• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

There’s a heck of a lot more to the Grand Canyon region than a big hole in the ground. And from the pleasures of Sin City to the truth behind Utah’s polygamist culture, we take you road tripping around the western tri-state area. The chapter opens with 48 hours of neon-drenched, outrageous, lose-your-inhibitions fun in America’s zany adult funhouse, Las Vegas. Other regional explorations cover lazing on house boats, drinking beer and swimming in Lake Powell’s clear turquoise water and getting impressed by red-rock arches and canyon country in Utah’s national parks.

* * *

PLAYLIST

Set the mood driving to America’s most iconic hole with this playlist. Not only does it include music about the Grand Canyon, it also gets you ready to party in Las Vegas and provides a soundtrack for driving through Utah’s trippy crimson canyonlands and narrow arches.

“Grand Canyon,” Tracey Thorn

“Paper Roses,” Marie Osmond

“Utah Carol,” Marty Robbins

“Luck Be a Lady Tonight,” Frank Sinatra

“Leaving Las Vegas,” Sheryl Crow

“Mr Brightside,” The Killers

“Heaven or Las Vegas,” The Cocteau Twins

“The Gambler,” Kenny Rogers

* * *

BEST GRAND CANYON REGION TRIPS

27 48 Hours in Las Vegas

35 Written in Stone: Utah’s National Parks

GRAND CANYON REGION TRIPS

28 Fantastic Canyon Voyage

36 Trail of the Ancients

29 Ghosts of the South Rim

30 South Rim Art

31 Hualapai & Havasupai Journey

32 Hiking the North Rim

33 Lazing on Lake Powell

35 Written in Stone: Utah’s National Parks

34 Polygamy Country

27 48 Hours in Las Vegas

Return to beginning of chapter

48 Hours in Las Vegas

* * *

WHY GO Las Vegas is a wild ride. It doesn’t matter if you play the penny slots, lay down a bankroll on the poker tables or never gamble at all – you’ll leave this town feeling like you’ve just had the time of your life. Guaranteed.

* * *

* * *

TIME

2 days

BEST TIME TO GO

Apr– Jun

START

Las Vegas, NV

END

Las Vegas, NV

* * *

According to Hollywood legend, the day mobster Bugsy Siegel drove from LA into the Mojave Desert and decided to finish raising a glamorous, tropical-themed casino under the searing sun, all there was here were some ramshackle gambling houses, tumbleweeds and cacti. Nobody thought anyone would ever come here. But everybody couldn’t have been more wrong, baby.

Today, Las Vegas welcomes more visitors each year than the holy city of Mecca. In fact, it’s the fastest-growing metropolitan area in the USA. Admittedly, its tourist traps, especially on the infamous Strip, are nonstop party zones. But scratch beneath the surface, and you’ll find Sin City has much more on tap than just gambling, booze and cheap thrills. There are as many different faces to Nevada’s biggest metropolis as there are Elvis impersonators or wedding chapels here.

Sprawled immodestly along Las Vegas Blvd, the Strip is a never-ending spectacle, especially at night with all of its neon lights blazing. Ever since Bugsy’s Flamingo casino hotel upped the ante back in 1946, casino hotels have competed to dream up the next big thing, no matter how gimmicky. You can be mesmerized by the dancing fountain show outside of the Bellagio, an exploding faux-Polynesian volcano in a lagoon fronting the Mirage, singing gondoliers plying the artificial canals of the Venetian or sexy pirates in a mock battle of the sexes with pyrotechnics galore at TI (Treasure Island). Rise above the Strip’s madness inside glass elevators shooting up the half-scale replica of the Eiffel Tower at Paris Las Vegas, or ascend the 110-story Stratosphere Tower, where the world’s highest thrill rides await.

All of this showy stuff is old hat for Las Vegas. This century-old city is quickly metamorphizing into a sophisticated but still sexy and sybaritic destination. Boutique hotels-within-hotels – for example, the Signature Suites at MGM Grand or the high-rise Palms Place – star chefs’ restaurants (including a recent invasion of high-flying Frenchmen