Out of our eight grandchildren, number sixth and seventh were graduating from High School in Las Vegas.  So, we made a trip to see them graduate.  Our daughter was all excited and she told us, just to meet them before the ceremony at Thomas and Mack, so we punched up the names expecting to see an intersection up in the Summerlin district, instead it was the Thomas & Mack Center, a multi-purpose arena located on the campus of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in Paradise, Nevada.  The facility opened in the summer of 1983 with a grand opening including Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin among others.  That day, there were numerous graduation ceremonies being held there.  We had no idea, and got there early, in anticipation of having to reserve eleven seats.

It was a balmy 104 F and not the norm for Detroiters.  We got at the arena right as some of the viewers of the prior ceremony were leaving early to avoid the traffic mess, that is part of the charm of Las Vegas.  My Bride informed me that she needed to avail herself of the facilities.   A policeman we found at the intersecting area of the parking lot and the steps to the arena, told us where to go, when we got to the top of the stairs, thankfully there was also an escalator.  Once we got into the arena, we both took advantage of the facilities, and we tried to get to safe alcove as the crowds from the arena all evacuated at the same time.  My Bride had gone into the arena and selected where she wanted to save seats.  As we were trying to hide in an alcove to avoid the crowds, a woman approached us and told us that we were going to have to go out in the heat.  I said fine, that I wanted to photograph her, get her name and her position; as I told her that if we two seventy-something senior citizens suffered from some ailment of the sun or the heat, I wanted to know who was responsible.  A policemen overhearing the conversation and how self-important this woman was smiled and told her to escort us to a large lobby inside the building; she was not happy at all.  As soon as the gates were opened, it was a mad dash for the arena.  My Bride told me what entrance and seating area, as she ran to reserve eleven seats.  I got there just as she counted eleven seats in and I took the aisle seat.  I stood my ground, in spite of some very belligerent parents, that thought that they should have first rights to the seats, even if they didn’t arrive early.  As our crowd arrived, we had them originally spread out among the eleven seats to lessen arguments about the seating arrangements, until every one of the family finally showed up. She got all of her photos, and she was very happy.

We then were told to meet at a local Brazilian steakhouse, Via Brasil, that my daughter had made reservations at, the two grads were a bit  testy and wanted me to correct the situation, but I told them that they were lucky that they had this reservation, so they finally saw the wisdom of my discussion.  This was very similar to other Brazilian-style steakhouses that we been to, where there was a large salad bar, which could be purchased as a stand-along or as part of the whole package.  The steakhouse portion of the dinner was waiters carrying large skewers of barbequed meats that were sliced off the skewers, and there must have been almost two dozen meat choices.  I thought that it would have been fun to select a Brazilian wine for the dinner, but there were none offered, but I did get a South American choice, as we had Bodega Luigi Bosca Malbec Mendoza, Argentina 2022   Bodega Luigi Bosca is a wine estate in Mendoza, planted primarily to Malbec and other reds.  It was founded in 1901 by Leoncio Arizu and then with the Bosca family at the start of 20^th Century.  The winery is located in Lujan de Cuyo, but also has property in Maipu and the Uco Valley.  The Arizu Family still remains the owners of the estate.   This particular wine has fruit harvested from vineyards in Lujan de Cuyo and the Valle de Uco from vines that average about thirty-five years in age.  The fruit is manually harvested, with Initial Fermentation in Stainless-Steel vats, then the wine is aged for twelve months in a mix of French and American Oak barrels, and then gently filtered; followed by six months in the bottle before release.  The wine is a deep purple red and offers notes of black cherry, Balsamic, florals and assorted spices.  On the palate this medium-bodied wine displayed tones of black cherry and red fruits, firm and sweet tannins with a medium-count finish of fruit and terroir.