Archive for November, 2008

Vegas for Animal Lovers

Saturday, November 22nd, 2008

Wildlife is something that big and little kids from all over the world find fascinating. Whether the wildlife is marine, mamma, reptilian, or bird in nature-even insects, kids find intriguing and love to explore. In Las Vegas there are many casinos that not only offer shows that center around animals but also offer shows where animals are the stars. This is one of the few cities in the world that will offer quite the variety of fun, adventure, activity, and fantasy to its visitors. It’s a good idea to sit back and enjoy as much of that as floats your boat while you’re here.

Some of the great animal offerings you can explore and enjoy while visiting Las Vegas include the Southern Nevada Zoological-Botanical Park. This zoo makes up in quality what it lacks in size. This is a relatively small zoo but offers some rare offerings that make this zoo very much worth visiting. Among the rarities at this particular zoo is one of the last families of Barbary apes in the U.S.  In addition to these creatures, enjoy watching wallabies, flamingos, chimps, emus, and exotic reptiles.

Zoos aren’t the only businesses in the business of housing animals. It seems that many museums are cashing in on this act as well. Even if some of the shows are offered free the casinos are definitely cashing in on the big rewards that hosting these animal acts offers. The Mirage is home to quite a selection of animals among the offerings here is a White Tiger Habitat at the Mirage. These magnificent creatures are extinct in the wild. Visitors to this free exhibit are fortunate to be able to view them in their snow-white surroundings (this allows them some degree of security and the ability to ‘blend in’ with their environment).

In addition to the White Tiger Habitat, the Mirage is also home to the Mirage Aquarium. This aquarium is home to more than 1000 animals (60 species) that ordinarily would call coral reefs their home. The coral reef within the aquarium is one hundred percent artificial and there is no actual coral reef in this aquarium at all.

The Mirage is also home to the Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat. I guess you could say that really do love their animals over there. The goal of this project is not only to provide a safe environment for dolphins but also to educate visitors on the important roll in the ecosystem that these wonderful animals have. The admission to the Secret Garden is $15 for adults. For $500 you can become a trainer for the day if you are over the age of 13. This is a wonderful experience for those that are willing to pay the price.

Mandalay Baby Shark Reef offers glimpses of some rare and not so rare marine life. There are free aquarium experiences around the city but none of them actually quite compare to the scope of the Shark Reef, which is one of the largest exhibits of its kind in North America. The Shark Bay is open daily from 10 am until 11 pm and adult tickets are $15.95 while children’s tickets are $10.95 (4 and under may enter free). This is probably one of the best things to do and see in Las Vegas and well worth the price of admission.
This is only a small taste of the wonderful animal centered activities and events that take place in Vegas each and every day. Animal lovers beware, there is much to see and do here.

Popularity: unranked [?]

Eating Cheap in Vegas

Saturday, November 1st, 2008

A Las Vegas vacation for many people is an experience to enjoy 24/7 food, drink, and gambling. In fact that is the very reason that many people visit Vegas and it is also one of the main reasons that the city of Las Vegas and the gambling empires that have been built, crumbled, and been rebuilt again and again have had many of the rocky rides that offer more bumps, dips, twists, and turns than you will find on many of the roller coasters that also inhabit this great city.

Las Vegas has so much more than that to offer its visitors. Gone are the days when gambling was the sole income of casinos or that casinos were the only businesses in town. Vegas is dressing up a bit in recent years and working oh so slowly and diligently towards changing its image.

This city of bright lights and empty promises is quickly becoming a city that offers world-class entertainment and excitement to its residents and its visitors. Las Vegas has some of the best dining on the planet. Many of the wonderful dining experiences are associated with the casinos of the area but they would not be as successful as they are if there was not a reason to keep the tables full. Diners don’t tend to dine if the food isn’t good and a for a restaurant a bad review will travel around the world three times before ten good reviews will make it once. This means that the world-class fine dining restaurants really must earn their stripes in order to bring in the business required in order to stay in business.

Las Vegas visitos tend to look for the dining bargains and that is what this particular article will focus on. There many great places to eat in Vegas that will not have you busting open your piggy bank. For those that are a steak and potato kind of people, there are good steak bargains.  Many people report to love Arizona Charlie’s Boulder Sourdough Café. Here you can get a 14-ounce Porterhouse at a good price which includes soup or salad, choice of potato or rice (5 pm-11 pm), veggies, and rolls. You can also get spaghetti and meatballs for under $10 and Chicken Penne Primavera or fried chicken fat around the same price. This is good food at its best at a price that easy on the budget.

This is just one of the many places a person or family can get a relatively good meal inexpensively. Not all great bargains involve steaks but there are many great food bargains to have. Be aware of coupons you may find around town offering two for one food purchases or dollars off of entree purchases. It may not seem like much or two but if you can manage to save $2 per two people for 10 meals during your stay, that adds up pretty quickly to $40 that could buy a little time on the slot machines or tickets to one of the many great shows.

Cheap dining by no means indicates a lack of quality. While it may not be as sophisticated as some offerings, you might find that a lot of the cheaper places to eat actually have far superior flavor to many of the more expensive dining experiences and it’s just nice to get away from buffet food once in a while during your Vegas stay. You can only endure so many buffets before they all begin looking, and tasting just alike.

Popularity: unranked [?]