Vegas Baby – Yeah!

I have a theory about Vegas. It’s a town that reflects your mood (am I hippy enough to say your energy??) in a super accentuated kind of way. If you let it, it can really, really bring you down. Who hasn’t felt a little concerned for the state of the human race after a half mile stroll through a casino? Watching a typically massively overweight person feeding electronic quarters (cash is so passé) into the one arm bandit whilst slurping on a super size soft drink. Dead eyes everywhere you look broken only by the green eyed stares of the deeply envious as someone wins big (given they’re playing the quarter machines, maybe up to …oooh, $150….). Or watching the impact of a licensing law that allows – shock horror – drinking on the streets. Cue half yard frozen slushy margaritas and all day amateur drinking hour. Realizing that in this town, given the quirks of Nevada state law, an 18 year old can legally watch the naked girly shows, but not the topless ones (these are licensed to serve alcohol, which the naked bars aren’t, so an 18 year old is denied entry…).

Sure, it has its issues. But here’s a confession. I kind of love Vegas. I could pretend that it’s all down to the new sophisticated image of the town, fine quality dining and world class shows. And yes, we ate great food whilst we were there (albeit at a Thai restaurant in a strip mall – considered the best Thai food in North America but maybe not quite what the Vegas tourism board had in mind). And we have seen some truly remarkable shows there too (this time, Mystere by Cirque du Soleil, which, annoying and slightly pointless baby theme aside, was wonderful in the sense that it genuinely left us both full of wonder…just how long does it take to develop abs like those….??!!). We even checked out a Chihuly exhibition and only turned down Monet for lack of time.

But to be honest what I really love about Vegas is its sheer undaunted brassiness. It’s a town built for people to have fun without even the smallest thought for taste or decorum. It’s big, bold and vaguely psychedelic – they have acre sized fountains tuned to music, a miniature Eiffel tower AND Empire State building, an animatronic giant singing frog (in the “classy” Wynn hotel believe it or not), a volcano that explodes every hour!! How can you not love THAT?

It’s just that you have to fight for your good times. Hold on (hard) to your sense of whimsy and pretend the bad stuff (I’m looking at you, Treasure Island pirate show that has been revamped with a sexy-siren sing-and-dance-off….urrrggghhh) just isn’t there.

Or just bugger it, get a half yard frozen pina colada and go win some big bucks.