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Frequent Traveler writer Margie Goldsmith just returned from Arizona, and gave us this perspective on the recent sweat lodge tragedy.

In some Native American cultures, the sweat lodge is a place where sacred ceremonies take place.  Often these rituals--which last about fifteen minutes--include drumming and prayers offered to the spirit world. The lodge is built with great care, respecting both the environment and the materials used. The opening, which always faces East, is covered with a woolen blanket to keep in the heat. The dome-like structure itself is constructed of adobe mud and bark, and the floor is earth. The sweat lodge experience consist of "rounds," after which a "fire keeper" brings more heated rocks inside the lodge. If the heat is too intense, participants can either curl up into a little ball close to the earth (where it is cooler), or leave the lodge until they have cooled off.

Last month, three people died from dehydration and kidney failure after spending two hours in a sweat lodge near Sedona, Arizona, led by an American facilitator, James Arthur Ray, who most often leads New Age seminars and mentoring services on wealth creation. Ray made his participants remain inside for over two hours and called the ceremony a "rebirthing experience." The participants in his "Spiritual Warrior" four-day retreat had just finished a 36-hour "vision quest" which included an experience in the desert with no food or water. No Native American would ever consider putting a dehydrated person into a sweat lodge, and certainly not 60 people, the number of participants Ray invited to the 24-foot-wide by 4.5-foot tall makeshift structure. The roof of the sweat lodge in which Ray conducted his ceremony was covered in non-breathing plastic.

The Native American sweat lodge experience has nothing to do with money, but Ray charged each participant $9,695 to attend his 4-day retreat. This was not surprising, because according to his website, Ray has spent the last 20 years "studying the thoughts, actions, and habits of those who create true wealth and mentoring individuals to create wealth in all areas of their lives." Last year, Ray's company made $9.4 million from seminars, books, and videos.

Contributing writer Jim Conaway sends a dispatch from Scottsdale, Arizona where he spent this past weekend at the Travels Classics writers' conference.

Okay, so you don't do spiked saddle oxfords and are dismayed at the sight of kelly-green links spouting water in the Sonoran desert. I won't say get over it but I will urge scrambling over some rocks anyway, for a broader view of one of the most spectacular, physically challenging landscapes in America and a better understanding of the bounty of, and challenges to, the aridly sublime. And if you can afford a traveler's respite in considerable style, well, there's no better place than The Boulders, a saguaro, palo verde and ocotillo-strewn former bit of nowhere in the scantier reaches of Scottsdale, Arizona.
   
Golf widowers and the aroma therapy-averse can easily put together a day of hiking, swimming, rock climbing, and biking (mountain and road), with a reflexology foot massage tossed in after to aid your weary bones. Your iron man of a guide is Rico Riley, all 165 pounds of him in rip-stop trail shirt and yellow cap bearing the logo of Sawyer Adventures, commissioned by the resort to take you on gentle and not-so-gentle perambulations. The easiest, through what was once known as the Carefree Rockpile, has been known to feature coyotes, javalina, and even bobcat, as well as tactile evidence of earlier civilizations, like depressions in the granite where Indians ground corn for subsistence survival in the third century.

National Geographic Digital Media staffer Jo Dickison was in Albuquerque last week to watch the annual Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta.  She shares a few tips for travelers planning to make the trip.

Mass Happiness has begun. The 2009 Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta kicked off on Saturday with the spectacular mass ascension of 600-plus hot air balloons, dancing a delicate rainbow ballet in the air. The "mass happiness" theme is apt - it's hard not to smile at the sight of these balloons gently lifting into the sky. The annual Fiesta, which runs through October 11, includes a full roster of activities, but here are a few of the highlights.

