Growing on me . . .

I have now been in Vegas for almost 60 hours, and I must admit, the town has started to grow on me. I see how the town can actually be very enjoyable under the right circumstances. After my last post, you could probably guess it was easy for me to have a negative first impression just based on my trip here.

There are definitely a few things I still don't enjoy, but the presentation of everything is just so over the top you have to experience it to believe it. Everything is larger than life, beyond belief, and out of control, but that's precisely what makes it so hard to ignore. I'm here on business so any exploring and sightseeing has felt extremely rushed, but I managed to walk up and down the strip on Monday night in an attempt to find a plain sandwich (success!) and chocolate milk (no success).

During this exploration, I noticed that Vegas is not really a town to experience alone. I really wish Stac would have been able to tag along. The whole town is really a violent attack on your senses, particularly your sight and hearing. I witnessed the first official eruption of the volcano at one of the casinos – maybe the Mirage? The water show at the Bellagio was very interesting. Again, there's no real purpose to these things other than to get your attention and potentially lure you in to spend some money.

I am shocked and amazed at the amount of money flowing through this city. Apparently the people visiting Vegas this week are either trying to forget the ever gloomy economic situation or they have somehow managed to thrive while the rest of the world is suffering. The two biggest events taking place this week are the baseball winter meetings and the annual rodeo, which would explain all of the cowboy hats on the trip down. I've seen a few baseball players and their entourage of supporters, but nobody all that famous.

I've wondered how many frozen drinks Stacey would have consumed by now. I've wondered why I can buy a bottle of beer in the convenience store but not a chocolate milk. I've determined that everything costs at least twice as much as it probably should. I've determined that I'm still a kid at heart because the FAO Schwartz store was one of my favorite places to visit. I've decided that if we're able to somehow find the right deal, Stac and I are returning together for her annual birthday get-away. Typically we just go somewhere in the Cities, but I think we'd have a lot of fun spending a few days together in Vegas.