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Comment by psweber | Hacker News Reader

I recommend going to Vegas and not doing any of the "normal" stuff. There is great camping 25 minutes from the strip. You can park on the strip for free and go to the hotel pools. Tons of a beautiful hiking and climbing.

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I recommend the National Atomic Testing Museum, which isn't as random as it seems to be located in Vegas. Vegas is near where the above-ground nuclear tests used to be held, and as various pictures in the museum attest, people could see the mushroom clouds from Vegas hotels.

There's a fun book called We Swam the Grand Canyon. Near the beginning of the book, the author writes about how they were sleeping in a tent the night before they started out and then were awaked by the light, sound, and ground motion of an atomic explosion.

The craters from those above ground tests can be seen really clearly on a sattelite map view. It's startling to see how many there are!

https://goo.gl/maps/8J1avkiPsKewXLie8

The Pinball Hall of Fame Museum is to me, a bit of a pinball nut, one of the greatest places in the entire world. Every trip I'm nudged into is made worthwhile by a visit.

Have you seen that they are getting a new building on the south end of the strip?

Galloping Ghost outside Chicago and Pinball PA outside Pittsburgh are also great places to check out if you like pinball.

Thank you so much! I’m in between both and you’ve given me a reason to say yes to a random road trip

If you live in or visit the SF Bay Area, Alameda has a very nice offering: https://www.pacificpinball.org/

I haven’t been there in a few years and totally forgot about it, thanks!

Parking at the hotels on the strip is no longer free :-(

But yes, there’s plenty of stuff to do in Vegas beyond the obvious. My favorite: Red Rock Canyon just west of Vegas is beautiful for hiking!

Dang. I was just there last year, and it was so nice.

Woah. When did they start charging for parking at the casinos on the strip?

I lived in Vegas from 2009-2012, and I used to always park at the Bellagio whenever I took tourist friends to the strip. My mom used to always tell me "Yeah, parking is free because the casinos pay for it!" Sad times now that that's no longer the case :(

At least the casinos' tax revenue still makes up for a lack of a state income tax...right?

Recently. They need to pay for the new stadium they are are massively leveraged for.

Ah I forgot about this. The Las Vegas Oakland Raiders' stadium...

> When did they start charging for parking at the casinos on the strip?

Years ago, sadly. And it's not just that it's no longer free, it's actually creating more traffic. The whole Vegas experience is non-trivially worse for it.

The Wynn/Encore apparently brought back free parking last year.

The parking charges are a pain. Previously I would just pick up a car at the airport if I were using it to go somewhere like Death Valley after a four-day conference or so. Now it makes more sense to either rent a car at one of the hotels or just go back to the rental car center at the airport.

Treasure Island has free parking as well as some others.

some (most?) of the casinos have free parking for nevada residents

Not anymore...

Parking is still free at Planet Hollywood for now.

But yeah, the surroundings of Las Vegas are great for nature lovers: Red Rock, Valley of Fire, and Mount Charleston are all within an hour drive, and there are a good number of national parks within day tripping distance.

I didn't crazy care for my time in Las Vegas, but I loved Valley of Fire park. It was incredible seeing the martian landscape and petroglyphs of ancient peoples.

I drilled the well at the visitor’s center.

I was just there and parking was free at the palazzo.

I was on a hiking trail over by Lake Mead and there are big gates saying something like "Closed June-October" / YOU WILL DIE :)

Thankfully we were there in march.

that sign is legit. if the ambient temperature is 117, the sunshine bouncing around in those canyons can get surface temps up to 130. add visitors that head out on desert hikes without any water... and it's trouble.

> ...go to the hotel pools.

I'm not familiar, are the hotel pools free/public? Or are you just implying you walk in like you belong, and they don't check if you're a guest at the hotel?

When I went in, they just checked for alcohol in your bags. They didn't ask for any proof of being a guest.

Which hotel? Most of the hotels require a room key to access the pools.

the larger resorts do have public pools because they sell a lot of alcohol there

Most of them make you flash your room key, but they don't really check to see if you're a current guest.

Edit: A few of the pools allow swim-up gaming. I believe they are legally required to allow you into their pool if you say you want to play blackjack there, since they can't offer private gaming

Edit 2: Some of the casinos have "Pool Parties" or "Day Clubs" or whatever, usually loud, booze-soaked affairs with big-name DJ's, which you do not have to be a hotel guest for, but you do need to buy tickets.

There are plenty of places that have beautiful hiking and climbing. If I'm in Vegas I'm there to gamble, hit the buffet, and go to a show.

Red Rock's campground is not "great." It's a patch of dirt with pit toilets, little scenery, and is cold and windy. At $20 night, you can find Airbnb rooms that cost the same.

the quality of the campground is a filter to keep out anyone who would actually stay in an airbnb

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