Each day of the festival begins with the Dawn Patrol, where 12 balloons ascend to test the wind speed and direction for the mass lift-off at dawn. Saturday's Mass Ascension came off beautifully, with hundreds of balloons participating and excellent weather. Aside from the some 500 regular hot air balloons this year, there are an additional 80 or so "special shape" balloons of cartoon characters that are perennial favorites with kids. Look out for a flying pink pig, a floating Pepsi can and the Two Bees, which turns up every year. In the evenings there is usually a Glow Show at dusk when the balloons on the field are inflated and lit with burners, creating a lovely glow across the field. The glows are followed by a fireworks display, bringing the day's festivities to a close around 9 p.m. each night.

The Albuquerque festival is billed as the largest balloon festival in the world, and is unique in that visitors on the field can watch every step in the process as the crews prepare, inflate and launch the balloons. Festival Launch Directors, known as Zebras for the black-and-white shirts they wear, are in charge of air traffic control and launch procedures.

Contributing Editor Andrew Nelson is back from a visit to his former digs in West Texas, and uncovered a slate of fun new hotspots. You can follow all of Andrew's many travels on Twitter at @andrewnelson.

True to their contrarian nature, the isolated communities of Far West Texas--Marfa, Alpine, Sanderson and Marathon--seem to march in an opposite direction than the rest of the world. With parts of Texas and the Southwest crisping with drought, sweet rains have turned the Big Bend region's arroyos and mountains a rich sage. And as other places suffer a recessionary closure of myriad restaurants and galleries, the independent towns west of the Pecos are enjoying a bumper crop of new attractions and attention.

Outside magazine recently christened Alpine, the hub of the Big Bend and its biggest town, as one of the 10 best towns for outdoor sports in the nation, describing it as Austin's "mini-me." In Sanderson, local resident Terry "Tex" Tolerworks is spearheading an effort to promote an art drive along Highway 90--the lonely stretch of road that crosses the region and is filled with spectacular vistas and the occasional pronghorn or roadrunner. In Marfa, Wool and Hoop (pictured, left), a crewel embroidery store founded by artist Katherine Shaughnessy, sells pretty stitchwork while Cochineal, a restaurant started by two ex-pat New Yorkers, packs them in for dinner. Hint: If you can't get an evening reservation, breakfast beneath the trees for a lot less dosh but equally tasty fare - eggs backed in cream with bacon, spinach and fresh mixed herbs or maybe the migas with refried pinto beans and salsa. 

In Alpine, Talgar's, a restaurant specializing in Oaxacan fare makes a delectable fish tacos. Next door, the Murphy Street Raspa Company--a sweets and gifts emporium--sells hipster T-shirts, plus backcountry Mexican finds like peasant blouses for $26 and Mexican bingo cards. Be sure to sample the Mexican ices called "raspas"--try the tamarind with fresh-squeezed lime juice. (Here, owner Vic Noriega demonstrates how to make one.) Too full to waddle anywhere else? For accommodations head for the Alpine Guest Lofts. Their hip "El Concierge" service will get you almost anything: "engine parts for your Harley, or tickets to one of our off-off-off-off-off Broadway plays, or to stable your polo ponies." Relax in their soaking tubs, or lounge under the pecan tree, which provides cool shade for all.

Photo: Wool and Hoop

Leon Logothetis is just back from the Burning Man Project, an annual radical art event that takes place in Nevada's Black Rock Desert around Labor Day. Here he shares a photo essay about his trip.

I arrived at Burning Man during one of the Black Rock Desert's daily sandstorms just as the sun had set beyond the mountains that cradle the playa. After I found my way to my camp, I headed straight for the reason why thousands of people descend on this place each year: The man. In less than a week this man would be transformed into the 'burning man' and a ritual of self discovery and creativity will have come to a close for another year.

Creativity explodes in all directions along the 'streets' of Black Rock City. During a bicycle ride I stumbled across a ramshackle wooden booth with two chairs and a sign in large letters: Advice. I sat down and waited. Within the space of 60 minutes I had given advice to seven different people, from a guy who was struggling with the break up of his relationship to a young lady who wanted to know if she should tell her boyfriend that she loved him. Each person knew I wasn't qualified to answer these intimate questions; however, the fact that I listened and offered some suggestions seemed to make it a worthwhile experience for them. If you are wondering, I told the lady that telling her boyfriend of four weeks that she loved him was probably a bit premature...

