Vegas: Cloudy Afternoon Downtown

The city of Las Vegas, and all of its varied constituent parts are a rapidly growing and evolving organism where the only predictable constant, as is true throughout much of life, is change itself. With the impending relocation of the Raiders football team and the boon to the local population that's bringing, along with years of work from Zappos Head Tony Hsieh to re-invest in Downtown Las Vegas, the area has grown to be particularly visibly affected in comparison to some of its other neighbors. It's not at all unusual to drive past an empty lot, its only contents a ramshackle accumulation of belongings and detritus that vaguely resemble a campsite and actual shrapnel of garbage littering the area only to see the next lot is a shiny new micro-apartment complex. A typical commute to work for the past couple of years sees us driving along Maryland Parkway, which feeds into the University district- which is it's own traditionally rough-around-the-edges neighborhood as well. They've changed a lot since I was younger, of course, like all things in Vegas, but it's gained some momentum in recent years. Rent prices are starting to go up, as our house prices in general, which is only natural I suppose after that epic bust we had back in the early 2000's, when contractors were in such a rush to build up new developments and make that money while it was hot that scores of homes went up that, to this day, have yet to have occupants. Strange, this, the prevalence of empty lots and spray-paint spackled buildings with boarded up windows, as land and real-estate prices soar again. 

This view is familiar, a daily sort of commute, for now. We've watched it ebb and change over a previous couple of years as we went from one job to the next, one shift after the other... in this way, much like growing up, the changes seemed small and almost imperceptible to us. This post is to conserve the way things were, because soon we won't be tracing this old familiar route on a daily and by the time we make our way back to this old stretch of road it will invariably look quite different than it does at this moment in time. Curious to see how it evolves, but for now, here's how it was. 

Until next time~

💖

XOXO,

NAU