Las Vegas - Your Ticket To Family Fun - By: Alice Shown

Las Vegas and family fun - it's an unbeatable combination any way you look at it. There is great fun for families with kids, and great fun for parents when the kids are occupied elsewhere. For the family that plays together, the Las Vegas Zoo's shady 3-acre park is located just 15 minutes northwest of the Las Vegas Strip. The zoo exhibits over 150 species of plants and animals (www.lasvegaszoo.com). As the only zoo in Las Vegas and the only year-round zoo in Nevada, the attentive staff works hard to fulfill their mission to educate and entertain the public by displaying a fantastic variety of plants and animals. There are a variety of endangered cats as well as the last family of Barbary Apes in the United States, chimpanzee, eagles, ostriches, emus, talking parrots, wallabies, flamingos, large exotic reptiles and every species of venomous reptile native to Southern Nevada. The zoo also features exhibits by the Las Vegas Gem Club and botanical displays of endangered cycads and rare bamboos.

For more daytime Las Vegas family fun, a visit to the great Hoover Dam is as thrilling as a visit to any of the wonders of the world. It's only a short drive south. Built during the Depression, thousands of men and their families came to Black Canyon to tame the Colorado River. It took less than five years, in a harsh and barren land, to build the largest dam of its time. Now, years later, Hoover Dam still stands as a world-renowned structure. The Dam is a National Historic Landmark and has been rated by the American Society of Civil Engineers as one of America's Seven Modern Civil Engineering Wonders. Tell the kids: if you drink water from the tap at Disneyland, Anaheim or Sea World in San Diego -- that water is coming from the Colorado River and Lake Mead, 300 miles away. There is enough concrete in Hoover Dam (4 1/2 million cubic yards) to build a 2 lane road from Seattle, Washington to Miami, Florida or a 4 ft. wide sidewalk around the Earth at the Equator. Hoover Dam is 726 ft. tall. That is 171 ft. taller than the Washington Monument in Washington D.C.

While the family is playing outdoors, Lake Mead is one of America's most popular recreation areas, with a 12-month season that attracts more than 9 million visitors each year for swimming, boating, skiing, fishing and other fun, outdoor pursuits.

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At Intownlive, find the best Las Vegas attractions and fun things to do on your Las Vegas getaway.

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