Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Hoover Dam


If you go to Vegas and you don’t take a side trip to Hoover Dam, you are really missing one of the most spectacular engineering accomplishments ever attempted in the USA. We have driven over this dam more times than we can count since 1995 when we first drove from Arizona to Nevada, and it never fails to make us weak in the knees. Pictures can never do it justice. You have to be here to truly feel the thrill of driving the snake curved roads that lead up and over the mountains into the dam area from the East. Cars crawl at 5 mph as everyone is taking pictures from their cars or from the many pull off’s provided for those just passing through. It’s a Kodak moment everywhere you look and visitors are in awe of its scale and always looking for the “leak”. When you take the inside tour, they are quick to tell you the dripping is from condensation and nothing more. (Leak, a word never uttered but certainly in everyone’s mind, especially when you are 70 stories below in the dam.) We, of course, knew Brenda and David would be excited to see and explore this for sure, so we planned to bring them back here for one of our day trips from Las Vegas. Where else can you have one foot in Arizona (MTN Time) and one foot in Nevada (Pacific Time) and be standing in the middle of a dam?

4 comments:

CarolB said...

Who's the awsome dude with the big hat?? He seems to be in many of the pictures! We just found out from friends that they have a (unvisited as yet) time share in Sedonna! Trying to persuade them we need to have a week in Arizona..would love to see you folks and the Hoover Dam some time. Happy inauguration day. It's unseasonably cold here (47 deg at 5 PM). Brr. Say hi to the javelinas from Sam and Carol

TerriD said...

When Frank & I went to Vegas he said we should leave the Vegas sights and go see what nature had to offer. We were not there long enough though. Next trip he already said he is going to golf in the dessert. I love your photos! Do you have pictures of the Dam?? I know, the crowd is never satisfied! lol

TerriD said...

Just saw the slideshow - GORGEOUS!!!! I missed you, I missed my window into America travels!

Ada May & Donald Roberts @ Amelia Payson House B&B said...

Glad you liked the slideshow. Certainly, trying to pick out just one picture is a tough choice.
Wait til you see the pictures of the Valley of Fire. They're next....