An Amazing 24hrs
This is an amazing world we live in. I'm not a "well traveled" person, so bear with me if this is nothing new to you.
We (my wife and youngest son) came to Las Vegas for a Ruby conference called Sin City Ruby that took place Thur & Friday. Saturday was a free day, but we were flying home that night (11:44p) so we had a good bit of time to explore.
I woke up in Las Vegas, NV Saturday morning around 7:30am PST. I jogged 3.6mi to the airport to rent a car. I saw some cool sites on the way...
Hoover Dam
Checked out (of the Tropicana, a hotel that has been there 67 years and will be torn down and replaced by a baseball field) and drove car south to the Hoover Dam. We saw beautiful desert landscapes and an incredible engineering feat in the Hoover Dam. We also experienced scenic views overlooking Lake Mead (At full pool, Lake Mead is the largest reservoir in the United States by volume). Lake Mead is formed by the Hoover Dam.
Red Rock Canyon
Drove north to Red Rock Canyon to see more amazing landscapes. There's a scenic driving loop that is 13 miles. The Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area encompasses 195,819 acres within the Mojave Desert. They have wild burros roaming but we didn't see any. There's also many hiking trails we'd love to come back to when we have more time.
Mt. Charleston
Drove further north (but only about 30mi from Las Vegas) to see Mt Charleston that is covered in snow and saw wild horses roaming the mountain.
Drove back to Las Vegas, enjoyed a nice dinner around 9pm. Got on a plane at 11:44pm and flew back to Atlanta. It was only a 3hr flight, but with the time change we landed around 6am. It was my first time flying overnight. I didn't sleep much, but felt ok. We were very fortunate that our flight ran smoothly and left and arrived on time.
By time we navigated the ATL airport and drove home I was in my bed at 7:45am. It was an amazing 24hrs!