During my California travels in June, we took a little short trip over to Las Vegas. Not having any expectations as I assumed that the gambler’s city in midst the Nevada desert would not make it to my “Top 5 Cities in the World” (or “Top 50” for that matter) list anyway, I was still open to get to know the famous party city. Well well well… Reflecting on those three days, I still ask myself, “Vegas, baby?”. But let’s rewind and start from where we took off:

On our second morning in a beautiful neighborhood in West Hollywood, still feeling rushes of jetlag every few hours (you get like reallly tired for a moment and thankfully, the excitement makes it go away fairly quickly), we had an early rise and had breakfast before our long long ride from Los Angeles to Las Vegas. And what healthy and delicious breakfast at Le Pain Quotidien it was!

It was a sunny, warm summer morning when we enjoyed our breakfast at the perfect location: Le Pain Quotidien in WeHo is located just on the corner Melrose Avenue and Westbourne Drive. You can watch LA locals passing by, the streets are decorated with palm trees everywhere you look in proper California style manner (Oh, those palm trees…) and the terrace allows a nice early morning sun bathing. You can check out their menu here.

We drove by car from West Hollywood to Las Vegas, detouring to see beautiful Joshua Tree National Park.

Look at the plants in midst the desert — nature is so divers and such a beauty anywhere we let it just be. I am so grateful for all the protected national parks in the USA — and anywhere really. There should be much more land that is let alone to blossom into their full and natural beauty. For nature’s sake as well as ours: a healthy planet is a healthy us. I stand by that :). Try to put yourself into the feeling of a field of greenest grass or blooming flowers or that astonishing desert view from Joshua Tree Park: it gives us inspiration, calm and harmony from what our energy derives from.

It was my first time in a desert and I would love to go back and camp (maybe not during summer time but rather in a little “cooler” season because it really was hot).

After almost 8 hours of driving, we finally arrived in an even hotter Las Vegas. We stayed at the Cosmopolitan — a very nice hotel — with a room facing the Bellagio water fountain. And there we are at the first comment I cannot hold back. Even though it’s terribly nice to see the fountain/lights show in the evening and at night, I can’t help but wonder: Is it reeally okay to do that midst the Nevada desert? I mean like is it necessary? On top of all the unneeded happenings that have zero output but people being drunk, getting married while drunk, losing a fortune while drunk and harming their bodies since drinking. At this point, my opinion on Las Vegas and the “culture”/”lifestyle” should be fairly obvious. But still, it was fun to hang out by the pool and eat out in the evening, soaking in events of my surroundings. You can eat pretty good in Vegas and there are countless entertainment shows to attend. Just why artificially build up a city from nowhere when there are so many places you can have all that without extreme wasting of resources?

What National Parks have you visited and how did you like them? Let me know in the comments below 🙂

-your tiny woman in a giant world

post scriptum: Check out GOOP.COM’s “The Un-Vegas Las Vegas Guide”, if you just like me happen to travel there without the intention of living the Las Vegas lifestyle by partying and gambling.