In this post, we share what we enjoyed and what concerned us after a five-month stay in Las Vegas.
Let's end this post on a high note by talking about our concerns first.
1. Homelessness: According to the Nevada Homeless Alliance, there are more than 5,000 homeless people in Southern Nevada on any given night, and more than 13,000 people will experience homelessness at some point in the year.
Casinos are raking in huge profits while a few blocks away tents line Las Vegas Boulevard.
Both in March and April 2021, the state of Nevada collected more than $1 billion in gambling revenue from casinos. Even with the pandemic crisis, revenue rose by 11% compared to April 2019.
2. Clark County School District: We've never seen a school board in the news daily and not in a positive way.
The Clark County School Superintendent was fired and rehired with much controversy surrounding his actions.
As a result of fighting and weapons on the property, Desert Oasis High School in Las Vegas was closed twice in one week.
The “America’s Best and Worst Metro Areas for School Quality” report by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute and U.S. Chamber of Commerce looked at pre-COVID-19 pandemic standardized test score data and high school graduation rates for its rankings.
The report placed the Las Vegas area — which encompasses all public schools, including the Clark County School District and charter schools — 49th out of 50.
3 Deadly Traffic Accidents: A total of 39 people died in the first two months of 2022 on Clark County roadways, the Nevada Department of Public Safety reported Last year the number was 31. At least 13 people died in the first two weeks of March, with others still in critical condition.
In the city and on the highway, we have seen way too many reckless driving moves.
Now that we have that negativity out of the way, let's focus on the good! Seeing shows and boxing matches and having dinner on the strip with friends and family who were on vacation was awesome.
Below are 3 things that we enjoyed about the city of Las Vegas. Being here for 5 months gave us time to discover that there is so much more to see than the Las Vegas Strip.
1. Downtown Las Vegas and the Arts District are both excellent places to support local businesses. We dined at Tacotarian and Able Baker Brewery, and we also enjoyed visiting the stores in Container Park where we purchased homemade soap from The Alchemical Cabinet, as well as attending First Friday Las Vegas, where we purchased art from Tara Banfield and candles from Everythings All Light. We visited Classic Jewel where enjoyed live music, delicious food, and drinks, and we enjoyed our visit to Cork & Thorn for a 90s Hip Hop Brunch.
2. Hiking: Yes, we hiked in Las Vegas. We enjoyed the trails at Red Rock Canyon, Valley of Fire, and Lake Meade. We also enjoyed riding the rails in Boulder City, NV
3. The Las Vegas Farmers Market: Las Vegas Farmers Market has several locations throughout Las Vegas, each with various market days and times:
- Bruce Trent Park
- Skye Canyon
- Downtown Summerlin
- Southern Highland
We attended the market at Bruce Trent park where we enjoyed a delicous lunch from Beme's Cuisine and vegan cookies from Cookies Amore'
We were so happy that we had the opportunity to explore the City of Las Vegas, away from the Strip to take in the local culture and help support the local economy.
We encourage you to do the same on your next visit to Las Vegas.
You may want to bookmark this post so you can check out the spots we recommend the next time you visit Las Vegas.
We depart Las Vegas on March 20, 2022 with a list of things we will do when we return. We are headed to Arizona and look forward to seeing our friends while there.
PS: We watched Fox 5 morning news each day, it felt like we became friends with the morning news crew. Thank you for keeping us informed morning crew: Nkiruka Azuka, Feven Kay, Jason Feinberg Dave Hal, Alyssa Deitsch and Cassandra Jones.
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