Since I'm bored today I thought I would post some cool non-Strip things to do in and around Las Vegas. They're in the order in which I'm thinking of them which might indicate the order in which I like them but I'm not officially saying that.
The Clark County Museum has this exhibit called Heritage Street where they moved a bunch of old houses and buildings onto one street and decorated them in period style. There's some train stuff and a replica indian village and exhibits there too but I really just go for Heritage Street. It's super fun and it only costs a buck fifty. Try not to go in the middle of summer, though. Almost everything is outdoors and it's hot.
When I first heard about the Atomic Testing Museum I totally thought it was going to be crap stored in some old dude's garage but it's actually built in association with the Smithsonian Institution and it's crazy cool. It has exhibits on just about anything you could think of regarding the before, during and after of atomic testing around Las Vegas. My favorite part is a section where they have a timeline of the atomic age and then videos of pop culture things that were happening at the same time. Lots of old commercials and whatnot. There's also a movie of an atomic test explosion where you get in this bunker and air blasts at you when the explosion hits. It scared a yelp out of me but there wasn't really anybody around so not too embarrassing. The movie also has a lot of pro and con discussion of atomic testing. The whole museum is very educational and I guess entertaining, although I left feeling sort of spooked and weird so I'm not sure entertaining is the right word. It's certainly worth a visit. Or maybe even two since there's so much to see you're probably going to miss something the first time around. And you can buy an Albert Einstein action figure in the gift shop.
Floyd Lamb/Tule Springs Park used to be a ranch where people in the 1950s would come for six weeks so that they could get a quickie divorce. Yeah...yeah...there's several lakes and fishing and some sort of 13000 BC archeological site but I just like it because it has the ruins of the ranch 50s people came to for quickie divorces. It also has like a dozen wild peacocks running around. I don't know if the two are related. I wasn't expecting the peacocks though and I was tromping across their field and all of a sudden noticed them all around and frankly got a little freaked. Do peacocks attack people? These didn't attack me so I guess either they don't or I was lucky.
The Springs Preserve is an...I don't know...educational museum/garden/trail/concert venue? Right now there's a fun museum that seems pretty geared towards kids that teaches the history of Las Vegas and its water usage. (The whole thing was built by the Las Vegas Valley Water District.) There are some desert animals displayed. Some lizards and creepy crawlies and a fox and some bunnies. There are miles and miles of hiking trails that I was told not to go on by the guy at the start since it was super hot the day I went and he was afraid I'd die out there or something. I think I'll go back in the spring and hopefully they'll be some flowers blooming. There's a really pretty section where they have various types of gardens that you could have in the desert. Later they'll be moving the Nevada State Museum there but they haven't finished the new building yet. Reading back over this, I don't sound all that enthused about the place but I spent a great day there and I'm looking forward to going back when it's not 110 degrees out. The absolute best part is the flash flood exhibit where you stand in this little room in front of a fake ravine and wait through a cutesy little film until 5000 gallons of recycled water comes rushing straight at you and then goes under the metal grate at your feet. I watched it like three or four times. Super fun.
