USA Guide
The Southwest
Nevada
Without doubt the most desolate US state, Nevada consists largely of endless tracts of bleak, empty desert, its flat sagebrush plains cut intermittently by angular mountain ranges. Apart from the huge acreages given over to mining and grazing, much of Nevada is used by the military to test aircraft and weapons systems. While dozens of intriguing small communities are scattered around the state, many more are decrepit roadside ghost towns.
Though millions of people pass through, there's only one real reason why anyone ever visits Nevada, and that is to gamble: the second you cross the state line, you're attacked by a 24-hour onslaught of neon signs and gimmicky architecture, each advertising the best odds and biggest jackpots, nowhere more than in the surreal oasis of Las Vegas. Even the smaller and more down-to-earth settlements of Reno and state capital Carson City revolve around the casino trade.
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