In my 20s, I dreamed of a wild weekend in Vegas. Instead, I went as a sober mom in my 30s.
In my younger years, I dreamt of hitting Sin City for a hedonistic weekend that could only be remembered via poorly scribbled notes written in an inebriated haze.
Like many would-be writers, I longed to recreate Hunter S. Thompson's "Fear and Loathing" firsthand. Las Vegas has a reputation, after all, for being the sort of place one goes to make endless mistakes in, hopefully, enjoyable ways.
As a lower-income lush in my 20s, the trip never happened. Back then, it felt most important to invoke my inner Don Draper and sip Manhattans at local bars in my hometown of Miami or occasionally slip into harder habits. I was, what you might call, an experimental gal. This meant I never had much more than $100 to my name. The long and short of it is I had not only a drinking habit, but a drinking problem.
Luckily, things change. I changed. The long and short of it is I got pregnant and quit drinking, lost the baby, and binged one final time.
After I realized it wasn't going to fix my trauma, I stopped drinking. Now, roughly a decade later, I do, on rare occasions, nurse a low ABV beer during a meal out with friends, but for the most part, those days are long behind me, and I'm grateful for it.
Over the years, I became a journalist, a wife, and a mother. I left Florida behind and built a new life in Colorado — hundreds of miles away from where I started, and from my best friend.
No longer someone who was getting blackout drunk on the regular, I also finally had enough money to go on a girls' trip. So I asked my BFF to meet me in Vegas so we could paint the town red, in our own way.
Booze-free days in Vegas
As I arrived in Las Vegas a few hours before my friend did, and a few hours before check-in, I got into my own form of trouble.
No, I didn't hit a bar. I picked up some goodies from the Hello Kitty Cafe, and then went and got a massage. When my friend finally arrived, we both checked into our shared room at the Park MGM — which is the only non-smoking hotel on the Strip. I had developed an aversion to the smell of cigs in recent years, and was pleased to find out they don't even allow smoking in the casino.
I'll admit that seeing the glittering lights of the Strip at night and seeing all the folks dressed up for the clubs and casinos did give me a pang of FOMO. But that feeling went away once I woke up the next day sans hangover and ready for more adventures.
While I immediately recognized Las Vegas' potential for being a blast on psychedelics, it was still plenty of fun without. We visited Wink World, rode the Haley's Comet zipline, and explored immersive art at Meow Wolf's Omega Mart.
Drink-less nights in Vegas
In the evenings, we found ways to have fun that didn't involve getting plastered while talking to strangers and making regrettable decisions.
One night, we sat near the front row for "Kà," which is exactly the way you want to enjoy a Cirque du Soleil show, where people are flying over you. Another night, we went to the Neon Museum to check out their "boneyard" — a collection of retired neon signs, all lit up like they were in their prime.
We even ventured into the casino and quickly played, and lost, a few bucks playing blackjack and roulette. But we still managed to make it back to our rooms with enough time to catch an episode of "SVU" and fall asleep without the aid of booze.
Leaving town, my wallet didn't hurt, nor did my head. No regrettable calls made, no regrettable actions taken. If I'd gone to Vegas in my 20s, it's possible I might've had more fun in certain ways, but I likely wouldn't remember much of it.
I felt good about the fact that nothing I did in Vegas had to stay in Vegas.
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