Viva Las Vegas

In the neighborhood

In the tradition of gardener/farmer/landscaper winter vacations, I decided to try to REALLY get away for an extended time this January. Back in Christmas, kind of desperate for both a long break and some days to reestablish a writing routine on the second novel, I made my list of criteria. 1) warm enough to walk outside after writing; 2) access to good, cheap food and lodging; 3) access to a place to write with wifi; and 4) access to more serious cultural or wilderness opportunities for when Steve would join me.

I zeroed in on Vegas pretty quickly. Actually, my first choice was Costa Rica, but I didn’t really have the time to put that one together properly, and the flights were awful– both expensive and with long layovers and seriously circuitous routes.

My first plan was to get one of the 10,000+ hotel rooms going for cheap on a discount site. And though they exist, the resort fees pretty much double the price of those rooms. Also, I wanted to be away from the strip, closer to Red Rock Canyon for hiking. I found a place on air bnb that would let me cook some meals for myself, had a private (and it turns out very quiet) room and bath, where I could do a load of laundry halfway through, and only 20 minutes from the canyon. In fact, the neighborhood in Summerlin couldn’t be better– cheap taco trucks, a great sushi place (for my one splurge meal), coffee houses.

The only real challenge was that the woman who lives at the air bnb does smoke. And though the room itself wasn’t smoky, it is a smoker’s house, and I am still struggling with my cold, so… The other challenge was finding a good place to write. I checked out some local libraries, but none of them had comfortable chairs or even, really, windows. But I know how to find a great place to write– find a university. So, although it was a trek across town, I’ve been setting up shop at UNLV’s library, which is, like everything at UNLV, incredibly shiny and new and lovely. School is out of session, parking has been free, and it’s been fantastic.

sheriff/mercantile in Blue Diamond near Red Rock

Given the smoking issues and also just needing some better rest to really try to recover, and moving into more writing and less hiking mode after today, I went ahead and booked a super-deal at a hotel for the next two nights (damn cheap even with the resort fee). Then Steve arrives and we go first to Lake Mead and Valley of Fire, and then to Death Valley for a few days, where we’ll be in a deluxe RV on a property with hot springs.

Despite the challenges, this has been a fantastic thing for me. I hope to be able to do it every year from now on. Not only am I missing a week of below-zero temperatures in Minnesota (while I hike in 40-degree weather, not ideal but certainly doable), I’m getting writing done and really enjoying being checked out of my usual duties. In the future I’ll save money for a better place to stay, and do my research well in advance. I’d love to get to San Miguel d’Allende, for example, or Costa Rica. Or New Orleans, or Texas, particularly West Texas. I hear Marfa is quite the hippie haven!

Children around the font at Holy Wisdom Byzantine Church in Las Vegas

You see and hear all sorts of things in Las Vegas. I went to a Byzantine church on Sunday for the great Theophany of the Baptism of the Lord. I walked around the neighborhood and saw a pomegranate tree. I got to hear some harrowing stories from my host including the tale of her five marriages. I took some gorgeous desert hikes and saw mule deer and a large rabbit and a creek that barely deserves the name. I saw a movie that is unlikely to ever come to my town. And I’m only halfway done!

rock climber at Calico Canyon

climber culture– the climbers’ cars were easy to spot!

2 miles up to reach the creek