Two high speed trains are being proposed in order to connect L.A. and Las Vegas.  One company would even like to have its first run by the middle of 2011.

The “X Train” would like to run their passengers from Union Station in L.A. to an undetermined station in L.V. and have passengers engaged in a party atmosphere for the ride.  They would like the Las Vegas party start for tourists before they even arrive.

Rival DesertXpress would like to have their train go from Las Vegas to Victorville, Ca.  X Train’s CEO states that the trains won’t compete with each other as the experiences will be completely different, as would the passengers.

Here is more of the story from the Sun:

Michael Barron, chairman and CEO of the company, which is calling its project the “X Train,” envisions having a party atmosphere on wheels when the train takes passengers from Los Angeles’ Union Station to an as-yet-undetermined station location in Las Vegas in about 5 1/2 hours.

“It’s here now, existing technology that won’t take billions of dollars or even hundreds of millions of dollars to develop,” Barron says. “We’re acquiring standard train sets and bi-level commuter passenger cars, and then we’re getting some special cars that we’ll trick up to become a gaming car or a sports and entertainment car.”

When taking a trip out to Boulder City, one should not forget their golf clubs!  Boulder City is home to two terrific golf courses, Boulder City Golf Course and Boulder Creek Golf Club.  The beautiful landscapes surround both courses offer a fun challenge for a golfer of any skill.

Boulder City Golf Course is adjacent to the Hoover Dam and is a 6,600 yard, par 72 course that was built in 1973 and designed by golf architects Billy Casper and David Rainville.  A full practice facility is also available at the golf course.  The facility includes putting and chipping greens and a driving range.  Lessons are available for those golfers wishing to improve their game and those who are just getting started.

Boulder Creek Golf Club offers three courses, Desert Hawk, Coyote Run, and Eldorado Valley.  All three courses have 9-hole layouts and are full of beautiful scenery.  Water features are integrated into all of the courses and will provide challenges to golfers.  Each course provides a challenge to both the novice and expert golfer.

Come join the fun and play luxurious golf in Boulder City.  Whether it is on Boulder City Golf Course, or one of the three courses at Boulder Creek Golf Club, you are bound to have an enjoyable time.

Here is a great travel guide posted for Boulder City:

Boulder City, Nevada is more like a sleepy little desert town located only about 20 miles from all the glamour and bright lights of Las Vegas. It has a relaxing atmosphere in a quaint, historic setting. The city was originally constructed to provide housing for the workers of the Hoover Dam in 1932. At that time, alcohol, gambling, and the formation of unions were all strictly prohibited. To this day gambling was never made legal in Boulder City, so if you want to take a break from gambling away your money in Vegas, take a relaxing trip to this refreshing city.

Hoover Dam

There are some great attractions in Boulder City including the most obvious, Hoover Dam. However, before going to see this amazing feat of human creativity, check out the Hoover Dam Museum in downtown Boulder City. It is small, but it will provide you with a more personal look at the lives of the workers, as well as their families, and how the Great Depression affected everyone in the U.S. It also explains why the dam was built and how. The actual tour of the Hoover Dam costs either $11 or $30, depending on which tour you choose.

Boulder Creek Gold Course

The city offers some excellent golf courses that are extremely well-maintained despite the harsh desert environment. Visit the Boulder Creek Golf Club or the Boulder City Golf Course. For a pleasant shopping experience, Main Street has a wide selection of boutiques and specialty stores. Set in a historic building, Fiddlesticks is a popular quilt shop with lots of antiques for decoration and a good selection of quilting products. Also, check out the many gorgeous desert hikes all around the area if you like outdoor activity.

Dining Out

Food is relatively cheap. Boulder City has plenty of styles of restaurants ranging from Tex-Mex to all-American classics. It has all the standard fast-food chains as well as cozy, mom n’ pop sorts of places with tasty, home-cooked, comfort food.

Looking for a place to stay in Boulder City?  Visit Hoover Dam Inn and stay close to Lake Mead and Hoover Dam at an affordable rate.

Now that the weather in southern Nevada is finally warming up, it is a great time to plan a trip out to Lake Mead.  This recreational area offers many things to do both for visitors and locals alike.

