What you need to know before you visit Nevada: Guidance from a Local
I am from a place called Sparks, Nevada, but 10 years ago I moved to Las Vegas, NV and I have lived here ever since. Tomorrow is the day my husband and I will be driving from Las Vegas, NV to Reno, NV. For those of you who have never been to the wild west, it is a 9 hour drive north across the 7th largest state in the union. It is presently August and this 450 mile drive will take us across some of the the driest, hottest terrain in North America. This might sound like a nightmare to you, but Nevada is my home state. If you have never been here before, there is a lot you don't know, and what you might think you do know is probably wrong. So, here is the skinny on Nevada from an actual local.
First things first! It is pronounced Nuh-Va-Duh. Do NOT EVER say Ne-VAH-duh, or the locals will identify you as a tourist and if it is tourist season it is legal for them to shoot at you. The next thing you need to know is that while Las Vegas is the biggest and most populous city in our fine state, the rest of the state HATES Las Vegas and HATES being associated with it. (as somone from Northern Nevada, the move to Las Vegas in the southern most part of the state was very painful!) Las Vegas isn't really Nevada. You can get to Nevada from there, the 95 North will take you right to it, but Las Vegas is kind of its own thing. Planet Vegas, as we like to call it. If you DO happen to visit Las Vegas, you still need to respect the locals, however. No, we do not all live in hotels and casinos. No, most of us NEVER gamble. We ALL avoid the Strip at all costs, the Strip is for tourists, and while we depend on tourism revenue to run this fair city, we do not enjoy being trampled by mid-westerners who are too busy staring at their phones trying to find free wifi to look up and see what is actually around them.
If you are planning a visit to the Battle Born state, you would do well to remember that the vast majority of old western themed movies you have seen took place here. There are many places in Nevada that are still very much "The Wild West". This is the home of the Comstock Lode, the silver boom that financed the Union's victory in the Civil War and ensured our statehood, which was signed into being by none other than Abraham Lincoln. You like being a citizen of the UNITED States of America? You're welcome.
Locals in the smaller towns are often very friendly, but it is safe to assume that every single one of them is carrying at least two guns and might be presently embroiled in a property dispute with the federal government, and that is the sort of thing that could make a person a tad bit "tetchy", as you might hear a local say. In some of the very tiny towns, like Yermo or Schurz, they actually consider lost tourists to be a valid food source for 5 months of the year, so make sure you can read a map because there is no cell signal for most of the state.
And if we are going to talk about Nevada, I suppose we have to talk about the prostitution thing. Yes, there are places in Nevada where prostitution is legal and you can visit a state licensed brothel, pay your money and have your fun, BUT! The legalization of prostitution is on a county by county basis and Clark County, the county where Las Vegas is located, DOES NOT allow prostitution. Neither does Washoe County, where Reno is located. So if you are planning to come to Nevada to visit one of our lovely brothels, your best best is Pahrump, a town just outside of the Clark County line known for its brothels and one seriously bad-ass tattoo artist named Johnny Lowlife. Seriously, if you're into ink, Johnny Lowlife is your guy, go see him at Lowlife Tattoo Company, then go pay for play down the road.
Nevada is home to some of the most bizarre, but scenic wilderness in the US. Home to Valley of Fire State Park in the Southern Nevada area of Moapa, Valley of Fire has been used in many Sci-Fi films as the setting of a different planet. In fact, the famous bridge from the fight scene in Star Trek: Generations is still installed across a ravine in the park and if you hike out to it, you can pretend to be Kirk and get shot right off! Although this is not exactly advisable, it is whimsical!
Traveling north from the Southern part of the state, you also climb in elevation and in the winter months it can be bitterly cold, you might even encounter a blizzard or two. Yes, it snows in Nevada. Nevada is actually an old Spanish word meaning "Snow-Capped" referring, of course, to the Sierra Nevada mountain range which has snow on its peaks nearly year round. Once or twice a year we locals will see a tragic news story of some tourists getting caught in the elements out here because they figured they were driving across the desert and deserts don't get cold, right? Wrong. The Nevada desert gets very cold in the winter, so bundle up!
