Vegas, Baby!

"Hey you, up in the sky learning to fly.
Tell me, how high do you think you'll go before you start falling?"
- Oasis, "Up in the Sky"

A couple of weeks ago, me and Emily made the 4-hour trek to the land of luminescence: Las Vegas, Nevada. We met up with my brother and his wife (my sister-in-law for those of you following the basic concepts of a family tree), who had flown in from Wisconsin. So, you could say we met in the middle...but you'd be a liar. My kudos go out to them for enduring the long travel into the desert.

And it was exactly what we expected Las Vegas to be. Lights, casinos, lights, drinking on the street, buffets, shinier lights, and a little thing called "vast spaces of barren land." Cacti everywhere in that friggin' place. So had we experienced just the usual perks of Vegas, I may have walked away from the vacation unaffected, if not a little disappointed. But not to fear, because this trip to Vegas also included the thrill of being thrust above (and nearly into) some massive canyons 600 feet in the air on a zip line at up to 65 miles per hour. Oh yeah. Oh fuck yeah.



* Vegas in a Nutshell.

Before I go on, I want to say that I liked pretty much everything about Las Vegas. I did. The sights oozed extravagance, the people were all qualified nutjobs, and you could literally go anywhere--at anytime--with a drink in your hand and not be called an alcoholic. And seeing my brother and sister-in-law again made any small wisps of homesickness go sailing off into the wind. All good things. But that zip line...



The intial hike up to the top of the mountain may have been one of the scariest moments of my short life. I'd get so caught up in the painstaking process of carrying our heavy load of equipment up to the top that I'd temporarily forget just how high up we were climbing...until I looked to either side and saw a falling distance that would make even an eagle shit themselves. And when I finally got strapped into my harness for that first run I saw the majesty of those rocky red hills ready to smash my teeth into the back of my head.



But the release that I felt when I was zooming through the air--cheeks wide with toothy happiness--the fear went away and the adrenaline mixed with a strange sense of euphoria that I've rarely had the pleasure of feeling. It was awesome! Not so awesome: getting stuck a dozen or so yards out on a very thin line because my scrawny bones couldn't make it all the way to the end of one particularly slow zipping. For about 60 seconds I was Shaky Jake: Damsel in Distress. But nevertheless, this was an incredible 4 hour series of ups and downs (literally) that had me running the emotional gamut from terrified, relieved, energized, worn down, and ultimately nostaligic for a time that had only just passed.

So, while some other stuff took place--sightseeing, nighttime explorations of old and new Vegas, a trip to the Hoover Dam, not nearly enough drinking, etc.--the highlight was soaring majesticly over the mighty cliffs of the desert and living to tell the story.

Truly a once in a lifetime experience.


This Entry in Song:
The Killers - "Joyride"
Yellowcard - "Lights and Sounds"
Foo Fighters - "Learn to Fly"

Be Back Soon,
Shaky Jake