Gambling in Laughlin, Nevada's other casino city

Looking for a quieter, smaller-scale alternative to Las Vegas? Take a look at Laughlin, Nev., where you can gamble with fewer distractions, take in a show, rent a boat on the Colorado River and head off on side trips to ghost towns.

It isn't as old as Reno or as sprawling as Las Vegas, but Laughlin — www.visitlaughlin.com/ — has hotels, casinos, restaurants and its own distinct personality. Take a glance at "About Laughlin" for a profile of this riverside community 80 miles south of Vegas, including the sunny weather with temps ranging from the 60s in January to more than 100 in summer.

Indoors, the "Shows & Events" calendar lists concerts, poker tournaments and more. And if you have to take your clubs, click on "Attractions & Activities" for golf courses, plus "Water Attractions" for boat rentals and tours on the river. Laughlin has about a dozen big hotels plus an RV park with more than 700 spaces.

When you need a break from the casinos, get in your car and hit the road. But first, you could just stroll over to the Riverside Resort and Don Laughlin's Classic Car Collection and admire a collection of dazzling automobiles.

Cross the river to Arizona, head south a few miles and look for the signs to Oatman — a one-time gold mining boom town sitting up in the hills that now is better known for shops and semiwild burros descended from miners' pack animals. Its main building is the Oatman Hotel — http://tinyurl.com/2vxnkd _ where Clark Gable and Carole Lombard spent their wedding night. Some say the hotel is haunted. Before Interstate 40 bypassed Oatman, the town was one of the stops on a rugged stretch of historic Route 66.

Farther south on the Arizona side, Lake Havasu City — www.golakehavasu.com/visitors.html — is a winter resort and retirement area on the Lake Havasu section of the Colorado that also boasts a transplanted London Bridge (not the famous Tower Bridge). Hit "Attractions & Recreation" to collect information on fishing, water sports, lake tours and golf courses.

East of Laughlin, Kingman, Ariz. — http://kingmantourism.org/ — celebrates its location on the longest surviving stretch of Route 66. It also serves as a jumping-off point for Grand Canyon Caverns and Grand Canyon National Park to the east, and for Hoover Dam to the north.

About 20 miles north of Kingman, the one-time silver mining town of Chloride — www.chlorideaz.com/ — has a handful of businesses and a lot of wide-open desert scenery in the Cerbat Mountains. A century ago, it had almost 5,000 residents.