A real city

SAN DIEGO -- First, this is an experiment in mobile blogging, posted from a BlackBerry while I'm sitting in the San Diego airport, waiting for a flight back to Las Vegas.

In some ways, it's a flight I don't want to take. San Diego is a city I love, but more than that, it's a city. Las Vegas, by comparison, isn't. A loose collection of suburbs, a tourist district, a faltering downtown, yes. But a city is much more than just that.

Attending a conference these past few days, gazing out my 11th floor window at downtown San Diego evoked feelings I don't really have about Las Vegas. Sure, there's the little thrill about coming around the 215 beltway, traveling west, and getting the full view of the Strip from Mandalay Bay to the casinos of downtown. Or catching the Strip at night, from a plane. But it's not really the same as appreciating a genuine city, one that has a true sense of place.

Perhaps it's because I live in Las Vegas full-time that I just don't appreciate it anymore. And the fact that I was visiting San Diego for a short time made me appreciate it all the more. Maybe I would get sick of the San Diego skyline, the water, the city itself, if I lived here full time.

The thing is, I don't think so.