• Tour the Western Folklife Center in Elko. It is dedicated to the preservation of Western ranch culture and known for the Cowboy Poetry Gathering.

• Explore where the steep eastern slopes of the Sierra Nevada rise up to contain Lake Tahoe (website: www.tahoe.com). Carson City is only 14.4km (9 miles) away, but is nearly 500m (1,500ft) below. The lake not only hangs over the state capital, but also the towns of Minden and Gardnerville, which are almost directly below it.

• Visit the Nevada Historical Society Museum (website: www.nevadaculture.org) in Reno, excellent for those wishing to learn about Nevada’s history.

• Experience the famous Death Valley National Park (website: www.nps.gov/deva), where visitors can witness unique geological features in the extremes of the desert.

• Discover one of Nevada’s own parks, the Berlin-Icthyosaur State Park (website: www.parks.nv.gov/bi.htm), home to the well-preserved and greatly detailed ghost town of Berlin.

• See the mining town of Goldfield (website: www.ghosttowns.com/states/nv/goldfield.html). It was founded in 1902, and contains the beautiful Goldfield Hotel and the Esmeralda County Courthouse, as well as the old mining district.

• Enjoy the Fremont Street Experience (website: www.vegasexperience.com), a pedestrian mall in Las Vegas dominated by gaming with a spectacular light show every night.

• Visit the Liberace Museum (website: www.liberace.org), also in Las Vegas. The museum contains memorabilia from the world-famous pianist.

• Watch the stunning Fountains of Bellagio display of over 1,000 fountains, choreographed with light and sound at Las Vegas' Bellagio Resort (website: www.bellagio.com).

• Spend time at Lake Mead and Lake Mohave. They are contained in the vast (600,000-hectare/1.5-million-acre) Lake Mead National Recreation Area (website: www.nps.gov/lame).

• See the fascinating landscape of naturally carved red sandstone in the Valley of Fire State Park (website: www.parks.nv.gov/vf.htm) at the north of Lake Mead.

• Delight in the Desert National Wildlife Refuge (website: www.fws.gov/desertcomplex/desertrange) complex, incorporating the Pahranagat National Wildlife Refuge (website: www.fws.gov/desertcomplex/pahranagat), Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge (website: www.fws.gov/desertcomplex/ashmeadows) and Moapa Valley National Wildlife Refuge (website: www.fws.gov/desertcomplex/moapavalley). It is the largest wildlife refuge in the USA. Moapa Valley was the site of Nevada’s first city.

• Stop first at the Hoover Dam's (website: www.usbr.gov/lc/hooverdam) visitor centre, where tourists can see right over the edge of the Black Canyon precipice. Hoover Dam itself was completed in 1935, and is the highest dam in the western hemisphere. The Boulder City/Hoover Dam Museum (website: www.bcmha.org) houses historical artefacts relating to the workers, and construction of the dam and Boulder City.

See Contact Addresses for further tourist information.