In conjunction with his upcoming book, Here Is Where: In Search of America's Great Forgotten History, we're following historian and Legacy Project founder Andrew Carroll as he drives, flies, walks, boats, buses, bikes, and hikes to seek out little-known historic sites in all 50 states. Bookmark all of his posts here.

After leaving Palestine, Texas, to pursue an extraordinary story I'd heard concerning the Columbia Space Shuttle explosion in 2003, I needed to photograph a site in Dallas related to one of the nation's greatest Blues singers.

I told the hotel concierge where I wanted to go, and, after noticing my camera and video equipment, he warned me: "Be careful." Be careful? "The building you're going to is near a homeless shelter, and it's a pretty rough area."

I appreciated the head's up but wasn't terribly concerned. Yes, when I got there I definitely encountered some scowls as I began setting up my tripod in the middle of the street to photograph 508 Park Ave. By the time I looked up from the viewfinder there were about half a dozen guys around me.

"Hey man, what's going on?" one of them asked--not in a threatening way, but his tone wasn't entirely welcoming either.

"I'm traveling across the country to find little known historic sites," I explained, "and that building is the last place where Robert Johnson recorded his music before he died."

"That's right, that's right," another guy said.

"Not just Robert Johnson, Eric Clapton recorded there too," an older gentleman added. I didn't know that.

Lynda Bird Johnson packs her camp trailer prior to her western trip. From the December, 1965 issue of National Geographic Magazine, by David Boyer/NGS.

This weekend President Obama and the First Family are heading to Yellowstone and Grand Canyon National Parks, in part to promote this summer's final fee-free weekend at over 100 parks that usually charge admission. With his visit, the President hopes to continue the tradition of Presidential visits to the parks, and encourage the preservation and conservation of our natural landscapes. If this trip sparks anything like the mass crowds now flocking to the Obama-visited burger joints here in Washington, D.C., the President will have done his job.

This will be the first visit to either park for Obama's daughters Sasha and Malia, but not the first time a First Daughter has made such a trip. In 1965, Lynda Bird Johnson, daughter of LBJ, caravanned across America's interior taking National Geographic Magazine along for the ride. Here's an excerpt from the article, "I See America First: Diary of the President's Daughter," that we dug out of our archives.

Our Ancestors saw the West in a covered wagon. I saw it in the covered wagon's successor, the travel trailer.

In late June we rolled away from the Grand Canyon with the keepsake memory of a sunrise Sunday worship service beside its awesome rim. For two days we lingered in Monument Valley, an American Stonehenge sculptured by nature. We climbed amid the cliffside homes of ancient Indians at Wetherill Mesa, celebrated Fourth of July with a parade at Laramie, and in Jackson Hole floated down the Snake River on a raft.

We applauded Old Faithful at Yellowstone, parked for the night among tombstones where Custer, his men of the 7th Cavalry, and his stubborn foes--the Sioux and Cheyenne--died at the Little Bighorn River, and paused in homage at Theodore Roosevelt's crude cabin in his memorial park. We waded the Mississippi River where it trickles out of Lake Itasca, and canoed on the inviting waters of northern Minnesota.

Though our trailers covered 2,900 miles--about the distance from Paris to Jerusalem--we had hardly begun to see America. To see it all would take a lifetime.

For those travelers who feel like they have done it all, a new out-of-this-world opportunity will soon be available--for a price. On June 19, New Mexico unveiled plans for the nation's first commercial spaceport, Spaceport America. The spaceport, estimated to be completed by 2010, would take travelers up 50,000 feet, break out of the Earth's atmosphere, and then fly up to 62 miles above the Earth.

The $200 million project is being fronted by the state of New Mexico in hopes of creating jobs and increasing tourism. The spaceport will work with Virgin Galactic, who will supply the space vehicles. Spaceport America is anticipating launching one Virgin Galactic flight per week, and each will hold six passengers.

