Las Vegas Traditions: The Santa Run

December 7, 2008 | 3 Comments

Joey and Migel pose for the camera.

“The Las Vegas Great Santa Run was part of a contest involving similar Santa gatherings in Liverpool, England; Tasmania, New Zealand, and a county in Ireland to claim the title of ‘World’s Largest Gathering of Santa Clauses’ for the Guinness Book of Records. We’ll know later in the week the official Las Vegas registered entry number and also the counts from the other three global cities to see how we fared.” (source)

Yesterday, Ed, Bella, Floyd, Joey, Joey’s friend Migel, and I participated in the Great Santa Run. It’s a 5k run or 1 mile walk for charity in which all participants are dressed like Santa. It’s hilarious! The Fremont Street Experience (downtown/ old Vegas) is filled with THOUSANDS of people dressed as Santa. Old people, young people, runners, walkers, kids, babies, dogs, drunk people, sober people, locals, tourists, etc. fill the streets and turn them red with Santa suits. All the money goes to Opportunity Village.

This is what Vegas is all about. This is exactly the kind of thing we do that makes me happy to be a Las Vegan.

Ed with Bella and Floyd. What? You didn’t know that Santa switched from reindeer to pirate dogs?

(PS - The Las Vegas Marathon is today.)

Posted by Elaine Vigneault | Filed Under Las Vegas, Travel
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Las Vegas Early Voting: Vote Early in Clark County!

October 5, 2008 | Leave a Comment

You’ll start seeing signs all over Vegas as soon as early voting starts. If you’re a Clark County resident, you can just drop by any location and vote early. You don’t need to go to a special polling place during early voting. Just go in and get it done early. No lines, no worries, just do it.

In 2004, I went to the Las Vegas Athletic Club on Sahara. It’s so cool you can vote at the gym! I LOVE it. It’s sooooo Vegas :)

In 2004, I went to the Boulevard Mall on Maryland Parkway. It’s awesome that you can vote at the mall!

This year I’ll probably go to a grocery store or the outlets on South Las Vegas Boulevard.

Here’s a list of where you can vote early in Vegas >>

And a better list, that’s ready to print out, is here >>

Posted by Elaine Vigneault | Filed Under Las Vegas, Miscellaneous, Politics
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Living Las Vegas: Call For Videos

October 1, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Current TV, of which I am occasionally a fan, (if only because of their good taste in set design - one set is modeled after my grandfather’s architecture) says they want to explore Las Vegas. Here’s the call for video submissions:

Living Las Vegas
Exactly what does happen in Vegas and how much of it stays there?

From High Rollers to Illegal Immigrants Las Vegas houses every walk of life imaginable. Sure it may be the most fabulous city on earth, but could you live there? Do you?

Whether you’re a native or a vacationing partier we want you to help us take a peek behind the scenes at what makes the city of sin the most obscene and the most fabulous destination in America:
-What is the craziest thing you’ve experienced or heard happens in Vegas?
-What is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the words Las Vegas?
-What Makes Vegas the city of sin? -What secrets would you like to know?

Give us your little tell-all expose via webcam or take us on a journey in a full length pod and if the odds pay out you may see your name in lights and your face on TV.

Sigh.

If they wanted to know what it’s like to “live Las Vegas” why ask tourists at all?

And if they weren’t interested in sensationalizing the Sin City image (which is just a marketing campaign, not a reality) then why ask about “the craziest thing”? Why not ask about the most important or the best or the most interesting or the most inspired?

For example, do you think they’d want images from when I saw Obama speak in Las Vegas? Think they want video from my nephew’s kickboxing class? Think they want to see a Vegas vegan potluck?

I have a video in mind for them. I’d interview my sister about her job. It’ll go something like this:

Me: Where do you work? What do you do?

Mary: I work on the Las Vegas Strip. I encourage people to buy real estate.

Me: Do you like it?

Mary: I’d rather not answer that question for fear of losing my job. I have bills to pay, you know. Elaine, turn that camera off.

Me: What is your job like?

Mary: Well, tourists ask me for directions about every two seconds. Every now and then someone comes up who is interested in the project, but then half the time it turns out they want to yell to me about how careless the construction company is and how many people have died on the job site. …Shit I shouldn’t have said that. I’m going to get fired. They’re firing people left and right.

Me: So you’re saying the sin in Sin City is the economy and worker safety? It’s not so much about drugs, sex, gambling…?

Mary: Yeah, worker’s rights are a big issue here. But there are other issues, too. There are problems everywhere. It’s a big city, you know? Like all big cities, there are problems like homelessness, drugs, human trafficking, child abuse, etc. But there’s good stuff too, you know? Like we have some nice parks and the schools are OK and a lot of nice people live here.

Me: Where do you see yourself in five years?

Mary: I hope I’ll be graduated fom my business program. And you and I can start our business. Do you still want to do the Las Vegan thing or how about a vegan cupcakery? I like cupcakes. Everyone likes cupcakes.

Posted by Elaine Vigneault | Filed Under Las Vegas
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An Annoyance Of Living In A Boom Town

October 1, 2008 | Leave a Comment

I just tried to register for a website. It asked what my zip code was. I entered it. The website denied me, saying the zip code wasn’t valid.

I retried, using the former zip code for this location from over a year ago. The USPS re-mapped the Vegas valley and added new zip codes. But some people haven’t updated their system.

So, in the same way that my mom’s home town in MIchigan’s upper penisula is magically erased from US maps by careless people, so are parts of Las Vegas. Argh!

Posted by Elaine Vigneault | Filed Under Las Vegas
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Las Vegas Dog Parks

September 22, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Last year I had an idea to create a website that mapped out dog parks. The idea was to use Google maps along with a web database to create an easily searchable system that showed where dog parks were as well as reviews, photos, and more. Well, Ed and I never got around to it. We had other things to do and simply not enough motivation.

However, another husband and wife team beat us to it and created Dog Park USA. Here’s the dog park listing for Las Vegas.

Posted by Elaine Vigneault | Filed Under Animals, Las Vegas, Travel & Adventure
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