The most popular activity at Lake Mead is boating.  Marinas are plentiful here and many rent out small and big boats.  The list of marinas include Lake Mead Marina, Las Vegas Boat Harbor in Hemenway Harbor, and Forever Resorts at Calleville Bay and Echo Bay.  There’s nothing better than a gorgeous day out on the lake on a boat with friends and family.

Other activities at Lake Mead include fishing, water skiing, swimming, and sunbathing.  Surrounding the lake are many coves with rocky cliffs and beaches to explore.  Also, depending on the water level, there are some small islands to explore in the lake area.

The lake was named after Elwood Mead, commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation between 1924 and 1936 when the Boulder Canyon Project was developed that created the dam and lake.

Looking for a place to stay while visiting Lake Mead?  The newly renovated Hoover Dam Inn is the Boulder City hotel to stay in while enjoying your time at the lake.

On Wednesday, February 24, there was a recommendation at the Boulder City Council budget meeting to close Youth and Art Centers at ABC Park in order to ease the city’s budget.  The council voted against the closing, however, after hearing from the families and teens who use the facilities.

Here is more of the article from Las Vegas Sun:

Last year, the council enacted an annual $20 fee for each Youth Center participant to help the center become more financially self-sufficient.

Youth Center Coordinator Debbie Barth, who has been working at the center since it opened in 1997, said the fee caused enrollment to drop by 35 percent.

When Barth heard about the possibility of losing the center, she said, she was devastated.

“I was really upset because I care about these kids,” Barth said. “I put my blood, sweat and tears into it.”

She said she recently received a letter from a Boulder City High School student and active participant at the center thanking the center for saving the lives of so many teens.

“She basically said, ‘I would be on drugs and alcohol if I didn’t have a place to go after school,’” Barth said.

Resident Sam Newman, 27, a former Youth Center participant, said the center helped him socialize with his peers in a sober environment.

At the budget meeting, Newman advised the council to keep the center open, saying its closure could lead to more vandalism, drug use and gang violence. He said it could also affect students’ academics and lead to an increase in high school dropouts.

Through the slow economic recovery, a bright light is shining on Boulder City’s acceptance of alternative energy and its impact on the city.  Boulder City’s focus on solar energy projects is projected to show good results in 2010.

The revenue from leases that Boulder City gives out to solar energy projects have not been affected by the recent economic downturn.  In fact, Boulder City mayor, Roger Tobler, stated that the alternative energy projects have had a “tremendous positive impact on our budget,” as he discussed the future of Boulder City at the annual State of the City address.

In addition to solar energy projects, Boulder City picked up a new lease for an experimental wind turbine.  Not only will the city gain revenue from the lease of this project, but any energy generated by the turbine will be delivered to the city at no cost.

The future of alternative energy in Boulder City looks promising.  The energy generated by the solar and wind projects will both alleviate the need for fossil fuel energy and reduce the dependence on outside sources for energy.  The benefits can be seen as two-fold, reduce the cost from those outside sources and generate revenue from the leases of the alternative energy projects.

For those who want to stay and explore Boulder City, the Hoover Dam, and its surroundings, there are a number of hotels in the city. The newest of the Boulder City hotels is the Hoover Dam Inn, opened in 1986, but renovated in June of 2005. It offers a pool, spa, free Wi-Fi, and a number of other amenities to its guests.

At the Arizona-Nevada border, the engineering feat known as the Hoover Dam Bypass is forming across the span created by the Colorado River.  The bridge will connect the roads for U.S. Route 93.  You can think of this project as the big sister of the Hoover Dam, with a production cost of close to $240 million.

There are many reasons the bypass is being constructed.  It will improve safety, security, and traffic capacity.  There was concern about the security of the Hoover Dam after the 9/11 attacks.  Trucks have to take a detour around Hoover Dam as a security precaution.  However, there are thousands of people who cross the Dam daily, not only just to cross into the other state but to also do some sightseeing.  The bridge will reduce the possibility of an attack at Hoover Dam due to all of the crossing traffic no longer going over the Dam itself.

