Viva Las Vegas
By Tom Neal
Bigfoot Trails Basecamp | Independent Adventure Media
Depending on who you talk to, there seem to be only two opinions about Las Vegas: either you love it, or you hate it.
We are torn between both.
We love going to Vegas. Always have. We always have a great time, but once you get out of the touristy areas, it really is a shithole in a lot of ways.
Does that stop us from going?
NO!
Does it confine us to the touristy areas?
NO!
We have explored the Strip and Fremont districts, driven around many areas in town, and explored some of the desert around Vegas, but we still have yet to make it to Valley of Fire. That must be done on our next trip down!
We planned on doing it during our last trip, but time was not on our side after spending extra time in Lake Havasu.
That happens.
In the last 20-plus years of visiting Las Vegas, I don’t think we have stayed at the same hotel twice. We always want to check out new places. Most have been great, and there are places we would like to go back to, but dammit, there are SO MANY choices, and we want to see them all.
Not that you can, because Vegas is ever-changing.
“Do you prefer the Strip or Fremont?”
This is a question I am asked quite often.
Both, really.
The Strip is great for shows, food, and the party scene. If you’re looking for a LOT to do, the Strip is great. Over the years, we have seen it change from a fairly inexpensive entertainment area to a much more expensive party atmosphere.
Fremont, on the other hand, has plenty of entertainment as well, with free people watching.
We stayed at the Four Queens one time, and our room was on the walkway side, with the zipline running right in front of our window. It was a lot of fun hanging out in the room watching the zipliners and the people below.
Free live concerts all the time, the lit-up canopy at night is spectacular, and the shade it provides during the heat of the day is awesome as well.
Anymore, we prefer to stay in Fremont, do most of our playing in that area, then catch the bus to the Strip for a night or two of playing.
But when there are good deals on stays on the Strip, we do snag those up, because we still enjoy it.
If you drive to Vegas, we encourage you to get away from the Strip and Fremont. Get out to where the people who live there go to eat. It’s usually a bit cheaper, and we have found the food is actually BETTER than what you get in the high-tourist areas.
This last trip was more of a drive-through Vegas getting to Lake Havasu, but we stayed a night and played a day there.
We had been fond of the Peppermill on the Strip for food, but the last time we were there, the food wasn’t as good as previous trips. The service and entertainment were great, though.
During this trip, we pulled into the Peppermill, but the wait to eat was two hours, so we moved on.
After locating the shop I went down to visit, we found they were closed, and decided to grab some food.
We found our new FAVORITE Vegas restaurant about a half mile down the road called Lazy Dog.
The candied bacon is awesome.
The service was awesome.
The burger was the best I ever had.
As I write this, my mouth is watering and I feel like jumping on the bike to ride to Vegas for a Lazy Dog burger!
I advise everyone to explore Vegas and find some good restaurants.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Tom Neal is the founder of Bigfoot Trails Basecamp, an independent adventure media project built around real experiences. He’s spent most of his life around vehicles, motorcycles, racing, travel, and projects that tend to take longer and cost more than originally planned.
After decades of doing all that stuff, he’s learned that the best stories usually aren’t the ones you planned. They’re the people you meet, the places you stumble across, the things that go wrong, and the moments you never expected.
That’s what he wants to capture with BTB.
He doesn’t want to write about adventure from the outside. He wants to go experience it, then tell you what happened.
Bigfoot Trails Basecamp | Independent Adventure Media
