A few years before I moved to Las Vegas, my then husband and I visited a new community that opened in 1996, Lake Las Vegas in Henderson, NV. We were looking for a home and we, in fact, put money down on a small two-bedroom home with a view.

Though my husband liked the community, he later said he was worried about where to shop–the community then had no grocery stores. A friend who had moved to Las Vegas was also worried about the Lake Las Vegas location, 30 minutes from the “action” of Las Vegas. Admittedly, I was also more and more concerned that the yard at our chosen home was very small for our dogs.

So we pretty quickly decided not to move to Lake Las Vegas, and our down payment was returned. We came back to the Las Vegas area on another vacation, visited friends, and ended up buying the house next door to our friends. We moved to the home in 2003.

Several years after coming to Las Vegas, we were very happy we hadn’t moved to Lake Las Vegas. The recession came and we read that Lake Las Vegas had filed bankruptcy with debts in the millions of dollars. The newspapers were full of stories about lawsuits and closings.

Since the 2008/2009 recession, I hadn’t paid much attention to Lake Las Vegas, other than, a couple years ago, attending a lakefront play and a year ago seeing an evening concert on the lakefront.

And then several weeks ago, my gentleman friend was asked to teach a line dancing class at the the Del Webb community clubhouse at Lake Las Vegas. I didn’t even know there was a Del Webb community (55 and older) at Lake Las Vegas. The line dance class is on Friday mornings and about the third week, I asked if I could go along and take the class as well. (I had the time, if not the talent.)

I have been stunned at what I have seen at Lake Las Vegas. Hundreds, maybe thousands, of new homes and condos now dot the landscape with many more to come. I had missed the news about multiple ownership changes at Lake Las Vegas and the coming of a raft of developers who built homes that rather quickly sold out.

I imagined people moved to Lake Las Vegas for privacy and safety, though home sellers talk about living in a “resort” community with plenty of activities. Sport clubs are open. Weekend concerts are by the lake. Golf courses and golf lessons are available. Boating, tennis, pickleball, hiking (at the nearby Las Vegas Wash), swimming, Pilates, yoga, Zumba, mahjong, line dancing etc. are available as well.

Though many of the original retail stores in Lake Las Vegas are closed, services such as hair and nail salons and real estate offices seem to be alive and well. And yes, a number of restaurants/bars have survived as well, one of which features video poker. (The casino at Lake Las Vegas is currently closed, but video poker saves a trip to downtown Henderson casinos.) Three hotels (Hilton, Westin and Montelago) are a part of the 3592-acre Lake Las Vegas community and are popular for small conventions that want to avoid the Las Vegas Strip.

The homes in Lake Las Vegas don’t have grass, though park areas and flowers are part of the landscape and are beautiful. I can see that the Del Webb community is still building homes. They range in size and price. A monthly HOA fee is required as is a quarterly fee paid to the greater Lake Las Vegas association.

Oh yes, Lake Las Vegas now has a grocery store/deli, and it’s larger than when I first heard about it. A nearby store also sells everything needed for lakefront recreation..

Living in Lake Las Vegas is not cheap. One of the real estate offices we saw last Friday advertised homes for $539,000, 1.4 million and 799,000–before the fees.

One thing nice about some of the settings for homes in Lake Las Vegas are the surrounding hills. However, after our recent monsoons, some of the ladies in the line dance class talked about floods that came down from those hills into yards, patios, etc. Mind you, monsoons are rare…but they can be very messy in hillside communities.

Many of the homes in Lake Las Vegas have very little space between them. Yes, that means less upkeep by the homeowner, but a loud television program or an argument might wake the neighbors.

My recommendation: if you have nothing else to do some day, as a resident or tourist, take a ride to Lake Las Vegas and look around. It’s a beautiful community–and you can be away from the hustle and bustle of Henderson or the Strip. Grab an ice cream cone and watch the boats on the water. (The watering the man-made lake comes from Lake Mead, incidentally.) If you hear about an evening concert on the lake, try that as well. Bring a chair and your favorite beverage and enjoy the night. Lake Las Vegas these days is quite the destination.