If you want to be on one of the tours, you will have to add your name to the waiting list of over 45,000 other travelers, and be willing to dish out $200,000.  Passengers must also attend three days of training to prepare for the trip. The total travel time is around two hours with five minutes of weightlessness.

What do you think? Is the flight worth the price?

[Spaceport America]

Photo Courtesy of Spaceport America

Traveler photographer Bob Krist recently paid a visit to Paris... Paris, Texas that is. Here, he shares some of the charms of the city on the far, far, left bank of the Seine.

It's been a while since I've had a Tina Fey travel moment ("I Want to Go to There") but the combination of danger, beauty, and the sheer isolation that Big Bend National Park offers has me dreaming of nights spent under an ocean of stars. The park stretches over 800,000 acres along the twist of the Rio Grande in southwest Texas, and offers amazing hiking, incredible vistas, and a significant adventure factor that has the potential to bring out the Bear Grylls in each of us. So much so that National Geographic writer Nick Patosi introduces what is perhaps the counterpoint to the "IWTGTT" impulse -- the "You Can Die" factor. He writes in the February 2007 issue:

The You Can Die possibilities are endless, which keeps some visitors--350,000 a year to Big Bend National Park--from coming back. Those who do return are left to ponder the remarkable grit of the hardy few who have managed to survive in this spare, unforgiving environment. Not to mention the roadrunners and kangaroo rats, so adapted to the arid climate they don't even need to drink.

Fortunately for all of us, the National Park System has prepared a short list of ways to counter the "You Can Die" factor, aptly called "How Not to Die in the Desert." Check them out after the jump.

Tracey Teo shares a new way to explore San Antonio's eclectic art scene: by barge.

Sunfish have always swum in the San Antonio River, but they have never been spotted "flying" above it - until now. Philadelphia artist Donald Lipski and seven other artists were commissioned to create public art for an extension of San Antonio's famous River Walk. Known as the Museum Reach, Lipski's installation features a school of 7-foot-long illuminated sunfish suspended beneath the I-35 overpass adjacent to Camden Street, and it opens on May 30.

The Museum Reach extends four miles from Lexington Street downtown to Hildebrand Avenue, making several city museums accessible by river barge. No need to worry about parking, directions, or catching a cab. Visitors staying along the River Walk can simply step outside their hotel, catch a river barge and spend a day museum-hopping. The Witte, the Southwest School of Art and Craft and the San Antonio Museum of Art are just a short ride away.

Visitors traveling along the San Antonio River soon realize that not all the city's art is displayed in museums. Thanks to the numerous innovative public art installations, there's plenty to experience along the way.

"Cold and Wet"

Photographer: Steven Stokan, of Austin, Texas

Getting the Shot: This photo was taken in Austin, Texas at the Liz Carpenter Fountain in Butler Park. The park is located just south of downtown Austin, on the shores of Lady Bird Lake. The fountain is named after noted writer and former press secretary to Lady Bird Johnson, Liz Carpenter. It was shot on September 21, 2008 at 8:04 p.m., just after sunset. Children where playing in the fountain, taking advantage of the warm weather on this late summer evening. I had spent all day shooting in and around downtown Austin and wanted to call it a day, but couldn't resist getting shots of the fountain at sunset.

The Details: The fountains are programmed, and are constantly moving in different patterns of light and color; which are quite unpredictable. I knew timing was crucial. I fired many photos (50-75) using a tripod, experimenting with different shutter speeds and composition, while taking care not to get wet. In the end, it was a matter of getting lucky, and was pleased to capture this composition.

The Camera: My camera is a Nikon D80 with the 18-55mm kit lens. Exposure was set at f/5.3 for 1/2 sec.

We Love: How otherworldly this shot is, it's hard to tell whether the fountains are shooting water or beams of light.

Think you've got a photo worthy of Global Eye? Add it to our Flickr pool, and you could have your photo featured on our site! 

