Las Vegas

[anil_sud]

<p>Travelling to Death Valley for a photography workshop in mid-November; I have a week to spend in Las Vegas the preceeding week....any must see locations to stop in while visiting the city.<br>

I am also hoping to make it out to Valley of Fire, Hoover Dam and possibly a helicopter tour in the Grand Canyon.<br>

Any suggestions for photography within the city limits appreciated. As well, any lodging recommendations for spending the night near Valley of Fire would be helpful. I definitely would not be equipped for camping but a reasonably priced hotel nearby would do.<br>

Thanks,<br>

anil.</p>

 

[bob_flood1]

<p>First, Valley of Fire is about a one hour drive from the strip - take I-15 north and look for the exit sign for V of F. You probably don't need to find a place out there - and a good thing, too, because there's essentially nothing there. You might find a motel in Overton, but it's not going to be a national chain.</p>

<p>Check the strip resort room prices online - they typically have very attractive rates Sunday-Thursday nights and bump up in Friday and Saturday. If you don't mind the inconvenience of changing hotels during your stay, relocating to an off-strip non-casino motel (chains like La Quinta, etc) will probably save some money. You'll have to decide if that will save enough to make it worth doing.</p>

<p>Red Rock Canyon is a national conservation area about a 20 minute drive from the strip on the west side of the city. Very good western red rock geology, nice at sunrise, desert vegetation (cactus, Joshua trees, etc), wild burros if you are lucky to encounter some. The first 2 stops along the one-way 15 mile loop road are very popular with hard rock climbers. Moderately busy on weekends - it's popular with locals, but that's also the best time to find the climbers.</p>

<p>Zion National Park can be a day trip if you don't mind a long day. Plan on a 3-3.5 hour drive from the strip to be standing in Zion Canyon. Fall color will be a bit past its peak by mid-November but there should still be pockets of good color.</p>

<p>A new bridge over the gorge at Hoover Dam will probaly be open by the time you are here - expect the place to be a bit more of a tourist attraction because of that, and all the road improvements on the Nevada side won't be finished at the time of the bridge opening, so traffic won't be too elegant.</p>

<p>The strip has many many photo opportunities, both inside and out, daylight and darkness. Don't try to take pictures of table games - casino security will insist on watching you delete the photos you've taken of them. Anything else inside a casino is fair game. The fountains outside the Bellagio and the Conservatory inside are both excellent subjects, as are the Forum Shops in Caeser's Palace and the Grand Canal Shops in the Venetian. You can shoot the strip from the Stratosphere observation deck but not for free - they charge to ride up there. And most casinos won't have their lights on late in the day - that time when there's enough daylight to see the buildings but faded enough to see the lights. They are economizing these days and most don't turn on the famous outside lights until it is truly dark.</p>

<p>Have fun.</p>

[charles_stobbs3]

Why not rent a car for a few days and sightsee? Go hiking in the Grand Canyon, see Canyon Dechelly, the Navajo and Hopi reservations, and the Havasupai bridge.

[www.philwinterphotography.]

<p>If you're interested in a helicopter tour, check out http://www.grandcanyonranch.com/ . They offer helicopter tours from LV to the ranch for overnight (if you want) or breakfast/lunch, then a heli tour of the canyon and back to LV. We stayed at the ranch for 2 nights a year ago last March, but didn't do the heli tour. They herd the horses into a pasture before dawn so maybe you could get some good shots of that. Oh, and they have a pretty decent gun-fight reenactment.</p>

[david_henderson]

<p>I like Las Vegas but I wouldn't want to spend a whole week there. Suggest you pick a reachable location - such as Zion or Grand Canyon or Page, and spend half the week there , half in LV</p>

[gungajim]

<p>Bob's recommendations are excellent. Rental car is essential to get to outlying sites. Three nites in LV is more than enough. Take David's suggestion and head elsewhere for a few nites. Hope your Death Valley workshop takes you to Ryholite just east of DV. <a href="http://www.nps.gov/deva/historyculture/death-valley-ghost-towns.htm">http://www.nps.gov/deva/historyculture/death-valley-ghost-towns.htm</a><br />Also good info about Zion and Grand Cyn. at the nps.gov website. For an amazing place in LV to photograph, go to 888 W Bonneville Ave. You won't be disappointed.<br />Get a good map of LV and surrounding area. I think National Geographic does one that is plastic coated. Cheers, GJ</p>

[ted_raper1]

<p>Bob is right about Valley of Fire - it's only an hour from Vegas and you won't find a motel there because it is really in the middle of NOWHERE. When I was there in July it was about 115 degrees but you won't have that problem this time of year. Bob is right about the new bridge over Hoover Dam, too, because it was in final stages of completion when I was there.</p>

<p>I wanted to take some pictures of the famous lights of Vegas with as few people around as possible, and so got up at 4AM and went out. Boy was I surprised - at 4AM, still hundreds of people wandering around, even some small traffic jams. Vegas is a 24 hour a day city. But the lights are amazing. And the long day trip to Zion is worth it too.</p>

<p>Have a great time.</p>

[richard_crowe4]

<p>Regarding LV... Bring a tripod... Night views of the casino outsides are just great...</p>

[bob_flood1]

<p>A few more hints ...</p>

<p>Richard speaks the truth - bring a tripod. The top level of casino self-park parking decks are good places - I like Bellagio's (great view of Paris) and the Mirage's (view southward from Venetian toward Bellagio).</p>

<p>One thing I haven't tried yet is the top deck of the open double decker buses (London-type) that run on the strip. Views of the strip from that bus should be unique.</p>

<p>If you go to Zion to stay overnight, I can recommend the Best Western Zion Park Inn in Springdale. It's a bit over $100/nite, but can get busy on weekends - nice accomodations, good restaurant. There's a fair number of family-owned small motels and B&Bs in Springdale, and generally good restaurants. You won't find any fast food in Springdale - the nearest is in Hurricane. If you go the Bryce, Ruby's motel is as much a landmark as the park. Reasonably inexpensive and the restaurant is OK, too. Very good general store. Almost nothing else around there, though.</p>

[danny_low]

<p>Several of the casino hotels have rather interesting interiors that are worth checking out. The Venetian, Bellagio, Wynn and Caesar are among the better ones. The Wynn has a bar with Galilean thermometers as decoration. However getting a photo of it all is a challenge. New York and Paris have interesting exteriors but the inside are ordinary by Las Vegas standards. The Luxor can be interesting. The exterior of the Excalibur is the epitome of Las Vegas tacky but can be surprisingly beautiful at night when it is lit up. However its interior is standard casino decor.</p>

<p>Danny</p>

<p> </p>

[dcstep]

<p>Pack the tripod and remote release so that you can get pictures of The Strip at night.</p>

[anil_sud]

<p>Thanks for the responses everyone...does anyone know if there are any glass museums or underwater aquariums to photograph in Vegas?</p>

[marc_bergman1]

<p>As far as aquariums go there is Shark's Reef at Mandalay Bay. That is on the south side of the strip.</p>

<p>There is also one at the Forum Shops at Caesar's Palace.</p>