Within a 3 Hour Drive, Las Vegas

About 30 minutes south of Vegas, you'll find Buffalo Bill's casino, and therein, the Desperado Roller Coaster.

When it first opened, the Desperado held the Guiness Book of World Records title as the world's tallest, fastest, and steepest roller coaster. It's since been outdone in all categories, but it's still in the top 10 of steepest! It was so much fun, we rode it twice.

Also, since you're in Primm, NV and not on the strip, you don't have to wait in line. You get a discount on the NYNY coaster if you keep your ticket stub, but honestly this ride was way more fun.

The buffet at Buffalo Bill's is not bad either. But definitely wait until AFTER you ride the coaster :)

Take I-15 south out of Vegas to Primm. You can't miss it!

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I was actually amazed to see that there were actually waterfalls in the desert! How could that be?

My brother-in-law, who lives in Las Vegas (owns businesses there), took us to Black Diamond. He said there are red rocks in the town and it is a great place for hiking. We actually went hiking close to the red rocks and found mini-waterfalls!

The hike was easy because there are trails to follow, snaking through small bushes.

The red rocks are amazing.

The drive was about 45 minutes from the Strip and the hike is about 30 minutes one way.

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If your time allows, it is nice to go to Boulder City. You can stop by the city and walk around and check out their Indian stores. You pass by this town, anyway, when you head to the scenic route going to Lake Mead and leading to the Hoover Dam!

One of my favorite places in the world is Zion Natinal Park. This is a place of spectacular scenery. Although not as big as the Grand Canyon, it is almost more dramatic. The main visitor area is actually in the bottom of the canyon. So you get the benefit of being enclosed within this spectacular park. There are many hikes, from very moderate to extremely strenuos and quite adventurous. The visitor center is a great jumping off point and the rangers are helpful for planning your excursions. The small town of Springdale is a cute little village with some shops, not only tourist goods, but Native American craftwork, hiking gear, and art. There are several very good restaurants, the Bit and Spur is my favorite. It is about 3 hours from Vegas, but well worth the drive. We do it often as a day trip, or an overniter or a long weekend. Any of those is great.

Laughlin, Nevada is about a 1 1/3 hour drive southeast of the Vegas "Strip". If you want to see what 6-8 casinos on the Colorado river look like, then this is the place to go out of the way besides Lake Mead and Hoover Dam. This is the view from Deck D of the Colorado Belle casino, where you can take a boat ride with other tourists.

If you´ve got a car and a free day you should visit the old mining town of Oatman, across the State line in Arizona. Just a couple of hours away from Vegas its a great day out for all the family. This town is frequented by the wild burros who live in the surrounding countryside so great for the kids to feed them. See my Oatman page for lots of details.

Zion National Park is located just outside Parksdale Utah, approximately a 2.5 hour drive from Las Vegas. It is a nice alternative to the Grand Canyon as it will be invariably busier and odds are many of you have already visited the Grand Canyon. Zion is a great deal costing only $20 per carload of people. For those who love hiking there are a number of hikes taking between 3-5 hours such as angels landing, hidden canyon and observation point. Also there are much easier hikes and walks taking less than an hour. I fell in love with this park when i visited and i can't wait to get back and do a few of the things i didn't get to see the first time around. Try it out, i'm sure you'll love it as much as i did.

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The Hoover Dam is a 45 minute drive from Vegas and whether you rent a car, book a sight-seeing tour with a bus or van, you have to go see it. I didn't think it would be very fun just to see it, but when you're looking over the edge of this 900-something foot monster, it's enough to get you're adrenaline going.

The mix of beauty and serenity makes you want to just sit and stare at this beautiful construction built almost a century ago. There are bronze statues there, the largest solid ones either in the country or the world, but if you rub their feet, it's supposed to give you good luck. Stand in Nevada and Arizona and enter the time warp (just kidding). Do not make the Hoover Dam a day-trip. Plan it so that you spend a couple hours there because after that, you will get bored.

The Grand Canyon is 3 hours from Vegas so take advantage of that. There are day-tours that take you to the Hoover Dam and the Grand Canyon so check those out. The scenery and the fact that you can say you saw it makes it well worth it.

I suggest the website below since the prices are usually cheaper than the rest with constant specials.