We can't get enough of love this week, so here, as supplement to our Valentine's Day package, is a tutorial in some of the best American bubbly.
 

Sparkling wine--not to be confused with the traditional bubbly made in northeast France--is made in basically the same way as traditional Champagne, and American sparkling winemakers are popping up in surprising places around the country. One such maker is Gilbert Gruet, of France's Gruet et Fils. After visiting the United States in the 1980s, Gruet decided to plant an experimental vineyard in New Mexico. With its sandy loam (poor soil with good drainage) and microclimate (warm days and cool nights), the hills of the Southwest soon proved to be a prosperous grape-growing region. At over 4,000 feet (1,200 meters), Gruet Winery is one of the highest-elevated vineyards in the country, but the soil and climate make it the perfect place for growing Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grapes, both commonly used in making sparkling wine. Winemaker Farid Himeur moved with the Gruet family from France to New Mexico and told us what to look for when buying sparkling wine.

Gruet Winery uses the traditional méthode champenoise when making its wine. What is the difference between méthode champenoise and the charmat method of making sparkling wine?

Methode champenoise [the method used in Champagne as well] means that you use Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grapes, hand-picking, slow whole-cluster pressing, and of course, a secondary fermentation in the bottle (which creates the bubbles by adding yeast and sugar at bottling). The yeast creates sediment that needs to be removed through the riddling process (turning bottles until they are upside-down). Once the bottle is upside-down with the sediment in the neck of the bottle, we freeze the neck (along with the sediment) and remove the crown cap. The pressure that has built up in the bottle will pop the ice cube (again, along with the sediment) and then we add the cork and wire hood, which is called the disgorging process.
 
The charmat method is the actual fermentation of a whole tank (be it 1,000, 5,000, or 10,000 gallons) instead of a single bottle at a time. The wine is then bottled with bubbles (CO2). This process creates much bigger bubbles that do not last long in the glass.

What qualities should one look for when tasting sparkling wines?

One should look (as with regular wine) at color, effervescence (mousse), and the wine should really be clear (sparkling). But most importantly, the glass should have a ring of mousse along the edge of the wine (called an aura) and against the wall of the glass--the smaller the size of the actual bubbles the better. One of the common mistakes that people make (as opposed to regular wine) is that one should not smell champagne, as all you get is CO2 in the nose. One should swirl the wine in his or her mouth and discover all the flavors of the wine.

Many people tend to drink sparkling wine during a celebration, but don't often consider pairing it to the food they are eating. What particular sparkling wines go well with certain foods?

Sparkling wine goes well with anything, but particularly with spiced food, due to the wine's high acidity. It also goes well with delicate white fish and a light sauce.

I'm a huge sucker for 50's kitsch, so I loved the recent post on the L.A.Times travel blog about how you can now camp out in an Airstream trailer in Vegas.

The folks at Airstream have sold 25 of the giant silver Twinkies to the KOA RV campground near the Circus Circus hotel, and they'll be renting them out for about $45 dollars a night. The 25-foot-long Vegas Airstreams sleep up to four people on one queen bed and two twins. The units feature bathrooms, kitchen, plates and linens. They're also renting Airstreams in Sugarloaf Key, Florida, and plan to open a few more this spring in Bar Harbor, Maine. The iconic campervans cost about $65,000 a pop, making them an tough buy in these current times, and it's an interesting partnership idea between Airstream and KOA. 

Photo: The AP via Yahoo! News

I was lucky enough to visit the Houston Zoo on my recent trip to Texas's largest city and boy, was I impressed! Let me start off by admitting my ambivalence about zoos in terms of what's best for the animals kept in them, the prison-like enclosures in some zoos, and all the troubling ethical stuff that goes along with them. Also, in the interest of full disclosure, I volunteered at the National Zoo here in D.C. as a docent for two years and have come to see zoos' purpose, and, more importantly, the role of the animals kept within them, as that of ambassadors; the zoo, an embassy to the natural world. With exposure comes education and understanding and from that basis, respect for the natural world and its animals develops, hopefully spurring an impulse to conserve and protect in those who visit zoos, especially children.

