Friday open thread: Travels

Happy Friday! I just got back from four days in Las Vegas, for work. Las Vegas is the most surreal place ever, and it’s extra-super-surreal when you’re there not because you want to be but because you were voluntold last week that you should go to a conference this week.

It must be said that I’m not a big Vegas connoisseur - in my misspent younger days, I went a few times and had a lot of fun, but the older I get, the less I understand why Las Vegas even exists. I got nothin’ against gambling, drinking, or other decadence, don’t get me wrong - I just don’t understand how Vegas got to be as Vegas as it is, if you know what I mean. It’s so huge and in your face and 24/7 it just doesn’t seem sustainable. I don’t really get a “Last gasp of the Roman Empire” vibe from it, but it’s not far off that.

I did manage to have a pretty decent time, though, because I got to go to Shake Shack, I didn’t have to schmooze with a lot of work people, and for all my befuddlement about Vegas there’s nothing at all wrong with walking down the street drinking a beer on a perfect desert early fall evening. Oh, and I got to see an absolute rock and roll legend, who created one of the founding documents of modern rock and roll, absolutely slay live, which was a highlight of not just this trip but of my musical year.

So that’s my trip. Have you taken any fun trips lately? How about a trip you weren’t really jazzed about that turned out to be more fun than you’d thought it would be? Got any travel planned in the near future?

What else is on your mind as we head towards the weekend? Let’s chat!