Oh, Vegas. Where prostitution is legal (somewhat), you can walk the streets with a beer, and become a millionaire (or lose thousands of dollars) in one night. I guess Vegas is something you really need to experience once; whether you want to experience it again is entirely another story. While I had fun there, I don’t see myself going back anytime in the near future.
While New York is known as “the city that never sleeps,” I really think that the term applies more aptly to Vegas. It’s easy to envision yourself becoming something like Raoul Duke from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by spending more than 4 nights there…time just blends into itself. Any time of the night you can walk around the strip, into any casino. It’s a pretty depressing sight seeing a middle aged man playing Kitty Glitter slot machines at 4 in the morning with glazed eyes hoping to win big.
It’s virtually impossible to walk anywhere without someone accosting you to pawn off whatever it is their selling (even in your own hotel)…and to be honest, 9 Latino guys (or girls) on one corner handing out prostitution call cards is pretty excessive. I would never take my kids to Vegas…those guys would hand a two year old a card with a naked girl on it. They’re like machines. Vegas doesn’t WANT your kids there…and they make it a point to continuously try to make Vegas less kid-friendly. Kids don’t gamble, and they don’t drink. Vegas doesn’t profit off of kids – and it doesn’t profit off of parents dragging their kids along. The hotel we stayed in, the Excalibur, is known as one of the more “kid friendly” hotels but you can still see half naked women dancing in the Party Pit or on top of bars at 10 pm on a Saturday night. The only thing “kid friendly” about it is the fake Spongebob statue on the edge of the casino floor or the basement arcade.
In Vegas everything is fake, and everything is expensive. Fake atmospheres, fake actors, fake “outdoor” shops inside hotels. Only in Vegas can you walk around the streets of Italy or take a gondola ride…inside a hotel! You can meet…a fake Elvis! You can go in…a fake pyramid! Stand in front of…a fake Eiffel Tower! The novelty is amusing, but when each hotel blends into the next, you realize you’ve gone into sensory overload. It’s just hotel after hotel and they’re all competing with each other to be the biggest or have the best attractions. When a hotel isn’t profiting or its novelty has worn off, they just shut it down, implode it, and build another one (like the Sahara which closed the second day we were there). In the middle of the desert, it’s amazing how much water and electricity are used up in a single hour. It really is a city that was built on crime, greed, and mass over consumption.
For me, the best part was going to “Old Vegas” – Fremont Street, AKA “the white trash part of Vegas” (as the Margaritaville gift shop employee sagely remarked). That’s the only place you can find a bottle of domestic beer for less than $5 and have any prayer of winning off of a slot machine. Yes, the majority of the people there are on a lower economic scale than the ritzy strip, but it’s much more laid back and to be honest, fun. The next time I go I will be staying in the Golden Nugget and spending most of my time on Fremont.
There are certain parts of the strip that are a welcome break from the never ending flow of people and money. The Bellagio fountains at night are probably one of the more classy (and free) parts of the strip. And if you’re not a high roller and are just there to sight-see, you can do Vegas pretty cheap. If you like people watching, there’s lots of fresh meat.
While Vegas was fun, I would never live there. If I hear “water water one dollar,” “where you guys from?” or the clicking of prostitution cards one more time in the next 3 years I will probably rip someone’s throat out. After our 4 days there we were surprisingly excited to go back to boring Lansing. Save Vegas for a weekend trip only. Don’t get me wrong, I had fun, but you can give me a beach any day.
laura | robertson 