# Non-Gambler's Vegas Trip Report



## presley (Aug 10, 2015)

Since I've had so much help/advice from Tuggers over the past few years for ideas on what to do in Vegas, I thought I'd pay my experience forward and hopefully give some others some ideas on what to do in sin city besides drink, gamble and go to strip clubs. I saw some really great things that I think are worth visiting for those who may have the same types of interest that I have.

We stayed at HGVC Flamingo and I will post a detailed review on that in a day or two. We arrived after 11pm and pretty much just settled in to bed after figuring out who was sleeping where. Our group was 5 adults in a 2 bedroom lockout.

*Red Rock Canyon National Park* This was the first thing we decided to do. I can sum it up by saying on a scale of 1 - 10, I give it a 10. I read reviews about it on Yelp and Tripadvisor and found they were quite mixed. People either thought it was great or they were disappointed.  I went in without high expectations and was completely amazed by how incredibly beautiful it was. We got out at a view point and took lots of pictures. We didn't even realize that we weren't in the park, yet. There was a large cluster of red rocks that I wanted to walk to, but it was hot and a very far walk. It turned out that when we were actually inside the park, we could walk/climb all over that cluster of rocks. It was a very nice experience. The park is a loop drive with several possible stops for hiking, picture taking, etc. We made the mistake of not going to the visitor center upon arrival and it didn't come back around in our loop drive. The loop ends out of the park. We drove back to the entrance to go to the visitor center, but the car line was long and slow and we didn't feel like waiting. I did have lots of great stops inside the park, though.

*Bonnie Springs Ranch* This is a place you pass coming and going from Red Rock Canyon. It looks like a great place for children and very cheesy for adults, but I enjoyed it. It has an overpriced restaurant, a couple gift shops, candy shop, wax museum, etc. It's set up like a ghost town. It was actually in a Ghost Adventures episode a couple years ago as being a haunted location. They put on era live shows. They had a petting zoo that we really wanted to see, but it didn't work out for us. When we arrived, the sign on the front of the place said to buy tickets in the store. The store told us to buy them in the front. There was no one in the front when we were there. We went to the entrance for the petting zoo and asked if we could buy tickets and were told we had to buy wrist bands in the front. We asked how much it cost and the lady said she didn't know. At that point, we had already been there for over an hour doing the other things and decided we would just skip the animals and leave. That turned out okay because as we were driving away, we saw a couple wild burros on the road. We stopped and took pictures. They seemed very comfortable with us doing that. At one point, one started to walk towards me and it looked like she was going to put her head in my window, so I rolled up my window and we left. I would probably go here again after Red Rock Canyon, but it is extremely cheesy for most adults. I also found it very off putting at first because there are signs everywhere about what you can't do. "don't do this" "don't do that" posted all over. 

I'll add to this later.


----------



## Ty1on (Aug 10, 2015)

presley said:


> Since I've had so much help/advice from Tuggers over the past few years for ideas on what to do in Vegas, I thought I'd pay my experience forward and hopefully give some others some ideas on what to do in sin city besides drink, gamble and go to strip clubs. I saw some really great things that I think are worth visiting for those who may have the same types of interest that I have.
> 
> We stayed at HGVC Flamingo and I will post a detailed review on that in a day or two. We arrived after 11pm and pretty much just settled in to bed after figuring out who was sleeping where. Our group was 5 adults in a 2 bedroom lockout.
> 
> ...



Next trip to Red Rock, Add *Spring Mountain Ranch State Park*.  

It's a gorgeous park with an enormous green surrounded by bbq areas.  There is a nice little museum/visitor's center/gift shop there, and there is a hike that takes you to a petrified forest.  Easy hike, I didn't go on it because my leg was broken, but our party took 5 and 6 year old kids and they came back un-winded.  Don't take any petrified wood out with you if you take the hike.  Beyond the hike, it would be a nice place to set up for a bbq lunch after visiting Red Rock.  Like Red Rock, it is a bit above the Vegas Valley, so tends to run a few degrees cooler there, and there are shade trees galore in the bbq areas.

