Parrothead Jeff

Well, it seems I’ve been neglecting this blog for about a year or so, but I have a much better understanding of this place called Las Vegas.

Traffic: It sucks, learn to live with it.

Even I forget some basic truths about Las Vegas traffic every once in a while. For example, this is a town full of tourists (something like 44 million people visited last year) where the bars never close. That translates into a bunch of people who don’t have a clue as to where they’re going and don’t know how to get there anyway. My best advice: stay off the roads - especially the Strip! If you feel the urge to go to the strip, do yourself a favor and park at one of the hotels on the east side and take the monorail! It’s safer, quicker, and much more pleasant than trying to make a right turn through a river of pedestrians!

That reminds me - another problem with traffic in Vegas is the pedestrians. A much higher percentage of pedestrians is intoxicated than tourist drivers. Pedestrians are the best reason to ditch your car in a parking garage and join the crowds. Don’t even think about turning off the Strip - the “peds” won’t allow this to happen very easily at all. For that reason, avoid driving in either the right or left lanes on the Strip if at all possible. Both of those lanes will eventually lead to a turn lane and delays from pedestrians. Stay in the center lane as long as possible to avoid delays.

If you have to commute across the Las Vegas valley like I do, try to get an early or late shift to avoid the rush hour traffic. I’ve seen traffic almost as bad in Los Angeles once or twice, but this is world class gridlock we have here in Vegas!

I can confirm that Las Vegas is actually in a desert! After last year’s record-setting summer, I have no doubts about whether or not this place thaws out! We had a couple of days of around 118 degrees at the airport with an overnight low of 95!

The monsoon season stuck around for quite a while as well. Thunderstorms, humidity, and all the wonderful stuff we love came into town along with flooding and power outages. I’m still trying to decide if I’m looking forward to the next monsoon season or not.

I’m truly glad I live close to a fighter base again! Nellis is definitely a cool place and the airshows ROCK! Lots of fighter jets, good static displays, and the Thunderbirds - who could ask for more?

I’ve also found a few places to go and relax, but that’s for another post. Stay tuned…