Frommer's Las Vegas 2004

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CHAPTER 7 . WHAT TO SEE & DO IN LAS VEGAS
3 Attractions in Nearby Henderson
About 6 miles from the Strip in the town of Henderson are two factories that
offer free tours (there used to be more, but they recently closed), and if that’s
your kind of thing, well, you won’t be entirely alone. It’s best to see them on a
weekday when they’re fully operative.
To get to Henderson, drive east on Tropicana Avenue, make a right on Mountain
Vista, then go 2 miles to Sunset Way; turn left into Green Valley Business
Park. You will soon see Ethel M Chocolates, a good place to begin. Use the map
in this section to find your way to the other facility.
Ethel M Chocolates This tourist attraction draws about 2,000 visitors a
day. Ethel Mars began making fine chocolates in a little candy kitchen around
the early 20th century. Her small enterprise evolved to produce not only dozens
of varieties of superb boxed chocolates, but some of the world’s most famous
candies: M&Ms, Milky Way, 3 Musketeers, Snickers, and Mars bars.
Alas, the tour lasts only about 10 minutes and consists entirely of viewing stations
with an audiotape explaining the chocolate-baking process. You learn very
little. But the place does look like a bakery, rather than a factory, which is nice,
as no one wants to see their chocolates handled without love. Even more sadly,
you get only one small chocolate as a sample—delicious, but hardly satisfying.
(Surely, this is by design; now overwhelmingly in the mood for sugar, you are
more likely to buy some of their expensive chocolate.) Note: Come before
2:30pm, which is when the workers start to pack up and go home.
What’s really worth seeing is outside: a lovely and extensive 2 1 ⁄2-acre garden
displaying 350 species of rare and exotic cacti with signs provided for self-guided
tours. It’s best appreciated in spring, when the cacti are in full bloom. There’s a
little gazebo in which to sit and enjoy the garden, which would be quite peaceful
were it not for the busloads of tourists in the area. Behind the garden, also
with a self-guided tour, is Ethel M’s “Living Machine,” a natural wastewater
treatment and recycling plant that consists of aerated tanks, ecological fluid
beds, a constructed wetlands, reed beds, and a storage pond.
2 Cactus Garden Dr. (just off Mountain Vista and Sunset Way in the Green Valley Business Park).& 702/433-
2500 for recorded information, or 702/458-8864. www.ethelm.com. Free admission. Daily 8:30am–7pm.
Closed Dec 25.
Ron Lee’s World of Clowns It’s easy to give this one a miss, but you’re here,
so what the heck. This factory manufactures clown figurines (and other types,
most notably Disney figures). The tour itself consists of simply looking in windows
as people mold and paint. The real attraction (aside from a beautiful
carousel) is the gift shop, with a nearly limitless amount of high-quality figurines,
primarily with a clown motif.
330 Carousel Pkwy., Henderson. & 800/829-3928 or 702/434-3920. Free admission. Mon–Fri
8:30am–4:30pm; Sat 10am–4pm.
4 Especially for Kids
Like much of the rest of the world, you may be under the impression that Las
Vegas has evolved from an adults-only fantasyland into a vacation destination
suitable for the entire family. The only explanation for this myth is that Las
Vegas was referred to as “Disneyland for adults” by so many and for so long that
the town became momentarily confused and decided it actually was Disneyland.
Some of the gargantuan hotels then spent small fortunes on redecorating in an