So there's some basic things you need to know before you come to my home state. It really is a pretty magical place if you know where to look. I am very much looking forward to getting back up North for a few days, to get out of Vegas and back to Real Nevada. We are much more than just the Las Vegas Strip. Nevada still embodies the spirit of the Old West in some pretty fantastic ways. Come and see us some time.
First things first! It is pronounced Nuh-Va-Duh. Do NOT EVER say Ne-VAH-duh, or the locals will identify you as a tourist and if it is tourist season it is legal for them to shoot at you. The next thing you need to know is that while Las Vegas is the biggest and most populous city in our fine state, the rest of the state HATES Las Vegas and HATES being associated with it. (as somone from Northern Nevada, the move to Las Vegas in the southern most part of the state was very painful!) Las Vegas isn't really Nevada. You can get to Nevada from there, the 95 North will take you right to it, but Las Vegas is kind of its own thing. Planet Vegas, as we like to call it. If you DO happen to visit Las Vegas, you still need to respect the locals, however. No, we do not all live in hotels and casinos. No, most of us NEVER gamble. We ALL avoid the Strip at all costs, the Strip is for tourists, and while we depend on tourism revenue to run this fair city, we do not enjoy being trampled by mid-westerners who are too busy staring at their phones trying to find free wifi to look up and see what is actually around them.
If you are planning a visit to the Battle Born state, you would do well to remember that the vast majority of old western themed movies you have seen took place here. There are many places in Nevada that are still very much "The Wild West". This is the home of the Comstock Lode, the silver boom that financed the Union's victory in the Civil War and ensured our statehood, which was signed into being by none other than Abraham Lincoln. You like being a citizen of the UNITED States of America? You're welcome.
Locals in the smaller towns are often very friendly, but it is safe to assume that every single one of them is carrying at least two guns and might be presently embroiled in a property dispute with the federal government, and that is the sort of thing that could make a person a tad bit "tetchy", as you might hear a local say. In some of the very tiny towns, like Yermo or Schurz, they actually consider lost tourists to be a valid food source for 5 months of the year, so make sure you can read a map because there is no cell signal for most of the state.
And if we are going to talk about Nevada, I suppose we have to talk about the prostitution thing. Yes, there are places in Nevada where prostitution is legal and you can visit a state licensed brothel, pay your money and have your fun, BUT! The legalization of prostitution is on a county by county basis and Clark County, the county where Las Vegas is located, DOES NOT allow prostitution. Neither does Washoe County, where Reno is located. So if you are planning to come to Nevada to visit one of our lovely brothels, your best best is Pahrump, a town just outside of the Clark County line known for its brothels and one seriously bad-ass tattoo artist named Johnny Lowlife. Seriously, if you're into ink, Johnny Lowlife is your guy, go see him at Lowlife Tattoo Company, then go pay for play down the road.
Nevada is home to some of the most bizarre, but scenic wilderness in the US. Home to Valley of Fire State Park in the Southern Nevada area of Moapa, Valley of Fire has been used in many Sci-Fi films as the setting of a different planet. In fact, the famous bridge from the fight scene in Star Trek: Generations is still installed across a ravine in the park and if you hike out to it, you can pretend to be Kirk and get shot right off! Although this is not exactly advisable, it is whimsical!
Traveling north from the Southern part of the state, you also climb in elevation and in the winter months it can be bitterly cold, you might even encounter a blizzard or two. Yes, it snows in Nevada. Nevada is actually an old Spanish word meaning "Snow-Capped" referring, of course, to the Sierra Nevada mountain range which has snow on its peaks nearly year round. Once or twice a year we locals will see a tragic news story of some tourists getting caught in the elements out here because they figured they were driving across the desert and deserts don't get cold, right? Wrong. The Nevada desert gets very cold in the winter, so bundle up!
So there's some basic things you need to know before you come to my home state. It really is a pretty magical place if you know where to look. I am very much looking forward to getting back up North for a few days, to get out of Vegas and back to Real Nevada. We are much more than just the Las Vegas Strip. Nevada still embodies the spirit of the Old West in some pretty fantastic ways. Come and see us some time.
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