Unconventional Vegas

We spent the second weekend of May in Las Vegas. I had not been to Las Vegas since I was a kid riding in the backseat of my parents’ station wagon fighting with my brother. E, on the other hand, has been there about eight times on business and vacationing with family and friends. Every time he goes, he says he will never go back. Fortunately, it has been six years since he had last been there and his resistance was down. The reason we decided to visit now was to check out the Blue Moon Resort, Las Vegas' only hotel exclusively for gay men.

The Blue Moon Resort was pleasant. The resort has a lot of good attributes and one major negative. The rooms are nicely decorated with a comfortable bed. The grounds, pool and sundeck are attractive. Amenities include 10-man Jacuzzi enclosed in a poolside cave with waterfall, clothing optional heated pool, steam room, showers, locker area, video room and a break/internet lounge. They offer a typical nice motel continental breakfast and Sundays feature an afternoon BBQ. Both the overnight and day pass guests were diverse and friendly. The staff was helpful when you tracked them down.

The depressing part is the location. It is located in the industrial district about 4 blocks west of Circus Circus. There is nothing around other then warehouses, light industrial businesses and a couple seedy hetero strip clubs. Nothing. No fast-food, sandwich shops, convenience or liquor stores. And it is 45 minute walk to the Strip or a $12 cab ride.

Despite the location, we had an enjoyable and restful time. We especially enjoyed sitting around the pool all day reading and watching the guys go by. We would stay there again or visit with a day pass.

What made our trip unconventional was that neither one of us gambles or likes to stay in over priced luxury resort/hotel rooms. Other than eating at some wonderful restaurants on the Strip, we did not check out any of the other gay bars or clubs (8 1/2, Piranha, Gipsy, Krave, etc.) We were not there to see shows (very irregular for us). We are saving our big ticket buys for when we see a dozen Broadway shows in NYC in July. However, we could not resist a local community theatre production we read about in the gay press. The Las Vegas Little Theatre was doing a production of “Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead”. The show is a funny parody of the Peanuts gang now in high school that covers topics such as drug use, suicide, eating disorders, teen violence, rebellion and sexual identity.