hoover dam

I planned Saturday as a slow one, and I’m so glad that I did. After all the excitement of the Helicopter flight on Friday and a bad jet lagged sleep, I was glad to take the bus out too the Outlet Mall and see if there was anything there that suited me for Alt Summit.

It was nice and calm and I enjoyed just being able to do my own thing at a very slow pace. It helped me get over the jet lag and ready for my early Sunday morning wake up for the bus trip out to the Hoover Dam!

You may not know this, but I have wanted to see the Hoover Dam for YEARS! Ever since I sat and watched a TV show on engineering marvels with my Dad. I had wanted to see it last time I was in Vegas, but it just didn’t work out. This time it was a must!

Seeing it from the air on Friday meant that I got to see it all, but seeing it up close was just fantastic! As part of the tour I booked we went into the power plant on the Nevada side and learnt how it was constructed and also got to see how it works. It was really interesting. But I have to say – my favourite part was being able to walk across it and see both lake mead and the Dam wall.

They aren’t fussy about you taking photos, in fact they encouraged it, which makes it so much better! I loved the Art Deco architecture and the fact that they haven’t tried to update it, but have just maintained it. There seemed to be a lot of love for the structure, not just because it is actually a power generator, but like they cared for it because it was so important to the landscape and to the history of the place. I think it’s nice to see that it’s heritage has been protected and that it’s treated so well.

One other cool thing that I didn’t remember from the show that I saw, is that you cross from Nevada into Arizona when you walk the bridge and they are in two different time zones. I’ve never walked across a state border before so I thought it was kind of cool!

Here are some more of the photos that I took. I took hundreds, but here are just a few of my favourites.

It was a gorgeous 18°C with very little wind. I’m so glad that I finally got a chance to see it. Lake mead is just beautiful close up as is the Dam itself.

There’s a few more photos on my Flickr too.