Vegas Vacation

There are a few things in the world that bring people from different places with different personalities and priorities together, and as silly as it may sound, the water show at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas seems to be one of them.

I spent the weekend in Vegas to relax with some friends before getting into the heaviest part of a new semester. I had an awesome time, and remarkably, I left in the black. But that wasn't the most interesting part. The piece of my short, little weekend vacation that stands out the most to me was watching the water show at the Bellagio and the people that surrounded me. I'd seen it several times before, but I had never really seen it the way I saw it this time.

My friend and I got outside about 10 or 12 minutes before the show was about to start and got a good spot along the front of the water. As the beginning of the show got closer, I watched as literally hundreds of people surrounded the rest of the edges and packed in along side us to watch what has become one of the most well-known tourist attractions of Sin City.

It was a Saturday night, the sky was black, and Vegas was completely packed with people from all over the place. Standing next to my friend and I was a family from Canada on one side, and a couple from New York on the other. Next to that couple was a group of guys that looked like they were there for a bachelor party. Looking across the water we could see all kinds of different people. It was like a big huge melting pot that spilled around the edges of a little body of water for just a minute. Everyone had come for a different reason but at that particular time, all of us somehow made our way to the same spot and talked with friends and strangers until the show started.

When it started, everyone went silent. There was still plenty of background noise from the traffic behind us and the people walking past on their way somewhere else, but I noticed as I looked across and around the water that everyone who was watching the show was quiet. We all stared in a kind of kid-like amazement at what we were watching. Some people cheered when the fountains shot really high and others were silent the whole time, just enjoying the giants spouts of water and the pretty lights that illuminated them. It was pretty cool to look around and see the different looks on people's faces as different things happened in the show. It was like getting to know a little bit about a stranger.

And afterward, we all went out separate ways again. The house (and Vegas) always wins, but in that short five minute show, it tossed a little of it's winnings back out for everyone to enjoy.