I somewhat spontaneously booked a trip to Vegas next month for my partner and me. Mostly because we live somewhere dreary and cold and my sunlight lamp ain't cutting down on the seasonal affective disorder enough this time of year.
I've been to Vegas a half dozen times, but not in the last ~10 years. We're both . I want to see Red Rock and the wetlands. And the Sphere cuz I think it's neat. We're both into but don't want to go to the punk rock museum cuz fat mike sucks. I've been to the Atomic Bomb museum and to the shooting range to on full auto.
Just wanted to see if the anti-capitalist forum had and recommendations on enjoying this hypercapitalist helltown. Any live shows that are especially fun or memorable? Any local spots to see?
Wake up in Goodsprings and find yourself embroiled in a web of political intrigue
Meow Wolf's Omega Mart installation is a very fun way to spend an afternoon. If you're willing to make the trek, Red Rock Canyon is beautiful, and won't be roasting this time of year.
It's really fun. My wife and I went last summer and had a blast. Highly recommend it.
I’ve been wanting to go since I saw doseone’s YouTube vid when they were setting it up
Go see the places from Fallout New Vegas? There's a small fallout place in Goodsprings, i think.
I played about 5 minutes of FNV before I got lost in the wasteland during the tutorial and then I gave up. Hope that doesn't happen irl
The neon sign museum is cool. I took a bunch of pictures of their yard cat last time I was in Vegas
I've visited the Neon Museum in The Dalles, OR, and it was awesome, so I'll definitely be going to this. We're staying near Fremont St, so it'll even be walking distance
My list (including repeats from the thread):
- Generally skip the strip unless you have a specific reason for being there, you aren't missing anything. You can't even have some cheap drinks and enjoy the spectacle cause there's no cheap drinks.
- If you want legal weed, it's illegal to sell it within 1000 feet of the strip, the places on the strip are selling non-THC cannabis products. It's a scam.
- Penn and Teller are great, see them before the retire. If you are a magic nerd there are several other high profile acts you can see.
- Container park near downtown is a nice hangout spot.
- Mob museum is very good, and it's also downtown.
- Haven't been to the Neon graveyard but it's on my list. Get tickets in advance cause I think it's a guided tour.
- Go hiking at Red Rocks.
- Check out the Hoover Dam.
- Near the Hoover Dam do the hike down to the river to Goldstrike Hot Spring.
- You can rent ATVs for around $100 per 2 hours up at Nellis Dunes.
- The springs preserve is at the location of the original springs that the city was built around. They've done a lot of restoration and now it's a botanical garden and natural history museum. Definitely recommend.
- Do the Fallout: New Vegas tour
- Area 15 has Meow Wolf OmegaMart which is very cool and other activities of a similar nature.
- Other hiking opportunities at Mt. Charelston and the Valley of Fire.
I don't have a ton of suggestions in terms of like actually neat things to do, but I will say that if you intend to gamble I would say stick to craps. It's fun and if you stick to the normal bets you actually get good odds (just don't gamble on the main strip).
You can also score free beer by putting money in the video poker machines at many bars, and sometimes you need to play but turns out video poker also generally has very good odds (when played correctly). I abused the hell out of this on my last trip. I think there's even a optimal play calculator somewhere online where you can input your current hand and it'll tell you exactly what to do.
Whatever you do make sure you abuse whatever freebies you can get as much as possible. Get your players cards and use your Freeplay, etc. Honestly all that stuff goes a long way.
The Michael Jackson Cirque de Soleil is pretty amazing. If you can splurge, going to one of the race tracks where you drive an exotic car is pretty fun if you're a gear head. If you have a smaller budget, they've got some fun high speed gokarts too. The old strip is an amazingly entertaining walkable area.
I'm a total gear head, an exotic car rental has definitely been on my wishlist. I also want to see cirque. We're staying near Fremont St which afaik is the old strip, right?
I think so, but it's a quick ride from the new strip. If you take a cab to one of the car places, make sure they know which one you're going to. Ours went the wrong way for a good while, I suspected he was trying to pump us for fare.
Also, if you like tequila, I have a place for you.
I loved the ziplines in downtown when I went. Definitely a fun time flying over everything in downtown
The Golden Tiki is a really cool tiki bar. Atomic Liquors is a nice bar that was the first in Vegas, ppl would watch nukes being detonated from the roof. Awesome fries.
I think they do Battle Bots there. Not sure how frequent or how much the tickets are.
Eat and watch shows. Had the best carrot cake ever in on the strip somewhere. Penn and Teller and Cirque du Soleli aren't too bad. There's a Elvis impersonator at one of the bars, the show is free iirc though it has some sort of cult following.
I'd love to catch a show, will add that to the "trip hopes" list, thanks
I recall liking Absinthe, one of the variety shows. And Cirque du Soleil Ka. There's tons of delicious food, I feel like I always spend a good amount of time there eating.
There's a fun piano bar in NY, NY and another one in another hotel I forgot (Harrah's maybe?).
But I also enjoy gambling, especially games where everyone is on the same side and cheering together, like Craps, Blackjack, or Roulette.
I also thought the Punk Rock Museum was cool, but didn't know anything about Fat Mike. Still don't I guess, but I'll look it up later lol.
Harrah's does have a piano bar, not sure if it's the one you're thinking of though.
Thank you for the show rec, I wouldn't know where to get started otherwise.
I've enjoyed Craps before, but I don't know how it works well enough to start losing money on it. Maybe I'll study up.
Fat Mike is just kinda gross and problematic, as one would expect based on nofx's antics. My partner is definitely in the "fat mike is cancelled" school of thought.
Edit: fat mike sucks exhibit 1 of 999: https://www.sfweekly.com/music/the-all-access-passes-at-fat-wreck-chords-anniversary-shows-were-pretty-fucked-up/article_c6e3fda1-fc11-5c17-9aba-37ded0224a89.html
Study up on craps because its the most fun game with the best odds in Vegas.