[longton52]

borrow travel guides from the library. Get books specific to Las Vegas or Nevada, Arizona or the Southwest in general.
Every State has a tourism dept and most will send a free visitor guide. Such as : Visit

[oeccscclhjhn]

Springs Preserve (local discount).

[UTES]

There are plenty of off-road experiences around Las Vegas. Maybe get a Jeep or some other utility vehicle and start exploring. There's so much to see outside of the cities.

Bill

[BBMW]

You need a hobby that dovetails with what the area has to offer. Some examples:

Learn to play poker well.
Start hiking/mountain biking.
The offroading thing (either 4x4, or off road motocycle)
Recreation gold prospecting.
Horseback riding

Etc, etc.

[lvoc]

Originally Posted by yellowsnow

I loved that museum. A friend took me who actually worked out there for decades and saw it all up close and personal.

Actually met a guy who provided security at the base of one of the bomb towers when two scientist climbed it to figure out why it failed to go off when the command was sent. What 10 milliseconds from evaporation if they corrected the problem in the wrong way.

they sent the scientist for fear the damn thing would go off sometime down the line as they had no idea why it did not blow...

[Tek_Freek]

Did I miss someone mentioning Valley of Fire?

Captain Kirk died there if I remember correctly.

http://www.movie-locations.com/movies/s/st_gen.html

[jlwgm]

Valley of Fire is a little farther than Red Rock, but much more gorgeous. And another 2 hours past that is Zion.

[Buzz123]

Atomic Museum is associated with The Smithsonian. It's a great museum, especially if you were around during the cold war. Mob Museum is vary good. For a pleasant stroll around a park that most people can't believe is actually here, drive out to Floyd Lamb Park at Tule Springs. The Valley of Fire is especially nice, and now might be a good time to go while it's cool. Before doing any gonzo hikes, get to know the place by checking out all the sites. There are about a jillion petroglyphs all over the place there, great rock formations, and even petrified trees. It's like Red Rock Cyn on steroids, except for the elevations. Go up, or return, via the North Shore Road of Lake Mead. Someone mentioned Death Valley - this is great time of year for it as it is the hottest place in the U.S. in summer. But, you might wait a few months and go see the spring flowers that go on for miles and miles. Make sure you consult your maps on any of these desert scenic spots.

I always steer people down to the China Ranch Date Farm. A good trip is to go directly there, then when you get back to the main road, turn left instead of right, and take it around through Pahrump. Stop at the Pahrump Winery for some very good food before heading back to town. Check the map so you don't make a wrong turn.

If you go to Mt. Charleston, make sure you check for snow on the road with the CHPs. There are two canyons leading up the mountain (these are actually the Spring Mountains - Mt. Charleston is the local name for the highest peak in those mountains - 11,916' elevation - if you're a hiker, do that in the summer. It's best to backpack and do an overnight, but better hikers than I do it in one day -19 miles R/T). Anyway, Kyle Canyon is the road you'll come to first north of town on U.S.95. Take that and go to the Mt. Charleston Lodge for a nice meal, or if the trails are clear you might do some light hiking. If you are a skier, instead of turning up Kyle Canyon, keep going until you get to the Lee Canyon turnoff, and go up the mountain to the Las Vegas Ski & Snowboard resort. There are also places up there for sledding and, mostly in these parts, tubing.

Close by, Boulder City is a nice place to walk around and check out the shops and antique stores. Boulder City is what a small town is supposed to look like. Check out the historic Boulder City Hotel, and the Park. You might see some big horn sheep out there. After that, or before, on out U.S.93 you'll find one of the great engineering wonders of the world - Hoover Dam, and of course, Lake Mead. You don't see much of the lake from the dam though, so for that you need to turn at the Alan Bible-Lake Mead Visitors' Center and drive up North Shore Road. But check out the Hoover Dam Visitor Center. It's like going to a nice museum. It cost more to build than the dam itself; as did the Hoover Dam Bypass Bridge, where you can park and walk out on it for a helluva view. But, please don't jump off. It's getting a bad rep for that.

Believe me, within relatively short drives of Las Vegas is a lifetime of stuff to do. Pretty soon you'll be venturing out to St. George, UT, and beyond to places like Zion Canyon and Bryce Canyon Nat'l Parks. St. George itself is only 90 minutes away and makes for a nice day trip, or a weekend trip. You can read up on the things to do in that area. For instance, if you like trout fishing, there are a couple of places near St. George, as well as many others north of here in Nevada too.

[Clarkcty]

Originally Posted by oeccscclhjhn

Springs Preserve (local discount).

Love the Springs Preserve and the Nevada State Museum, definitely worth the membership. I really like the exhibits at both places. Great part of our community, it is not the Getty Center but the Springs Preserve/Nevada State Museum is improving every year.

[ND_Irish]

I would recommend checking out the Clark County Museum. I recently visited with my wife and kids, and everyone really enjoyed it. There are numerous old homes which have been relocated there, and they are furnished to look the way they did at the time they were built in Clark County. My kids enjoyed exploring the homes as well as the train cars and locomotive. There is a small museum where you can learn about the history of the area. Adult admission is $2, and admission for children is $1. Since you will spend a lot of time walking outside, you may want to consider visiting when the daytime temperatures are like what we are expecting for this week. Here is a link to their Web site: Clark County Museum.