Viva Las Vegas

Las Vegas... or as I like to call it, the poor man's vacation. 

I don't know what it is about the promise of a weekend in Vegas that gets 20 somethings all up in arms but it never fails. College students, entry-level employees, and other hedonists alike love to flock to the desert oasis frequently, ignoring that it's a totally inconvenient five hour journey into the desert. 

I wonder who's the genius that created Vegas? 

I mean, it's in the middle of the Nevada desert. NE-VA-DA. That's one of those states that you should forget exists like Iowa or Montana. I couldn't even tell you Nevada's state capital yet some entrepreneurial genius threw up some glorified Christmas lights, upped all the prices, pieced together a few shows, threw in some circus acts, show girls, and slot machines and somehow convinced idiots everywhere that the scorching hot, cigarette smoke-choked and very fittingly-named "Sin City" was the place to be. 

What a crock. I'd rather be in Mexico. At least there I don't have to worry about spending $300 a night on a hotel room that I have to walk 2 miles (inside of the hotel) to get to. If I'm going to go to a poor, run-down region flooded with stupid looking tourists (mostly from LA) I definitely don't want to spend a lot of money doing it and I might as well get some good street tacos and chicle (pronounced chick-lay and Spanish for "please help me, I have to raise enough money so that my mother will let me sleep inside the house tonight"). 

I can imagine Mr. Smith (that's his name, the creator of Vegas) right now- kicking back in some frigid, yet luxurious location like a cabin in Aspen, laughing at how he's duped us all into vacationing in the sweltering hell hole that is Vegas. 

Perhaps I'm just bitter. 

I just got a phone call from 1 of 10 of my friends that are headed to Vegas right now on a road trip. I know that they're going to come back with a bunch of fun stories that I'm going to be too annoyed to suffer through because I decided not to go.  

Instead I opted to be a responsible adult. I'm supposed to be saving money. I'm not in college anymore. I have so many errands to run this weekend... blah blah blah. I fed my friends a ton of excuses and fed the seconds to myself as reassurance. Truth is, no one should turn down a trip from LA to Vegas... it's like trading one nightmare for another and at least Vegas has free drinks while gambling.