You asked for it, Life in Vegas...

Bird and I never imagined we would live many of the places the Air Force sent us, including Las Vegas. We seriously thought the Air Force’s next decision was whether to keep us in Italy for another year or send us on to Colorado Springs. I remember praying, "God, I promise I’ll be happy with either decision you make." I'm ashamed to admit my response upon hearing we were moving to Vegas was, "Wait! VEGAS wasn't even part of the deal! We never agreed to move to VEGAS!" I should’ve known better than to try to put God in a box. He took full advantage of reminding me who was in charge and it sure as heck was NOT ME! Three months later we said good-bye to beautiful lush green Italy and we arrived in the baron desert of Vegas.

One of the funniest comments/questions you hear when you tell someone you live in Vegas is, “People actually LIVE in Las Vegas?” YES! In fact, the four main communities where people live include Vegas proper, North Las Vegas, Summerlin and Henderson. It’s fun to meet someone who was born and raised in Vegas. It’s also a very rare occasion so if you do meet a "towny" be sure to ask them all about it. We found, most people have been transplanted to Vegas for their jobs or to retire. Vegas is a very transient town so a business may be open one day and closed the next. We learned not to get too attached to any one place. A little advice...if by chance you hire someone to do any work on your home in Las Vegas, DO NOT pay them in full until the job is done and done correctly. Otherwise, chances are the job may not be completed.

We’ve met countless people who didn’t like living in Vegas and who complained they didn’t know their neighbors. It is a very difficult town to make friends or meet neighbors because it's a town with a lot of shift work and the heat makes people want to get inside their homes fast. We were blessed to meet and become friends with all our neighbors. In fact, we still hang out with them when we return to visit. Another little tidbit about Vegas. Once you do meet people you need to mind your Ps and Qs. It feels like a large town but in fact it's not. If you burn a bridge with a job or if your business does a crappy job someone will hear about it. Karma will come back and BITE YOU HARD in Vegas! This town's main jobs are tourism, construction, health care, real estate and casinos so you better be willing to work. It's all about customer service!

Living in Las Vegas you almost forget about the strip. That is unless you work on the strip or until you have company in from out of town. Trust me, living in Vegas means you will have lots of company. When you get back to normal life you do normal stuff like go to work, join a church or a gym, attend classes or your child’s school or athletic functions. On weekends, you hang with friends or work around the house. You find ways to have fun that don’t involve tourists or expensive activities on the strip. In fact, in the summer you escape the Vegas heat by driving up to Mount Charleston. Some people prefer the water and head to Lake Mead. It’s also fun to hike out at Red Rock Canyon or the Valley of Fire. Did you know you can snow ski just outside of Vegas in the winter? Well You CAN!

Living in Vegas is like living in any other city in the U.S. but with a few obvious differences and perks. IE Food, Entertainment and Celebrities. Vegas has more varieties of food to eat than your mind or taste buds can comprehend let alone drool over because of the diversity of its guests and citizens.

There's more entertainment on any given day than you can shake a stick at and not just on the Vegas strip. If you ever dreamed of seeing a specific celebrity pay close attention and wait. Eventually, everyone (even the one hit wonders) comes to perform for at least one night. In fact, Bird ran into Huey Lewis at the airport. He swears he said, "Hey Huey!" and Huey responded, "Hey" back. I don't know why but that still cracks me up! Maybe it's just the name, Huey. We also got to meet Barry Manilow and hang with him and his guests back stage after his opening night. We're talking we walked the RED CARPET here people. Elton John was just one of the celebs who showed up and sat one isle over from us. I'm still trying to locate the picture of Bird with Barry. Bird also met the comedian, Bill Ingval and says he's a cool, relaxed guy.

For those of you who are patriotic and like a good story about cities that support their troops. Vegas is a town that takes care of it's troops and stands behind our military. If you show your military ID in many restaurants, theatres and even casinos they will give you a discount of some sort. We even got to see a few shows free or half off thanks to the casino's support of our troops. Elton John, Lionel Richey, Mamma Mia, Mystere, La Reve and Ka are just the tip of the iceberg. It’s a place we never thought we would live let alone like. That said, we loved living in Vegas and we enjoyed all it had to offer. If we could move back we would in a heartbeat. I hope I haven't disappointed you with this info on our life in Vegas.