Las Vegas, NV 2013

We drove to Las Vegas for a fun night out. I've never been to Vegas or Nevada before so I didn't know what to expect. I don't enjoy gambling and we weren't planning on seeing a show, so I wasn't sure if I would like it, but I did! It's hard to explain what I love about it, but let me try. First off, it's totally cheesy. This might sound like a bad thing, but I think there is a place for everything. Cheesiness invading day-to-day life can be threatening to living an authentic life. But cheesiness in Vegas is a fun release from real life. For example, our hotel was an Egyptian-style pyramid. Ridiculous but fun. The hotel next to us looked like a castle. The strip has replicas of both the Brooklyn Bridge and the Eiffel Tower a short distance from one another, as if the two hotels were attempting to out-cheese each other. Feel free to use that as an expression: "out-cheese each other."

Welcome to Nevada!

See our pyramid in the distance?

The inside of our pyramid hotel (The Luxor)

The other thing I liked was that our room was really nice but extremely affordable. It cost less than we spend on economy hotels in other parts of the country. This because they expect that on average you will spend a lot more on gambling. Except I don't gamble, and on average, Kevin wins a little modest amount whenever he gambles.

Nice room with a  view (Kevin is bummed because we couldn't Facetime James)

Crazy view out of our window!

I also liked the general "fun night out" vibe of Vegas. We were only there in the evening, but the way the hotels and casinos are set up, they are dark all day long so it always feels like it's a fun night out even if it's early afternoon and you haven't even left your hotel yet. I feel like that has a lot of potential if you're body is still in a different time zone. It also has a lot of promise if like me, you prefer to party in the afternoon when you have a lot of energy, rather than in the evening when you're tired.

Drinks at Aurora, our hotel bar

The strip could have better more direct access over the highways or better signs through the hotels if you try to move inside, but generally, I liked being able to walk along the strip rather than having to drive or take a cab somewhere far away. I might have been a little sensitive though since temperatures were above 100 degress and my shoes were a little uncomfortable, but overall, walking up and down outside is part of  the fun.

Walking to the strip

Fun on the strip with Showgirls! Kevin looks pleased.

We had dinner at a Thai restaurant called Sea, and I was a little dubious because we have really good food in New York, but it was amazing. I wish it had been less amazing or that the portions were smaller because I definitely ate too much. It made the rest of my walk both more necessary and more difficult.

Fountain show at the Bellagio, walking along the strip after dinner

The strip at night

I even liked going into the casinos even though I didn't personally participate. Some of them are really fun to walk around. The Cosmopolitan was the fanciest one I saw, probably because it's relatively new compared to the others. It's cheese factor was low, however, compared to more playful ones like Paris where everything was designed to look like Parisian sites and bistros. Kevin did take advantage of the gambling. He enjoys being able to make random sports bets in Vegas since there are only a few places in the country where you can do that. He also won a little money at black jack. So overall, a very successful date night for both of us.

The Cosmopolitan casino