Day 23: Saturday 17-Jul-1999

Base camp: Kanab, Utah

Excursions: Hoover Dam, Las Vegas, Nevada

Distance: 426 mi (682 km)

Today we decided to head down to the Hoover Dam, which is a bit east of Las Vegas, Nevada. We got up early, because it is a bit of a drive. We ate breakfast by the trailer and then headed out around 8am. This time we decided to take a third and different route westward. We drove south to Fredonia, which is just south of the Utah border into Arizona, and then headed onto Highway 389 towards Hurricane Utah. This road is much quicker than going via Zion or Duck Creek. In Hurrciane we got onto I15 and headed southwest towards Las Vegas. As we got further south, we dropped below 2000ft for the first time in almost two weeks. We keep the GPS on the dash most of the time when we drive and it also keeps track of altitude. You have to cross over a short section of Arizona as you drive from Utah to Nevada.

The instant we crossed over to Nevada we saw signs for Casinos. We also passed a few desert/golf communities. They look out of place We refuelled in the northern suburbs of Las Vegas and then headed west to the Hoover Dam. We parked in the nearby parking house. We stood in line for little while to buy our tour tickets. They sell two types of tour tickets. The regular tour and the Hard Hat tour. We would have taken the Hard Hat tour, but we would have had to wait for about 1 1/2 hour for the next available slot. The regular tour was interesting, nevertheless. Pretty impressive dam. Supposedly the largest dam in the western hemisphere. Something we had not thought about is that the canyon is actually split in half between Nevada and Arizona. After the 30 minute tour we walked out on the deck to get a view of the dam. Very hot outside. You cannot see the entire dam from the lookout, and we imagine you must either approach it from the air or be quite a bit back on the surrounding hills. We picked up the truck and drove over the dam to the Arizona side. There is actually a real road that crosses the dam, although it is not that big. You can even see 18 wheelers cross the dam with payloads. Took a few shots from the Arizona side and then drove back over the dam again. The traffic was very slow.

	A row of huge turbines on the Nevada side of the Hoover Dam.

	The dam seen from the lookout by the visitors center.

	A view of the Hoover Dam from the Arizona side. It is as hot as it looks outside.

After the dam visit it was past our regular lunch time and we started to get hungry. We stopped in the nearby town of Boulder City. It was originally built to house all the people that worked on the dam project. We took the business loop through town and stopped along one of the strip malls where we found a local restaurant. As we waited for our food we learned that John F Kennedy Jr had gone missing on a plane ride to Martha's Vineyard. We ate and stopped by at a nearby T-shirt shop. They had good quality gear for reasonable prices. This was way out of the regular tourist path.

We continued on towards Las Vegas and just had to go into town so that we could see the circus. We had picked up a map from the Nevada Visitor's Center just before we entered Boulder City. The map turned out to be a "simplification" of the town to the point where only about every 10th block was on the map. At first we thought we'd taken the wrong turn. We could finally see MGM Grand and the fake pyramid next to it as we approached. We turned right onto the "strip" and followed it. It was now about 4-5 in the afternoon, so we could not see the famous light show. But the show was very spectacular anyway. Remember that this is a Saturday afternoon with lots of sunshine. The sidewalks were packed with people and the traffic moved very slowly. We could plenty of people walking with their drinks in their hands. It felt a bit out of place, but then again, the whole city is a bit out of place. It was like driving through a gigantic amusement park. The kids were amazed at things like roller coasters as part of buildings, etc. We did not stop and then headed back out onto I15 north. We concluded that we should stop in Las Vegas for a few days the next time we visit the area.

	Las Vegas strip, during the day .. this section is lame compared to what we drove by (but could not take pictures of due to traffic).

The drive home was uneventful. We stopped in Hurricane to buy some groceries and then continued back to Kanab the same way we came.

	A nice view on our way back to Kanab along the road from Hurricane

	Nothing beats a swim after a tough day

	Karl taking a dip too

Today's roundtrip was 430 miles (688km).

[Next Day] [Previous Day] [Main]