Prior to leaving for Las Vegas, my friend Bonnie secured me an inexpensive room using Travel Worm. The hotel I stayed at was down in the older part of Las Vegas, downtown where many of the original flashy casinos were built. Quite a few of these gambling parlors are still around and in operation, however, the entire area, referred to as Fremont Street, has undergone a dramatic facelift.

With the advent of all the huge mega-hotels along the strip, someone decided that the old downtown casinos needed a way to compete and draw in customers. A bold idea was fashioned where four blocks of Fremont Street would be made into a pedestrian mall and this area would be covered by an elaborate overhead structure that displayed a dazzling electronic light show.

Well, this idea worked and today hundreds of visitors line up on Fremont Street every hour to see a fantastic marvel of computerized entertainment. Above the crowd, stretching the entire 4-block length of the mall, a sensational light and sound show is played for everyone's amusement. The overhead arch contains more than two million bulbs, each manipulated by a sophisticated and powerful computer control system. Operating in choreographed precision, the multi-colored bulbs create dancing patterns and sweeping images much like a giant television screen. The experience is unlike any other and leaves people utterly amazed.