Another exciting new state, a wild city that does its own thing.
LinkedIn tells me I’ve been on this adventure for 3 years and 6 months… but sometimes it feels like much longer. Around the 2 year mark, I remember how everywhere I traveled in America started to blur into one big place. Of course, every place had its quirks. But moving felt effortless because everywhere I went, I found myself in major metro areas with big chain retailers to count on, the same big highways with always-confusing signage, usually even the same foilage. Places were hot in the summer and cold in the winter. People were Republicans, Democrats, and Other. Places felt predictable. I had to work hard to truly delve into the differences. Starting this job back in 2015, I thought I’d find a place that called to me, I’d fall in love, I’d choose to stay and move there. I learned instead that I can live anywhere.
Then I came to Las Vegas. A week ago today I flew into McCarran International. I was in the minority wearing my suit and headed to work among a plane full of travelers bound for casinos, pools, and buffets. One man in the back of the plane called to his friend in the front, “Wait for me!” and grumbled to the rest of us, “If I don’t catch him, he’ll spend all his money in the airport.” Sure enough, as I traveled to baggage claim, I passed by plenty of opportunities to gamble. That was my first indicator that this place was not like the rest of America. It kind of does its own thing.
It’s June in the desert here: high summer, approaching summer solstice. The weather is sunny and rising to 100 degrees Fahrenheit every single day. There’s little grass, usually just red rocks or turf along curbs and sidewalks in places where grass would normally grow. In the distance rise sage-and-dirt covered desert mountains, massive alien-looking peaks shrouded in pure heat. Despite the temperatures, though, flowers are still blooming all over the city: flame-colored Mexican Bird of Paradise, Oleander, purple-flowering Texas Ranger. Even the peppercorn trees bear cute pink berries yet to ripen to black for grinding.
Coming from the Midwest, where everyone is extremely nice, even overwhelmingly, smotheringly nice, Las Vegas residents are shockingly, distinctively respectful of one another’s space and determined to be authentically themselves. This leads to some very interesting local characters on the streets, from normal people who casually wear wild outfits to homeless mental cases who may be dangerous. There are large numbers of roaming vagrants with suitcases in tow; unlike in other cities, where these disenfranchised people tend to project an air of self-pity, these people seem rather proud.
I get the sense that truly anything goes here. Very little raises eyebrows.
I am absolutely fascinated by the fact that Las Vegas exists at all, especially on the scale that it does today. Technically, a desert plain should have been sparsely populated and hostile to visitors. Instead, it attracts them in droves, and is known for having some of America’s best entertainment.
Gambling isn’t my favorite way to spend time or money, so while I will probably visit the strip and hotels for people-watching, I’m likely to spend more time in nature around Las Vegas, exploring the out-of-the-way and quirky, and eating my way through the most alluring selection of restaurants that I’ve seen in my life. (Seriously, I’m not “into” food, but Vegas food excites me. Get out with your tacos and kolaches, Texas.)
I’m really looking forward to this one.
~ The Dauntless Princess ~