Las Vegas
I’d heard many things about Vegas. I had the impression there would be gambling and I knew people tended to get married there on a whim. What I wasn’t prepared for was the pure vulgarity of the place. It seems to me, quite literally, that it’s a city that will compromise any and all values for the pursuit of financial gain. There aren’t any seats in lobbies of hotels because they want you to rest only in front of a slot machine. They’ll sell you enormous yard-high daiquiris and let you carry them anywhere – on the streets, into other casinos and restaurants, even into the taxis, as long as it means that your judgment becomes sufficiently impaired that you dig mindlessly into your wallet. It’s not a dangerous place, in the immediate sense. But it doesn’t feel like a place where I’d want to take my kids. Everyone is either drunk or tied by a retractable leash to a slot machine or wearing nearly no clothes in order to display artificial boobs. You can smoke anywhere too, as long as you’ve got money. No one cares about my beautiful pink lungs.
Ironically, we went to Las Vegas for a wedding. At The Little Chapel of the Flowers. A real white little chapel, surrounded by carefully groomed Astroturf grounds with a white gazebo, attached flower shop and photography studio, and just next door to an adult video store and a replica of the CN tower. In the span of 30 minutes, we saw 6 brides come and go. The service was performed by a nice, if not a bit Dr-Phil-like man, who informed us that the ceremony was being filmed both for Kim and Keith’s DVD and also to be shown live on the internet. Also, we had to get off the property immediately following the ceremony and not take any personal pictures; that costs extra.
I had a small taste of the American two-tiered airport system. I could go inside and wait in line like I always thought we had to do, to check-in. OR, I could pay the guy on the sidewalk $2 and he checks me in right away.
Other things Americans do that are a bit less logical:
They charge $1.49 for a single quarter pounder with cheese and only $1.00 for a double. They charge $1.29 for a small fry and $1.00 for a medium.
That explains so much.
2 comments:
Hee hee. Glad you had an eye-opening time - made me never want to go. Mary
I went there for the first time in November of '5 to see my wife's parents. You're right. The place is total rubbish, especially the smell due to the smoking.
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