I have had the pleasure of visiting three out of the five states that are considered the South West Mountain States; Nevada, Utah and Arizona. There is soooo much more of them that I hope to explore in the future, Utah in particular, but I thought I would share 10 things that I loved doing when visiting these states!
The first five cover Las Vegas, both the times I have been I was under 21 so could not drink or gamble, but this absolutely did not matter in the slightest! It is such an amazing place and we found tons of things to do.
1. LAS VEGAS, ELARA HILTON – We were not allowed to stay in any of the hotels on the Strip as you have to have someone 21+ to check you in. This was a bummer but we found a Super 8 that was only a block from the strip, and it was super inexpensive, had washing machines we could use, a swimming pool, a hot tub, and large rooms. For a couple of nights we booked into the Elara Hilton Hotel which is directly next door to Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino. This hotel was beauuuuutiful. The room was huge, had a great view of the strip, and the pool was very private and big. We left our bags in our room at Super 8 for the nights we stayed at the Elara Hilton so that we did not have to carry the bags back and forth… And it kept the room nice and tidy ;).
2. LAS VEGAS, EXPLORE HOTELS – One of my favourite things to do was to walk around all of the well known hotels and just explore. They all have their own themes, shopping centers, restaurants, casinos, attractions and loads more. The New York-New York Hotel has a roller coaster attached to it with taxi cab themed trains, The Venetian Hotel offers Outdoor Gondola Rides, The Mirage Hotel has a dolphin habitat and a secret garden with white lions, white tigers, and leopards, The Bellagio is home to the famous fountain show and beautiful indoor gardens, and this is only naming a few!
3. LAS VEGAS, THE STRATOSPHERE – The Stratosphere is a MUST! It is the tallest freestanding observation tower in USA (1,149ft tall). So if you are not into rides then you can simply enjoy the amazing views of the Las Vegas Strip. If you are into rides (like myself) you have 3 terrifying ones to chose from. BIG SHOT is a little like Detonator (Thorpe Park) but instead of dropping you, it blasts you up 160ft into the air. INSANTIY is a giant mechanical arm that holds you 900ft high and it spins 64ft over the edge of the tower.. It even tilts the seats so you are staring straight down at the ground. Finally there is X-SCREAM which is a mini roller coaster that catapults headfirst 27ft over the edge of the tower and leaves you dangling 109 stories in the air.
4. LAS VEGAS, HIGH ROLLER – It has only been open for a couple years. The High Roller is the worlds tallest ferris wheel (550ft tall) and it is right across from Caesars Palace, giving views of the Las Vegas Strip. Prices are $25 day time and $35 night time and it lasts for 30 minutes. We were lucky enough to have a cabin all to ourselves which gave us a chance to take lots and lots of photographs!
5. LAS VEGAS, CIRCUS CIRCUS – Circus Circus Hotel is home to Adventuredome Theme Park. For $32 you can purchase a wrist band that allows you to ride on as many rides as you want, all day long. Unfortunately we did not get any photographs here as we put our belongings into lockers, but you can click here to see some google images.
For the next five, I think the photographs explain enough how amazing these places are so I will just share some of the photographs that I captured. We organised a trip through STA Travel before we set off to America, it was a 3 day trip including accommodation, food and travel. There was A LOT of traveling but I really enjoyed staring out of the window at the desert so it was not too bad. I had only heard of the Grand Canyon before I went on the trip so was not that fussed about the rest of the Canyons, but once I got to see them I was absolutely mind blown at how incredible they all were. They really are amazing places!
For the next five, I think the photographs explain enough how amazing these places are so I will just share some of the photographs that I captured. We organised a trip through STA Travel before we set off to America, it was a 3 day trip including accommodation, food and travel. There was A LOT of traveling but I really enjoyed staring out of the window at the desert so it was not too bad. I had only heard of the Grand Canyon before I went on the trip so was not that fussed about the rest of the Canyons, but once I got to see them I was absolutely mind blown at how incredible they all were. They really are amazing places!
6. ARIZONA, GRAND CANYON –
7. ARIZONA, HORSESHOE BEND –
8. ARIZONA, ANTELOPE CANYON –
9. UTAH, BRYCE CANYON –
10. NEVADA, LAKE MEAD NATIONAL RECREATION AREA –
I know there are soooo many other things to do and see in these states, I just didn’t get around to doing half of them so I only wanted to share my experiences on things that I did do. Let me know what things you would recommend doing and seeing in Utah, Nevada and Arizona please!!
Sophie :)