The vibrant desert spring still excites chefs in Vegas.

FORBES: Top Chefs Delight in the Fresh Tastes of Spring

It is what they have being training for ever since the Pentagon formed Special Operations Command in 1986, in the wake of the debacle of Desert One, the failed attempt to spring American hostages from Iran.

BBC: Snipers

Walking through the halls for two hours was like marching through a desert, searching in vain for a flowing spring of argument or works that would enliven my sense of the period.

WSJ: Light Years: Conceptual Art and the Photograph, 1964-1977 | Snapshot of a Movement | By Richard B. Woodward

There are millions of untouched desert acres around Phoenix where new suburbs could easily spring up.

ECONOMIST: Urban sprawl

Now Wynn is back with his 2, 700-room Wynn Las Vegas, a hipper version of the Bellagio that's due to open this spring on the site of the old Desert Inn.

FORBES: Crapping Out