The freaks come out at night...

Part deux. Not hard to notice when you're in the heart of Vegas. One of the first things we see is a most heinous gold-windowed monstrosity. This city defines the word excessive, in a most disgusting sort of way. It is now our city to explore; the people, the buildings, and the oddities that are everywhere around us. The first night we stayed in a place called the Plaza Hotel. We walked into our room and were quite disappointed with the quality of our room- I mean afterall, we did pay 150 bucks for this place. We had no hair dryer, no iron, and two water temps: scolding hot and ice cold. Anyways, it is in downtown Vegas, or the "old strip." It was the end unit on the street called Fremont, home to two billion blinding lights, all housed under the "planet's largest viewing screen." It is a 700 yard long screen in which they display a lights show every hour, if not more often, for people to enjoy. We wandered in and out of many of the casinos along the Avenue, not finding a whole lot of difference in them each. It was pretty sad to see people with a bungee cord, spanning from their hip to the card slot of the machine- a seemingly endless supply of money that feeds their addiction that is gambling. These places certainly are an interesting mix of individuals. There is someone from every walk of life here, must have been hundreds of nationalities jumbled up in this place. Along Fremont, for most of the night, there were different live entertainment acts, which provided for great entertainment. One of these acts in particular, a cover band playing big hits from the 70's and 80's, was incredible for their ability to draw in some of the most spectacular dancers I have ever witnessed in my life. This is where Rachel and I took notice of their moves, only to return to our hotel and practice them over and over again, only quitting when perfection was reached. Rachel will perform them if asked, she has promised me this. We had the epileptic by "Big Country," the "shimmy" by half-pint, the "I'm going to the potty" by Dolemite (with a purse) and his woman, the "Officer don't arrest me lunge" by drunk white 15 yr old male with an ICP shirt on, and the "I'm cured, don't need my cane no more" by Mr. use-to-be-injured but now miraculously-healed-by-the-music. We came and went to this location several times over the course of the night, only to find most of the same people boogying down, still. It was hard to pull ourselves away. Our attention was split between that and the nickel slots, which is pretty much the only gambling we partook in. We later attempted the Wheel of Fortune game with as little success as we had with the nickel slots. Other mentionables we witnessed this night include (but again, not limited to): drinks so large that they needed a neck support strap, babies and toddlers of all ages passed out in strollers in casinos at 1am, a man telling us what he'd do with "a million dollars in hundred dollar bills" ohhh about 10 times (he told us he would buy a 2008 candy-apple red lamborghini, so that he could be who he really was), and airbrushed chippendales posing for photo-ops (we'll post those later). All in all, it was a nice welcoming evening to Vegas, seeing most of what we thought we just might would witness. Waking up the next morning wasn't as pleasant...