Las Vegas is all about glamour for its own sake: over-the-top hustle and flash as both means and end. Its crowds of people in polyester pantsuits, big hair and gold chains, stare at neon signs and spinning cherries like deer frozen in headlights.

Not that Vegas doesn't have a serious side - billions are at stake on the tables and at the megaresorts. But you're given enough distractions to ignore it, until you lose of course. If you tire of the ding-ding-ding of the slot machines, the surrounding area has some of the Southwest's most beautiful scenery.