> it's that I find watching people gamble depressing. I also suspect, based on my experiences in Atlantic City, that Las Vegas will be far smokier than I like, but I'll be happy to be proved wrong.

So you've never actually been to Vegas? When I moved to WA, everybody said the place to go for a weekend was Vegas. Close, cheap flights, etc. But you know what? I had no use for Vegas. Like you, I found the casinos I had been to before to be unpleasant (I do a lot of motorcycle endurance rallies that require you to get a chip from casinos, which was the only reason I had ever entered one).

Then about two years ago, my SoCal user group tour put Vegas on the easiest route from Phoenix. The Gugenheim "Art of the Motorcycle" exhibit was in the Venetian; what the heck, I'll stop by.

Oh, my, what a fun place. Even if you don't drink and gamble, it's a really fun place to go. Go to the Paris and have a fabulous gourmet buffet. Marvel at the architecture of the Luxor. Go ride in one of the gondolas with your sweetie at the Venetian. That November, I dragged my wife down there, on the premise of going to the motorcycle exhibit (she rides, too). Like you and I, she had no desire to visit Vegas. And she ended up having a great time.

Don't judge Vegas by your experience in Atlantic City. AC isn't even close.