Yes, but as the Bible says, “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.”
Seriously though. You could see a Cirque de Soleil or some other non-titty based show. Grand Canyon as someone suggested or Hoover Dam and Lake Mead a I think are nearby.
Check out this list:
I mean no one is going to hold a gun to your head and make you get a blowjob from a stripper at Spearmint Rhino.
My Wife and I have gone twice. Once for a marathon, and once for a tri race.
It’s ok otherwise. See a show or two, gamble a little, hang out by the pool. And it can be both entertaining and sad to just visit all the casinos. Sad only because you’ll see folks off in a corner playing the slots. They just seem so damn lonely. But, whatever floats your boat.
I visit a friend a few times a year in Central City, Colorado. We will gamble on video poker and drink ‘free’ beer for an hour or two while we catch up.
We took our son there when he was 6 and had a perfectly good time.
Stayed at Mandalay Bay where we spent a lot of time in the wave pool, lazy river on inflatable tubes, and their many other pools. They have a semi-decent shark aquarium also.
Didn’t see any magic shows which we could have but they did have a magic store inside NY:NY where the workers just do tricks all day. He loved that.
Saw the lions close up at the MGM.
Watched the Bellagio fountains many times both day and night. Went to the top of the Eiffel tower at the Paris. Wandered through the Ceasar’s Palace Forum shops.
Went to the Mirage’s secret garden and sat poolside by the dolphins for as long as we wanted with not many other people around. Beats the crowds and prices of Seaworld any day.
Went to the wax museum and had a lot of fun and took a lot of pictures. Went to the shops at the Venetian and rode a gondola down the canal, watched the faux statue actors, and had some gellato.
Watched TI’s pirate show at night as well as the Mirage’s volcano erupt. Went downtown to see the Viva Vision on Freemont street.
And spent a few bucks to see Ka at the MGM which was the best cirque show we have ever seen.
Didn’t gamble, didn’t drink, and no hookers.
Talk about an entertainment package! I’ll bet that runs a few hundred bucks.
So if I understand you correctly, you go to the beach, mountains, etc. because you enjoy it and not as a form of penance?
I’m not a person who cares about going to Vegas but doesn’t everyone know there’s loads of top shows, nice hotels, great restaurants, spas/pools/waterparks, and crazy architecture? And that it’s near the Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam, and lots of interesting desert landscape?
No they aren’t. That ad campaign died a very quick death more than a decade ago. Now the push is towards LA douchebag trust fund assholes and the club scene. But if you avoid those places, Las Vegas is one of the most fun places on the planet. The food, the shows, the food, the attractions, the food, the luxury, the food…I’m seeing a recurring theme here.
Outside of town, there is the dam and the canyon. Death Valley is a bit of a stretch and there isn’t anything there anyway. Skip it. Like edwardcoast, I’m neither Christian nor a family man, and we go for the shows as well. You can get Cirqued out very quickly (see Love, skip the rest) but there are dozens of top acts playing at any time. Hell, just people-watching can occupy a couple of days. Get up early, grab an outdoor table at Morel’s or Margaritaville and watch the various Walks of Shame. 
If all that fails, take a couple hundred dollars, buy a pistol and head over to Spearmint Rhino!
I can never see the word “Vegas” without thinking of the movie Casino (1995).
Ace Rothstein: Back home, they would have put me in jail for what I’m doing. Here, they’re giving me awards.
Don’t gamble and you’ll leave a winner.
I’ve been thinking about Doper **DMark **lately. He was the main Vegas guy (not to take away from **LVBoPeep **- but **DMark **had a Web site!)
Anyone know what’s up with him?
As mentioned, there’s a bunch of exhibits, all-ages appropriate shows(*) gastronomy, nature, etc. around the region. The archetypal “Vegas!” itself, yeah, it’s a huge tourist trap and if you actually walk the strip you’ll find that at ground level you can see the crud in the seams a bit too clearly. But it’s a place where I can see Cirque one night, Penn & Teller the next, eat every meal at a different celeb-chef place, hit the Atomic Testing Museum in the morning and the machine gun range in the afternoon, do Valley of Fire and the Lost City archaeological museum the following day, etc. And after all the noise and light and smoke and douchesters in town, you can go out an hour away into the desert, pull over, and listen… to the exquisite silence in absence of anyone.
(*though many of the more overt “family” bits have gone away by now there are still enough to be found; as **silenus **points out the newer trend is of emphasizing general overall partying and particularly making it a weekend clubbing destination for the LA obnoxoids crowd. But that scene is not so hard to avoid.)
Not counting a $100 minimum drinks tab PLUS tips. Management really ruined the experience by adding that…
Our last trip was a great time. At one point my wife went to the ladies room and I sat at a quarter slot machine. I put in a five dollar bill, and by the time she came back I had run that fiver up to seven dollars. I cashed out and took the slip to the cage. That was all the gambling I did that trip.
I believe that Cirque du Soleil has multiple shows in Las Vegas and one of them is explicitly not for kids. As I remember, they had a show that showed more skin and was basically R-rated.
I had friends who lived in Las Vegas. One of them always had three-day birthday parties. We had a blast just hanging out at the house, eating, drinking, playing on the Slip’N’Slide, etc. Some people went and drove go-karts. (I arrived too late.)
Dad and I used to fly out every now and again ‘for lunch’. In reality, it was an excuse to grab a couple of hours of stick time each. (One of us would fly left seat on the way out, and we’d swap on the way back.) Fly out, grab a cab to a casino, have lunch and play keno, and fly back to Lancaster.
For gambling, I play blackjack. I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve shot craps, and I’ve lost every time. Blackjack is fun, and a little money lasts a long time.
You can drive dangerous curves across the dirty sheets. That can be a good thing, especially if her parents are gone.
I think that’s Zumanity.
My mother-in-law said she does not appreciate the type of humor used by the Blue Man Group. I’ve never seen them, so I don’t know, but it’s possible they are a bit, well, blue too. (Or maybe it was something else about their humor she didn’t like.)
Last couple times I was there, it felt like they were beginning to cater towards the Chinese douchebag new-money crowd.
Them too, although most of them are going to the Macau properties. Oh what I’d give for a resort hotel with 4s!
I feel about Vegas the same way the OP does. And I’ve been 3 or 4 times, depending on how you count stopping for lunch.
The food in Vegas is very good. There are some fun museums. There are lots of good people who live there. There is some great fancy, luxury shopping where the slobby public is more welcome than Rodeo drive or other hoity toity equivalents. Great shows.
But on the whole, the only US city I have ever encountered a more evil vibe from is Washington D.C., which also leaves a feeling of being slimed after a day or two. Vegas gives me less of a corrupt feeling because it doesn’t pretend to be something else. D.C. is the devil’s own antechamber when it comes to cynical corruption. It is a huge pity that it’s great museums can’t be moved to better locations.
Evil vibe? You must be joking! Evil resides in places like Wichita, Tulsa, Tallahassee and Atlanta. Las Vegas is Disneyland compared to those places. All Vegas wants to do if painlessly separate you from your excess cash, in an entering as possible manner. Those other places want your soul.
We like Cirque shows. And we like people watching. And “shopping” - there are lots of really expensive very ugly shoes out there. (I’d say see Ka and skip Love, myself).