Goodbye, Las Vegas????

The end of my being nomad in the desert may finally be upon me. The project I've been chained to in Nevada for the last 9 months is finally coming to an end. FINALLY....Now those who know me are undoubtedly going to say, "yeah, I've heard that one before," but this time it may actually have some teeth.

Now for the record, let me say that despite all of it's downfalls, Las Vegas isn't as bad as I was expecting. Granted, that's not exactly a glowing endorsement of the place, but it does have its charms and attractions for me. Most notably:

1. Five brewpubs and quite possibly the best draft beer bar in the country. I didn't have to go far to have quality craft beers in this city. This cushioned the blow of having to spend a majority of my last year here.

2. Excellent barbeque. Who would have predicted this? Between Buzz BBQ, Shane's, Famous Dave's and several others I've heard about but haven't tried, this city will satisfy the BBQ lover.

3. Golf. More nice courses at reasonable prices than any place I've ever been. Even cheaper in the summer if you can stand to be out in close to 100-degree heat. Thanks to friends I made out here, I rekindled my love of golf over the last 9 months. Hope I can keep it up back in NY.

Now for the downsides:

1. This entire city seems like one continuous strip-mall, housing development, or office park. Every neighborhood looks the same, regardless of where you are. This is even more depressing considering how hard Vegas has been hit by the foreclosure mess. Seems like 1 out of 3 houses and storefronts are empty.

2. Everything is brown. The ground, the houses, the office buildings, the mountains. It's damned boring for an east-coast lad like myself who loves trees, grass, and seasons.

3. The wife never got a chance to come visit me out here. It would've been nice to take a weekend and party on the strip with Beth. Maybe one day we'll come back out. I definitely won't feel like a tourist since I know the place so well now.

Did you notice something missing between these two lists? I'm completely ambivalent about gambling and casinos. Didn't sit at a single table while I was here and played a grand total of $40 in video poker. I don't view this as a positive or negative. It just doesn't matter to me. Oh...there is one part of the gambling thing that pisses me off. It's truly difficult to find a bar that doesn't have video poker machines built into it! I hate having to put my beer (and/or dinner) on the side because of these awful wastes of space. But I digress...

Here's to more blogging and less traveling! Cheers.