Vague Ass

see all photos »

After a brief detour back to Los Angeles (which confirmed I would be happy never to drive I-10 again), we headed back east, north on 15 and into Nevada. As many of you know, there's not much in Nevada. It is totally barren and was hot as hell -- the kind of terrain I imagine Jean-Paul Sartre dreamed of at night.

Finally, after many hours of hauling across the wasteland, we pulled into Vegas, which was supposed to be a little oasis in the middle of the desert, but I can't really say that it felt that way. As we drove up the strip, the temperature on the dash rose and rose. And rose.

Is it okay to say that I never want to go back to Vegas again?

see all photos »

We finally got to Circus Circus, which lived up to its name. It's the family-themed hotel on the strip and it even has a KOA Kampground, but only really for RVs. We agreed it would've been fun to say we tent-camped on the strip in Vegas, but we also agreed that having air conditioning in a hotel room was probably a lot better than those bragging rights.

As you can probably guess, it was too hot to do anything in Vegas. We decided to treat ourselves to a civilized, grown-up meal, which occurred at The Venetian, through which a replica of the Grand Canal runs. There was also an opera singer in the "piazza" outside the restaurant we ate in. It was just like being in Venice!

see all photos »

In the morning we had a quick breakfast and dropped a dollar in the slot machine before we left, because as Jon points out, it's bad luck to go to Vegas and not gamble. We perhaps would have spent some time at the tables if we had gotten there earlier, but it didn't happen. As Jon also points out, the only reason we stopped in Vegas is really because it was on the way to Zion & Bryce.

Is it okay to say that I never want to go back to Vegas again? I never want to go back to Vegas again. On the other hand, in the dead of IC winter, if it's warmer in Vegas, I could see the appeal. (Especially because of the five places you can fly to directly from the Cedar Rapids Airport, Vegas happens to be one of them. Shocker.)

see all photos »

Anyway, I am obviously conflicted. As we wandered around the Venetian, I kept thinking how fun it would be to be behind the scenes in Vegas -- to go for a year, work there, see how the whole machine ticked, and then write a funny book about it all the weird people who live and work in Vegas and what life there is like (besides hot). Luckily, I am sure that somebody has already done this, because obviously it wouldn't be as fun as I am imagining it in my head (incidentally most things in life are not as fun as I imagine them to be in my head). So if anybody knows of a good story about Vegas, fiction or non, that isn't entirely about gambling, please let me know.

I was not sad to see Vegas go, especially because heading to Zion was an exciting prospect. In part because I heard it would be cooler in Utah...