Off-strip stuff to do

Red Rock Canyon
If you go to Vegas, you should do at least one thing that involves getting out and seeing something natural, and the easiest to get to is probably Red Rock, about 20 miles away from the strip. You can get on Charleston right off the strip and take that all the way out, driving through North Las Vegas and Summerlin, or hit the freeway for a much quicker trip.

Red Rock was one of the first places we went on our vacation and we thought it was pretty cool. You pay $5 per car to enter a 13-mile one-way drive through the park. Even if you just drive through it and stop at a few of the lookouts, you'll easily get your money's worth. We were really tired the first time we went to Red Rock, so we didn't hike much, but still came away impressed.

However, if you're just going to drive through something, we recommend you go to Valley of Fire instead. It's much bigger and the drive itself is much more impressive. Red Rock only really comes to life if you get out of the car and do some hiking, which we did with Jason and Michelle our second time there.

We hiked the Calico Tanks trail, which in places was ranked an intermediate difficulty. Parts were a little challenging, but still doable, and the views were beautiful and much more impressive than anything we saw from the car. Remember that if you're going to hike, even if it's not that warm out, stop at the visitor center on the way in and buy some bottled water.

When you find yourself surrounded by the canyon on one side and the mountains on the other, you'll feel like the strip is a world away.

Bonnie Springs Ranch
On Friday we got together with Michelle and Jason and headed out to Bonnie Springs Ranch, located just down the road from Red Rock. Our mission: to ride a horse. This was something I had never done.

After signing up, filling out the release forms, and getting a little instruction, we all got on our horses and headed out on the dusty trail for our one-hour ride. And it times, it felt like a ride – like an automated ride.

You ride single file down a trail, and it’s pretty obvious that these horses have been down this exact same trail more than enough times to have it memorized. At the onset of the ride the Bonnie Springs people tell you how to use the reigns to steer the horse, but this is only barely needed. Jason, ever the rebel, was able to get his horse to briefly wander a few feet off course, but it took a lot of effort on his part, and the employee riding by us was surprised to turn around and see someone out of the rank and file.

These horses also only go at a very slow pace. We had a little bit of excitement because Jason (does it surprise anyone that it was Jason?) pulled his horse back so that it fell behind the horse in front of him. Then we’d all get to trot a little bit to catch up. That was actually pretty fun. Jason and I had said that we wanted to go at a full gallop, but didn’t even come close to it. The girls thought we were nuts.

So, I realize what I’ve written thus far could make it sound like horseback riding at Bonnie Springs wasn’t that great of an experience. But that’s not the case at all.

Michelle was quick to point out that this was her best horseback riding experience (she was very nervous when we first started out). The horses are well-behaved. The employees are friendly, funny, and a bit flirty with the ladies. But the real reason to go here is the scenery.

You should go horseback riding at Bonnie Springs because you can see stuff that you can’t see from any other perspective. You’ll see beautiful scenery on your ride, and there’s something authentic about riding a horse in the southwest

While I can wholeheartedly recommend going for a horseback ride at Bonnie Springs, I can’t really recommend staying at the motel. After staying on the strip this was quite a step down in luxury. Rooms have large balconies, but the smell of manure is strong enough to keep cityfolk like us indoors. Not all the outlets in the room worked. But worst of all, there was no clock in the room. We had to rely on the little alarm on Jaime’s PDA and hope she’d be sleeping light enough to hear it. Also, for those of us who don’t like to wake up exactly at dawn, the drapes for the windows by the bed don’t block out any of the morning sunlight. Finally, the small TV in the room didn’t come with a remote, and there aren’t any cable TV channels (this wouldn’t have been such a big deal to us, but it was the day Paul Wellstone’s plane crashed, and we were hoping to see some CNN coverage to find out what was going on).

It was much cheaper to stay here on Friday night than on the strip, but, I don’t think we’d spend the night at Bonnie Springs again. We’re now big believers in staying on the strip, and we had such a good rate during the week that it probably would have been okay to spend extra to stay somewhere on the strip Friday night.

But do go horseback riding at Bonnie Springs. It’s one of the things we all really enjoyed doing.

Techatticup
Part of the fun of going to Nevada was discovering areas that are a lot different from our Minnesota landscape. One aspect of Las Vegas that struck us was how you don't have to drive very far to be out in the middle of nowhere.

Nowhere was this feeling of isolation stronger than on the road to Techatticup. It's probably worth mentioning that we didn't know we were going to Techatticup, even when we were on our way there. It wasn't in any of the guidebooks.

