Every once in a while, I find it pleasant to remember that there are cities in the world that don’t have slot machines in their grocery stores and video poker on every corner. You might think I’d have to travel to California or Arizona to visit this kind of sin-free community, but good clean fun is ever so much closer. Boulder City is only a half-hour drive from Las Vegas.

BC, as the letters on the hillside above town identify it in neatly arranged white rocks, was created back in 1931, when all those Hoover Dam workers needed a place to live. To help keep them undistracted and morally straight, gambling was prohibited. Since the casinos never arrived, Boulder City remains a clean-cut, slot-free, Norman Rockwellian sort of place. Nevada Highway, Boulder City’s main drag, looks like Route 66 in the good old days.

Nostalgic for a taste of all-American wholesomeness and another look at this year’s phenomenal wildflower bloom, I got up early the other day and headed down Highway 93. The coffee shops on Nevada Highway, with their neatly maintained vintage signs, almost seduced me when I arrived in Boulder City, but I had already decided I’d have breakfast at the historic Boulder Dam Hotel.

The Boulder Dam Hotel, a freshly painted two-story white cinderblock structure, was built in 1933. Along with 22 rooms and suites, it boasts Matteo’s Restaurant, an establishment occupying the hotel’s dining room that serves breakfast from 7:00 a.m. to noon on weekends (weekdays until 11:00). It’s not a place to choose if you’re in a hurry, but when you’ve got time for several cups of coffee and a Sunday paper, the easy-paced ambience is quite nice. The food’s good, too – the breakfast menu is a full all-American list. (Lunch and dinner feature Italian specialties.)

Afterwards, I headed out to Lake Mead in search of spring blossoms, and I was not disappointed. Bright yellow brittlebush was the dominant display, but I also found plenty of other showy species. Cactus flowers were just beginning, which means I should plan another trip to Boulder City and Lake Mead soon. I love Las Vegas and its fast-paced, over-the-top glitz, but a morning’s excursion to a slower, more innocent zone is a marvelously refreshing break.

Online resources for Boulder City and Lake Mead:

Boulder Dam Hotel
Matteo’s Restaurant
Boulder City/Hoover Dam Museum
Boulder City Chamber of Commerce
Hoover Dam Tour
Tour of Hoover Dam by Megan Edwards
The 48th Annual 31ers Reunion by Megan Edwards (Workers & families of workers who built the dam)
Lake Las Vegas
Lake Nead National Recreation Area
Wildflower Reports for Nevada, including Lake Mead National Recreation Area