text: Review # 500. Wow. When it came time to choose what to review for #500, I felt it was time to give some recognition to the city that has transformed my life, Las Vegas. On a cold, snowy night in the front range of the Colorado Rockies high above Denver things were bleak and we were miserable. And my wife and I decided we had had enough. Christmas morning we opened presents, then packed them into the back of a Penske truck and up and over the mountains we went. After 2 days of driving through a snowpocalypse we topped the hill right around sunset and there she was...Fabulous Las Vegas in all her brightly lit glory. She was...and quite frankly still is a sight to behold, especially at night. \n\nMy stay here has had some low points. As we didn't know the city that well, we first stayed in a drug infested extended stay hotel on Boulder Highway with a meth dealer on one side, a spice dealer on the other, and Metro knocking on the wrong door at 2 am was not the way one wants to meet the city's finest with badges. We had a guy who runs a local gay bar and was dating my sister in law call Child Protective Services on her entire family including us, all as retaliation against her despite the fact he beat the heck out of her and was trying to divert attention from that. Thanks Russ, we passed our drug tests and came out clean, thank you very much for the free State of Nevada funded lab work you jackass. And we got to work for a local contractor, Robert Half Technology that was the worst company my wife and I ever worked for. When we lost our jobs a week apart we almost lost our ass but we were absolutely thrilled to be free of Robert Half. \n\nBut while there's been some bad, the good beats it 10,000 to 1. I've met some of the most talented, creative, and downright inspiring people here. Thanks to Yelp and the wonderful Misti Y. who helped me get started Yelping again after a break, I turned Yelp into my exploration tool to discover Vegas. I've learned a lot about Thai food, had my first tapas, and even learned that Ramen is not the .19 cent per cellophane wrapped package stuff, it's a hand made wonderful thing to indulge yourself with and Vegas has a couple of great Ramen places. I enjoyed exploring the Strip and all that it has to offer, found JP's awesome chocolates, and things like Kiehl's which changed my life. And then there's Fremont Street...where almost every time I step foot on it ...as Loverboy sang during a free concert down there I'm \"Lovin every minute of it!\". And I ended up at Fremont during Pride weekend by accident and it was over the top incredible. \n\nStep away from the lights and you have some of the sweetest single track mountain bike trails imaginable, Lake Mead and the spectacular Hoover Dam and that mind blowing bridge are essentially in my back yard. I love the views of Mt. Charleston and Valley of Fire. I've watched the Nascar Sprint Cup race from LVMS, I've been caught in a thunderstorm twice on Lake Mead and while scared like never before we made it through. And I even managed to get into the Global Gaming Expo and play slot machines that the public hasn't even seen yet...and I got to go to CES, which if you love electronics was like the most over the top experience imaginable. Vegas...she's been good to me. I'm glad to be here. And thank you to everyone here on Yelp who has followed me, gave me tips and advice, and helped me to truly make this city my new home. While Kansas City is my hometown, Vegas is a great place to be...and I admit I love being here.