Frommer's Las Vegas 2004

11
Side Trips from Las Vegas
Though all of Vegas is designed to
make you forget that there is an outside
world, it might do you and your
pocketbook much good to reacquaint
yourself with the non-Vegas realm.
Actually, if you’re spending more than
3 days in Vegas, this may become a
necessity; 2 days with kids and it
absolutely will.
Plus, there is such a stark, startling
contrast between the artificial wonders
of Sin City and the natural wonders
that in some cases lie just a few miles
away. Few places are as developed and
modern as Vegas; few places are as
untouched as some of the canyons,
desert, and mountains that surround it.
The electrical and design marvel that is
the Strip couldn’t exist without the
extraordinary structural feat that is
Hoover Dam. Need some fresh air? (My
heavens, don’t you!) There are plenty of
opportunities for outdoor recreation, all
in a landscape like no other.
The excursions covered in this chapter,
with the exception of Area 51 and
the Grand Canyon trips mentioned
below, will take you from 20 to 60
miles out of town. Every one of them
offers a memorable travel experience.
GRAND CANYON TOURS
Generally, tourists visiting Las Vegas don’t drive 300 miles to Arizona to see the
Grand Canyon, but there are dozens of sightseeing tours departing from the city
daily. In addition to the Coach USA tours described in chapter 7, a major operator,
Scenic Airlines (& 800/634-6801 or 702/638-3300; www.scenic.com), runs
several tours, including their most popular, a deluxe, full-day guided air-ground
tour for $219 per person ($189 for children 2–11); the price includes a bus excursion
through the national park, a flight over the canyon, and lunch. All scenic
tours include flightseeing. The company also offers both full-day and overnight
tours with hiking.
Scenic Airlines also offers tours to other points of interest and national parks,
including Bryce Canyon and Monument Valley. Ask for details when you call.
1 Hoover Dam & Lake Mead
30 miles SE of Las Vegas
This is one of the most popular excursions from Las Vegas. Hoover Dam is visited
by 2,000 to 3,000 people daily. Why should you join them? Because it’s an
engineering and architectural marvel and it changed the Southwest forever.
Without it, you wouldn’t even be going to Vegas. Kids may be bored, unless they
like machinery or just plain big things, but expose them to it anyway, for their
own good. (Buy them ice cream and a Hoover Dam snow globe as a bribe.)
Obviously, if you are staying at Lake Mead, it’s a must.
The tour itself is a bit cursory, but you do get up close and personal with the
dam. Wear comfortable shoes; the tour involves quite a bit of walking. Try to
take the tour in the morning to beat the desert heat and the really big crowds.