I grew up in Apple Valley, Minnesota — a suburb of Minneapolis where winters are long, lakes are everywhere, and neighbors actually know each other’s names. I went on to study at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, and while I was there, my parents had what I thought at the time was a completely crazy idea: they packed up and moved to Las Vegas.
So when I graduated, I did what any sensible Midwesterner would do — I followed them. I had absolutely no intention of staying.
That was over twenty years ago.