Travel Tips

If you’re looking for a great laugh, a great drama, a great show, then Vegas is definitely the way to go. One of the great things about Vegas is all the other great things you get to do while waiting on show time. This is a great city for vacations and you rest rather secure in the knowledge that you can taste a little of the sin in Sin City without getting your hands smacked. At least you can always look. While the shows mentioned here will be rather tame when compared to some of the racier Vegas shows they are still quite edgy and great fun for everyone in the audience

The first show worth mentioning is one that is appealing on so many levels. The Sopranos last Supper is a musical comedy that offers a four course dinner. You’ll laugh, you might cry, you’ll have a little wine and crack some jokes. It’s entertainment at its best with an intimate cast of 20 and a captive audience. Seriously if you’re looking for a great Vegas experience this night of singing, dancing, and Italian food in an audience participation driven show is a great way to enjoy just that. Tickets for this splendid dinner and show start at $95 and are a real bargain when you consider all you’re getting for your money. The show lasts a little over two hours and your sides will probably be a little sore from all the laughing and dancing. Show time at Aladdin is 6 pm Thursday through Tuesday and Wednesdays are dark.

The Las Vegas Hilton is home to Menopause the Musical. If you’re looking for an irreverent look at growing older as women in the world of today, then look no further. This show has won rave reviews all over the world as one of the most honest looks at life before, after, and surviving “the change”. This is definitely a must see for every woman facing–ahem–29 in Las Vegas.

If you want a glimpse of dysfunctional America check out Tony N Tina’s Wedding playing at Rio. This show plays nightly at 7 pm and it might be a good idea to warn you that you aren’t merely watching the show with this one. You are the show! For the price of your entertaining the actors you’ll get to have a nice meal, dance a few dances, drink champagne, toast the lovely couple and have a little cake. If you’ve ever been to a big Italian wedding you know just what to expect so sit back and bring your funny bone.

With so many wonderful selections for family fun, adult oriented, and sometimes just plain grown up fun it’s often hard to pick and choose between so many wonderful shows and experiences and settle on one or two that you feel is absolutely the must see show or review that you won’t regret not having taken the time to see during your stay in Vegas. Of course you could always go ahead and make the reservations for your next trip and make plans to see the shows you missed this time. The problem is that there are so very many shows and only a limited time that you will be around to see them-and for some a limited amount of money in order to fund the tickets. Pick and chose and be happy with the choice you made. Focus on the wonderful shows you saw and the great time you had and you’ll find that you forget about the ones that got away over time.

Vegas has become so famous for its casinos and its nightlife that we often forget that there is a thriving city full of people who call this city home. There are businessmen and women, doctors, lawyers, and average Joe citizens who live in this city and have little or nothing to do with the casinos at all. There are entertainers and artists that live far beyond the world of the famous Strip that Vegas more often than not brings to mind.

Vegas is a city that has a cultural center, a religious community, families, and family activities. It is a city in the desert that sees more than its share of sunshine while being particularly vulnerable to rain. It’s a city that is famous for it’s neon brightness while there are corners of this city that are far removed from that world that is almost as foreign to its citizens as it is to its visitors.

Don’t overlook the cultural treasure trove that can be found in Vegas by limiting your experience to the Vegas Strip and the offerings of the many casinos. So there is much more to this wonderful city to see and do and enjoy.

If you are looking for some great ideas to enjoy during your stay, perhaps you will find some here or at least find inspiration for your own ideas. One thing to remember about Vegas is that you are in the desert and it is sunny most of year. Even if it isn’t necessarily warm outside it’s a good idea to avoid being outdoors whenever possible or to be sure you are liberally applying sunscreen and using other means to protect your skin from the ravages of a desert sun.

Here are some of things you can experience during your time in Vegas if you are willing to seek them out: King Tut’s Tomb, the car collection at the Imperial Palace, Chaos at Circus Circus, Gameworks by Steven Spielberg, The Imax theatre at the Luxor, In Search of the Obelisk at the Luxor, Las Vegas Sportspark, Lied Discover Children’s Museum, Madame Tussauds Las Vegas, Merlin’s Magic Motion Machines, Pioneer Saloon, Pirates 4D, Star Trek the Experience, and the Sunset Stampede just to name a few. The best news of all however is that there are constantly more and more activities and adventures being added to the offerings. This means that there is never a shortage of things to see and do while visiting Las Vegas so there’s never a valid reason not to come back.

