We chose to come to Las Vegas because there is a Thousand Trails campground here (so we can stay "for free" - actually $3/night to get a 50A site), we could get a reservation, it was a reasonable drive from where we were (Palm Desert) and where we are going (Quartzsite). We were a little apprehensive about whether we could fit into the sites, but found that there are some that work for us. Our impressions from coming here a couple of years ago were not great, but we decided to give it another shot.
Well... our impressions are really not improving... it is hard to put a finger on what causes the discomfort... the campground isn't great but we've met nice folks and the management is obviously trying to keep it nice. We're not in the "prime" part of town (near the casinos on the strip), but we're not here for gambling, and other than just to see the lights, we really don't need to be on the strip. There are good stores nearby for shopping.
It just seems that there is an oppression here. I believe that it is spiritual and that I am discerning something that I cannot see. I do see a lot of people who seem to be down on their luck - both here in the campground and as we drive around. We hear a lot of emergency vehicles passing by on the main road that is near where we are parked. Whenever we are driving around, there are lots of people waiting at bus stops wherever we go, and they almost all seem to look hopeless.
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| Last Monday, we went to an American Legion Post to turn in some American flags that we had been carrying around that needed to be appropriately destroyed. While Dwayne was inside turning in the flags, I took a picture of the view across the road, noting the tent dwellers over there. As we turned left out of the lot and drove further down that road (Veterans Memorial Drive), we saw probably 25-30 tents along about a third of a mile of roadway. Since it is near the American Legion and since the name of the road is Veterans Memorial, it makes me think that the residents are veterans and they are there so they can get services from the Post. |
It just leaves an overall feeling of depression for me. Just my thoughts...
On Wednesday, we went over to the west side of town and found a totally different impression...
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| We had a Restaurant.com certificate to Anise Tapas and Grill. |
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| We like tapas places because we can order a variety of items and share and get to try a lot of things! |
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| Anise was an Israeli/Mediterranean type of restaurant - one of the items we got were Mousaka sliders. Everything was delicious! |
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| After lunch, we stopped at a couple of places - Costco and Homegoods - that do not seem to have locations on our side of town. I saw this HUGE bag of chocolates that was on special... |
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| Marked down from $299.99 to $69.00!!! |
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| 22 pounds of European dark chocolate! It was tempting!!! |
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| The mirrored ball was also on special... |
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| Originally $1299.99 marked down to $650. It could remind us of our C&W dancing days! But... we ultimately decided it was a bit too large to get into the bus... |
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| There are a LOT of TV monitors in the place - I could easily see 18 from where I was sitting, and Dwayne counted 17 from his side of the table. |
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| On our way back to the campground, since it was after dark, we decided to take a drive down Las Vegas Boulevard to see the lights. The Stratosphere... |
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| Treasure Island... |
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| ...with its pirate ship out front... |
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| Flamingo |
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| Caesar in front of Caesar's Palace |
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| The light out the top of the Luxor pyramid (and a bus with Penn & Teller ad on the side). Traffic was stopped frequently enough that I was able to get pictures even as we were driving. |
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