I’ve described this day to people and watched their faces go through the same sequence every time. Mild skepticism, then genuine interest, then the particular look of someone recalculating what they thought they knew about a place.
Here’s the day. You start at Gilcrease Orchard in the northwest valley, a sixty-acre working farm that has been here since 1920, picking your own peaches or apples or whatever is in season, paying by the pound, and eating apple cider donuts made from fruit grown on the same property.
Then you cross the street to Gilcrease Nature Sanctuary, a nonprofit rescue home to more than five hundred animals including parrots, peacocks, miniature horses, alpacas, emus, and cockatoos that will hold an actual conversation with you if you give them the chance. Then you drive less than ten minutes south to Floyd Lamb Park at Tule Springs, where spring-fed ponds sit under cottonwood trees and peacocks wander the paths with the complete indifference of animals that know they live somewhere beautiful.
The whole day costs you somewhere around fifteen to twenty dollars including entry fees and whatever produce you pick. It takes about five hours. And it exists entirely outside the version of Las Vegas most people ever see.
The full write-up with hours, pricing, what to order, and what to wear is up now on EZtravelZ.
Read the Full Article: Six or More Free (Or Nearly Free) Things to Do in Las Vegas, That You Need to Know!
Three Quick Finds This Issue
A tip: Gilcrease Orchard runs on a seasonal schedule and specific crops change week to week. Check their website before you go and arrive early, the apple cider donuts sell out and the best produce goes fast on weekends.
A place worth knowing: Floyd Lamb Park sits on ground where Ice Age fossils including mammoths and giant ground sloths were recovered from the Tule Springs wetlands. The peacocks don’t know this and wouldn’t care if they did.
Something to watch: PBS Outdoor Nevada did an episode on Gilcrease Orchard that covers the history of the property beautifully. Worth twenty minutes before you go.
Next issue we’re heading to three more corners of the city, a downtown evening pairing that covers seventeen centuries of Las Vegas history, the largest LED display in the world, and a free Chihuly glass ceiling hiding inside the Bellagio that most people walk under without ever looking up.
