What Happens in Vegas…

Las Vegas is not for me. 

While there were some great moments, for the most part I found myself irritated & annoyed by the mob of drunken people crowding the sidewalks who would rather crash headfirst into me than to inconvenience themselves with deviating from their path.  Every five feet I encountered yet another individual trying to hand me a stack of cards promising to deliver a girl directly to my hotel room in 20 minutes or less.  Those who took the cards would soon toss them to the ground, littering the sidewalks with pictures of naked women in various poses & stages of undress.

On our adventure we would find hypodermic needles casually tossed into the bushes.  We were careful to watch were we stepped as there were broken beer bottles all over & our flip flops would do little to protect our feet.  Traffic on the strip is insane.  That is not to say that it is dangerous as the cars are simply moving much too slow most of the time for any major injuries to occur.  It is insane because you cannot get anywhere when you are on the strip, traffic crawls.

In Vegas there are countless ways to spend your money but there isn’t much of anything to do.  If you don’t drink or aren’t willing to squander all of your vacation savings at the blackjack table or in a slot machine, Vegas has little to offer.  Since I don’t drink and I don’t gamble much, I would be on a quest to find the things which Vegas actually did offer to someone such as myself.

One of the first things I decided to do in Vegas was to take in one of their famous “shows”.  I wanted something that would dazzle me but still retain the Vegas image of Sin City.  I decided to attend a show called Fantasy, “The sexiest show in Vegas” according to AOL City Guide.  The show did not disappoint.  There was singing and dancing, beautiful women and a very funny comedian.  The show had it all.  It was money well spent.

I accomplished my goal of riding on a roller coaster that goes upside down.  I expected a roller coaster in downtown Las Vegas to be an expensive ride, so I contemplated whether or not I should bother to check it out.  As is usually the case, my girlfriend encouraged me enough that we went to find out how much it would cost.  The price seemed reasonable, though I probably could have spent a little more somewhere else for an all day pass.  We bought our tickets and off we went. 

I rode on my first roller coaster last summer in Wisconsin Dells so riding on this one would be a breeze.  As we began to climb to the top of the first drop it seemed like it was taking forever and the higher we climbed the more excited I became.  When we dropped I began laughing and yelling, it was so much fun to be whirling around over Las Vegas Boulevard on a roller coaster.  When we finally approached the loop I was excited to be knocking yet another goal off of my list.  Being upside down on the roller coaster was a really fun time and as we came out of the loop we were unexpectedly turned upside down again.  It was a great time and I can’t wait to ride more roller coasters in the future.

Some other things we did while in Vegas cost us absolutely nothing.  Something I’ve wanted to see for a long time are the fountains at the Bellagio.  In the daytime they are neat, but at night they are awesome.  For the frugal traveller, the fountains are definitely worth seeing.  Another free spectacle is the performance at Treasure Island which is a mixture of live actors, fire and fireworks.  We weren’t able to fully enjoy the show as the crowd was simply too large to get a good view.  I recommend arriving early enough to get a good spot if you want to see this performance.  When we were there it was impossible to walk as the crowd was so thick.

One goal that I put on my list but never in a million years thought I would have the opportunity to accomplish is to shoot a machine gun.  I thought that it would be really fun and exhilarating to shoot a fully automatic machine gun so I wrote it on my list of goals on a whim.  When we arrived in Vegas one of the first things I saw was an advertisement to shoot a machine gun.  Unfortunately I was unable to complete this goal because I arrived after they had closed on our last night in town.  The good thing about this is that I now know that there is a real possibility of actually doing something I never really thought I would ever have a chance at doing, which makes me excited.  Maybe when I am in Vegas to complete my goal of attending the Las Vegas Porn Star Convention I can shoot a machine gun too!

Viva Las Vegas!