Covering the local news makes me even more aware of how different New England is from most of the country, and there may be no part of the country more different from New England than Las Vegas, Nev.
A few weeks ago, my sister and I had to fly into Las Vegas to attend a memorial service for our aunt in southern Utah. The last time my sister and I were together in Las Vegas was the summer of 1978, when our family drove cross-country for seven weeks in a Ford van. Our parents planned this trip all winter. Our mom made curtains for the van, and our dad built a loft bed in the back. Our mom also covered a card table and four folding chairs with matching Marimekko shelf paper. We were by far the most fashionable campers at every campground we stopped at.
In Las Vegas—after visiting the cousins in Utah—our family went to Circus Circus, a “family friendly” casino with somewhat creepy circus acts, where my dad put $1 of quarters in a slot machine, won $20, and immediately cashed out. The clerk cashing out his chips teased him.
“Whoa, big spender,” she said.
“I’m walking out ahead, and paying for dinner,” my dad said happily.
While I have driven through Las Vegas a few times since 1978, I had never flown in. If you have never been, there really are slot machines in the airport, as soon as you get off the plane.
Walking out of the airport, I had the sensation you get when you open the door of the oven to check on cookies, or when you sit in a sauna — like your lungs are going to dry up and burn. It was 110 degrees outside.
“Some people just faint right on the sidewalk as soon as they walk out of the airport,” our bus driver said.
Seeing Las Vegas from the air is shocking. The mountains around the city are as brown and gray as dust; not a single thing appears to be growing. The subdivisions don’t seem to have lawns, which is a good thing, and the empty lots look like nothing but sand. You can’t help but think: why would anyone build a city here?
A few weeks ago, I had the honor of attending the ribbon cutting ceremony at the new water treatment plant which was jointly opened by Jaffrey and Peterborough—a truly remarkable and forward-thinking project. Even in our green valley full of lakes and streams, it took Peterborough and Jaffrey years to locate a new aquifer that could provide enough water for both populations.
In New England, every Conservation Committee and Planning Board and Select Board in is thinking about water and trying to plan for the future. It made me wonder what the heck are they going to do about water in Nevada. From the plane, I could see Lake Mead, and further east, Lake Powell. Both reservoirs were created by damming the Colorado River, which no longer reaches the sea.
Out the window of our hotel, my sister and I were looking directly at the Sphere, an 877,000 square foot dome, which, according to Google, “could fit the entire Statue of Liberty from base to torch.”
During the day, the Sphere looks like a huge black ball with vague images flickering in the desert sun. When it gets dark, the Sphere lights up — it’s mesmerizing, constantly changing, with ads, videos and images of earth. Sometime during the night — I have no idea when, since I was sound asleep by 7:30 p.m. the night we got there — the Sphere changes into the moon. When I woke up at 5 a.m., I was astonished to look out and see the moon, sitting on the ground in front of the Wynn casino.
Looking more closely at the view, I noticed there is a neighborhood of townhouses right across the street from the Sphere.
My first thought was, those people must have the world’s best blackout curtains.
My second thought was, they definitely do not have a Planning Board here. Again, the contrast was staggering: in much of New England, people need to seek permission from their local Planning Board to put a sign out for their bakery or build a shed which might be too close to the road. In Las Vegas, you can buy a home and end up with an 877,000 square foot, 24-hour illuminated dome in your front window. I guess if you complained, the city would probably tell you, “You moved to Vegas!”
One thing I will say for Las Vegas is that the people who work there are the nicest, friendliest people you will ever meet. Every single clerk and server and parking lot attendant and hotel staffer we met bent over backwards to be nice. People come to Vegas from all over the country for high paying jobs and cheap housing, and they seem to like it. (There is definitely something to be said for high paying jobs and cheap housing.)
After 48 hours in Vegas I was more than ready to come home. I can’t say I will ever plan to spend another weekend in Vegas. But it sure made me appreciate New England.