The Great Mesquite, Nevada Run.
One of the better things about living in Utah is being so close to Nevada. Now, some of you might think that that's not so great. Listen...when you live in a town with no fast food, no bars or nightly entertainment, and where the liquor store is actually located inside another business that you'd rather not, uh, support, you can come talk to me after you've lived like that. Nevada would be looking pretty good to you, too. Hell, living in Utah is makes anything else look great. It's sort of like beer goggles. *hic*
So we had a chance to run down to Mesquite, Nevada last night with some friends of ours. We drank lots of free drinks and gambled, kenoed, pokered, and slotted our way through the casino. Then we had dinner at a really great steak house, and went back for more gambling. Not that we're huge gamblers, really. We're sort of over that since Nevada has always been close to where we lived. We play the penny stuff now since we're pretty sure it's about the wheels and bells and dumb music. We usually play black jack, too. Because machines really are "bandits." And we sent limits. It's all about discipline.
And boredom. We came home this afternoon because all we can really take of that Nevada stuff is about one long night. After that it's just boring. Boring.
The drive to Mesquite is really pretty. Right outside of St. George, Utah, you go into Arizona for just a teeny tiny corner, then the highway literally plunges through the Virgin River Gorge. This is the most gnarly, rugged, desert rock canyon I've seen, and I've seen plenty. Seriously, this place looks like the album cover to "Houses of the Holy" without the naked blonde kids, though. I've seen Desert Big Horn Sheep along this highway, climbling on the rock. When you finally come out on the other side of the gorge, you are looking into the Basin & Range of Nevada. It's austere desert with huge mountains in the distance. There is the town of Beaver Dam, Arizona, then voila! The garish lights of Mesquite are right there, as is the "Welcome to Nevada" sign. This is the fastest growing town in the United States right now. A lot of old people live there...it's becoming some kind of retirement mecca because it's not real cold there, ever. And if you're retired, and sort of better off than most, and into gambling or golf, this is your town.
We had a needed break, and we took it. In fact, we don't know when we'll get to Nevada again. We aren't sure if that's a destination in our future because we have so many other things to do to prepare for the big move. As sort of sad as that thought is, I am completely excited to move to New Orleans. It's no Nevada, and in a good way at that. It has a helluva lot more going on entertainment-wise. They have these things called "bars" and people go there and listen to other people play music--I think they're called "bands." Cool, huh?
So we had a chance to run down to Mesquite, Nevada last night with some friends of ours. We drank lots of free drinks and gambled, kenoed, pokered, and slotted our way through the casino. Then we had dinner at a really great steak house, and went back for more gambling. Not that we're huge gamblers, really. We're sort of over that since Nevada has always been close to where we lived. We play the penny stuff now since we're pretty sure it's about the wheels and bells and dumb music. We usually play black jack, too. Because machines really are "bandits." And we sent limits. It's all about discipline.
And boredom. We came home this afternoon because all we can really take of that Nevada stuff is about one long night. After that it's just boring. Boring.
The drive to Mesquite is really pretty. Right outside of St. George, Utah, you go into Arizona for just a teeny tiny corner, then the highway literally plunges through the Virgin River Gorge. This is the most gnarly, rugged, desert rock canyon I've seen, and I've seen plenty. Seriously, this place looks like the album cover to "Houses of the Holy" without the naked blonde kids, though. I've seen Desert Big Horn Sheep along this highway, climbling on the rock. When you finally come out on the other side of the gorge, you are looking into the Basin & Range of Nevada. It's austere desert with huge mountains in the distance. There is the town of Beaver Dam, Arizona, then voila! The garish lights of Mesquite are right there, as is the "Welcome to Nevada" sign. This is the fastest growing town in the United States right now. A lot of old people live there...it's becoming some kind of retirement mecca because it's not real cold there, ever. And if you're retired, and sort of better off than most, and into gambling or golf, this is your town.
We had a needed break, and we took it. In fact, we don't know when we'll get to Nevada again. We aren't sure if that's a destination in our future because we have so many other things to do to prepare for the big move. As sort of sad as that thought is, I am completely excited to move to New Orleans. It's no Nevada, and in a good way at that. It has a helluva lot more going on entertainment-wise. They have these things called "bars" and people go there and listen to other people play music--I think they're called "bands." Cool, huh?
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