Getting to Know the Other Side of Las Vegas

"I live in Las Vegas, Nevada, and there is never a shortage of things to do here at all. I think most of the time people think of Las Vegas as some sort of debaucherous location, and I think a lot of tourists come here to escape and to gamble and to have a great time, but outside of the Strip, Las Vegas is an incredible town filled with lots of natural beauty--there's tons of hiking. People go ATVing. I've been zip lining, and I've done all sorts of outdoor activities because the weather here is just tremendous.

Only for three months out of the year is it, you know, over 100 degrees, but beyond that, it's a really beautiful, mountainous community, filled with all sorts of interesting people. I mean you can find everyone from cowboys to the New Yorker transplants. It's a giant melting pot, filled with beautiful restaurants and a wonderful community. I think in any community you really just have to go out and look, and the more you get to know the people in the community and the history behind it, the deeper your connection becomes and the more you enjoy being a part of life there. So, that's Las Vegas."

Part of the "Stories from Main Street" project--an effort to collect stories about small-town life across the United States. The project was the brainchild of the Smithsonian's "Museum on Main Street" program, an initiative that brings traveling exhibitions about subjects of national importance to small towns across America.

Asset ID #7521