The best part of visiting Phoenix was meeting with my nephew Josh, Nicole, and Sydney. There\u2019s a wealth of refreshing intellect in that household, which gives me a lot of hope for the future. Josh is a naturopathic healer, Nicole helps navigate our AI spaces, and little Sydney wants to know everything about everything around her. If the family ends up back East, I can guarantee that the child will get spoiled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After a massive Mexican late lunch and a great conversation with Nicole, we decided to call it an early night. The following day, Josh and I hit the road for the 4 1\/2-hour trip to Las Vegas. There were some more very cool desert scenes, this time including hundreds of Joshua trees, so, of course, I had to take the meta picture of Joshua in front of the Joshua tree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
We arrived in Vegas right around the same time as Michael\u2019s flight from Reno, so we connected after a couple of accidental drives around the airport. God, it was good to see him, and I felt he was kind of glad to see us, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So why Vegas? It was Michael\u2019s original idea to meet up there to see the Boston Bruins play because, as a fan living in Lake Tahoe, it\u2019s difficult, to say the least, to get to see a live game. We did get to see the game against the Vegas Golden Knights, but the B\u2019s lost anyway, and that\u2019s all I have to say about that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After the game, we headed to the Venetian to walk around. Vegas is perhaps the most excellent place I\u2019ve ever been to for people-watching. It succeeds in generating overwhelming excitement all around you, and it’s great to watch how different folks react to it. Simultaneously, there\u2019s a sense that everyone is just passing through and nothing is permanent. It seems like the closest you\u2019ll come to permanence is the performers who play their last gig over and over, or the crusted individuals sitting at the slots for days, hoping for the big payoff. On the other hand, Josh did win some money, but that resulted from his skills as a poker player.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
I don’t know how to describe Meow Wolf in a few words. It\u2019s an experience that begins with a visit to a retail store offering a variety of \u201cwhimsical\u201d merchandise for purchase. Then, in the store, there are several hidden doors or entrances behind coolers, inside tents, and around the back of some shelves that lead to what seems like a different dimension. In this dimly lit, otherworldly realm, colored lights, peculiar sounds, meandering walkways, and stairs inside tree trunks lead to rooms with different experiences. There was a strobe room where your shadow would persist on the wall for a few seconds every time the strobe went off. There was a room of mirrors with giant heads surrounded by mirrors, creating the illusion that they, and you, reflected off to infinity. Another room had walls that made you feel like you were undersea, with living white coral and plant life all around you. There are entire plots that you can try to figure out with clues scattered throughout the whole installation. We didn\u2019t get that far into the story, but we may be back sometime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n