That said, the Houston Zoo, all 55 acres of it, knocked my socks off--especially the cheetah exhibit, where I saw two full-grown male cheetahs chase after balls with two keepers, armed only with wooden shepherds' crooks. While one keeper explained to the crowd that the cheetahs haven't yet learned to truly fetch, a cheetah sauntered up to her hand, ball clenched in his mouth, asking for another toss to chase after.

I contacted Brian Hill, director of PR for the zoo, and he informed me the cheetahs are just part of an exhibit that includes Anatolian shepherds (dogs!) who were introduced to the cheetahs when they were young. Hill tells me that the unlikely pairing of cheetahs and shepherds has worked well and that "they enjoy each others' company and allow keepers to tell a unique conservation story, how Anatolian shepherds have saved cheetahs in Namibia" where goat herders and ranchers use the pups to guard their herds from the cheetahs to obviate the need to shoot or poison the cheetahs.

All through December we'll be showcasing the best of the holiday season in cities around the world. Today it's Christmastime in Santa Fe and we've asked local experts for the essential ways to enjoy the season's best. Visitors and locals alike come together to celebrate the holidays and the New Year, and we encourage you to share your own favorites with us in the comments below. You can find all of the cities we've already visited and stay up to date on the rest by bookmarking the series here.


Steve Lewis, 19-year Santa Fean
Santa Fe Convention and Visitors Bureau

• Among the local foods connected to the holidays in Northern New Mexico are posole, a traditional holiday dish. Posole is like hominy corn made into a stew with chilies, pork, or other additions. You can learn how to make it at the Santa Fe School of Cooking's holiday class or try some of the best in town at La Choza or the Shed. 

• Biscochitos--New Mexico's state cookie are anise flavored and typically only come out for the holidays. Look for them on the counters of local shops and especially at the Plaza Bakery.

• Tamales are another food that's customarily made during the holidays. Not that savory tamales aren't available throughout the year, but during the holidays there are special sweet tamales made with cocoa, raisins, cinnamon, and sugar. If one isn't lucky enough to have a friend or family member make these special treats, try them (or order them online) at Posa's, home of El Merendero tamales.

• The Santa Fe Desert Chorale puts together a number of holiday-specific performances that are both moving and beautiful; they feature the chorale's beautiful a cappella choir and a candlelight procession to Silent Night. New for 2008 is the Jewish Music Concert at Temple Beth Shalom featuring music composed especially for the Festival of lLghts plus Israeli folk songs.

As a Texas native, I always look forward to this time of year, not because of fall foliage and temperatures that hover somewhere between brisk and perfection—autumn is somewhat of an abstract concept in Texas—but because this is Texas State Fair season.   

I’ve never been to any other state fairs, but I have a hunch that Texas’ annual celebration in Dallas is one-of-a-kind.

First of all, as you walk into the 277-acre Fair Park complex, you are greeted by a 54-foot-tall cowboy, lanky and smiling as he calls out “Howdy folks” over and over. His name is Big Tex, and he has been a Texas State Fair icon since 1952. In his former life, he was the world’s tallest Santa Claus, but these days he wears mostly denim and pearl-snaps, custom fit by a team of eight seamstresses.

This year, Big Tex is joined on the fairgrounds by a 25-foot statue of the Egyptian god Anubis (left). The jackal-headed statue is there to promote National Geographic's latest King Tutankhamun exhibit, "Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs," which will be showing at the Dallas Museum of Art through May 17, 2009. (There's no word yet as to how Big Tex feels about sharing the spotlight with his Egyptian friend.)   

But after you pass the odd duo and head deeper into the fairgrounds, the fun really begins. Choosing between concerts, craft booths, daredevil stunt shows, and pig races (yes, pig races) can be difficult, but choosing what to eat is even harder.

Which brings me to the most mind-boggling thing about the Texas State Fair—the food.

