Sin City
i had written this in 1999 - after about 3 months in the U.S. Lots has changed since then - but this account is still quite accurate to memory. This is the unabridged , unedited , original :-) , so please bear w/ the language.

"An Ode to the Flower of Utah"
I had a 3 day most wonderful trip to Nevada.If you scan yahoo map and type U.S + map you should be able to locate this wonderful place.

We started on Thursday Night in 2 cars.
The total distance of the Journey was 1400 Miles approx.(2240 Kilometers).The road to Las Vegas goes right thru the Mojave Desert(TOP GUN stunts) known mostly for U.S Army Operations.The city opens out in the desert out of nowhere.I mean 1 minute you are travelling in Empty ,Barren Land.The next,You are in the center of the World's Most Glittering Entertainment Center.

As you enter the Las Vegas Blvd,better known as just "the Strip" one board stands above all ,It simply states "Las Vegas The City of Entertainment" and By jove it is.

The city that in daylight is mere Cement and concrete trying to fight the arid desert,comes alive at night as never before.Glittering and glamorus.

There are two things in Vegas that go hand in hand.The SLOT and the SLUT.And Human beings are turned to Machines.SLOT Machines and SLUT Machines.The slots are coin eaters.Believe me with a $20 bill you could play on 25 Cents Slot Machines and loose everything.These machines are made so you can get rid of UR cash.So if U think 25 cent machine is > what U can afford."they" allow U to loose money with a 5 Cent Slot machine.Well if U play on the higher limits,there is the 1000 Dollar slot machine.(If U win they give U 10000 Dollars.)YUP,the rich become richer the poor remain poorer.Besides the slot there are many other ways to loose your hard-earned money.The Casino,The Roulette and the so called Wheel of (Mis)Fortune.Even then it was a good lesson on probability.I mean you would think except for things like the Weather,or something more abstract in the Quantum World,where would one actually USE the Probability theory?This place is the ultimate when it comes to see probabilty at work.Remember all the world famos probabilty theorists came from Gambling!To name a few :Louis L Ambert,Fermat,Gaolis.I bet Schrodinger did put a finger in the Gamblers pie once.What I really found interesting was the SLOT and the Wheel are made so they win unless You can calculate probs accurately.That is exactly what I ended up doing and w/ an investment of $10 I went upto $80.I changed tacks thinking (which always gets me in truble) that it is NOT probabilty at work but sheer luck and bet differently.The results?Lost 30 bucks straight!I stopped playing.Cashed the 50 bucks and that was the End of it!

Vegas also has the highest roller coaster in the world.Atop a tower appropriately called the Stratosphere.The tower is about 110 floors.Which is about 1347 feet.That takes about 35 seconds to reach by lift.The coaster is ,a COASTER.Twirls and turns.But there is what is called the BIG SHOT.That does 245 mph for 45 feet vertically upwards which is approx 4g.(Men astronauts can take 6g approx,and women atros about 8g).Then drop u down at 3.5g.Where g is 9.8 metres per second per second.The seat on which u sit is Unavialable as U fall!It causes all kinds of things to unfit people(vomiting,nausea,dizziness or all,to name a few!).
Vegas imitates the World's Attraction centres.So it has a MINI EIFFEL TOWER ,from where U reach out to see the Grand Opera ,The Bellagio!This is a Light and Sound show w/ a difference.It has water included.Fountains are manipulated at such rapid pace,that are melted harmoniusly to the background opera music,that the combination leaves u wondering whether u have reached heaven!The show is non stop from 20:30 hrs every fifteen minutes.But the best part is It is absolutely free.It goes on and on.For all to see.You pay to get good views of this magnificient show.You could be watching it from the streets, which gives a different perspective.The entirity of the city and it's ways leaves you overwhelmed at the significance of mankind and life.
To pander to those philosphical thoughts the State of Arizona along with Nevada and California has the Splendor of the Wild Wild West:The Grand Canyon and The Death Valley.
This is sheer rock from the Pre Mesozoic right upto the Permian thru the Cretacious,Jurrasic and the Triassic.The rock;that has everything.Nature's way of preserving.The sheer size of the Grand Canyon opens to scrutiny at what Nature wants to tell with this statement.
The canyon covers about 1092 square miles.The highest peaks reach upto a 1900 feet or more.This is uninhabitable barren waste and yet has beauty!

The Death valley is part California ,part Nevada.This place is an uninhibited almost vulgar exhibition of Nature's mockery of man's place on earth.Yup,It puts a man in his place.This area is better known as Area 51.The sight where two U.S made fighter jets had a rondevous with an alien shuttle.An alien it is now believed ,that came from Outer Space.
It is indeed a strange sight when U see the Death valley from close range.It asks no mercy ,it has no mercy.Basic dunes cut away from eons of evolutionary time,bringing one back to what it was to look at the earth a few million years ago.Sand solidified almost fossilized for unsuspected scrutiny.Then the Wind blows,and things start to stir.Just a little,but enuf for men to loose their life on planet earth.Indeed this valley was an enormous valley below the sea for millions of years.Suddenly exposed to the Sun.The dangers of this valley are yet unknown.Dormant volcanoes which blow off w/o warning are just part of what makes it thrilling to be inside the Death Valley!Miles and Miles of barren ,grassless land.

For "the death valley" evolved before grass did. This is probably the flower of utah !