For the last 15 years or so I have traveled to Las Vegas for
3 days in the summer. It’s a guys trip that started out as a “We should go to
Vegas” idea developed while we were a few rounds in to our high roller card
night at my buddy’s house. By high roller, I mean nickel, dime, quarter bets
with a $5 buy in. Did I mention yet that we’re all teachers?
In the early years I got exactly $300 out of the bank because
we didn’t really have enough money to justify my going on a trip by myself. Let’s
just say that on several of those trips I had to decide between lunch on the
last day and one more shot at the black jack table. Fortunately, I’m in a
better financial position today and have enjoyed both eating and gambling on
the final day of our trip.
We don’t usually win, but we have fun and haven’t done
anything that would necessitate the saying “What happens in Vegas stays in
Vegas!”
When I thought of the blog discussion prompt, I wasn’t
really sure what I was going to write about. Then, I remembered one of our
trips a few years ago and it became very obvious that it would fit nicely for
this week’s blog.
When we go to Vegas we drive (despite my friend Mike’s strong desire to fly). We do this for a
few reasons. First, it only takes four hours and 30 minutes door to door to get
to Vegas from the West side of town where we live. If you fly, you have about
the same amount of time invested with getting to the airport early, waiting for
your flight, the flight, navigating through the airport and grabbing a taxi.
Second, with four or five of us splitting gas, the trip to Vegas is like $20
apiece, which is much cheaper than a flight. And last but not least, it’s nice
to have a car to get around while you are there so you don’t have to rely on
expensive taxis that test your patience while you wait in traffic and watch the
price continue to rise.
In regards to mapping our trip, we typically don’t do much
mapping. However, one year we decided to do just that. We mapped Vegas based on
places we wanted to make sure we went to. When I was reading the prompt for the
blog, one of the guiding questions was whether or not the map was multi-tiered
or not. At first I didn’t think our map was, but if I’m understanding layers
correctly then our map did include multiple layers.
The map was as varied as our personalities. There were six
layers to our map. The first layer was mutually agreed upon places that we all
really wanted to go to but never had before. One of the places was the pawn
shop from the television show Pawn Stars because we all enjoyed the show. When
we got there, there was a line wrapped around the block and no one was moving. We
didn’t even stop the car on that one! Another place on the map was the
Stratosphere hotel so the non-adventurous ones of the group could watch the
crazy ones go up to the top and ride the rides. I think you can guess which one
I am! There were a few other places on that portion of the map, but the last
one was The Sahara Casino. This casino was kind of run-down and had $1 black
jack (which is why we first went there). We made sure we went there every time
we were in Vegas for “old time’s sake” and we heard it would be demolished in
the near future (and it was).
The rest of the map was sectioned off by each individual person
in the group. We each got to choose one or two places we had never been to and
wanted to make sure we got to. For me, that year was special because my Aunt
had just passed away and she always went to the Flamingo Hotel and Casino. She
took me there when I turned 21 for my first trip to Vegas and gave me a $100
chip to play a hand of black jack. I wound up winning $1000. So I wanted to go
there and play an honorary hand of black jack, which I lost so I don’t know
what that says J
My other friends each had their reasons for why they wanted
to go to their destinations on the map. Andrew just wanted to watch soccer and
make small baseball bets, so we went to the sports book at Caesar’s Palace.
Mike is the cheapest person in the group, so he wanted to go downtown to the
old casinos that still offered cheap black jack. Doug is a friend of mine who
looks like Buddy from the cake boss and everyone tells him that, so he wanted
to go to Carlo’s Bakery at the Venetian. My other friend Jay just likes to play
craps and drink Diet Coke with Jack Daniels, so he chose Casino Royale, a dive
casino that offers 100X odds (whatever that means).
Even when we don’t map out our trip, we still do the same
types of things based on the same personalities. That’s true I guess of all of
my travels. Usually it is just based on my kids J
Adam,
ReplyDeleteThis is such a fun post. Your voice is very conversational and I appreciate how you got from the mapping to the personalities of each of your friends, as well as yourself. Before I started my blog, I had the same concern as you--that I hardly use maps, but somehow these prompts just keep playing out, don't they? It sounds like you have a good group of teacher friends, and that is definitely important. Thanks for sharing your story!
Hi Adam,
ReplyDeleteI loved this blog post. I enjoyed the way you played with your audience and you held my attention throughout the entire post. I think your example was perfect! I wish I would've used something like this in my blog post. I don't think we realize how much "mapping" we do. I know I definitely don't because my friends and I have made similar maps when traveling to Vegas. I am the non drinker of the group,so my destinations usually get vetoed due to the lack of liquor.
Thanks for sharing a personal story! Loved it!
Hi Adam
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your blog, because it speaks to my current vacation plans. I am going with some friends to Vegas, and in terms of mapping, we are doing exactly what you discussed. All four of us have plans of individual places that we want to go for our own reasons, but we all have shared locations that we want to visit. I am the only one in my group that has gone before, so of course we are going to see all of the touristy locations.
I really enjoyed how you discussed how mapping can have layers, especially when done with a group of people. I also feel like Vegas isn't really a place where you map just because it is considered a place where you "let go". I think when we reflect on the journey we begin to see how the destination was mapped and the events and decisions that lead to each location.
If you haven't already gone, good luck this year in Vegas!
-Josh T
Hi Adam,
ReplyDeleteI enjoy your conversational approach to your blog. You keep it light, and it makes for easy reading.
I was recently just talking about Vegas with my husband as we drove past it on one of our trips, and we were talking about the appeal and draw of the city. Like you said, there is a layer for everyone, which is why so many people are drawn to it. I am not a great gambler, so I can appreciate the friends that want to find the cheap tables. Although I have been to Vegas too many times to count, it is a city that has more to it than just casinos, but it takes "mapping" to find them and get there.
Melissa