3/12 Shaunda Necole - Author of "100 Things To Do In Las Vegas Before You Die"

Joanna and Sean interview the author of, "100 Things To Do In Las Vegas Before You Die," and share what they think should be on the list.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
There's the Vegas you think you know, and then there's
this Good morning. It's Joanna and Sean right here on
Sundy when I was six point five. And we are
so excited to talk to this woman this morning because
she just put out a book that has Sean and
I wondering what do we need to do here in
Las Vegas before we die? And that's exactly what it's called.

(00:21):
One hundred Things to Do in Las Vegas Before You Die.
Author Shanda Nicole joins us this morning.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
Good morning, Good morning, study one of six point five listens.
Happy to be with you, Sean and Joanna.

Speaker 1 (00:33):
Thank you.

Speaker 3 (00:34):
Oh, it's so nice to talk to you. So, you know,
as Joanna said, sure, she's been here for fifteen years.
I've been here for about fifteen months. But when you
live here, you think sometimes you figured everything out and
know where everything is. But that's probably not the case,
because you have found one hundred things to do that
are noteworthy for your book. And so tell us a
little bit about, first of all, your time here living

(00:55):
in Las Vegas and what inspired you to put this
book together.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
Oh. Absolutely, so, I've been traveling to Las Vegas for
the last couple of decades and decided to make it
permanent and live here about three years ago. And I
come from a family of caterers, musicians, and entertainers, so naturally,
I think that's why I've always been drawn to Las Vegas.
I'm a collector of concerts, and.

Speaker 4 (01:19):
I love outdoor activities and buying dining, So this is
just the place for myself and my husband, and I
just love having guests here, visitors coming from town and
sharing with them all the experiences.

Speaker 2 (01:31):
So I decided to put them all into a.

Speaker 1 (01:33):
Book that's awesome. And you're right, Las Vegas is so
easy to just fall in love with. You just want
to end up moving here, right and being around all
the awesome stuff. Now we are going to slightly put
you on the spotlight a little bit and asking maybe
your favorite your number one recommendation that people must do
if they're really experiencing Las Vegas, maybe for the first time.

Speaker 2 (01:57):
Absolutely well, I do recommend that people definitely start with
the Strip when you come here. It's just a place
that you can't miss. It's iconic. There are so many
places to get to and you don't need a car.
That's kind of a pro tip there. You can just
walk to all the places. You could spend half a
day in one hotel, just because every hotel has a
you know, for the most part of every hotel has a casino,
a theater, a ton of restaurants, a shopping mall. But

(02:20):
I also really encourage, and this is a lot that's
in the book, where I encourage people to leave the
strip because that's only half the story of Las Vegas
and to go out and explore some of the natural wonders,
like one of my favorites, Red Rock Canyon, which is
only about fifteen twenty minutes from the Las Vegas Strip,
and there you can take the scenic route if you're
in a car, you can have a guided tour that

(02:41):
just comes to pick you up from the strip. You
can visit a spring mountain ranch. There's just so much
to do at Red Rock Canyon, and it's just we'regeous
scenery and you actually forget that you're in Las Vegas
if you're just used to seeing it at the iconic strip.

Speaker 1 (02:55):
Right.

Speaker 3 (02:56):
So, Joanna and I are both you know, we're foodies.
We love to eat, and a lot of people, well
I think a lot of people know that the best
food in town is not even always on the strip.
So for for you, Shanda, what are your where are
your favorite places to eat that are not necessarily on
the strip?

Speaker 2 (03:12):
Oh? Sure, there are a ton of them. I live
in the Summerland area, so in that area, one of
my favorites is Maraki the It's a Greek restaurant and
they're actually a few of them sprinkled. I think there's
one in like Spring Valley and Centennial in Summerland. Yeah,
so that's one of our favorites. When guests come to town,
we definitely kind of go ahead and have that already
picked up, and that's the house, and that's like we

(03:34):
start them right there with you know, the bags of
men and then their food is already ready. So that's
a fun one. They are very busy, so you want
to try and order ahead or call ahead because everyone
knows that they're really good, all the locals know. And
then off the strip, one of my favorite places when
we usually start guess with Brunt here is not too
far off the street off the strip near UNLV is

(03:55):
Lolo's Chicken and Waffles. That place is the food is delicious.
I'm also way Soul Food Southern recipe creator and so
they are really true to my roots. I come from
Virginia from the South and Lolo's Chicken and wal Holes.
The food is delicious, but it's also just a whole
vibe and an experience. You get a DJ in there,
the waiters and waitresses dance to you when it's your birthday.

(04:17):
It's it's just crazy, epic experience.

Speaker 1 (04:19):
Awesome. Well, you sound like you know where all the
hotspots are, and of course the must visit and experience
things here in Las Vegas. Now your book, you're you
have an upcoming a book presentation in books signing on
March twenty eighth at the Vegas Valley Winery where people
can come meet you, come grab the book. But where
else can they find your book at Shanda?

Speaker 2 (04:42):
Absolutely well, it's at all the places. I just signed
a bunch of them at Barnes and Noble off of
Rainbow in Las Vegas, So if you want to sign coffee,
you can pick up one there in store. I think
all the Barnes and Nobles in the area carry the book.
But you can also head to my website which is
Vegas RightNow dot com, which has all the places that
you can order online from Amazon to Target and Walmart,

(05:03):
all the places that you can order online and get
the book of course, like all the indie bookshops So
Vegas right. Noow dot com will get you to all
the places in your favorite bookshops where the book is carried. Well.

Speaker 3 (05:13):
I'm excited to check this out because I think as
long as you've lived here, this will still be a
fun book to kind of make like your own little
adventure checklist. I think your locals are still going to
find plenty of things in this book that they have
not found yet that you have, so check it out.
One hundred Things to Do in Las Vegas Before You
Die author Sean Dutt and Nicole on with us this morning.

(05:35):
Thanks so much for hanging out with us.

Speaker 2 (05:37):
Oh, thanks for having me. Have a great day, Sonny,
thank you have a great one.