[MomMom]

Originally Posted by starsnsunshine

It all started with a cross-country motorcycle trip my boyfriend convinced me to go on in May. For months, I said absolutely NOT! I am not getting on a bike with you and riding from ORLANDO, FL to LAS VEGAS! Well, after much debate I finally waved the white flag and hopped on the back of his kawasaki which turned out to be a brutal yet many times beautiful ride.

The aforementioned bf has friends there so we stayed with them from May - July 2011. And you know what my final verdict on Vegas is? It is AWESOME!!!

I thought I would get bored after a couple weeks like I have with most other places I've moved to or visited for a week too long but to the contrary! There was always something to do, somewhere new to drive, new people to meet. Surprisingly, I can actually see myself living there permanently...however we are not taking the plunge without jobs. The bf already has a job here in FLA and we live by the beach so its not a bad deal. Anyhow, these are the main pros and cons that I experienced during my few months there:

Pros

Amazing food! From the restaurants to the grocery stores...can I just say I'm in love with Food4Less and Marketon! Great quality food - inexpensive and much fresher than what we have here in Florida.

Endless Scenic rides through the desert watching burnt orange sunsets along the clay colored mountains. Especially loved the ride to Lake Mead and the Valley of Fire.

Gambling and all-u-can-drink at most bars as long as you put 20 in the machine...gotta love it..

Close to Cali...took several 2-day trips to Laguna Beach, LA, Seal Beach, etc. on the bike while in Vegas every ride was incredible.

The weather is awesome ...nice and dry. THe humidity and bugs in FLA is a buzzkill really. May and June were pretty mild whereas it did heat up in July above 100 but if anyone has spent a summer in Orlando (the hottest place in fla) you'd know that its similarly brutal.

Some people are a little wacky here but at least there are a lot of characters. HA! Many cities in fla are very homogenous and everyone kind of moves about like robots with little sense of humor..so I'll take the characters..

Traffic is very reasonable, the highways there actually move unlike Orlando's I-4 and 408. There is bad traffic on the strip, but that is to be expected.

The entertainment! Went to see several house djs that I like such as Paul Oakenfold, Calvin Harris, etc. Most of the good int'l djs have residencies at the casinos so there is no lack of good music.


Cons

Pollution. While there are many clean air areas in Vegas, places like NOrth Las Vegas suffer from extremely bad smog..imagine being on a bike you can really taste it for days and it pretty much chokes you right away.

Crime...there are a lot of hustlers there that prey on the weak or oblivious. Someone actually tried to snatch my purse on the strip but I was aware so that thwarted the incident.

Homeless population...there are a lot of vagabonds that hang out at places like the library especially. The librarian was telling me the area has been hit really hard and the homeless line up before the library opens every morning and stay in all day and there is nothing they can do. The main reason its annoying is trying to studyat the library while the person next to you reeks of poop and parmesan is quite distracting..

Lack of employment options. It seemed most people I met either worked at the casinos or a restaurant or in security. It seems the pay is pretty low and it is difficult to get a top tier job.

Ok, well those are my observations from my summer stint in Vegas...I loved it and hope to be back this summer and maybe this time I can finally make it to the Elec Daisy Carnival! Enjoy you Las Vegans and just remember..it beats many places any day so appreciate it!

Thanks...

for YOUR awesome-ness!

[starsnsunshine]

MOm Mom you're so sweet and so welcome!

[PinkString]

Yes there is smog over by the base, in northEAST NLV.
There is no smog higher up in newer North Las Vegas. Lots of dirt though. Every time the wind blows...everything gets coated with it. Luckily we don't have the haboobs that Arizona gets. Not yet anyway.

[Jalhop]

Good info on the smog situation. Maybe on the windless days that it occurs, it's light enough that if you're under it you see blue skies.

[Heyygirl]

Originally Posted by UTES

The pollution discussion is interesting. All I can figure is it's relative.

One of the things I like about Las Vegas is the air is MUCH cleaner than Salt Lake City. I feel like I can breathe in Las Vegas.

Bill

AMEN! And SO much better than the south central San Joaquin Valley in Cali. We even have flags under the US and Cali flags on school sites to report what "color" day it is! We can only typically go outside for PE 50% of the year! And we did buy a home on the rim to retire to next year because the air is so clean!

[PinkString]

If you want to see a great view of the smog in the valley, go anywhere on the perimeter of the valley, which is higher up than the valley. I can go to the overpass at Aviary way/215 beltway and see the smog enveloping the Strip and the valley around it in the warmer months. Out where I am, the air is quite nice. Sure, there may be particulates that we can't see, but at least it is not an icky brown haze.

We lived in Hemet, Ca back in the early 1990's. The smog would blow in from Los Angeles, Orange county and Riverside. All the bad air would just settle over us, and the mountains would keep the stagnant air all over us. Was really terrible for breathing. Add the countless fires to it all, and all that smoke blew our way too. Half the time the sky looked nuclear. So glad we no longer deal with that! Except now and then when Arizona and California has the fire's and it all blows out here to Nevada.

[HSV2LAS]

I was in Vegas about 3 weeks ago for CES. Used monorail every morning for 4 days and every afternoon to ride back to hotel. All I saw was blue skies each day. Every morning it was colder than witch's **** at 32 degrees F. It did warm up nice to 60's by 2PM.

[Buzz123]

Originally Posted by starsnsunshine

you know what my final verdict on Vegas is? It is AWESOME!!!

I thought I would get bored after a couple weeks like I have with most other places I've moved to or visited for a week too long but to the contrary! There was always something to do, somewhere new to drive, new people to meet. Surprisingly, I can actually see myself living there permanently...however we are not taking the plunge without jobs. The bf already has a job here in FLA and we live by the beach so its not a bad deal. Anyhow, these are the main pros and cons that I experienced during my few months there:

Enjoy you Las Vegans and just remember..it beats many places any day so appreciate it!

Since you broke the code you may return to stay if you'd like.

Of course there is smog here. We live in a bowl which is frequently covered by a blanket (weather phenom) so bad air can't get out until we get some rain and/or the wind blows. But being a desert with loose alkaline soil, the air would be polluted to some extent even if no one lived here.

[ww1087]

After having lived in Orlando myself (I did the Disney thing), I can see why you would like it here! Otown's humidity is awful. Three cheers for dry heat! If you like Vegas, you'll like Phoenix too, except for the hella hot summer months. I've lived in Phoenix too for school, and like it better as a town--it's nicer there