On the way to The Grand Canyon, I drove across Hoover Dam. When I was in collage I used to spend my summers as a tour guide at a series of hydro-electric dams on the Skagit River in Washington. Since I've always found dams kinda interesting. Hoover Dam is quite interesting and a big tourist attraction for Las Vegas. I couldn't believe all the tour buses coming and going. They make a bid deal about building the dam. Pretty much the same story for any large concrete hydro-electric dam. Of course, without it Las Vegas would be a small desert town rather than the large metropolitan area it is.
Now these are interesting. Usually spillways, used to allow excess water to pass over the dam, are exposed and make for some spectacular waterfalls. At Hoover, the spillway dumps the water into a large tunnel. It must make one hell of a lot of noise!
But what I really enjoyed was watching the construction crews build the new bridge so the highway can bypass the dam. Now all the cars on the highway must stop at a security checkpoint before crossing the dam. Larger vehicles are all inspected, including mine. I had to open all the storage compartments and cupboards. And the young lady inspecting me was “stiff” as a board. In fact all the inspectors were, so they must be trained to be that way. I'd hate to have that job. No Fun.
On the way to The Grand Canyon, I drove across Hoover Dam. When I was in collage I used to spend my summers as a tour guide at a series of hydro-electric dams on the Skagit River in Washington. Since I've always found dams kinda interesting. Hoover Dam is quite interesting and a big tourist attraction for Las Vegas. I couldn't believe all the tour buses coming and going. They make a bid deal about building the dam. Pretty much the same story for any large concrete hydro-electric dam. Of course, without it Las Vegas would be a small desert town rather than the large metropolitan area it is.
Now these are interesting. Usually spillways, used to allow excess water to pass over the dam, are exposed and make for some spectacular waterfalls. At Hoover, the spillway dumps the water into a large tunnel. It must make one hell of a lot of noise!
But what I really enjoyed was watching the construction crews build the new bridge so the highway can bypass the dam. Now all the cars on the highway must stop at a security checkpoint before crossing the dam. Larger vehicles are all inspected, including mine. I had to open all the storage compartments and cupboards. And the young lady inspecting me was “stiff” as a board. In fact all the inspectors were, so they must be trained to be that way. I'd hate to have that job. No Fun.
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