Also, *Mt Charleston* with hiking trails ranging from easy to strenuous, and runs 20 degrees cooler than the valley.

And, of course, *Valley of Fire*, which is quite spread out so you would drive from attraction to attraction there, and it is a bit of a drive from LV, about an hour from the middle of the Strip.  A natural sandstone bridge, Atlatl, a cave dwelling with hieroglyphics, and an easy hike to a natural water basin called Mouse's Tank after a nicknamed outlaw who hid out there.  And the visitor's center there is one of the must educational ones I've seen.


----------



## klpca (Aug 10, 2015)

I'm glad to see you recommendation for Red Rock Canyon. We really loved hiking in Red Rock Canyon. I looked up our favorite hike and it was the Calico Tanks hike. I thought that it was fairly easy - but there were a few parts that had some scrambling. I would gladly return just to do some more hiking. If you are interested in climbing, there is a lot going on here. There are a lot of rock climbers and some of the climbs are easily seen from the road -  it's fun to watch them.

We were on full casino avoidance (I was there for a conference) and we really enjoyed our trip to the Hoover Dam and the town of Boulder City.


----------



## presley (Aug 10, 2015)

*Valley of Fire* was also a 10 on a scale of 1 - 10. It's a much further drive than Red Rock Canyon and takes much longer to see. It looks like a great place to camp for a few days. The Beehives was our first stop and we had a lot of fun going inside the rocks. I wished I knew about it when my kids were small. They would have loved to play house in there. We took off our shoes for a bit to really feel the sandstone under our feet.

I wasn't very impressed with the petrified logs there. There were 3, each inside its own fence to keep them safe from people. Another group was there when we were there and they also found it to be a bit disappointing. Now that you know there are only 3 and they are each surrounded in fences, maybe you won't be disappointed when you walk down to them.

This day was humid (yuck) since it had a pretty big downpour in the morning. We did part of the hike to Mouse's Tank, but that was the hottest and most uncomfortable place in the whole park that we saw on foot. We didn't go to the water pool, but did see many petroglyphs. We did hit the visitor center and it had some snacks that really hit the spot on a very hot day of being in full sun when we were walking around. The center had a lot of good information. We were too hot and burned out to walk around the white domes, so we just did a drive by. The colors are great and parts of this park look like rainbow sherbert. The huge bummer for me on this outing was that on the drive back, a big truck had rocks flying out the back and quite a few hit my windshield, with one causing a spider web. The park is very chill and zen, but I went on a rage about the windshield and lost all the benefit of chilling out at the park.

Our one show we saw was * The Mentalist*. I bought the tickets from tix4tonite. I was not as impressed with that place as others have been, but math needs to make sense to me. They sold us 2 tickets at quoted $39./each and the total was $63. That was in our favor, but we later bought tickets to Titanic at "1/2 off" for $24./each and the price at the box office was $32./each. I just like my math to make sense. At any rate, the Mentalist was brilliant. He explained exactly how he did everything and it all made sense to me. It wasn't about parlor tricks, but about many years of training himself to be able to count, manipulate, listen, etc. No drama here, but some Vegas level jokes now and then. The venue was very small and the people who work there have no idea where we should wait, when they would open the doors or anything else. They were really good at standing in a circle and talking to each other, though. I recommend the show for those who like detective type stuff, figuring out formulas and stuff. I think people who just like to watch and not think, it would be entertaining, also.

We were super hungry after the show and ate at *Cheeseburger Las Vegas*. I had to comment on it because it is a Hawaii theme, which is very nice, but I drank a pina colada and I hardly ever drink. Usually, if I get a mixed drink, I can only drink a little and start to feel it right away. I had an empty stomach when I drank this drink, I drank it whole and never felt anything. I ate the taco salad and it was good. They have someone take your picture while you wait for your food and they give you a free postcard with your picture and try to sell you more pictures, but not a hard sell.