Hoover Dam Bypass Sept. 09

As of now, wait times to get over the Dam could reach one hour depending on the amount of traffic.  There are checkpoints at which people must stop to make sure nothing dangerous could make its way onto Hoover Dam.  With the bridge, those just wanting to cross state lines will no longer have to worry about waiting a long time just to go a small distance.

For those who want to stay and explore Boulder City, the Hoover Dam, and its surroundings, there are a number of hotels in the city. The newest of the Boulder City hotels is the Hoover Dam Inn, opened in 1986, but renovated in June of 2005. It offers a pool, spa, free Wi-Fi, and a number of other amenities to its guests.

From February 11^th through the 13^th, the historic Boulder Theatre will host the Dam Short Film Festival in Boulder City, Nevada.  This will be the 6^th year it has been running since the first festival in 2005.  The festival will be showing at least 100 films over the 3 day period.

Tickets this year will cost $6 per program.  Throughout the weekend there will be 20 programs to choose from.  Some categories for these programs include drama, showcase, sci-fi, and horror.  On Saturday the 13^th, there will be an “Awards Gala” during which the award-winning films will be screened.  Tickets to this gala are $12.  Buy your tickets early, as the attendance to some programs may fill up quickly.  The ratings for the films range from G to PG-13.

The Dam Short Film Festival was founded by Lee and Anita Lanier in 2003.  Lee worked in film production and worked with digital special effects in movies.  Many of his own short films have been shown at film festivals around the world.  He opened up the Dam Short Film Festival as he noticed the lack of attentions that was being given to short films.  Lee chose Boulder City as the place to host the festival because of the small community feel and vintage downtown locale.

For those looking for a place to stay during the festival and would like to be able to easily see and explore Boulder City, there are a number of hotels to stay in.  One of the newer Boulder City hotels is the Hoover Dam Inn, previously known as the Best Western Lighthouse Inn.  The Hoover Dam Inn was opened in 1986 but was renovated in 2005.  The hotel offers free Wi-Fi and has a pool, spa, and many other amenities available to its guests.

This year in 2010, the 25^th annual Boulder City Fine Arts Festival will be held in Boulder City’s stunning Bicentennial Park.  The festival is produced by the Boulder City Art Guild and will occur on Saturday, April 17^th and Sunday, April 18^th.  Every year, hundreds of artists from the southwestern states come to exhibit their work.

The Boulder City Fine Arts Festival started in 1985 when it was known as the Clark County Artists’ Show.  At this time, there were only a handful of Clark County artists who participated in the event.  In 2001, the name was changed to what it is named now and it was opened up to artists residing in southwestern states that are connected to the Colorado River: Utah, Idaho, Nevada, California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado.  The number of artists and attendees has been increasing over the years due to the including of these surrounding states.

The festival is the annual fundraiser for the Boulder City Art Guild.  This fundraiser provides scholarships for those high school students who plan to fulfill their art inspirations in college.  With more artists and a higher attendance, more students have been able to receive scholarship money for the rising cost of tuition of college and one day might return to the Fine Arts Festival with their own work in hand to sell to the public.

Boulder City Fine Arts Festival

Earlier this week Boulder City approved the construction of an experimental wind turbine in exchange for the power it produces. This new wind turbine is the brainchild of Richard Steinke, chairman of Wind Sail Receptor Inc.

Steinke’s wind turbine promises to be one of the most efficient forms of alternative energy able to generate energy at wind speeds as low as 3 miles per hour, which is better than virtually all the windmills that are currently on the market. Steinke also said that the wind turbine would be able to provide Boulder City with power at “…less than 5 cents per kilowatt.” However, since the turbine is experimental the City Council agreed to let Wind Sail Receptor Inc. to build the turbine and use the land rent free in exchange for the power produced by it free of charge.

The company also plans to build a blade construction facility near the city creating more than 90 jobs for the area. The city hopes that, along with the jobs created by the factory, the wind turbines will help reduce power rates in the city and help them become more self-reliant. With the Colorado River corridor being known for the amount of wind it receives, two or three turbines could make a big difference.

Steinke said that he already has orders for the new turbine, but he needs to use the Boulder City site to test it and perfect the sizing. He plans to make the unit modular so that it is easier to move if it does not work at the selected location.

Boulder City OKs experimental wind turbine