What Happens in Vegas...

Greetings followers!

The final day here in Vegas has just ended and my friend and I are waiting here at McCarren International Airport for the short two-hour flight back to Eugene. While we may be here nearly three hours before the flight leaves, we are eagerly resting our legs, soaking in the air conditioned environment and maybe even squeeze a nap in. The past sixty hours in this city have been literally exhausting and have made the both of us very tired.

After the last posting, my friend and I migrated down to the Circus Circus buffet for brunch. The infamously cheap Vegas buffets actually surprised me with the quality. Though it was no where near that of a fancy restaurant, it was enough to fill our stomachs and appeal to our taste buds. It was pretty decent in price, so I left very filled and satisfied.

The buffet was good, but it made the two of us extremely tired. We both went back to the hotel room and crashed. A full stomach combined with a late, late night on the town made us fatigued that we both crashed for nearly three hours. When we woke, we were still tired, but eager to move off of the Strip and head north on Las Vegas Blvd. to Cashman Field.

The mode of transportation we used was a city bus named "The Deuce." It is a double-decker bus that plies the Strip stopping at every casino. While this may sound like a novel idea to encourage people to use the bus in commuting between the casinos, it was very inefficient taking nearly one hour to go a mere five miles. I was worried that we may not get to the game on time, but we did with about thirty minutes to spare.

Cashman Field is located just north of the Fremont Street gaming district. The area surrounding the ballpark is not the most savory, but the proximity to "The Deuce" line makes it acceptable. Surrounded by a sea of overlooking parking lots, the park is set at the bottom of a gully that requires attendees to scamper up and down a grass hill to get the front gate. The exterior of the park is more reminiscent of a convention center with no outward markings of there being a baseball stadium here. Only a small sign over the front gate indicated that this was Cashman Field, home of the Las Vegas 51s.

The park is fairly simple with none of the expected Vegas gimmicks. No skydiving, neon lights, topless revues or slot machines. As tourists who had been inundated with that atmosphere since our arrival, coming into an atmosphere that was that pure was very refreshing. In fact, the atmosphere at PK Park was more promotional and gimmicky than here in Vegas. The 51s had very few on-field promotions, cheap prices, good food...just an overall family-orientated atmosphere. Yes, I am talking about an entertainment attraction in Las Vegas.

It is obvious that the Las Vegas 51s are not targeting the tourists of Fremont Street and The Strip. Their main draw are the actual citizens of Las Vegas. The citizens of Las Vegas deal with all the gimmicks from the gaming establishments day-in and day-out, which are reflective of the stereotype of Las Vegas we, as outsiders, are accustomed to. Cashman Field and the 51s are there to offer a change, or a departure, from the norm for them. This is a great example of what a ballpark in the Minor Leagues should strive for. Targeting the citizentry of the community it is supposed to serve. It brings a smile to my face to see an organization with this mentality. Because of all this, I give Cashman Field a very high rating.

The Portland Beavers got eight string innings from Josh Geer to beat the host 51s 4-2.

After the game, we decided to walk back towards Fremont Street. We got about halfway across the parking lot when all of a sudden, a random lady pulls up besides us and offers to give us a ride. I was so surprised that I probably made the mistake of jumping in the car with a stranger and acquiescing to her offer. She could have been a drug dealer, hooker, or kidnapper. But it turned out that she was a frequent visitor to Cashman Field and was able to offer a very unique insight into what Vegas is and the 51s. The mistake turned into a great opportunity to interact with a local and get a real sense of what the "Real" Vegas is all about. While I won't make that mistake again, I'm glad that fate turned in my favor and offered me this insight.

She dropped us off at the beginning of another posh gambling district in Vegas, the Fremont Street Experience. This roughly five block stretch of street is closed off to vehicular traffic making a wholly-pedestrian mall setting. Highlighting the Experience is the huge ten or eleven story canopy that covers the mall entirely. There are video producing gadgets on the canopy that allows live streaming broadcasts on the huge canopy. In addition to the canopy, two stages are set-up where live bands blare loud oldie tunes that can be heard from blocks away.

The extreme gambling establishments are still prevalent and the gimmicky attractions of those casinos were still there, just like the Strip. The Golden Nugget, the Fitzgerald and the Fremont tower over the mall with bright neon lights and flashy advertisments for cheap beer, favorable odds and loose women. It is still just as expensive as the more flashy casinos to the south and, unfortunately the odds are just as bad as I still continued to lose the meager funds I allotted for gambling. It literally was a same-story-different-chapter experience.

We finished the night by heading back down to the Strip and seeing the New York, New York and Mandalay Bay casinos. These massive complexes are larger and contain more services than most small cities. But, unlike small cities, they have zero identity and are simple copycats and fake re-creations. After you've gone into a few of these casinos, they all blend together and start to look alike. There are no windows, clocks or other points of references in most of the casinos, even the larger more grandiose ones. When I went into the New York, New York and saw the same slot machine game that was at the Golden Nugget, Circus Circus, Excalibur and Treasure Island, I just said to myself, "I'm tired of Vegas."

While we did have some interesting experiences today, I will reflect on those in the Final Thoughts entry.

Always take on a 3-0 pitch ;)