Leaving Las Vegas

Well-
here I am with all the other losers.... McCarran Intl. Airport in LasVegas, NV. We all came here for a good time and I guess most of us got what we paid for. There are only a couple of people at the terminal that look like they might have lost more than they could be happy about.
Holly and I met Brandon, one of my best friends and college roomates. We grew up together, went to college together and now live light years apart- he is in Salt Lake and I am in Nashville. Kind of wierd to not have him around for the last year or so. He and his wife moved to Salt Lake- he works for the Jazz- definitely a dream come true for him.
Well- we all met this weekend in Vegas to have a kind of reunion- stayed with one of thier cousins and walked the strip for a few days.
I was interested in Vegas. It gets so much press... but I found that it really is not what I expected. Did not expect the smoke.Everyone in Vegas smokes. Everyone smokes everywhere. There are very few places that are smoke free... and as a nerdy asthmatic- i was fighting my lungs the whole weekend. Im not sure I could get that much smoke in my lungs if I actually lit up- As a result- It makes an otherwise flashy, sparkling, exciting place kind of feel dingy and trashy.
The other thing I didnt expect was the old people. Vegas is full of old, old people. Not all the pretty people you see on the Monday night TV show. If they are not old- they are big. Big big big. If they arent big- they are wearing clothes that leave too little to the imagination- which truthfully- is fine for the showgirls... but not the grandmas.
Would have gambled more, but i really dont know how. Everything is hard... even the slots... i have no idea how to start playing craps, and even roulette can really be confusing if the table moves fast. Youd think they would want to make it easy to spend money there.
We had a really great time, though. There is something alluring to the millions of lights- and it feels like you spend the whole time looking for your "perfect" Vegas... feeling like it is right around the corner, surely. Maybe the Bellagio.
There is a lot to do in Vegas, though. We had fun on some of the rides and there is always something going on... nothing seems out of place we drove down one neighborhood road on the way home and found five teenagers spitting fire in the street. we watched them for a bit and drove on. In nashville, there would be police on you in five minutes. people would freak. The food is good, the show that we went to was great and the people were fun to watch. that may have been the best part... it was NASCAR weekend... Im sure you can imagine how that changed the Vegas dynamic for us. Probably not the best weekend to gauge an experience. Never seen so many mullets.
The best part of the trip was just spending time with a close friend and remembering how much fun we can have together, especially when there are people around who are asking to be made fun of....
Holly flew out to nashville last night and I am flying out to Chicago tonight to drive home. Looking forward to being home for a bit!