No dice? Nongamblers in Las Vegas have options

By John Deiner
Washington Post

•	Plan your trip For information on Las Vegas, contact the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Bureau at www.lasvegas24hours.com. The Web site includes links to most of the major casinos. Other good sites with information on daytime activities include www.vegas.com, www.lvlg.com and www.a2zlasvegas.com. All contain mountains of information, including links to various attractions and show guides.

Here are seven ways to kill an afternoon in Sin City without broiling by the pool, shopping away your gambling money or holding a chip. For most, a car will come in handy, but many tour companies offer day trips by coach.

Museum hop

Strangely enough, Vegas is full of 'em. The Venetian resort has a Guggenheim branch, while the Bellagio hotel is hosting "Faberge: Treasures From the Kremlin" in its Gallery of Fine Art. Museums are devoted to Elvis, Native Americans, cars, gambling memorabilia, even King Tut. My advice? Mix and match. Three choices:

• The Natural History Museum is a modest affair featuring kid's faves like a shark tank, snakes, fake mammals, robotic dinosaurs and a gallery with scratch-and-sniff displays of Nevada wildlife. Badgers? Yes. You'll need to sniff the steenkin' badgers.
• At the Liberace Museum, donated by the glitzmonger himself, a self-important film precedes a tour of the late entertainer's gaudy doodads, including jewelry and costumes, vintage cars and historic pianos. The $12 admission fee is the one thing that's truly over the top.
• A better deal is the fascinating, and free, Nevada Test Site History Center — if you can find it (call for directions). Open noon to 4 p.m. weekdays, the one-room exhibit features a timeline of the country's nuclear testing program interspersed with relics of the era and a model of the site in the nearby desert. The gift shop rocks.

Natural History Museum, 900 Las Vegas Blvd. N., (702) 384-3466, www.lvnhm.org; $6. Liberace Museum, 1775 E. Tropicana Ave., (702) 798-5595, www.liberace.com; $12. Nevada Test Site History Center, 2621 Losee Road, (702) 295-1198; free.

Take a trip to the moon

Less than 20 miles out of town lies the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area and its lunar landscape. Here you can hike, bike, climb, ride horses, camp or drive your way through nearly 200,000 acres.

Start on the horseshoe-shape scenic loop, a 13-miler that passes the Visitor Center, picnic areas and scenic vistas. Plan to stop and hike one of 23 trails of differing degrees of difficulty. But don't forget to look up, because those specks on the red rock wall up ahead will be climbers inching their way along the rock face. Also expect to see an interesting array of wildlife, including wild burros and snakes.

One warning: Like Death Valley, conditions in the summer can be dangerous, so try to plan your trip in the late fall through early spring.

Red Rock Canyon is 17 miles west of the Strip on Mount Charleston Boulevard. One-day vehicle passes are $5. Details: (702) 363-1921 or on the Web, www.redrockcanyon.blm.gov.

Go on an urban safari

Kids love spending a few hours on the trail of the town's ubiquitous caged casino critters. Wear comfortable shoes and start at the Mandalay Bay resort, which features tropical birds in the lobby and the Shark Reef, an aquarium that's home to more than 100 species, including crocs, rays and, of course, sharks.

Head to the Tropicana for its Wildlife Walk — the birds and marmosets are nothing special, but you can enjoy the AC on a hot afternoon. Directly across the street via a pedestrian bridge is the MGM Grand's Lion Habitat, also free but far more ambitious; guests stroll through giant glass-enclosed pens as felines watch. Then stroll about 15 minutes north to the Flamingo and its Wildlife Habitat, which is intertwined with the resort's Grade-A pool. Finally, cross the street for the Mirage and Siegfried & Roy's Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat.

All of the attractions are open daily and are free, except for Mandalay's Shark Reef ($14.95) and the Mirage's Secret Garden ($10).

Visit Hoover Dam

Unfortunately, 9/11 security concerns have dampened the experience a tad, as dam tours offer less access than before and traffic creeps along for vehicle inspections. But the behemoth is still a big attraction.

Start at the excellent visitor center and take the fascinating tour. Then wander around outside and admire the public art and the vertiginous view from the top. For lunch, head to nearby Boulder City — it's a pretty little town. Or pack a meal in Vegas and stop at the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, where you can picnic on the beach.

Hoover Dam is about 30 miles from the Strip; parking is $5, tours $10. Details: (702) 294-3517, www.hooverdam.usbr.gov. The vehicle entrance fee at Lake Mead NRA is $5. Details: (702) 293-8907, www.nps.gov/lame.

Scream to the state line

Roller-coaster buffs can spend a day getting visceral thrills clear out to the Nevada-California border. Atop the Stratosphere resort's iconic tower sits the High Roller, billed as the world's tallest coaster at more than 100 stories above ground.

At the Sahara is Speed — the Ride, which propels coasterheads from 35 mph to 70 mph in two seconds right through the casino's marquee. About a half-hour west of town in Primm is the Desperado at Buffalo Bill's Resort. It's one of the world's fastest and tallest coasters and a must-ride for aficionados.

I love Manhattan Express at the New York New York hotel. It's expensive ($12), but it's the only time I've ever enjoyed screaming in a New York taxicab, which the coaster's cars are modeled after.

High Roller at the Stratosphere (2000 Las Vegas Blvd. S., tower admission/coaster, $11); Speed at the Sahara (2535 Las Vegas Blvd. S., $8 for two rides); Desperado at Buffalo Bill's (I-15 in Primm, $6); Manhattan Express at New York New York (3790 Las Vegas Blvd., $12). Discount coupons can often be found in hotel room city guides.

Tour a factory

If you've ever wondered how chocolate is made or how vitamins are packaged, you're in luck, as Vegas has some of the weirdest factory tours around. The best part: All are free and self-guided.

In a town filled with oddities, you'll be hard pressed to find anything odder than Ron Lee's World of Clowns in Henderson, about 20 minutes from the Strip. Watch as grim-faced workers paint smiles on creepy clown statues; then go to the gallery and marvel at the prices. More fun is the Ethel M Chocolates tour, also in Henderson. Hershey does it better, but there's a free piece of chocolate at the end. Outside, budget time for the wonderful Botanical Cactus Garden, a 2 1/2-acre spread highlighting 350 species.

I thought it was fascinating, but others raced by to get to the shop at the end of the self-guided tour of the National Vitamin Co., only minutes from the Strip. It takes about 10 minutes to see the production line, but that shop is a whopper.

Ron Lee's World of Clowns, 330 Carousel Parkway, (702) 434-1700, www.ronlee.com; Ethel M, 2 Cactus Garden Drive, (888) 627-0990, www.ethelm.com; National Vitamin Co., 7440 S. Industrial Road, (888) 346-6848; on the Web www.nationalvitamin.com.

Have a Death Valley day

Comprising more than 3.3 million acres in the middle of the desert, Death Valley National Park is about 2 1/2 hours from Vegas and way different. While visitors are better served by spending a couple of days exploring the park, you can get a good sense of what it's like on a day trip.

Start at the Furnace Creek Visitor Center and then head for Badwater, the lowest point (282 feet below sea level) in the western hemisphere. Then take your pick of diversions: hike, explore the Rhyolite ghost town or the old borax works, go horseback riding at Furnace Creek Ranch, or drive around and ogle. You'll leave wishing you'd booked a room at the incongruously chi-chi Furnace Creek Inn.

Open year-round, though the summer heat is unbearable (110-plus degrees). $10 vehicle entrance fee is good for a week. Rangers offer talks, walks and guided hikes November through April. Details/directions: (760) 786-3200 or on the Web, www.nps.gov/deva.