Nineteen years ago I first visited Nevada on a work trip. It was mostly at Lake Tahoe, but driving back we stopped at Reno to view the casinos. It was there and throughout the trip that I got a sense of dirtiness as if something wasn’t quite right in the town. Maybe it was the casinos with their blacked out windows keeping patrons from seeing the position of the sun and how long they’ve been there. Maybe it was the patrons’ greed in striking it rich. Maybe it was the fact that the gamblers were rich themselves and decided to throw their money away. More still it could be those who were dirt poor due to their gambling problem.

Regardless of why it made feel that way, it wasn’t something that I had interest in. I didn’t care to be there (I found Lake Tahoe and Yosemite much more interesting). And now, nineteen years later I’m going to the granddaddy of the gambling cities – Las Vegas, but only for one night, and we probably won’t even visit the strip. Instead it will be an “overnight and run” type of trip. My wife and I don’t want any part of the sin city’s lifestyle. We are more interested in the nearby national parks. We’ve got 8 days of vacation planned before flying back from Denver. It’ll be quite a trip. We’ve got full days planned for all the days.