After flirting with the record for consecutive days under 100 degrees, Southern Nevada is (or soon will be) up to its familiar 🔥🫠summer tricks. Time to break out the swim trunks, the sunscreen, and your cherished myths about not swimming for 30 minutes after a meal. If you welcome the heat with a visit to Cowabunga Canyon, in Rhodes Ranch — with its many slides, flumes, pools, lazy rivers, and waterfalls — here are a few ways to make it more than a one-stop trip.
1️⃣ Way to Dry Off: Nine holes of disc golf on the beginner-friendly course at nearby Red Ridge Park. Without major elevation changes, it’s an easy walk, and the careful landscaping minimizes the risk of losing your discs.
3️⃣ Places to Eat: Our own lead podcast producer Sonja Cho Swanson directs your attention to vegan Mexican food at Tacotarian, a beloved local success story. “I love their dorado, a deep-fried taco with tender, seasoned mashed potatoes inside — it’s like a taco met a samosa and had a baby.” (This is the one time it’s permissible to eat the baby.) Judging by the online reviews, the neighborhood loves the offerings at Griddlecakes. Or up your post-splash culinary game at The Black Sheep, with the “Top Chef”-worthy dishes of chef Jamie Tran.
1️⃣ Coffee Shop: Sonja also recommends the “excellent” Neighbors Coffee — it closes at 3 p.m., so maybe swing by for a quiet coffee and light bite before plunging into the damp cacophony of the water park.
1️⃣ Coffee and Bike Shop: With the proliferation of open space and trails nearby, it’s not surprising that a bike/coffee hybrid like Pedal & Pour exists, to provide, quote, “fuel for your next adventure.”
