Day 13 – Hoover Dam and Drive to Las Vegas

38 Miles

I toured Hoover Dam many years ago with my brother Michael, long before the security check point and grandiose tourism center that are now there. Though I prefer those “old days” for their simplicity, the tour itself is still really educational, and nothing can take away from the grand achievement of the engineering itself.

We paid the ten dollars for covered parking (worth it in the summer!) and bought the shorter “Power Plant Tour”. (The America the Beautiful Pass does not provide any benefits here). There is also a longer “Dam Tour” which includes everything in the Power Plant Tour plus some additional tunnels and other lesser-known parts of the dam. In all cases, you have access to the visitor’s center, the restaurant, and views of the dam (and the Callaghan-Tillman Memorial Bridge) from both the Arizona and Nevada sides of the complex.

While the introductory film about the dam’s history is quite dated (it reminded me of the old, scratchy reel-to-reel films we’d watch when our grade school teachers needed a nap), the information was still valid. The rest of the tour is fascinating — if you’re into major feats of human engineering. The size of it, the way they diverted the Colorado River so they would have ability to build the dam’s structure, the amount of concrete, and how the workers went around the clock to finish ahead of schedule and under budget is jaw-dropping. In this time of great division in the U.S., it was an uplifting reminder of what can happen when we focus on building things together.

Of particular concern to me, however, was the water level. The level of Lake Mead (the lake created by the Hoover Dam) was visibly low, as marked by the white “ring” of deposits left from when the level was higher.  If the Rocky Mountains in Colorado and the broader river basin itself don’t receive considerably more precipitation in the coming years, it will be a major crisis for the Southwest.

When we completed the tour, we ate a meal there at the complex (a bit overpriced, and a long wait, but good food). By the time we finished, the temperature outside had been near 100 degrees for several hours, and all that concrete was retaining the heat, so we were ready to cool off in the car and drive on to Vegas. Did I mention it was worth the ten dollars to have parked in the covered garage?

I’ve been going to Las Vegas at least once a year since 1989. It was a favorite vacation spot for my parents, who are both gone now. They loved the Flamingo, so it has remained a family tradition to stay there. 

For dinner, we went across the street to Caesar’s Palace, where we had reservations at Carmine’s. This is a family-style Italian restaurant where each dish is enough for three or four people. So we ordered a pasta dish, a meat dish, and some appetizers, which added up to the perfect amount of food. I highly recommend the place, if you ever get out there.

From there, we walked over to Bellagio so the kids could see the great fountain show, set to music. In fact, we watched two of them, then went back to the hotel to prepare for our next busy day.