*Mob Museum* If you are like me, you may not believe when people tell you it takes 3 hours to get through this. It did take us 3 hours and we skipped over some stuff. This place was worth the admission. I had a $2. off from HGVC Flamingo. The museum is now run by the government and you can't get discounts from tix4tonite for it anymore. It was a great museum with a ton of media that really gave out a lot of information. Even if you are not that interested in the Mob, but maybe want to know more about why Vegas is what it is, it is very educational. We went on Sunday and tried to get some food downtown afterward, but most place weren't open and we decided to go back to the resort to eat instead. 

* Gold and Silver pawn or whatever it is called from the Pawn Stars show* This was the one thing my husband really wanted to do while we were in town. I couldn't understand why we would go to it since we have a pawn shop in our neighborhood and we have never gone to it. Guess which one of us watches the show. We went on Sunday evening. We thought it was closed because we just saw one family taking pictures outside and there was no line and I've read there is always a long line. When we walked up to the door, there was a very hospitable man who opened the door and let us in. He was holding a counter and monitoring how many could be in at a time. Of everywhere we went, the employees here were by far the most friendly and not pushy. I actually enjoyed my time in the pawn shop because of them. The TV guys are very lucky to have such great front line employees. Bonus - they had an electronic game I've been looking for off and on for the last 20 years. Yes, I bought it. I was completely surprised to see it. I guess it was meant to be because it is never on Ebay when I look for it. Now, I don't want to touch it because it was so hard to find it and I don't want to ruin it. sigh

*Titanic* It is good if love Titanic history. I happened to follow all documentaries about it over the years and have a true fascination with it. I am more interested in the recovery than the actual ship or sinking. They had many recovered items and the bummer is you can't help but feel sad when looking at the stuff. They have some rooms recreated of what it looked like. The biggest salvaged piece of the ship is there. It is called, "the big piece." The little gift shop at the end has recreated dishes from all 3 levels of class. The prices seemed all first class, but it was Vegas and it on the strip, so everything is very expensive everywhere. This takes about an hour to see and I only recommend it if you are a Titanic enthusiast. 

Of course, we spent lots of time walking around the strip since we were staying there. While having everything in walking distance is very convenient, the cost of everything is extreme. There also is noise everywhere, including all around the property at HGVC Flamingo. I needed to make just one simple important phone call every day and it was hard to do. Wifi and cell service was spotty and unreliable in my room. I had a car and I didn't really need to stay on the strip. 

Oh, I went to whatever the nature thing is at the Flamingo with ducks and fish. It was dirty, had trash floating in it and wasn't worth seeing. We were going to go see the White Tigers on our last day, but at $20./pp we were over spending money and decided to leave it for next time.


----------



## Ty1on (Aug 11, 2015)

presley said:


> *Valley of Fire* was also a 10 on a scale of 1 - 10. It's a much further drive than Red Rock Canyon and takes much longer to see. It looks like a great place to camp for a few days. The Beehives was our first stop and we had a lot of fun going inside the rocks. I wished I knew about it when my kids were small. They would have loved to play house in there. We took off our shoes for a bit to really feel the sandstone under our feet.
> 
> I wasn't very impressed with the petrified logs there. There were 3, each inside its own fence to keep them safe from people. Another group was there when we were there and they also found it to be a bit disappointing. Now that you know there are only 3 and they are each surrounded in fences, maybe you won't be disappointed when you walk down to them.
> 
> ...



Next trip look at the HGVC Suites on the Strip by Circus Circus.  It's a mile removed from the 50 yard line of the Strip, where you just stayed, but it's a lot more chill.


----------



## whathowmuch (Aug 11, 2015)

Preston, thank you for your post.  Very informative as we are staying in Tahiti Village (south of the strip) right now.  Got a 2-br 1550 sqft unit through a II exchange.  I have to say that this place is nice.  Here with 6 adults and 2 children.  We all love the lazy river.

