I'm just posting notes for a short trip I'm taking. It's not a bitcoin oriented trip, but I figured I would post anyway. I checked BTC Map, but it wouldn't be fair to my family to go on a hunt for places that accept bitcoin. There aren't many anyway.

We are beginning in Las Vegas. This city has always held a mythic place in my conciousness which never is warranted when I'm struck by its reality.

As a teenager Hunter S Thompson was one of my heroes, and I probably read Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas 20 times. As a really young kid I remember the Elvis movie Viva Las Vegas. In college I remember reading Mario Puzo's Inside Las Vegas. There were countless films set there too. When I was living in Los Angeles friends and I would pile into crappy cars and drive across the desert, only to lose money we couldn't afford to lose. I can't deny, though, that we had great times we still talk about.

What I see today is different. Corporations seem to have linked every hotel into one gigantic indoor gambling hall. What I knew as "the strip" doesn't look as exciting as it once did, but maybe that's because I'm old.

The Sphere, on the other hand, is pretty amazing:

I want to let @Undisciplined know that I drove past preparations for the Formula 1 race. It is getting A LOT of publicity.

This town really shows off income inequality. Homeless people sleeping in front of opulent casinos and astronomically expensive hotels. Sharp bars are imbedded in cement to make sure they can't get too comfortable. Overall, it's a depressing place.