After our glorious morning visit to the Grand Canyon, Tar and I high-tailed it to Hoover Dam. It’s yet another truly spectacular engineering achievement from the 1930s, which was built ahead of schedule and under budget. As a contrast, they are building and arch bridge across the canyon to bypass the winding two lane highway over the dam. The bridge was set to open this year, but the project has been pushed to like 2011 with tens of millions of dollars in cost overruns.
To fully experience the Hoover Dam, we listened to “Highwayman” by The Highwaymen as we drove across. Here, Tar is a dam builder, umm, across a river deep and wide, where steel and water did collide.
We took a tour of the power plant, which was really impressive. That room is the length of two football fields and flooring is all hand laid terrazzo marble. The scale of the Hoover Dam is remarkable, but I was surprised by the high level of craftsmanship in such an industrial setting.
Y’all know what’s 30 minutes from the Hoover Dam? Vegas!
So we were feeling kinda haggard, and we spent a good part of the night just trying to find a good casino to chill at. Even though it was close to midnight and I knew they weren’t running, I wanted to see the gondolas at the Venitian. Next to the canal, there was an oxygen bar, something I’ve always wanted to try. So we strapped on the canulas and got nice back rubs, aromatherapy blasts and scalp massages. I felt like at least $900 after that.
After wandering the strip we ended up back at the Flamingo where we were staying. Decided to hit the roulette table for a bit before calling it a night. Following the maxim “always bet on red, bro” I hit on red 14 and walked away like the big timer I am, $100 richer. That’s right baby, the Bellagio buffet is on me tonight
Some landscapes from our 10 hour drive from Las Vegas to San Francisco
California is so beautiful.
Our San Francisco welcoming committee
The movers showed up Saturday and it’s been a long few days unpacking all 5000 lbs of our crap. Anybody want to buy a really nice sectional couch? Seriously, let me know.
