Corporation matches that dollar for dollar, so they had raised $9,000 before the start of the ride.

For more information about the Toys for Tots program click on: Toys for Tots