going to vegas

Red Rock Canyon - beautiful. You can drive through it and/or get out of your car and walk around.

Hoover Dam

 

http://www.redrockcanyonlv.org/

15-20 minutes. Real easy to get to. If you like to hike it's a great place to do so. Or you can just park and walk around. There's a long road that runs through it.

 

It is my understanding that many of the "family oriented" stuff that was a product of the city's desire to appeal to family vacationers from the last couple of years has turned out to be unprofitable, and so much of it has been closed down. You would therefore be well advised to make sure that something family oriented still exists before you go chasing after it on a recomendation.

That having been said, when I went to Las Vegas several years, one of the most enjoyable things I did was walk from one end of the strip to the other on a Saturday night, and just see the sites. Around this time of year you have these really cool, dry desert evenings that are perfect for walking and spending a little more time such as walking affords allows you to see quite a bit more interesting detail. Just make sure to avoid the people handing out crap. The stuff is always a handbill ad for "independent massage therapists" if you get my drift, and the ads are always shockingly revealing for something that you don't have to prove you're 18 to posses.

I know that it sounds like the sort of cheesy thing that somebody might do if they were incredibly cheap, but it honestly was the most memorable portion of my visit. The lights spectacles when seen in person have a peculiar grandeur and beauty that seeing them on TV or in movies can't properly represent in the same way that the beauty of looking at the moon through a telescope becomes mundane when viewed on TV or in movies.

As far as other things to do, there used to be a cool indoor "skydiving" place across the way from the Stardust where you were suspended in air above some giant fans in a way that simulated the experience of skydiving without getting more than 20 feet in the air.

As far as food goes, I really enjoyed eating at Dive which has a giant yellow submarine as the entry, and is owned by Steven Spielberg. It is also an interesting experience to eat at the Stratosphere restaurant Top of the World which is on top of the tallest building in Las Vegas (it is fashioned after the space needle in Seattle ), and while up there ride the roller coaster that runs around the top. It's scary as hell to be hurling around on a roller coaster some 900 feet above the ground! Avoid like the plague any of the “all you can eat” buffets that you hear about as being a part of Las Vegas. All you can eat of a steaming pile of dog excrement isn’t exactly a meal to savor.

 

I happen love the buffet at the Rio Suites.

 

An incredible buffet, I concur.

Check out the downtown stip to watch the light show, also see the pirate show outside of treasure Island, and the rollar coaster at NY NY is a blast.

DD

 

The best buffet is at Paris, IMO. I didn't care too much for the one at the Rio. However, that's probably easily explained by my nervousness at me about to ask my girlfriend to marry me.

 

You asked your girlfriend to marry you at the Rio Suite buffet?

 

I'll have to ask my mom what places are good these days, she just got back from a vacation there a week ago.

 

i want to go to vegas too
man i miss that place

 

Close. At the Voodoo Lounge, the first place I told her I loved her.

 

I will be in Vegas for New Year's as well. Synergy, your first order of business is to lose the family. Then you can begin having fun.

My favorite buffet is at Mandalay.

 

I've seen you or T_J mention the Mandalay buffet a couple of times here. We may not agree on things politically, but I'll be taking y'all's Vegas advice. Mandalay's the first stop my next trip.

 

I've always wanted to go to Vegas with this in hand and see how far I could make a few bucks go for a vacation.

 

Don't stay at the Luxor, it suxors. HAHAHAAHHA No seriously, it's pretty rank. It's not New York New York or Excalibur bad, but it's way not nice.

Mandalay Bay, Venetian, Bellagio, MGM Grand are all good.

Other than gambling and drinking, I can't tell you anything about Vegas. I think there's an airport...?

OH one restaurant I recommend highly: Piero's. Italian place. Best Italian food I've ever had. Biggest tab I've ever had, too.

 

Goto the Hard Rock Pool. Post pictures on here on you will be very popular!

Like BK I know nothing of Vegas except gambling. But it is a fantastic town!

 

Go see the Cirque du Soleil show Mystere at Treasure Island. Tickets are expensive but the show is excellent. Make sure you buy tickets in advance on-line before you go as most of the shows sell out weeks in advance.

NY, NY has a roller coaster that was fun (although expensive with a long line).

The Forum Shops have these animatronic shows on the hour.

You can take gondola rides at the Venetian.

 

just remember, whatever happens in vegas, stays in vegas...unless its an STD.

 

You put NYNY in the same group as Excalibur? Yikes.

I'm a Rio Suites guy myself.