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Where to find an oasis of serenity away from the bright lights of Las Vegas

Vegas is exciting and all, but sometimes you just need to get away. Members of the Wilcox and Pilimai families point out a pair of American coots at the Clark County Wetlands Park, nine miles from the Las Vegas Strip.

Vegas is exciting and all, but sometimes you just need to get away. Members of the Wilcox and Pilimai families point out a pair of American coots at the Clark County Wetlands Park, nine miles from the Las Vegas Strip.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
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There’s a Las Vegas that amazes and inspires beyond the crazed commotion of the Strip. Swap out the crowds for millenniums-old rock art on the outskirts of town. Forget the nonstop music and pulsating digital screens and opt instead for parks in which to walk and think.

And in place of that disorienting, can’t-stand-it-anymore feeling, you can find, well, if not peace, at least wide-open spaces in which to breathe.

Clark Country Wetlands Park: The 10,000-year-old wetlands, nine miles from the Strip, became a 2,900-acre park in 1993. It features wooden bridges and Zen-garden-inspired lookouts. The wetlands’ paved paths and miles of trails curve around creeks, ponds, rivers and marshes.

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Info: www.clarkcountynv.gov/wetlandspark

A spring soft-shell turtle wades in a pond that also features fish, ducks and other wildlife at the Clark County Wetlands Park in Las Vegas.

A spring soft-shell turtle wades in a pond that also features fish, ducks and other wildlife at the Clark County Wetlands Park in Las Vegas.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Calico Basin Red Springs: The Calico Basin and Red Springs picnic area are a short ride from the Strip and a local favorite. Kraft Boulder Peak, an attractive jumble of rock slabs, ascends next to the parking lot. The summit affords a spectacular view of the Keystone Thrust, the tectonic do-si-do in which gray Cambrian limestone pushed up and eventually topped much younger pink Jurassic sandstone in the surrounding mountains.

Info: www.lat.ms/1LMkYND

Ethel M Chocolate Factory and Botanical Cactus Gardens: The four acres of cactus gardens and the adjacent small-batch chocolate factory are an unlikely combo in a city of unlikely combos. The factory and gardens, just minutes from the Strip, are maniacally tidy: No stray drips of chocolate, not a rock out of place.

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Info: www.lat.ms/1K7ppex

James Turrell’s “Akhob”: For Strip-bound visitors, James Turrell’s “Akhob” in the Louis Vuitton store in Crystals at CityCenter offers respite. The internationally renowned Light & Space artist built a Ganzfeld installation — a perception-alternating environment — in the Vuitton inner sanctum. Visitors remove shoes before entering the space to experience a subtle but enthralling 20-minute looping light show.

Info: www.lat.ms/1QppaRj. To make an appointment, call (702) 739-8520 well in advance.

Wildlife Habitat at the Flamingo Las Vegas: A tiny gem in the heart of the Strip, with black-necked swans, brown pelicans and, of course, Chilean flamingos among the dozens of species that roam freely.

Info: www.lat.ms/1K7qWBc

travel@latimes.com

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