How I Fell In Love With: Las Vegas

Wow, it's been a long time since I've done a How I Fell In Love With and this is the first time I've done a city (or even a location). Since I'm gearing up for a fun-filled Vegas mini-weekend, I thought it was a great time to blog this.
My obsession with Las Vegas began even before I had ever set foot on the Strip. Back when I was in college, I still hadn't been to many places outside of Kansas, but my parents had taken a few trips to Vegas and I loved hearing their stories about all the lights, casinos, slot machines, entertainers, and the general excitement they seemed to feel towards the city. They would bring back big plastic cups from various casinos, from back when every casino actually had coin slot machines. It's gross to think now that we actually used those cups to drink out of, but back then we thought they were so exotic!
When I first discovered the internet, one of my first "online boyfriends" was a kid who lived in Vegas. We had met through this site called Firefly, where I took my first tentative steps out of the proverbial closet (I believe I've blogged about this site before). Somehow I met "Alex" in one of the chat rooms and we fell in love as much as two people who don't know a thing about each other in real life possibly can on an internet chat room, and soon we were exchanging snail mail - hand written letters and old fashioned photographs - who does that now?
I remember being in my parent's basement on Firefly when some TV special came on about Vegas so I started watching it and by the time it was over I was just dreaming of getting in the car and heading west to surprise Alex and finally get a glimpse of Vegas for myself.
It ended up being a few years later before I actually go to - for Spring Break 1999! My brother and our friend Dan went with a bunch of our girl friends to Lake Havasu Arizona and stopped for one night in Vegas on the way. We ended up having so much fun and to this day I have this silly wizard/marble necklace that I bought in a little souvenir shop there. I also learned the hard way that night, that things in Vegas are never as close as they appear - the enormous scale of everything means that one city block is equal to, like, a hundred regular city's blocks! When walking around at night, you can see a sign for something that looks so close, only to walk forever to get to it.
I didn't get to go back to Vegas again until after I moved to LA, but since then, roadtrips there have been a fairly common occurrence. On our first, Brandon and I drove out to meet my cousin Andrea and her husband, Dallas, who were there for a bowling convention - it also happened to be my 23rd birthday. The main thing I remember about that trip is I got to model all the hilariously over-sized club clothing that I had bought since I just discovered Ross Dress For Less back in LA.
Since then, I've had some really great moments and some not-so great moments there: Shitting Glitter performing to a crowd of about 4 people in the freezing cold in a parking lot at 2 a.m.; Dylan and I celebrating our 5th Anniversary on the top of the Stratosphere; winning big two different times at nickel slots at Circus Circus; my first strip club downtown; trying to walk from downtown to the Strip; and drinking way too much sugary booze.
So, here's to yet another Vegas roadtrip! This time, we're staying at Excalibur, and we're going to see Electric Six at the Cosmopolitan, the Go-Go's at Mandalay Bay, and if I can swing it, Tiffany at Aria. Let's hope for another big nickel slot pay-out, too!