When we were planning our trip, we thought it would be cool to visit a ghost town. Jaime scoured the map and some online sources to find a destination close to the strip and found a town called Nelson that's around 45 miles away.

As we turned south on US-95 we noticed how different this was from home. The road you're driving on and a few other cars are about the only man-made structures you'll see. This is even more pronounced when you drive on NV-165. During the last 11 miles to Nelson you'll notice a lot of nothing, but it's a very scenic nothing.

It must be said that we weren't that keen on Nelson. There are some old structures, but there isn't much to see. Keep on driving. A little past town you'll see an abandoned mining area. This is more what we had in mind, but there's no good place to pull over. The directions Jaime found said that the road we were on ended at a spectacular view of the Colorado River, so we decided to keep going. A few miles further down we saw what looked like what might be a gift store with some old buildings and a couple cars. We made a note to stop there on the way back and continued on down the road.

NV-165 does indeed end at a beautiful lookout on the Colorado River. Despite the spectacular view, we were the only car here, though we did pass a road construction crew on the way down. There isn't really any hiking or anything down here, so don't expect anything other than a great overlook.

On our way back to Nelson, we stopped at the buildings we saw on the way down. The whole area kind of gave me the creeps, but we went inside. I was expecting some kind of gift shop, but on the inside it looked more like a little museum. A woman named Bobby was pointing out some pictures to another couple. She turned to us and asked us if we wanted to go in the mine. Neither of us knew what she was talking about. Jaime told her as much, and she said, "Oh yeah, there's a mine tour. It's $10 each. Sign up over there if you want to go."

We shrugged, walked over to the counter and signed up. We joined the tour just in time for the "movie part." We were led over to a small TV/VCR and shown a clip of the critically-panned film "3000 Miles to Graceland." Parts of the movie were filmed right outside the building we were in.

After that, Bobby led us and the other couple outside and across the street and began to point out parts of the old abandoned mine. At the mine entrance everybody writes their name on a sheet of paper and then takes a little metal tag with a number on it and writes that number next to their name. In the unlikely event of an accident, the rescuers can use the sheet and the missing numbers to know who is missing.

This was not the most comforting way to start a tour, but it did give it a sense of excitement. So in we went.

We learned that Bobby and her husband bought the property and didn't know about the mine until just two weeks before the escrow went through. They decided to clean it out, put in electricity in the front part, and give tours. It took them about a year to clean out the part of the mine the tour goes through. They've actually explored much more of the mine, including the flooded lower levels that are 600 feet under the mountain and don't have electricity. The level the tour runs is at the 200 foot level, and you're inside the mine for around 30 minutes.

Bobby did a really good job making the tour interesting but also a little spooky. It was kind of eerie being 200 feet below the mountain, in the same space where all these criminals had been. It was a bit like visiting Alcatraz in that respect.

Once we were done in the mine, we were led back inside and Bobby went through the part of the tour we had missed. Techatticup has appeared in several movies, TV shows, and music videos, and she has the pictures to prove it. Bobby seemed to think it was kind of cool that these people show up at her door, but her real passion is the history behind the mine.

The best teachers can take their passion for a subject and make it interesting, even to someone who wouldn't initially give the subject much thought. Listening to Bobby was like taking a really interesting history class. She has devoted a huge amount of time to researching the history behind Techatticup, and she enjoys sharing what she's learned.

As we drove back to the strip, we felt like we had spent the afternoon doing something special and unique, and that's part of how we define a great vacation.

Directions:
From the strip, take I-515 South about 19 miles and you'll start to see signs for US-93 South/US-95 South. Follow US-95 South. Stay on US-95 for almost 10 miles. Watch for the turnoff for NV-165. This will be a left turn. From here it's about 11 miles to Nelson, and a few miles past to Techatticup, which will be on your left. Continue down NV-165 to get to the scenic overlook.

Valley of Fire
This is one of those sections we never got around to writing about, but suffice it to say that Valley of Fire was a big highlight of our trip. The scenery here is just mind-boggling to a midwesterner like me. Giant red rock formations dominate the view everywhere you turn - this must be a little bit like how it feels to be on Mars.

I'm glad we went to Red Rock, particularly the day we went with Michelle and Jason and hiked, but if I had to choose between Red Rock and Valley of Fire, there's simply no contest: Valley of Fire is beautiful.

And like Red Rock, it's possible to see a lot without really getting out of the car. A road meanders through Valley of Fire, taking you to trailheads, overlooks and campgrounds. I enjoyed all of our trips off the strip, but Valley of Fire is the place I'm most interested in returning to some day.