The Las Vegas Adventurer

Driving over the Hoover Dam is a lesson in patience. The two-lane bridge connecting Nevada, Arizona and Utah is often clogged with traffic and has even become an economic burden on the states because the major commercial corridor simply doesn’t move quickly enough.
Over the last several years there have been lingering concerns of possible catastrophes involving vehicle accidents or terrorist threats that could hinder the dam and its facilities and threaten the water supply of several southwestern states.

Enter the Hoover Dam Bypass, a “twin rib” concrete arch bridge about 1,600 feet south of the current bridge and an improvement …read more

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Image details: Woman Raising Arms to Sun served by picapp.com
Well, today it’s HOT, HOT, HOT! Our temperatures over the next two days are predicted to break some records (107 today, 105 tomorrow!). Locals know this because it’s been all over the news for the last few days, but how would someone just flying into the valley look it up?
Your first stop might be weather.com, and while it gives a pretty comprehensive menu of options (ten day forecast, hourly forecast, etc), it always seems to be a few degrees off when it comes to official reports (which, let’s face it, once …read more

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[image source: wikipedia]
The Luxor Hotel opened in 1993 at a cost of $375 million and was the city’s first fully-themed mega-resort as well as the largest building on the Strip. The Ancient Egyptian themed resort has 4,407 hotel rooms and is named after the city of Luxor in Egypt. The light at the top of the pyramid can be viewed from space!
A theater and 2000 more rooms contained within two towers were added in 1998, and in 2007 the majority of the public areas were renovated, with most of the Egyptian themed decor being removed and replaced with sexier, adult-themed …read more

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[image source: wikipedia]
New York-New York Hotel & Casino opened January 3, 1997. Its New York City theme is one of the more detailed on the Strip, and the skyline of the outside facade includes the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building.
A pool out front represents New York Harbor, a half-scale (150 ft) replica of the Statue of Liberty, and replicas of the Brooklyn Bridge, Soldiers and Sailors Monument, the Whitney Museum of American Art, Ellis Island, and Grand Central Terminal.
The main casino area inside is named after Central Park, and meeting areas, bars, and eateries are named after …read more

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Though the face of Las Vegas is constantly changing and updating itself, the sign just south of the Strip that welcomes visitors to Las Vegas looks the same today as it did when it was first created nearly half a century ago.
The landmark was created in 1959 by Betty Willis for Clark County, Nevada. Willis and her family were one of the first in the Las Vegas valley, arriving by horse-drawn wagon in 1905. Willis’ father, Stephen Whitehead, was employed as Clark County’s first assessor. Willis studied at an art school in LA before returning to Las Vegas where …read more

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[image source: wikipedia]
The construction of Paris Las Vegas began in 1997 and opened in September 1999 at a cost of $785 million. It occupies 24 acres and is owned by Harrah’s Entertainment. It features a 1/2 scale, 540 foot (164.6 m) tall replica of the Eiffel Tower out front, a two-thirds size Arc de Triomphe, the Montgolfier balloon, and a replica of La Fontaine des Mers.
The grand opening included French actress Catherine Deneuve who flipped a switch that turned on all the lights of the resort. The original plans for the Tower were for it to be full scale, …read more

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Circus Circus Hotel and Casino first opened on October 18, 1968. After a major renovation in 1997 (thus changing the hotel’s theme from a typical American circus to a French-Canadian, Cirque de Soleil style), the hotel boasted a new 35-story hotel tower and a grand total of 3,774 rooms within 101,000 square feet.
The hotel is the only one on the Strip that provides camping amenities within its 399 space RV park run by Kampgrounds of America (KOA). Circus Circus can also lay claim to the biggest permanent bigtop in the …read more

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[image source: wikipedia]
The Stratosphere Las Vegas opened April 30, 1996 at a cost of $550 million. The hotel (separate from the skyscraper needle) is 20 stories, has 2,444 rooms and an 80,000 square foot casino.
At a total of 1,149 feet high, the needle is the tallest free-standing structure in Nevada and the second tallest free-standing structure in the US west of the Mississippi River. Five people have jumped from the tower since it was first built.
The Stratosphere is the only hotel on the Strip actually located in the City of Las Vegas – the rest are located in the …read more

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The Fountains of Bellagio are a popular attraction for tourists on the Strip. Located out front of the Bellagio hotel, the choreographed fountain show draws hundreds of thousands of spectators each year as it’s one of the few free forms of entertainment available to everyone!
The fountain show takes place every 30 minutes in the afternoons and early evenings, and every 15 minutes from 8 PM to midnight, every day. The fountains are housed in an 8.5 acre man-made lake supplied with fresh water from a well that was drilled decades ago for a golf course, which was located where the …read more

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As I posted back in January, The Las Vegas Review Journal allows locals and visitors alike to submit their picks for the Best of Las Vegas. From restaurants to tourist traps, and hotels to adult stores, The Best of Las Vegas is a fantastic resource for anyone planning to spend some time in Las Vegas!
The 8,000 votes have been tallied and can be viewed by category:
~ Best Eat & Drink
~ Best Entertainment
~ Best Hotels
~ Best Locations
~ Best People
~ Best Shopping
~ Best Sports Spots
~ Best of the Worst
[image: stock.xchng]

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