Hoover Dam

So having left Sarah and Katie at the departure gate we hung around the airport for a couple of hours to make sure that they were going to set off on time and without any delays, especially as the weather had turned again over on the East coast and they were scheduled to change flights in Philadelphia later that day and they'd only just opened up the airport again after more snow.  The airport has a great exhibition about Las Vegas aviation which kept us entertained until we decided that it was safe for us to set off towards Palm Springs. 

We headed for the Hoover Dam as it would only take us an hour, we could keep an eye on the flight via the phone and if we needed to get back to Vegas for any reason we could do so.

Hoover Dam was fantastic!  I'd flown over it in my one and only ever helicopter flight during my trip to Vegas a few years ago but to see it up close was breathtaking.  The route was very pleasant with superb views over Lake Mead as we approached.  Lake Mead is the largest reservoir in the United States and is formed out of the Colorado River which is restrained from its natural course by Hoover Dam.

After passing through security check points  where they actually inspected the inside of the car we parked up and strolled down to the dam.  The first thing to see is the monuments plaza where statues proudly salute to the people who built it.  We're still in the state of Nevada at this time... more of that in a moment.  The statues honour the 96 people who died during construction as well as the designers, labourers, architects, politicians and engineers who made it all possible.  These 30 foot bronze winged monuments compare the achievement to the Egyptian Pyramids and are dedicated to the combination of intellect and physical strength that built the dam.  The floor of the plaza surrounding this monument bears reference to the seven states which are provided with water and electricity by the dam.  There are many monuments here and one could spend many hours just reading all the dedications and visiting the museums and the tour of the workings inside.  

The one fact I couldn't quite get my head around is that the concrete, all 2.5 million cubic meters of it, is so thick that despite its age, 75 years, it hasn't yet set completely in some places!

We were blessed with a fabulous sunny day and it made the dam, the lake and all the surroundings look all the more impressive.

Where Linda is bravely looking over here we could see many baseball caps, hats and sunglasses way below where people had leaned over a little too far... 176.4 feet of very scary!   The dam took 5 years to complete at a cost of $49 million which at first doesn't seem too outrageous until one realises that it was started in 1931.  It's 45 feet wide at the top where the road crosses over its 1244 feet length and at the base, it's 660 ft wide!

Looking out from where Linda is stood we could see the new bridge.  The four lane Hoover Dam Bypass was commissioned after 911 when the authorities became increasingly concerned that the dam was a terrorist target risk.  The bridge opened up late in 2010 and now many types of vehicles are not allowed to travel over the dam directly. 

Very impressive!! 

Linda noticed her Grandfather's namesake (Herbert Clarke), honoured on this plaque as we walked across the dam from Nevada in to Arizona and into a different time zone.  

The clock on Arizona side tower is an hour ahead of the one on the Nevada side.  We walked 1244 feet from Nevada to Arizona and arrived an hour later!  Aside from the engineering magnificence of the dam the place is really quite beautiful and the lovely blues and greens of Lake Mead and the Colorado River neatly sandwiched the rusty reds and browns of the desert between the water and the clear blue skies.  

We strolled back across the state line and , of course, into the gift shop.  It really is stunning in so many ways and I'm glad we made the stop on our way to Palm Springs.  Just as we headed back to the car we saw one more memorial to the workers' mascot.  Found as a puppy the dog lived among the workers until he was killed by the truck under which he was sleeping.  The construction workers laid him to rest and this plaque marks his grave just next to the memorial plaza.  Poor dog!!

After leaving the dam we stopped for lunch, outside in the glorious sunshine, in Boulder City which wouldn't exist at all if it wasn't for the magnificent Hoover Dam.