Bright lights, showgirls with gaudy peacock feathers, the iconic nightly fountain show and casinos as far as the eye can see. Welcome to Las Vegas, Nevada.

For Thanksgiving, I traveled on a 2-hour flight to Nevada with my family. Since Las Vegas is a party city filled with large crowds, I was not happy with the trip. Although I did have a good time in Vegas, parts of the trip will never be forgotten

The streets of Las Vegas smelled awful. Weed is legal in Nevada, and many people like to smoke out on the streets. Citizens also like to smoke inside hotels and around the casino area, so because casinos are everywhere around Las Vegas, it is hard to breathe anywhere you go.

Vendors on the streets sold anything for a high price. The showgirls, which are the women who dress up in flashy clothing with big feathers, asked everybody walking by to take a picture with them only people had to pay about $10 for the raw photo.

One vendor, who offered to hold birds, gently pulled my hand to the side and forced me to hold onto a green parrot. I love birds, so I could not resist. My parents had to refuse an offer of a photo with me and the bird, so sadly the vendor took the bird away from me.

As a positive, I loved the hotels on the Las Vegas Strip. Flamingo, Paris, Venetian and Caesars Palace were all over-the-top for hotels. I stayed at the Paris hotel, which replicated a street in Paris. The Eiffel Tower, which is part of the Paris hotel in the Las Vegas Strip, is half the size of the real Eiffel Tower in Paris, France.

The stores and shops downtown were huge. I found an H&M store the size of the Augusta Middle School. Most of the stores were expensive brands like Coach or Rolex, so it was hard to find anything affordable to take home.

I visited some of the fancy shows and entertainment that Las Vegas is famous for. The first show was a water acrobatic display called “O” by Cirque Du Soleil. The flips, dives and synchronized swimming were impressive; however, there was a close call when two divers almost collided in the air.

The second show we saw was a David Copperfield magic show. The show was not as enjoyable as the first show I saw since Copperfield made objects disappear and reappear. Of course, the show was still amazing when he began to tell a unique story with his magic tricks.

Would I ever go to Las Vegas again? Overall, Vegas was not as bad as I first thought the trip was going to be, but I personally enjoy staying at home for Thanksgiving with my family than being squished in large crowds. The entertainment was fancy like Las Vegas itself; however, the loud music and ecstatic people is not for someone like me.