Friday, October 4, 2013

Las Vegas, NV and Hoover Dam

After Death valley it was time to pay Las Vegas a little visit. Apparently it is real popular, it has a direct route haha.

Although we didn't spend the night there, I got to see some pretty spectacular sights. Like this one-Caesars Palace Hotel & Casino. It is huge!


Their pool is also impressive (although not as refreshing as the pool in death valley).


You can even gamble/drink while standing in the pool.


The east wing of the hotel.

We also visited the Bellagio Las Vegas Hotel. It has one of the famous fountains but they were doing maintenance on it at the moment. You can see the boat with scuba tanks on it in this picture.

Cleaning.

The lobby of the hotel.

Further into the lobby they have a couple of little fountains and a garden.

The Bellagio isn't the only place with fancy fountains however. Mirage has a cool pond in front of it too.


I also got to ride the roller coaster, something I didn't get to do as a kid when I was last in the area.



No trip to Las Vegas would be complete without a picture of the Burlesque dancers.

The reason Las Vegas exists is this engineering marvel right here. The Hoover Dam creates Lake Mead from the Colorado River which supplies the city with water and most of its electricity.


Here is a picture of what the dam looked like in 2001 when I was last there. You can see how the water level has dropped. Sort of alarming.

Here is a picture of Lake Mead.

The white area on the side of the mountain is where the water used to be.

There's also a "new" bridge (Mike O’Callaghan – Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge) that bypasses the top of the dam. It is no longer possible to go on rt. 93 by driving on top of the Hoover Dam, you must use the bridge. It is still possible to drive over the top but you hit a dead end on the Arizona side.


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