Saturday, January 1, 2011

The Dam Tour...Hoover Dam!!

Even though I was born in LV in 1970, I've never toured the Hoover Dam.  I've driven over it going to AZ, and been in a boat on Lake Mead right next to it, but I've never done the Dam tour.  Students in the area all do the tour in elementary school, but the adults in my family have somehow seemed to miss it...

So we did the Dam tour on Wedsnesday (yes, I must say Dam at every opportunity available...it is an elementary school thing...LOL).  "The kids need to get on the Dam bus, stay in line on the Dam tour, and maybe they can buy a Dam souvenir at the end".....Get it???  ;-D

So here are some Dam pictures....Inside the dam, where they turn water power into electricity!!!

 This one is looking through a hole on the side of the dam, from the inside.  Rebecca says Chevy Chase looked out the same hole in a Vacation movie 20 years ago....very scary, for me...

 Stairs that go up and down in the dam....but no where to stop...no landings.  If the top guy falls backwards, everyone falls backward.  Obviously no OSHA laws back then....
 Ryan on the top, my Mom keeping a hold on him so he doesn't accidentally get swept over, me cowering near the street....LOL...
 A view down the "non-lake" side....totally alarming....
 The Colorado river after it passes through the Dam, on it's way to other states....
 The Lake Mead side of the Dam....see how low the water level it?  Please let it snow for 5 solid years in the Rocky Mountains to help build up the lake again!!!  Right now the lake is only 39% full...down from 100% 12 years ago!!  That "bathtub ring" around the lake is over 100 feet tall....it has dropped 120 feet in the last dozen years...

The bridge that had to be built after 9/11....since it was determined that Hoover Dam might be a good spot for some terrorist action.  And the traffic going over the Dam was getting a little backed up...with security check points, and tourists, etc. You can actually walk along the side of the bridge, all the way up there, if you'd like....when you drive over it, thought, you don't even know you are on the bridge (Thank God!)...the barriers on the side are so high that you can't see over, or out of your driving lane....
Anyhow, if you make it to Las Vegas, I definitely recommend the Dam tour...go early, though, as tourists start to arrive in the late morning....;-D

4 comments:

  1. Wow, that is dam impressive!! We are planning to go to Las Vegas next year so will definitely go to the dam tour. I hate heights though, but I know my hubby would love this.

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  2. Sounds like a great tour, but not for me - far too high!

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  3. Lovely blog, and gorgeous quilts, hope you don't mind me linking your blog on my page ? I need to find my way back..........
    I was at that dam last summer, it's breathtaking and scary high. The bridge wasn't open yet, and I was greatful for that, since I'm afraid of heights.................have a great day

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  4. This past summer I went on the Hoover Dam tour as well. It was pretty spectacular. I even walked down the dark tunnel so that I could stick my camera out the vent hole to snap a picture. Later at the very end of the tour I looked down to see where that vent hole was ... way, way, waaaay down low. Amazing! Then we continued on our way to Vegas and saw the Liberace Museum before it closed, but that's another story. :-)

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It is great to hear from you... I had to eliminate anonymous comments due to spamming....sorry!