Weekend in Vegas, Not Your Mother’s Las Vegas

A weekend in Las Vegas sounds like fun. Unfortunately, my weekend in Vegas was in the state of New Mexico. The weekend in this Vegas is definitely not the Vegas that might have come to your mind. I was there to broadcast the CMU football game on the radio.

Las Vegas, New Mexico boasts a population of about 15,000 and is home to New Mexico Highlands University. It was a pretty notable city in the Old West and many movies have been shot in and around Las Vegas including Easy Rider, Red Dawn, Wyatt Earp, and countless others.

(Zane Mathews)

If you live in Las Vegas, you are unlikely to be awakened early in the morning by a neighbor's lawn mower. As I was driving through the streets of Las Vegas I failed to find a lawn. Yard after yard yields nothing but weeds, trees, and rocks.

(Zane Mathews)

(Zane Mathews)

The city park was nice, and featured historical plagues and monuments. but the downtown area definitely looked old - or perhaps, we should say, 'historic.'

New Mexico Highlands University is definitely the best thing going for Las Vegas, New Mexico. It's a nice looking campus and if purple is your favorite color, you would love their team uniforms.

Funny thing is that whenever I tell people I'm going to Las Vegas, New Mexico they usually stop listening as soon as they hear 'Vegas' and  start  thinking about bright lights and slots machines. Uh, no, it's not that Vegas.