The Sloan Canyon Petroglyphs are a great hike in Henderson, NV.  It’s about a 5 mile hike from the visitor’s center to the petroglyph rock art that covers the canyons and includes a great view of the Las Vegas Valley as you return back to the visitor’s center.  It’s a fairly easy hike with a few spots for climbing up some rock “steps” for an easy elevation change. - Stephanie Maddocks

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Cocktail/Happy Hour at Gaetano’s in Henderson (on Eastern).  The owner, Nick Palmieri ages his own whiskey and makes the best Manhattan!  His dad, Gaetano was an Italian immigrant who started his first restaurant in California, retired, moved to Henderson, and opened this eponymous restaurant with fresh pasta happy hour menu selections. - Tina Quigley

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Some of the best tamales in town are located on the Las Vegas Blvd at Doña Maria Tamales. - Ericka Aviles

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Mt Biking/Road Biking/Hiking – park in Blue Diamond to take advantage of some classic desert trails, and then finish at the Cottonwood Junction Café for the margherita pizza and a cold draft  beer. - Tina Quigley

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Don’t miss Bliss Dance!  She can be found at the center of action on the Las Vegas Strip, reigning over The Park next to T Mobile Arena. This awe-inspiring 40-foot sculpture of a dancing woman was born at Burning Man in northern Nevada’s Black Rock Desert and acquired by MGM to be the main art installation in The Park. Artist Marco Cochran describes her as “celebrating the strength of a woman who is both safe and present.” Not your average Las Vegas showgirl. - Linda Faiss

Bristlecone Pines - As far back as I can remember, the Bristlecone Pine has been an iconic figure of the landscape of the Great Basin and a part of the Nevada I know well. This ancient, living tree has been documented as the oldest living non-clonal species on the planet. We’ve always just called it the oldest living tree in the world. From the time I saw a slice of the oldest bristlecone pine on display in my hometown of Ely, Nevada – just a 3 ½ hour drive from Las Vegas – I knew there was something special about this tree. It’s usually spotted against the backdrop of some of the most remote areas of Nevada and the United States. Estimated at over 5,000 years old, the Bristlecone is found in only a few spots. Only recently, has the Patagonian cypress known as the Alerce Milenario been suggested as a rival in the age game. If you have the time, visit the Great Basin National Park – one of the least visited national parks in the country – a five-hour drive from Las Vegas. 

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Great Basin National Park - The Great Basin National Park was designated as a national park in 1986. Growing up near this special place, we explored Lehman Caves, fished the creeks, and eventually climbed the tallest mountain completely in the State of Nevada. The views from Wheeler Peak (13,065 ft) can be dizzying and mesmerizing. As beautiful as this is, some of the most beautiful views are at night where the Milky Way is often visible to the naked eye along with millions of stars and planets. This park has officially been designated a dark sky park by the International Dark Sky Association. Hard to imagine when one of the world’s brightest cities (Las Vegas) is only 300 miles away.

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Loneliest Road in America - In July 1986, Life magazine described Nevada’s Highway 50 from Dayton, NV to Baker, NV as the “Loneliest Road in America.”  Life recommended that drivers have “survival skills” to travel the route.  Something my friends and I found humorous as we had logged hundreds of trips on this road in order to return home to Ely from the University of Nevada, Reno and to do anything or go anywhere when growing up in the eastern part of our state. To this day, large stretches of the highway are out of cell range and gas stations and food stops are few and far between.  There are other things on the highway that can’t be found anywhere else though.  Wide spans of nothing but basin and range, no other cars in sight, and glimpses of mountain sheep if you’re lucky.  Nevada has more independently formed mountain ranges than any other state – check out a physical map and you’ll understand what that means.  These mountain ranges provide most of the terrain of the Loneliest Road in America and provides for more elevation changes than you can count.

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Lake Tahoe - Mark Twain once remarked about Lake Tahoe “As it lay there with the shadows of the mountains brilliantly photographed upon its still surface, I thought it must surely be the fairest picture the whole earth affords.” Your first glimpse of Lake Tahoe defines breathtaking and will continue to have that effect no matter how often you visit.