Springs Preserve

On our second day in Las Vegas, we went to the Springs Preserve. It is a beautiful facility located about 5-10 minutes off of the strip dedicated to educating the public on the history of Las Vegas from an environmental perspective. The site is on the original water resource that was used by the Native Americans that lived there. It is considered the birthplace of Las Vegas.

We spent the day walking around the beautiful dessert gardens, animals exhibits and the educational museum. I imagine that it is a popular spot for class trips. Luckily for us, Thursday was a quiet day and we had most of the facility to ourselves. It is a pretty big place - the Nevada State Museum will eventually be built on the site. Hannah LOVED it. She especially loved the playground with the awesome sand and water table. She also loved looking at the lizard exhibit - all of the lizards scrabbled over to check her out. If you are ever in Las Vegas, I highly recommend this attraction. Even the website is cool.

After the preserve, Hannah got it in her head that she wanted to go swimming. And once that girl gets something in her head - you just better do it or you will NEVER hear the end of it. So even though a crisp wind was blowing hard all day, we got her dressed and headed to the Bellagio pools. Thankfully the big pool was heated, but she only lasted about 15 minutes and never got in past her thighs... sigh. Well, at least she stopped asking to go swimming. Poor thing, because of the wind her little lips turned blue.
:)