Polite Dissent

It’s been a nice relaxing trip to Las Vegas. We were able to spend a lot of time with the in-laws, which is always nice. Doubly nice, really, because the Polite-Wife and her mother can go shopping and let me relax, reading on the couch.

Until I dragged her out to the Midwest, my wife had lived her entire life in the Las Vegas Valley. I lived there myself for four years while assigned to Nellis Air Force Base (note to the Green Lantern Rebirth team: Nellis AFB is in Nevada, not New Mexico, and is not connected to Area 51). Though neither of us are big time gamblers or night-life connoisseurs, there is still something unique about living in Las Vegas.

Food, as always, was excellent. The Polite-Wife and did our best to hit our favorite eateries in town. Wednesday night was spent with friends at the Black Mountain Grill, one of my all-time favorite restaurants, anywhere. I had some tuna sashimi, some nicely rare prime rib, and a fresh raspberry creme brulee for dessert. We’ve also hit several of our favorite sandwich shops and will stop for lunch at Memphis Championship Barbecue before we go to the airport.

We’ve been able to catch up with friends we haven’t seen in a long time. After our sojourn to Black Mountain Grill, we traveled a couple of blocks south on Eastern and landed at Buffalo Wild Wings. The rest of the night was spent there with more friends, some Guinness (Amaretto Di Saronno for the wife), and NTN trivia (and for the record I was 5 for 6 wins, with one second place finish).

No trip to Las Vegas is complete without a visit to Alternate Reality, my favorite comic shop. It’s easy to find and is located directly across from UNLV. Ralph stocks a large variety of mainstream titles and manga, and has the most complete indy and small-press section I’ve ever encountered. It was nice to be recognized when I walked in, even though I hadn’t been there in a year and a half. I purchased (too) many comics and trade paperbacks, including Me and Edith Head, Temporary, Love is a Foreign Language, the next volume of Preacher and the first two volumes of The Walking Dead. The Polite-Wife picked up (with help from me — wink,wink) volume 6 of Love Hina, volume 5 of Sgt. Frog, and the first volume of INVU. Out nephew came along with us, and we bought the Ultimate Spider-Man, volume 3, for him.

Given its location and population, Las Vegas supermarkets stock some excellent Mexican and Asian foods, something severely lacking in the Midwest. I picked up several packages of fresh chili powder and some miso soup mix. Mmmm.

While there are thing I miss about living in Las Vegas, there is no doubt that I am a small town Midwesterner at heart. The traffic was appalling and the non-stop construction can get frustrating. I also like yards and gardens and real trees. The neighborhood Christmas light displays put any other town to shame, though.

Tonight, we fly back to our house in Illinois and reassure the cats that we’re still alive. Early tomorrow morning we pack up our remaining presents, the cats, and drive down to St. Louis to spend Christmas Day with my folks.