Las Vegas/Hoover dam
 

We will be in Vegas for a few days in march and one of the days plan to rent a car to do some other sight seeing. We are a family of 6 - dh, myself, almost 18yo DS, 12yo DS, gramma and gramps.

Right now the plan is to go see the Hoover dam but we also want to see some other sights away from Vegas. When the boys were asked what they wanted to see the 18yo's pick was the dam and the 12yo wants to see the desert and a 'real live cactus'. I would also like to include some canyons in there but I understand the grand canyon is quite a drive from Vegas and we only have the 1 day allotted.

Does anyone have any suggestions for me as to a good touring plan for that day? We are early risers (plus dealing with a 3 hr behind Vegas time change) so want to pack in as much as we can!

I think your best bet for real desert is either Death Valley or Valley of Fire State Park (the latter is much closer to both Vegas and Lake Mead, but I'm not sure about the prevalance of cactus). I am very confident you could do both the dam and Valley of Fire in a day, but Death Valley is over 100 miles away, so it would be a stretch to do that and Hoover Dam in a day.

On the way back from Hoover Dam, turn right onto the highway that goes up on the west side of the lake which ties into the highway to Valley of Fire. Nice drive but I don't remember any cactus. The other dayt rip out of LV is about 18 miles west out Charleston from the Strip to Red Rocks.
Show the kids the largest gold nugget on display at the Golden Nugget along Fremont Street. Fremont Street also has the huge video display and a zipline.

We also liked Red Rock Canyon.

Thanks for the idea's..... It all looks great!