Nevada is desert and it can induce strange visions. Even stranger, Nevada's curiosities are real: A huge blue lake appears in the midst of a parched landscape; a brothel materializes at a remote crossroads; a marginally talented performer named Wayne Newton becomes a millionaire. The Hoover Dam turned a great river into the electricity that powers Las Vegas. Add the mortal temptations of gambling and all-you-can-eat buffets, and you've built yourself a tourist attraction. Of course, people did not create Nevada's beautiful desert landscapes, which can be even more wondrous than a city of flashing neon. Nor did they manufacture the pyramid at Pyramid Lake or the hundreds of remote mountains that pepper the state. With both isolated wilderness and bustling casino towns, Nevada is a place where you can get back to basics and also relish some of the guiltiest pleasures mankind can dream up.