Our Little Conundrum Called "Las Vegas"

For decades, Las Vegas has been one of our 'places', beginning as a resting point for our motorhome trips when we were schlepping our young children from Michigan to California to visit their west coast grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins......then becoming an annual get-away spot for my sister, Diana, and I to meet (this tradition began the year after our mom's death in 1990 and continued for about a decade.) THEN, Carlton's sister lives there, one of our now-grown sons moved there, two of our other grown children moved to Colorado, it's 'close' to Sacramento and Phoenix where other family members live, and so it just seemed to make sense to make Las Vegas our 'west coast' home-base. Two years ago, we sold our motorhome and leaped into condo ownership (of course having no idea what was to become of the economy a year later, but oh well....). Our place is way south of the strip in a residential area (yes, people actually do raise families there!). We have a beautiful park right across from us where we take our two dogs twice each day and where people socialize beginning at 6:30 in the morning until 11 pm when the giant floodlights go off over the baseball diamonds. We have really begun to feel that Las Vegas is way more than an indigent's dream city or an entertainment den of iniquity...(even though my purse was stolen out of our rental car the day before we closed, and our condo was robbed last month! But those are whole other stories!--ask any Vegas resident--robbery is as common as strippers there!). As I said, we have been feeling pretty good about our decision; we love our cozy little 1000 square feet with its little private patio in back and beautiful vegetation in the front.....and we get to see so many people that we otherwise wouldn't.....the winter sun is much warmer than ours here in Michigan, AND to top it off, Las Vegas is where we go to CHURCH! We've been going for over a year now (and the Sundays we're not in Vegas, we listen to the podcasts!) . I call it 'Rock and Roll Church' because of the live music up on the altar (stage?); the 'regular-guy' pastor clad in jeans and a casual shirt; lots of cool multimedia presentations; full-immersion baptisms; communion for ANYONE who cares to take it; bible interpretations that make sense; and a fully inclusive atmosphere.....well, we love it there. And maybe one day Carlton will even get baptized! (my dream, not his). It's weird, though, when we tell anyone who doesn't know us that we're going to Vegas, we're sure they conjure up images of blackjack tables and slot machines, booze and debauchery. For us, it's all about Carlton's sister, our kids, other family members who fly in (which has happened a LOT!), trips to Sacramento and Denver, and ...........CHURCH. Yup, our little conundrum........we can't figure it out either. :)