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Winter Break in Las Vegas 2005

After a week of essays and exams members of Alpha Zeta Chi, The History Club, and Professor Darel Engen organized a weekend excursion to Las Vegas for a look at the fun side of history. While there students visited several historic locations and museums.

The first location we visited was the Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort and Museum. The Fort, built in 1855, is the oldest structure in Las Vegas. The Fort has been used as a settlement, a ranch, a post office for the railroad, and most recently a cement testing lab during the construction of the Hoover Dam.

Students also visited the Clark County Heritage Museum. There the students were able to walk back through the history of Las Vegas. The Heritage Museum has carefully moved several complete houses from the various periods of Clark County history and painstakingly furnished them with period furniture and items. Students could walk door to door and into each of the houses and get a sense of life in Las Vegas throughout its history.

Students also went to the Atomic Testing Museum located next to UNLV. This museum is dedicated to preserving the history of Nevada's role in the underground testing of atomic weapons. This was one of the highlights of the trip! An absoulutly fabulous museum.

We capped the trip off with a visit to Caesar's Palace. No, not for the gambling, but for a talk by Dr. Darel Engen on Roman art, history, society and culture and how it has been adapted by Caesar's Palace to create one of the most recognized casinos in the world.

Finally, yes we have to admit that a big part of the attraction of going to Las Vegas is that the city is just fun. Here you'll find a few pictures of the group just enjoying themselves.