On Wednesday afternoon (Feb. 6), we will have a group excursion to Death Valley National Park, one of the best dark-sky locations in North America.  We will leave after lunch, following which it is approximately a 2 hour bus trip to the park.  The plan will be to see a couple of the highlights in Death Valley prior to dark, then to spend a few hours stargazing before arriving back in Las Vegas around midnight.  The price of the excursion is covered by the registration fee, but dinner in Death Valley (or if you prefer to pack your own food/campfire food) is not included.

As a backup plan in the rare (it's a desert!) event of poor weather, we will instead tour a location closer to Las Vegas.  

During the rest of the conference, there is a wide variety of attractions of various types in Las Vegas.  The Atomic Testing Museum (located very close to the conference venue) and Mob Museum are both unique, as is a neon sign graveyard from past Las Vegas casinos.  More distant trips could include the Hoover Dam (about 45 minutes) and Grand Canyon (about 4 hours, or a 1 hour helicopter ride).  There will be a small group traveling to the Grand Canyon and Barringer Meteor Crater on Monday, Feb. 4.  This additional excursion is not covered by conference fees, but please let us know if you would like more details.  Finally, Las Vegas is home to a variety of world-famous nightlife, including headline shows in most venues on the Vegas Strip and on Fremont Street downtown.