Mojave Max Emerged From His Burrow This Week
My family in Pennsylvania have Punxsutawney Phil, but we Southern Nevada folks know who the real MVP is, and his name is Mojave Max! Well, I’ve got some good news to share with you, Southern NV’s beloved tortoise, Mojave Max, has finally emerged from his burrow this week! Not only making his seasonal debut on Tuesday afternoon but also marking the official arrival of spring-like weather in our neck of the woods!
Mojave Max Made His Annual Debut This Week
Max officially made his emergence at 3:09pm on Tuesday, April 23rd. His emergence this year came a day earlier than in 2023. However, for those curious, it’s not the earliest he’s ever come out of his burrow. According to reporting by 8 News Now, his earliest arrival happened on Feb 15th, 2005, when Max made his annual appearance at 11:55 in the morning.
Unfortunately, 2005 was also the year that the OG Max passed away, at the age of 65. That version of the tortoise called the Red Rock Canyon visitor center his home.
As someone who grew up in Las Vegas, I’m really happy they found a way to keep Mojave Max a thing. I remember taking school trips to see the original Mojave Max. I also remember our schools doing contests, having children guess when he’d come out of his burrow for the year! Those trips, along with shows like Steve Irwin, made me fall in love with scaly animals, which is why I’ve owned a few reptiles over the year… Including a leopard gecko that we currently have as a pet.
New Mojave Max Means New Home
The new Mojave Max can be found living at the Las Vegas Springs Preserve. Like other reptiles, Mojave Max enters a burrow to brumate during the winter months. Tortoises have an incredible internal clock, telling them when it’s time to emerge as the temps rise in the spring. Truly fascinating stuff, really!
Students from the Clark Country School District are able to participate in “The Mojave Max Emergence Contest.” It’s an annual event that engages kids from across the school district to study desert weather, temps, and conditions to try and estimate when Max will make his annual appearance. Also mentioned in 8 New Now’s reporting, this year received over 4,000 guesses and an official winner will be announced soon.
RELATED: Summer Weather Outlook For 2024
To learn more about Mojave Max and the Springs Preserve click HERE.
Southern Nevada Has All 5 Of The State's Best Landmarks
5. Allegiant Stadium
An exterior view of Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas shows signage for Super Bowl LVIII. The stadium was completed in 2020 to be the home of the Las Vegas Raiders when they were acquired from Oakland.
Compared to other sports arenas, Allegiant Stadium has some of its own unique features. Being one of the newest stadiums to have been built, it definitely has a more slick, modern look than its architectural predecessors. And since it’s next to the I-15 freeway in Las Vegas, away from the tall hotels nearby, it kind of looks like a huge spaceship that just landed in the middle of an open field.
Allegiant also has a somewhat rare feature that many other stadiums don’t have. The field is actually on a huge moving tray that can come completely out from under the stadium so it can be worked on under the open air and sun. It’s like a gigantic version of that plastic tray that you can pull out from under the dog crate to change the paper. But much less smelly.
4. The Strip
A picture of the Las Vegas strip at night taken from a high vantage point. The view is north along the mid-strip area. The High Roller and Flamingo Hotel are among the buildings on the right. Caesars Palace and Treasure Island among the hotels on the left.
I don’t know, guys. This seems kind of like a throwaway vote, since there are so many individual architectural wonders on the Strip. The Eiffel Tower, the Luxor, the STRAT. All worthy of their own vote in this survey. Maybe the tourists that voted just couldn’t decide which is the coolest landmark on Las Vegas Blvd. So they just picked the Strip as a whole. Which means the two landmarks on this list that are on LV Blvd are even more amazing in their own right, right?
3. High Roller
An aerial view shows the High Roller at The Linq Promenade in Las Vegas, Nevada. Tourists from all over the world come to take a ride on the wheel, which provides unique sights overlooking the Las Vegas Strip.
I’ve heard a lot of tourists refer to this as a ferris wheel. That will lead to some inevitable disappointment, as this landmark barely goes fast enough to see that it’s moving at all. The High Roller is actually an observation wheel. Appropriately named because it gives you the best views of the Las Vegas Strip from 550 feet off the ground.
I’ve ridden this giant a few times. It’s huge. It’s actually the tallest observation wheel in the world. And each one of its 28 cabins can hold 40 people, so says visitlasvegas.com. And at a speed of one foot per minute, it takes about half an hour to get all the way around.
2. Hoover Dam Bypass
An aerial view shows the Mike O’Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge part of the Hoover Dam Bypass Project in front of the Hoover Dam October 26, 2010 in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Nevada. The structure sits 890 feet above the Colorado River, about a quarter of a mile downstream from the Hoover Dam. The USD 240 million four-lane bypass project to relieve vehicle traffic on the Hoover Dam began in 2003, and opened to traffic on October 19.
Yes. All day long this one gets my vote. Look at this thing. It’s an architectural marvel. The 2,000 foot long bridge was finished in 2010, giving travelers another travel option to get from the Arizona side of the Colorado River to the Nevada side. Which was very needed at the time construction started. Travel was restricted crossing the dam at that time. So, many drivers chose the switchback roads in the area, which lead to a lot of congestion.
I lived in Las Vegas when this thing was finished. It was the coolest thing to happen to the Hoover Dam since Matthew Perry and Salma Hayek had that baby on the state line.
1. Fountains of Bellagio
An aerial photo shows the Bellagio fountain show in Las Vegas, Nevada. The fountain show goes off every hour or half hour, depending on the day. Delighting passers by on the Las Vegas Strip.
I’ve never noticed it before, but the aerial view of the Bellagio Fountains looks a lot like the fountains at Disneyland’s Pixar Pier. Both an impressive underwater series of tracks, this one designed to push water as high as 460 feet in the air, according to bellagio.com. Although the architecture is out of view at street level, it’s easy to see why this gets the number one landmark vote from tourists.
The fountains go off every day and are set to different types of music and lights. It’s the perfect romantic spot to pop the question. And the best spot to watch any holiday-themed water show as well. Tourists often gather in front of the Bellagio fences to watch the action. But locals know you can get brunch with the same view if you get a table across the street at Mon Ami Gabi in the Paris Hotel & Casino.