While many state fairs boast an array of standard, fairground junk food such as corn-dogs (Texas's own Fletcher’s corny dogs are hand-dipped right in front of you) and funnel cakes, the Texas State Fair takes this to a whole new level. Texans just are not satisfied with ordinary fried foods, which is why each year, there is some strange, new, fried creation that astounds North Texas and everyone else who hears about it.

Driving along Highway 177 in north-central Oklahoma, your eyes wander across seemingly endless stretches of open prairie and sky. So it may come as a surprise when they fall upon an oversized barn made of rock. You can perceive the outline of this local landmark miles before you actually confront it; and when you finally do, you’re met with walls 55 feet high, expertly cut and mortised of local sandstone, with two of the stones cut in heart and diamond shapes—more the makings of a cathedral than a barn. The space inside the barn is lofty—capable of holding up to 60,000 bales of hay—with pine and hemlock-fir trusses that make up its intricate, arching skeleton.  It's the largest free-standing rock barn in the state, and possibly the world.

Deconstructed, the barn contains enough lumber to stretch for 9 miles, and enough stone to build some authentic looking mountain cabins. These facts did not go unnoticed by the barn’s owners, who saw more profit in knocking it down than letting it remain on the 66.8 acres of grassland it had stood on since 1941, when it was built by a banker named Richard Schultz. Unless, of course, there was a way they could make a profit by selling it.

So, one wouldn’t exactly call anywhere in Texas during the month of August “paradise,” but the greasy, cheeseburger goodness I enjoyed in the East Texas town of Mt. Pleasant had me humming Jimmy Buffet all the same.

When my boyfriend and I pulled up to the small metal building that is Randy’s Burgers a few weeks ago, our stomachs were growling. I had flown in to Dallas right around noon, but we decided to bypass the downtown lunch scene in favor of this wonderful small-town burger joint.

And let me tell you, after three hours in the car, a greasy brown paper sack never looked so good.

Las Vegas is the last place you’d ever expect to go green. A dizzying buffet of high-rise hotels, boisterous tourists, casinos, clubs, and lights flashing all around, the city of sin is hardly a picture of eco-friendliness.

The CityCenter—the newest addition to the Strip—promises to change this, however. A 76-acre city-within-a-city, the CityCenter will house hotels and residences, restaurants, and a $40 million public fine art program. Currently under construction and scheduled to open its centerpiece building, Aria, by the end of 2009, the CityCenter is destined to be one of the world’s largest environmentally sustainable urban communities. Inhabitat reports that the CityCenter is the largest privately financed development in the history of North America vying for U.S. Green Building Council's (USGBC) LEED certification. Indeed, the Center is slated to span 18 million square feet, which Inhabitat says is more square footage than all of the existing LEED-certified buildings combined.

The Center is the product of an $8-billion venture between MGM Mirage and Dubai World, and the goal is to make the process as green as possible. The project's developers have enlisted hundreds of consultants to ensure a sustainable approach to the project, and the MGM Mirage has educated over 10,000 construction workers and craftsmen on green building techniques. Other green bullet points include recycling construction waste, employing eco-sustainable materials, emphasizing natural lighting throughout, and incorporating materials from the imploded Boardwalk Hotel, which once stood where the CityCenter soon will. Also noteworthy is the MGM Mirage’s implementation of custom designed low-flow water fixtures, which will help save some 76 millions gallons of water per day.

Having recently returned from a long weekend in Vegas, which I enjoyed (I’ll even go so far as to say a bit too much) but nonetheless came out of feeling overwhelmed by the overbuilt indulgence of it all, part of me cringes at the thought of seeing yet another set of oversized buildings pierce the skyline. But then I'm reminded that if the CityCenter weren’t being built, chances are that some other building would be going up in its place, and that building wouldn’t necessarily have green in mind. So I look forward to seeing what this venture brings to Vegas and can only hope that all future projects will follow its, um, LEED.

Read More: Explore one of Vegas's hidden eco-hotspots.

Photo: CityCenter

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