Never bet on or against your favourite teams. It's a recipe for disaster.
Definitely not normal, but it's a wholly fascinating place. Been obsessed with it since I was a kid. The history, mystique, all of it. Plus it's only a stone's throw away from the most beautiful place on Earth, that being Zion National Park. And it's even closer to one of the coolest places on Earth: Death Valley.
Usually stay on Fremont because it has what's left of the old school character of the city. The Strip can fuck itself. There's more character in a square foot of the worn carpet at Binion's than there is in the entirety of places like the Bellagio.
I stay away from The Strip and their 10$ Budweiser's In 2017 we stayed at The El Capitaine on Freemont. Got there on a Monday and all you had to do was walk out on the street and it was a party. Street performers, rock bands, hot girls with a thong and just Band Aids on their nipples walking around taking pictures with the tourists. Also. giant jacked up dudes in thongs for the ladies walking around too. It was pretty raunchy during the week. Got near the weekend and was cleaned up for the families.
So I found a 5$ Blackjack table at the El Capitaine. Dealer was cool and talking to us. We were staying even, winning a little and these 2 GOONS show up and the are mad at the dealer. This guy pounds his fist on the table and emphatically says "THIS IS THE EL CAPITINE" !!!
And the 2 Guido's grab him, one on each arm and drag him off ! Seemed like something that would happen in the old mob days to us.
We got the hell out of there. It was a good trip. Our rooms seemed clean and all but my wife,s friend had a room in a different tower.
She brough home bedbugs. No fun.
After about 3-4 days the place starts to wear on us. We live in this beautiful place with mountains, Redwoods, ocean and rivers. That dry air sucks all the moisture out of you and looking at the mountains, nothing but baren rocks gets depressing.
But the drive though the desert can be interesting. Going through those tiny little towns with old wooden buildings wondering what people do with their time there. Going by The Shady Lady, a triple wide trailer with big rigs in the parking lot !
And a swear south of Hawthorn there is this HUGE mountain range, it must be the backside of Mt Whitney.