My friend and I headed to Las Vegas for Spring Break(leaving winter temps behind)! We decided to explore a different side of Vegas---the regions around it. First we went to Mt.
Charleston(35 miles NW)---it was too early in the Spring for trails to be open(except 1) so while we were looking in a Christmas store located there, I bought a disc sled and we found snowpacked areas to sled down! Very fun but very cold on toes, legs, fingers and butt! The token trail that was open---Fletcher Canyon---still had major snow patches on the trail so we didn't get to the end of the trail, but most of it. It was frightful to me to hike and think of not slipping down those snowy/icy areas--especially when the snow melt formed into a creek below---really didn't want to fall into that. But I survived--only had a few cuts and scrapes from it! The next day we explored Valley of Fire(50 miles N). It had tons of fun rock formations to climb on. The trail was mostly soft, red sand---so for the first time ever, I hiked barefoot! I had to watch where I was going though, so
I didn't step on anything too sharp. My friend was not as lucky---she stubbed her big toe on a rock which took off some layers of skin--but she survived. Another place we visited was Red Rock Canyon(20 miles W). The wind conditions were extreme that day so we didn't do a lot of hiking(30+ mph---on news that night it reported that it got to 70mph in Red Rock Canyon). We stuck
pretty close to the driving loop. But it was beautiful at all the look-out points too! Just a few miles south of Red Rock Canyon was a place called Bonnie Spring Ranch--it was a replica of an old mining town. It had fun photo ops and a petting zoo. Lastly, we visited Primm, NV(40 miles S). This place was chosen because of it's colossal Desperado Rollercoaster--the special feature on it was a high-speed dive down a 55 degree hill into a tunnel followed by a 155 ft second hill(higher that most coasters)! I loved the thrill of it! There were other "rides" there too---so we did the log ride and a 3-D glacier ride while we were there. Besides our "out of the box" LV adventures, we did see a couple of shows in Vegas: Blue Man Group and David Copperfield. The shows were unlike what I had seen before in that most "shows" you see, you just watch and leave. These shows are very casual and interactive with the audience! With Copperfield, I had only seen him on tv as a pretty boy who dressed nice and never said much---but at the show, he was making jokes and dressed casually---along with the magic tricks using the audience in every aspect of show! With the Blue Man Group, I was expecting more just muscial stuff, but they were very humorous too! And they used audience members a lot---it was amazing how much they could communicate without saying a word! And then we came back to winter-like conditons in Utah---roads were kinda scary at times! But I'm glad I got a break from the freezing weather---even if it was only 5 days of it!
Charleston(35 miles NW)---it was too early in the Spring for trails to be open(except 1) so while we were looking in a Christmas store located there, I bought a disc sled and we found snowpacked areas to sled down! Very fun but very cold on toes, legs, fingers and butt! The token trail that was open---Fletcher Canyon---still had major snow patches on the trail so we didn't get to the end of the trail, but most of it. It was frightful to me to hike and think of not slipping down those snowy/icy areas--especially when the snow melt formed into a creek below---really didn't want to fall into that. But I survived--only had a few cuts and scrapes from it! The next day we explored Valley of Fire(50 miles N). It had tons of fun rock formations to climb on. The trail was mostly soft, red sand---so for the first time ever, I hiked barefoot! I had to watch where I was going though, so 
pretty close to the driving loop. But it was beautiful at all the look-out points too! Just a few miles south of Red Rock Canyon was a place called Bonnie Spring Ranch--it was a replica of an old mining town. It had fun photo ops and a petting zoo. Lastly, we visited Primm, NV(40 miles S). This place was chosen because of it's colossal Desperado Rollercoaster--the special feature on it was a high-speed dive down a 55 degree hill into a tunnel followed by a 155 ft second hill(higher that most coasters)! I loved the thrill of it! There were other "rides" there too---so we did the log ride and a 3-D glacier ride while we were there. Besides our "out of the box" LV adventures, we did see a couple of shows in Vegas: Blue Man Group and David Copperfield. The shows were unlike what I had seen before in that most "shows" you see, you just watch and leave. These shows are very casual and interactive with the audience! With Copperfield, I had only seen him on tv as a pretty boy who dressed nice and never said much---but at the show, he was making jokes and dressed casually---along with the magic tricks using the audience in every aspect of show! With the Blue Man Group, I was expecting more just muscial stuff, but they were very humorous too! And they used audience members a lot---it was amazing how much they could communicate without saying a word! And then we came back to winter-like conditons in Utah---roads were kinda scary at times! But I'm glad I got a break from the freezing weather---even if it was only 5 days of it! 
That does look like a fun trip! It's cool to see the outside of Vegas too.
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