Was planning to price compare with Tix4Tonight, but we ended up getting 2 show tickets for Jabbawockeez and Criss Angel for about $125 per person at Luxor.  Too lazy now to figure out the savings if we went with Tix4Tonight.  

We saw Jabbawockeez last night, and we enjoyed it.  Hesitant to give it a rating as I think it's really dependent on if you like that kind of stuff.  Some really awesome dancing and comedy mixed in.  Overall enjoyable.

We're seeing Criss Angel tomorrow night.


----------



## davidvel (Aug 11, 2015)

Non-gambler in sin city sounds like a person at a nudist camp wearing all their clothes. I guess that _could_ be interesting.


----------



## FLDVCFamily (Aug 11, 2015)

About how far of a ride is the red rock canyon from Vegas? We want to take a trip out there with the kids, stay in a timeshare in Vegas and take day trips.


----------



## ace2000 (Aug 11, 2015)

Thanks for the info Presley!  I'm interested in a non-gambling Vegas adventure trip myself and your information was perfect!  

...Ok, perhaps a little gambling on the side would be ok...


----------



## presley (Aug 11, 2015)

whathowmuch said:


> We're seeing Criss Angel tomorrow night.


Please post a review. That was the one show I planned on seeing. I read a lot of show reviews before we went to Vegas and the reviews weren't very good. I was surprised Criss Angel is usually very good, but didn't want to spend the money if I was going to feel like I overspent to see it.



FLDVCFamily said:


> About how far of a ride is the red rock canyon from Vegas? We want to take a trip out there with the kids, stay in a timeshare in Vegas and take day trips.


It was pretty close. I believe it took us 30 minutes and we stopped for gas and water on the way over. I think it was $7./per car to enter the park which is a steal.


----------



## melissy123 (Aug 11, 2015)

We did a very long day trip to Zion National Park in Utah from Vegas in October.  The goal was to hike the Narrows, a trek through the river running between the sandstone walls.  The river is only low enough to hike in October/November.  We didn't take into account we would still need special boots for wading through the ice cold river, and at times it could get knee deep.  But still worth the trip.


----------



## FLDVCFamily (Aug 11, 2015)

Ty1on said:


> Next trip look at the HGVC Suites on the Strip by Circus Circus.  It's a mile removed from the 50 yard line of the Strip, where you just stayed, but it's a lot more chill.



Do you think that HGVC suites is family-friendly? We want to take our kids 9 and 6 to Vegas mainly to do daytrips to different things like Hoover Dam and Grand Canyon.


----------



## Ty1on (Aug 11, 2015)

FLDVCFamily said:


> Do you think that HGVC suites is family-friendly? We want to take our kids 9 and 6 to Vegas mainly to do daytrips to different things like Hoover Dam and Grand Canyon.



I haven't been in a unit there, but the lobby is pretty fancy and may be intimidating to a kid.  I'll defer to those who have stayed there......I can say that, being right next to Circus Circus, the kids would love being so close to the Pink Elephant (The Adventuredome).


----------



## Luanne (Aug 11, 2015)

davidvel said:


> Non-gambler in sin city sounds like a person at a nudist camp wearing all their clothes. I guess that _could_ be interesting.



We are non-gamblers, although I do like to drop money in the slots from time to time.  We've been to Las Vegas several times.  Enjoy it for the shows, the side trips, and people watching.


----------



## VegasBella (Aug 11, 2015)

Agree with you on Red Rock, Valley of Fire, and Mob Museum. 

Glad you didn't see the white tigers. It's not really cool to see captive wild animals who have been inbred in a way that makes them more susceptible to disease (white tigers have a weaker immune system than regular tigers), more likely to have crossed eyes, clubbed foot, or other genetic abnormalities.


