Above is a sight that greeted me on Thanksgiving Day on the sidewalk near the Paris Hotel.

To be honest, they are a little too large and artificial for my tastes, but hell, she gets an “A” for effort.

I know that some people are into triple Z boobs, or whatever the maximum is … but more than eight mouthfulls is a waste.

The day was quite crowded as you can clearly see from the photos.

It was drizzling, and people were shielding themselves from the rain.  I could not get a picture of boob girl’s face, because she was using some kind of bag as an umbrella.

At about 2pm, the sky opened up and a mighty downpour began.  It was definitely one of the strongest showers I have seen since living here.  People scattered off the sidewalks and into the casinos.

I walked from the Luxor north, and got as far as the Flamingo when “it” happened.  I stopped to do some gaming here and there, and met up with someone at the Bellagio.

I was also able to get the details for some private tables at the Excalibur next week for Rexfest.   We are going to have our own private games.   I will probably lose all of my money to site members next week, or maybe I’ll get lucky.  We’ll see.

Anyway …

There were thousands of tourists roaming around inside looking like drowned rats.  Most of the folks had a good humor about it and were laughing.  The place smelled like wet people though.

The unexpected storm looked to be a godsend for the casinos, because the tables saw a quick burst of action when the clouds dumped on us.

It’s a crowded weekend, and there’s lots of action going down.

I had plenty of company in my Thanksgiving protest.

I know that room rates are down and people are playing with less cash, but maybe we will finish the year strong with raw numbers.

According to the TV talking heads, McCarran was the most booked airport in the nation this weekend.

Judging from the crowd, I would be hard pressed to dispute that.

Anyway, here are some random images from Thanksgiving on Las Vegas Boulevard.

I don’t understand why Thanksgiving is a holiday.  Its very premise is absurd.

However, humans as a group need to be told what to do and when to do it, and most people are dutifully obeying their societal masters and flying across the country, gulping down turkeys, and tolerating their intolerable asshole families for little other reason than “because it’s what everyone else is doing”.

Far be it from me to ruin the fantasy.

I don’t however, have to actively participate.

So, I’m heading out to The Strip as usual … and I’m taking my camera.

I am going over to the Excalibur Poker Room to try to arrange a private electronic table for Rexfest next month.   I may play a little too.

I can only put the live photos in one place at a time, so I will be posting them as they are taken in my Casino Guide blog article.

Anywhere from 5-15 seconds after a shot is taken, it will appear online.

If you are not in Las Vegas, and you want to live vicariously … feel free to check them out.

And have a safe and enjoyable “Thanksgiving” … if you’re into that kind of thing.

Yesterday I found a box that I had forgotten existed.  It was full of about 25 MiniDV tapes, with about 50 hours of photos and videos that I had somehow failed to transfer to a hard drive.

Several of them are from trips to Las Vegas taken from 1999-2001.

I was documenting life with video long before YouTube was even a gleam in Google’s eye.  I had 500gigs of video when 30gig hard drives were about the largest you could buy.  Some of the stuff had to stay on tape until technology matured.

I popped in a Vegas trip tape, and watched it from beginning to end.  It was very eye opening.

Watching these tapes is a huge blast from the past, it takes me back to a time when Las Vegas was, IMHO, more fun.

For instance, pictured above is the Sky Screamer.

Those of you who are new to Vegas have likely never seen or heard of the Sky Screamer, yet a few short years ago … the MGM Grand actually had an amusement park, and I went to it quite often.  There were roller coasters, log rides, and thrill rides for all ages … but the crown jewel of the park was the Sky Screamer.  For a a time, it was actually a part of the Vegas skyline.

There are many rides of this variety, but the one at the MGM was the largest in the world.  And I did indeed ride it.

They strapped you in a straight jacket, hoisted you a hundred feet in the air, and dropped you in a freefall straight toward the ground.  A moment before colliding with the ground, the chord thing you were attached to pulled you horizontally, and up the other side.   Kind of like a pendulum.  Then you swung back and forth for a minute or so until they pulled you off.  Supposedly we reached speeds of 70Mph during the free fall part, but it felt much faster.

The ride operators told us that skydivers were actually afraid to ride the Sky Screamer, because of its closeness to the ground unnerved them.

Rides aren’t cool anymore, though.   Pool parties are where it’s at now.  Even if there are 10 males for every female.

I recorded a trolley ride from the Tropicana to the Sahara, and it was almost sad.  I passed the Boardwalk Hotel and the Stardust.  I couldn’t even find a single overt douchebag in all of the hours of video.  There were mostly middle class people everywhere being themselves, and it was very hard to find a poser anywhere in the crowd.

People were relaxed, smiling, looking around and pointing … and the place seemed so relaxing and non-serious.

I watched a full tape yesterday … immediately after spending a couple of hours on The Strip, and I was able to compare and contrast pretty much on the spot.

It’s very easy to forget what a very, very different place Las Vegas was as recently as 8 years ago.  Many of the buildings are the same, but the feel is so different.

These tapes were made just before mega-clubs like LAX and PURE hit the scene.  It was just before that “What Happens In Vegas” shit doucheified and damn near ruined the city.

It was before Paris Hilton, “Vegas Blogs”, and the mid-2000’s overexposure that engulfed the town.

It was Las Vegas before the town started believing its own hype.

Just watching the crowds and street scenes made me realize just how much the town has changed.

Some would say for the better, but I don’t know if I would agree.

I even have some interior casino footage, and I don’t see a 6:5 table in sight.

Anyway, I am going to dig through the “Vegas Circa 2000″ footage and see what I come up with.

I spotted it.

Not much, but it’s there.

I took a quick run to the west side, and happened to look up and see Mt. Charleston in the distance.  At least I think it’s Mt. Charleston.

Anyway, it’s the first hint of snow I have seen this winter.

About five minutes later, I saw this:

I feel so underdressed.

It’s 70 degrees, yet I can see snow, and people around me are wearing fur coats.

It’s a weird fucking town.

Seriously.

The sunsets have been frigging awesome this past week.

Al Gore should shut up and enjoy the view.

Pollution rules.