A bird? A plane? A Lightship!

Something strange is flying over Las Vegas.

It's not one of the hundreds of planes that fly in or out everyday. It's not even a U.F.O., although I admit that's the first thing that popped into my head when I spotted it Wednesday night. We were picking up Grandma for mtg. It's finally been cool enough to drive with the windows down and so we heard it whirring. It was traveling so low and the lights were so eye-catching that we wondered how many accidents there would be as a result of drivers taking their eyes off the road to watch it. Dad even almost took a wrong turn.

So what was it?

A Lightship!

Sounds like something from space... but it's not.

This article was in our paper Thursday morning:

October 2, 2008
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Light Work In The Nightime

Jason Bean GAMING WIRE

The M Resort Lightship, with its 70-foot-by-30-foot television screen, arrives Wednesday evening in Las Vegas. One of only three such lightships in the world, the blimp will fly around the Las Vegas Valley to promote the $1 billion M Resort, which is expected to open in March on the corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and St. Rose Parkway.

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The article was actually just a caption to a picture of the "blimp" but it wasn't in the online archives and the pictures I took on my camera phone didn't turn out in the dark. I found this picture on google:

Mom heard it last night around 11 and we went outside in time to see it whirr over the house. It is pretty flashy and impressive when it's cruising right over your head.

Who knew even Vegas would take advertising to such extremes? I guess when you spend a billion dollars on a resort you might as well go all-out to advertise for it.