----------



## Fern Modena (Aug 11, 2015)

There are plenty of places to eat downtown which are open on Sundays, but many of them are in casinos. 

As for the not in casino group, my faves downtown or nearby would be Carson Kitchen and Dona Maria Tamales, both of which I've mentioned before. Another, which I haven't tried yet, but is on my short list is Lola's, which is Southern Food. Has great reviews.

Fern



presley said:


> *Mob Museum*  We went on Sunday and tried to get some food downtown afterward, but most place weren't open and we decided to go back to the resort to eat instead.


----------



## John Cummings (Aug 11, 2015)

presley said:


> We were super hungry after the show and ate at *Cheeseburger Las Vegas*. I had to comment on it because it is a Hawaii theme, which is very nice...



Actually it is a Hawaiian chain. We have eaten many times at Cheeseburger Waikiki as well as a couple times at the Las Vegas one. I believe that Cheeseburger Las Vegas is the only one on the mainland  We like the Waikiki one much better.

http://www.cheeseburgerland.com/Cheeseburgerland/Landing_Page.html


----------



## Ty1on (Aug 11, 2015)

John Cummings said:


> Actually it is a Hawaiian chain. We have eaten many times at Cheeseburger Waikiki as well as a couple times at the Las Vegas one. I believe that Cheeseburger Las Vegas is the only one on the mainland  We like the Waikiki one much better.
> 
> http://www.cheeseburgerland.com/Cheeseburgerland/Landing_Page.html



Hawaiians refer to Vegas as the 9th Island.


----------



## VegasBella (Aug 11, 2015)

Fern Modena said:


> There are plenty of places to eat downtown which are open on Sundays


There's also VegeNation and the restaurants in the Container Park and many of the new ones downtown. I know VegeNation is open on Sundays because I ate there recently on a Sunday. They offer 2 for 1 mimosas on Sundays.


----------



## whathowmuch (Aug 13, 2015)

presley said:


> Please post a review. That was the one show I planned on seeing. I read a lot of show reviews before we went to Vegas and the reviews weren't very good. I was surprised Criss Angel is usually very good, but didn't want to spend the money if I was going to feel like I overspent to see it.



We really liked the show overall.  Some amazing magic that makes you wonder in awe.  I usually get the same feeling when I head to Magic Castle in Hollywood, CA.  That place is just awesome.

Anyway, some amazing magic and comedy mixed in.  Good comedy, but was a bit awkward for me.  Still wondering why it's tied to Cirque de Soleil.  I'd say go see it, you can get discounted tickets, but have to give up 2-hours of your vacation, i.e. timeshare presentation.  Something we are all familiar with.


----------



## 1Kflyerguy (Aug 28, 2015)

FLDVCFamily said:


> Do you think that HGVC suites is family-friendly? We want to take our kids 9 and 6 to Vegas mainly to do daytrips to different things like Hoover Dam and Grand Canyon.



My son is now grown up, but i would think this location is pretty family friendly.  Nice pool for use during the warmer months.  No casino at all, and easy parking..


----------



## Neesie (Sep 7, 2015)

presley said:


> Since I've had so much help/advice from Tuggers over the past few years for ideas on what to do in Vegas, I thought I'd pay my experience forward and hopefully give some others some ideas on what to do in sin city besides drink, gamble and go to strip clubs. I saw some really great things that I think are worth visiting for those who may have the same types of interest that I have.
> 
> We stayed at HGVC Flamingo and I will post a detailed review on that in a day or two. We arrived after 11pm and pretty much just settled in to bed after figuring out who was sleeping where. Our group was 5 adults in a 2 bedroom lockout.
> 
> ...


Anthony Melchori on Hotel Impossible would be all over that place with their confusing wrist band policies and multiple "Do Not" signs.  

I don't gamble and I've never been to Vegas but a state or county park might be the first thing I'd look for.  Thanks for giving people ideas off the beaten path.


----------

