Watch Las Vegas grow over 40 years

by Mike Barish on

Las Vegas wasn’t always as sprawling as it is today. Modern Las Vegas extends far beyond the Strip. It wasn’t all that long ago, however, that Sin City was just a tiny speck on the map. As more Americans – and international travelers, for that matter – discovered Las Vegas and began turning it into a premiere vacation destination, development projects boomed and investments in this urban oasis exploded. Thanks to this time-lapse of NASA satellite images, we can try to wrap our minds around just how far Las Vegas has come since 1972, and how it has grown exponentially over the decades.

What do the next 40 years have in store for Las Vegas? Hopefully an end to that “Whatever happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas” slogan.

World’s only ski-up Starbucks open for business at Squaw Valley

by Laurel Miller on

Two days ago, while visiting my brother and his family in Lake Tahoe, my nephew uttered the words I’d hoped never to hear. “Starbucks just opened a ski-up window at Squaw’s Gold Coast mid-mountain complex!” he snorted, before pondering aloud how it was possible to ski with a triple venti Cinnamon Dolce Latte while wearing gloves and holding poles.

Truly, I think the world has enough Starbucks in it, and if you can’t get through a day of skiing without a fix, you just might have a problem. Not everyone feels that way, however, as reported on Eater.com today. Says Squaw Valley president and CEO Andy Wirth, “Nowhere else in the world can skiers and riders enjoy a delicious Starbucks coffee without missing a beat on the slopes.” My nephew might disagree with the logistics of that statement, but never underestimate the power of a Frappuccino habit.

Food poisoning! What to watch out for in 2012

by Laurel Miller on

For many people–myself included–one of the most enjoyable aspects of travel is experiencing how other cultures eat. Even if you’re only traveling as far as the other end of the state, chances are there’s a regional specialty, street food, farmers market, or restaurant that’s a destination in its own right.

Sometimes, however, the pickings are slim, or no matter how delicious the food, the odds are just stacked against you. As Anthony Bourdain put it on a recent episode of his new series, The Layover, “…if there’s not a 50-percent chance of diarrhea, it’s not worth eating.”

Gross, perhaps, but gluttonous travelers know there’s truth in those words. Bourdain happened to be referring to a late-night drunk binge at one of Amsterdam‘s infamous FEBO fast food automats (above), so with that in mind, I present this photographic homage to the things we eat on the road, despite knowing better. Walk softly, and carry a big bottle of Imodium

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[Photo credit: Flickr user .waldec]

Photo of the day: Bright lights of Las Vegas

by Alex Robertson Textor on

Las Vegas and bright lights: peas in a pod, lovers on a park bench. They’re intertwined, and frankly unimaginable without the other. Flickr user jrodmanjr plays around with this association, capturing some of Las Vegas’ less extraordinary lights. He juxtaposes hotel neon with car lights, all set against an evening sky.

Las Vegas is an extremely popular destination by any measure, and we’d love to feature more photos of Sin City as future Photos of the Day. So upload your Vegas shots to the Gadling Group Pool on Flickr. We pick our favorite images from the pool to be Photos of the Day.

Las Vegas: 1966

by Grant Martin on

Vimeo user Jeff Altman did a great digitizing some old school 16mm Kodachrome for the above video about Las Vegas. The muted colors, wonky film speeds and vintage architecture make a great throwback to the simpler days of unabashed, Vegas fun, before the current era of crowd engineering, headlining shows and unbridled excess. Mix in a cooling, modern soundtrack and the product is three and a half minutes of grade A nostalgia. Nice work Jeff.