Hoover Dam (Clark County, Nevada)

 I'm still in Las Vegas and my flight doesn't depart until this evening. After checking out of my hotel, I had to decide what to do with the day. I've visited Hoover Dam in the past, but I've never taken the tour. A manmade natural wonder such as this, seems like a pretty good place to start. The drive from the Strip to Hoover Dam is actually faster than it used to be with the construction of a new freeway and it only takes me about forty minutes to reach the visitors center. 

After parking, I head down through security and get a tour ticket. Given the importance of the dam, both for hydro-electric power and for water downstream, the government has significant security controls in place to ensure the dam's safety. It makes perfect sense and I don't mind. The tour starts with a short video (which seems to have been made in the 1980's) talking about the construction of the dam. The effort to tame the wild Colorado River was a massive undertaking, perhaps the greatest since the Egyptian Pyramids. It's completion is a testament to the will and ingenuity of the American people.

From here, the tour group collects at some windows overlooking the dam and then we head outside to walk to an elevator on the top. Though the mechanical aspects of the elevator have been updated, the aesthetics have been preserved in the style of the 1930's. It gives some personality. We descend in two groups to the power plant area of the dam's interior. Once we have all made it down, our tour guide continues telling us about he power output, the water flow, and several other interesting tidbits about the dam's construction. It's all pretty interesting. Afterwards, we take the elevator back up and end the tour. It's actually pretty short, but it was still rewarding to see the massive construction that is Hoover Dam from the inside.