This list is a short list of only indoor activities; you can find a much larger list of things to enjoy if you consider the many things that can be experienced outside under the desert sun. There are other attractions that will also keep you indoors as well. There are actually quite a few museums in Las Vegas; there is M&Ms World, The Lion Habitat at MGM and the White Tiger Habitat at the Mirage. There’s also the canal at the Venetian, which is also home to “Streetmosphere,” where live actors delight and entertain you with songs and other revelry.

You will find many rides and adventure parks indoors in Las Vegas as well. People find that the desert heat can be a real joy killer for a day out in the sun and indoor adventure parks fair much better while delivering entertainment that is far superior to many of its outdoor counterparts.
If you’re looking for a great way to spend a day indoors, there’s no shortage of wonderful things to do and see in Vegas so there’s really no excuse. In addition to all the things I’ve mentioned above, Vegas is home to some of the most splendid shopping in America so be sure to pack your two best friends Visa and Master Card and bring them along for the ride. Also keep in mind that there is plenty to do in the great big world outside these walls and consider the great fun you can have exploring the desert climate of Nevada.

Describing Death Valley brings a potpourri of superlatives: hottest, driest, lowest. In
1913, the valley hit a record 134 degrees Fahrenheit! But despite its brutal image, Death
Valley is a beloved mecca for geologists and other nature lovers. It also has a colorful
history of ghost towns!

Death Valley measures approximately 3,000 square miles. It spans the border of
California and Nevada and is the principal feature of the Mojave and Colorado Deserts
Biosphere Reserve, which is devoted to ecological conservation. The diverse landscape
features desert sand dunes, snow-capped mountains, and a vast expanse of multi-hued
rock. It is also home to uniquely adapted plants and animals. Among the mammals, for
example, are the black-tailed jackrabbit, the long-tailed pocket mouse, and the chisel-
toothed kangaroo rat!

Death Valley is surrounded by several mountain ranges, including the Sierra Nevadas, the
Amargosa Range, the Panamint Range, and the Sylvania and Owlshead Mountains.
Encircled by peaks, the valley has the lowest dry elevation in North America at 282 feet
below sea level. (The continents lowest point overall can be found at the bottom of Lake
Superior, but Death Valley contains the lowest spot on dry land.)

The valley is especially noted for its geologic splendor. The cliffs reveal rock layers
spanning from Precambrian to modern times. By studying the layers, geologists learn
about the earths condition in the distant past. For example, layers from the late
Pleistocene reveal that the valley was once filled by a freshwater lake, now dubbed Lake
Manly. The valley was partly filled again during flash flooding of 2004 and 2005. Still, at
that time the water was only two feet deep; before the last ice age, it measured 800 feet!

The 19th century saw many mining camps set up when rock layers revealed valuable
minerals. Men were drawn to gold and silver discoveries in the 1850s, and they mined
Borax in the 1880s. They gave their camps names like Chloride City, Skidoo, and
Panamint City. The mining camps usually became ghost towns within a few years.

In most cases, little remains of these Death Valley mining towns besides stories about
their lively inhabitants. Skidoo, for example, is marked only by a sign. It once had a
population of 700 and is infamous for having the only hanging in the valley. The hanged
man was Hootch Simpson, a down-on-his-luck saloon owner who tried to rob the town
bank. He was foiled and later returned to kill an employee! The townspeople hanged
Hootch that night. In fact, according to legend he was hanged twice: once for real and
once again for the benefit of photographers.

Visitors to Death Valley can ssee a few ghost town ruins, such as those of Panamint City.
Panamint was reputedly the roughest town in America! Its founders were outlaws hiding
from law enforcement. Although 2,000 people eventually resided there, Wells Fargo
refused to open a Panamint bank because of the inhabitants lawless reputations.

Although prospectors left the valley when mining became unprofitable, Native
Americans have lived in Death Valley for more than 1,000 years. Timbisha families, who
are part of the Shoshone tribe, still reside at Furnace Creek. They received 7,500 acres of
ancestral homeland with the Timbisha Shoshone Homeland Act of 2000. As of 2000,
only 31 people lived at Furnace Creek, setting the record for lowest census in the nation.
Death Valley National Park is open year-round, but considering the summer heat, most
people find the valleys winter climate more comfortable.Since 1933 Death Valley
National Park has offered extensive public works for visitors comfort. These include
developments such as campgrounds, picnic facilities, and hundreds of miles of paved
roads.
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