Hoover Dam

5/28/2010


We are off to see the famous Hoover Dam. It is named one of the top ten construction achievements of the 20Th century.
The road we will be taking is through those mountains ahead.
Las Vegas sits in a valley surrounded by mountains.
This is the same road we came back into Vegas, on the day before, on our Moapa Valley Drive.
We make a quick stop at an overlook spot to see a view of Lake Mead. We really can see how low the lake is here from this spot. You can't, but trust me it was low!
We continue down toward the lake.
As we exit Lake Mead Recreational Area we notice police cars and flashing lights.
It's hard to see, but these are two jets ski's on a trailer that have been in a fire. The trailer and jet ski's are put on a trailer to be towed away. Looks like a bad day for someone.
The last 11 miles to Hoover Dam the traffic gets heavy, and we slowed to about 10 miles an hour.

As we get close to the dam we see a new bridge being erected to help the traffic jams.
As we pull into the dam parking lot we see a statue of a dam construction worker. There are up to 3000 people who visit Hoover Dam daily, and it is one of the most popular excursions from Las Vegas.
On our tour of the dam, we go down inside to see the turbines that produce electricity for the surrounding towns. The dam was built during the Depression in the 20's to help the economy and to produce some work for the unemployed.
Our tour group. Their backs are to where the dam is on the other side of the wall.
This is a map of the dam and how the river enters the cofferdam and then is diverted through the power plant and then exits the dam.
Statistics of the dam.
This is a model of the dam showing how it was built with blocks of cement up and up.
A view of the dam from the observation deck. I can not get a picture of it from top to bottom. Presently car drive over the dam to enter into Arizona.
View of the river exiting the dam. When the bridge is open, you will cross over the Colorado River on that bridge and not across the Hoover Dam anymore.
View of the road going across the dam. This road is bumper to bumper all day long. There are security checkpoints by homeland security personal at each end of the dam. They pull over anyone looking suspicious. The new bridge is for several reason, security,traffic flow and the heavy weight of big trucks is putting too much heavy load on the dam.
This is a view of Lake Mead behind the dam.
Another view of the road crossing the dam and the collection towers on the Lake Mead side of the dam. One tower is in Nevada and is a different time zone than the other side, which is Arizona.
There is a clock on each tower showing the different times.
There are two large art deco angels on the dam. Couldn't resist the picture taking opportunity.
We take a different route home to our nest in Las Vegas. This is a view of Las Vegas as we approached.
Diane liked the wall decorations along the interstate as we come into town.

We are home! This is the entrance to our RV park. No gates.
Our spot is the last one at the end of the row on your right. You can just see the rear 1/4 of our nest.

Moapa Valley Drive Part III

5/27/2010


We back track on one of the one way scenic roads back to the main road, and stop at the visitor center for the park.
A view from the visitor center.
At the visitor center Diane goes inside to buy some water, ends up buying a can of diet pop because it is cheaper than water. I go inside and find a free water tap and fill up two gallons of water in my empty water containers that I carry in the truck of the car. Diane snaps this picture of me resting at the visitor center.
Diane decides to ham it up at the visitor center.
Just hanging out at the cave talking to friends and family. ( This is Diane doing a proof read for Joe. I just wanted to say I am wearing skorts- which is shorts under a skirt- no those are not my underwear.)
Stop the car, cries Diane; I see a flower on a cactus plant.
Closeup and personal.

Wait, more flowers over there!
Up close and personal. ( Me again, I liked the contrast of the red soil and the white seeding bush)

Not quite sure what this is all about? ( This is Diane again- I always wonder who lives in these holes. Hopefully not a snake!)
Didn't we just see these back aways? ( No, this is a different bush- you know I like horticulture.)
Now this is my kind of picture. These are two of 9 sister rock formations that are lined up together along the road. ( I guess I should have written this blog- It was the 7 sisters. Can you see snoopy:)
On the move again.
Its finally time to leave the park and head home.
Its a long drive home. We continue on southwest on Hwy. 169.
But the wide open spaces make it more enjoyable.
After leaving the Valley of Fire State Park we enter Lake Mead Recreation Area.
There is a thin finger of lake Mead. We are driving the north shore of Lake Mead. It is much bigger than it looks in the picture.
After a continued beautiful drive a ways:

We get another glimpse of the lake.
We take a side road that goes down to a marina in a bay on the lake.
Lots of boats. The lake we hear is really low.
We are almost home, there is Las Vegas in the valley below. See the Stratosphere Hotel in the haze? Oh by the way, Moapa is a name of a Band of Paiutes Indians in this area. There is a town, valley, and river called Moapa. Just wanted to explain why these last 3 blogs are called the Moapa Valley Drive.