Las Vegas
August 19th, 2008 at 2:38 pm (Adventures, Im/Ponderables, No Kids, No Dogs)
I was fascinated by Las Vegas. While Mariela attended her conference, the kids and I saw the typical ’strip’ Las Vegas and experienced a good deal of Vegas off-the-strip. Highlights included running the strip at 6a, when the temperature was a mere 82F. At that time, the streets were cleaned, people staggered back to wherever they slept, and traffic was light. We enjoyed being mistaken for locals in a shoe store. Parts of Vegas reminded us of Albuquerque. Sure, Vegas was hotter. But, both Vegas and Albuquerque are sprawling, one story (mostly) desert cities unconstrained by geographical impediments to growth. The Hoover Dam, Lake Mead, and Red Rock Canyon are all incredibly beautiful. I was envious of the large number of runners and cyclists at Red Rock Canyon enjoying long rides on nearly empty highways.
I suppose the biggest revelation was the orderliness of Las Vegas. For a place that purports to be wild and crazy — you can gamble, drink and smoke just about anywhere — the tourists and locals were incredibly polite and helpful. It struck me that people regulate themselves nicely and easily in Vegas despite the lack of formalized rules. This all made me wonder if Vancouver really needs to regulate everything we do. We are the ‘no fun city’ afterall. Perhaps Vegas reminds us that the norms of civil behavior are enough in most circumstances.
Dave said,
August 21, 2008 at 9:06 am
Interesting insight, and we had the same experience. I wonder if the rest of Vegas is the same, though, especially North Las Vegas (according to “Cops”, no). Casino dealers are paid even less than fast food workers, so there may be some big poverty issues off the Strip.
The casinos and resorts try very, very hard to create a certain atmosphere (and do it very successfully), and they’re heavily invested in it. The Strip is like Disneyland in how everone buys into this illusion. The self-regulation is pretty easy if there’s mass buy-in; if someone points out that the emperor has no clothes, the whole thing might fall apart. It would be interesting to live in Vegas for six months and see what it’s really like.
The tourist side of Las Vegas is great fun, but it’s not reality.
Tad said,
August 26, 2008 at 7:34 pm
Interesting, Dave. Yes, you’re right. I am talking about the strip when I talk about the rules. The buy-in is critical. But that’s what’s so amazing. The illusion is that there are no rules (what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas and all that) … but clearly there are and the visitors to the strip are not able to let go of their non-Vegas-illusion norms of behavior.
We did spend a lot of time off-strip. The kids and I visited a museum in North Las Vegas too. Seemed like many other southwestern cities.