Las Vegas - The Pros, Cons and Alternatives
Saturday October 25, 2008
Don't try this at home, folks. I left Sedona on Wednesday, regrouped at home, and then drove to Las Vegas on Friday for a business meeting. The reason I caution you about a move like this is beacause the culture shock is just too great. Imagine the healing, restorative nature of the beautiful Red Rocks one day and the garish lighting, crowded casinos, and sensory overload of Vegas the next. It was enough to make me turn around and head back over Hoover Dam into the vast expanses of the desert Southwest.But I didn't go and had a marvelous experience with colleagues at a glassy second floor lounge overlooking the Bellagio fountain and the masses of people below on the strip. Trader Vic's (it's not the Trader Vic's of my youth in San Francisco, anymore) has a second floor "Lava Lounge" that is a great space - removed from the noise of the streets, but somehow connected to the excitement that is Vegas. That was a real plus.
Now for the down side (another down side?) - the hawkers are back on the streets pushing prostitution and the streets are littered with cards of scantily clad women. Couple that with suggestive billboards so large you can't avoid them, and you'll conclude that Vegas is definitely not a place for families.
As I wound my way through the restaurants and casino of my large hotel, I thought of a recent trip to Santa Fe and the Hilton Buffalo Thunder Resort & Casino where hotel guests are sheltered from the noise of the casino, can relax in relative quiet in an elegant, art-filled lobby and head, when ready, downstairs to gamble.
Photo Credit: Elizabeth R. Rose - View from the Lava Lounge
Comments
What a prudish reaction to something known beyond the borders of the land…everybody knows that Vegas is where you trespass the moral lines and do things that stay in Vegas…or am I the only sober soul around these days??? Btw…ever turned on TV in virtually any hotel room…noticed the adult movies on there for grabs? So no family should go there either…in a hotel that is.
Liz, I think “sensory overload” is the best description I’ve ever read about Vegas, as it is today. Although I think of myself as being “with it” to a certain degree, the street hawkers were an entirely new experience for me.
Also the experience of having a scruffy gent sidle up to me in a casino and ask if I “wanna buy a diamond,” while flashing a gaudy 5 caret cubic zirconium in my face, was a bit unnerving. The casino employee I reported him to seemed blase – Vegas, as usual, I suppose.
Having said that, the hotels on the strip are an awesome, if overwhelming sight, especially at night. (Not that I’d want to walk the strip at night.)
I was quite happy to return home to my own little oasis.
Perhaps I should write an article to prepare first timers or those who haven’t been awhile for the realities of Vegas as I experienced it. I should have suspected something when the first thing that the desk clerk at the hotel told me was “don’t move anything in the mini-bar as it is measured by a scale.” I, of course, asked if I could use my mini-bar to refrigerate a Diet Coke and the answer was a resounding no!
Hmmmm treated like a criminal on check in!
Liz, you know I love ya, but I also love Vegas! Methinks that people who can’t take the sensory overload should stay away from Vegas. Meanwhile, those of us who lead quiet lives at home but love to bust out and roll the dice at 4 am should just let it all hang out. Within reason, of course. Set a gambling budget. If you’re going to drink to excess, do it nearby to your hotel and take a cab. Don’t swap any bodily fluids with anyone you aren’t committed to.
But walking with Liz, I saw a fun town with dancing lighted fountains and awesome hotel decor. I saw a fun run of the American Osteopathic Association convention at 6 am go past my craps table where I had just made 4 different numbers and won the Fire Bet (25x odds!) Yes, it’s sensory overload, but you have to LIVE sometimes! Jump up and down and cheer when your machine hits a jackport or your Yo ‘Leven comes up! Have some fun, get the endorphins going in your brain! Sing along with the tunes of the 80’s they are playing overhead. Go to Margaritaville and eat the giant plate of Volcano Nachos and sing along with the other Parrotheads! It’s OK to have fun in Vegas. In fact, it’s required!
I love sensory input but overload is different for each of us. Bright lights and fountains are great sensory input. Just as is dawn over the Red Rocks in Sedona. Now, Ms. W…. why would one want to gamble in the wee hours of the morning if one loves all the noise, hype and lights of Vegas. Why not gamble at 10pm with all the other sensory overload enthusiasts. Huh? Huh?
Franny, walking the Strip, day or night, is very safe. It is well patrolled by police, and Vegas is highly invested on the Strip being a safe place for everyone.
It is very crowded to walk the Strip in late afternoon and evening, so that just isn’t pleasant for me as a fitness walker. Instead, the time to walk it and enjoy the lights is 4 am till dawn, and then enjoy it in daylight from dawn till 9 or 10 am. At that time of day, you will see lots of runners and fitness walkers out on the Strip and just a few other people. You can walk through the casinos easily at that time as well and appreciate the decor, including the Forum Shops and many of the other casino malls as a way to beat hot or cold weather.
Also, the guys advertising the girls are gone by 4 am and they don’t come back till later in the day. They aren’t pimps, they are just day laborers who make money only by handing out the cards.
The stakes at the tables go up in the evening, and I am an early riser and a cheap gambler. I usually start off with blackjack, then take a nice long walk up the Strip when only the walkers and runners are out, then head to a poker tournament or craps table that has opened up, then alternate craps and blackjack and taking naps
But when it’s your last morning and you’ve got to get in your fun before the plane takes off, Vegas is there 24/7 to provide fun.
I think the ideal time for a walk on the strip would be about an hour before dawn…hopefully the lights would be there and the hawkers gone and most of the people would be in the casinos or in bed. Could be rather pretty… and then to see the sun come up. Of course the best for me is watching the sun come up as I head out to the desert on my way home!