A girlfriend and I are heading to Utah for a few days of R&R, to one of my favorite spas in red rock country. A couple hours out of Vegas. We fly into Vegas then shuttle two hours through the red rocks to St. George, UT.

So M. and I are going a few days early for some R&R. M’s only request was that we book a room at the most over-the-top hotel in town.

I like Las Vegas. I take for just what it is–a city unlike any in the world, focused on glitz, glamour, gambling and the superficial. It’s a step out of normal life.

I love the idea of Vegas in its heyday. The Rat Pack days of the early to mid-1960s, cigarettes, cocktail outfits, bouffant hairdos and martinis.

I haven’t been to the Strip since 1996. But for the 15 years prior, I was there at least twice a year for work, usually a month each year. It’s changed a lot.

I’m not sure I’m going to like “progress” when I see it.