1 October

Hard to believe it's been a year since the tragic, horrific shootings that occurred in the City we know and Love.

58 people killed, even more wounded, hundreds of thousands of lives irrevocably impacted.

My first trip back to Vegas, post 1October was in the November following. You could feel the stress on the city's psyche, almost smell it in the air like a casino's scent. It was awful, it was horrific. When we visited the window had been replaced at Mandalay Bay, but the site of the Route 91 Harvest Festival was still cordoned off.

We did not know then, and we really don't know now what drove a madman (I will not publish his name) to end 58 lives, to sit up in his elevated position and fire, repeatedly, into a group of strangers that were just trying to have a good time.....

Which is why all of us who go to Vegas go to Vegas. We want to have a good time.

In the year that has passed there have been stunning tributes across the city, possibly none more moving than the Vegas Golden Knights first home-game win that was, for once when a sports team was involved, truly all about the tragedy. the sponsor's names were removed form the boards, #VegasStrong plastered where "Las Vegas Subaru" or other adds used to be. Derek Engelland said some words, and the city started rebuilding. Slowly, at first, but rebuilding nonetheless.

Yes, the corporations did what corporations do. Some tried to profit off of the tragedy by putting their corporate name and logo on #VegasStrong shirts while others were proud it wasn't "their" casino that the shooter shot from.  What they failed to realize is that the real beauty of Vegas isn't the casinos, it's not the faux luxury that hotels, spas and restaurants offer, it certainly wasn't their 3-zero roulette wheels or the 6/5 blackjack that allowed them to pay themselves bigger bonuses.

The true beauty of Las Vegas can be found in the people that live and work there, driving you to the hotels from the airport, taking your bags to the room, checking you in at the hotels, pouring your drinks, taking your food orders, dealing you the cards, spinning the wheels and listening, patiently in most cases, to your bad-beat stories.

When you ask yourself "Why do I like Vegas so much" realize that it's not because of what's there, it's because of WHO IS there. You can find casinos almost everywhere these days, most with better odds than the casinos on the Las Vegas Strip. That, and excessive fees, are problems to discuss later.

Today is about the residents, and a city, who have formed an identity over the last year that's not only better, it's STRONGER.

#VegasStronger if you will.