Our Las Vegas Area Adventure

From the foothills of the Sequoia's and through the orchards has been my favorite area so far. Although the rocky cliffs and dry rock formations are beautiful, as well as the ocean front, the beautiful green mountainous area wins out. From the Sequoia's we went south around the mountain range and into the southern tip of Nevada. We were planning to head around Las Vegas and down to the Hoover Dam.

While heading toward the border, we saw huge plains of nothing but white. It was definitely NOT snow. It was way to hot for that. We've come to the conclusion that it must be some "salt flats". Nothing was growing there. It was just hot and dry and white. We were just south of Death Valley.

Right before the Nevada border, we saw some wind surfers (like go-carts with sails). We also saw signs that advertised selling rocket fuel at the gas stations. Apparently this flat ground is a big drag racing area.

It was sooooo windy in this area that we had to hang onto our car doors with all our might when getting out. We managed to get a picture of Larson Lane, but poor Caleb looked like he was getting blown away.

We headed around Las Vegas and drove over the Hoover Dam into Arizona and then walked back over it. When Paul was in college, he and a friend took a similar route during a spring break trip from Rapid City, SD. They went to Salt Lake City, the Hoover Dam, the Grand Canyon, Four Corners and made their way back. You can tell they were "Engineers" because both of them had nice cars (one was a Thunderbird and the other was a Mustang), but they chose to drive his friend's dad's Grand Marque. Imagine that, two college kids giving up their cool cars to drive a grandpa car! To make that choice, you'd have to be older and wiser, or.... an engineer.

The dam is HUGE and amazing. They say that although it was completed in 1936, the concrete in the middle has still not cured!

They are in the process of completing a bridge that goes past the dam partly to avoid the traffic on the dam, and to see it from a better view instead of on top of it. (Note to self: do not come back... Paul would insist on driving over that bridge and from the dam (which is incredibly high itself), the bridge was waaaay higher. I'm sure the view would be grand, but it would really freak me out and I wouldn't look over the edge anyhow!)

Below is the lake side of the dam... you can see how low the water level is by the ring of white rocks around the lower part of the mountain. I guess it is getting to be a major problem. With the population growth in the area, the water supply is not able to keep up with the usage and is continually dropping. It's getting to be worrisome that the level will get below the "intake structures". That's "Paul-talk" for where the water goes in to the dam to generate electricity.

We got to the dam right before sunset, and by the time we were done and were heading to our camp destination (which was still an hour and a half away), it was getting pretty dark. We followed the GPS for a while and it took us through a deserted area near Lake Mead. After a bit, and still at least an hour from Valley of Fire State Park (our destination for the night), we decided it might be wise to stay at a hotel in North Las Vegas. I found a Holiday Inn & Suites on the internet and plugged it into the GPS. After going through some mountains on our way back down to the interstate, the sight we saw made the detour well worth it. I wish I would've gotten a picture looking down on all the lights of the entire Vegas valley! It was incredible!

We continued to follow the GPS... It took us past the Nellis Airforce Base, through an industrial park, past a correction center, and told us we had arrived at our hotel in the middle of the desert. Hmmm, good thing the lights of Las Vegas are so bright. Though the roads were dark, we could find our way toward the city by following the glow. We were most worried about seeing some night sights that nobody (especially children) should see. Glad to say... we didn't. After being in the car for about 12 hours, we found our own way to the hotel, went for an outdoor swim in the heated pool, dropped on our beds and didn't move a muscle until 7am. Ahhhhh...