March 26, 2012 -- After a good night's rest and a big breakfast buffet in a casino resort in Henderson, Nathan and I headed to
Hoover Dam, our first site of the day, right away. It was about 20 minutes driving from Henderson.
We had been there once in 2008 on our honeymoon trip to the Grand Canyon, but we got there in the evening, and the tour didn't give us any time to explore the dam. Nathan had actually been there once before that as well, but he got there late of the day then too and didn't get to see much of the dam. Anyway, our mission for visiting Nevada this time was that we must see everything at Hoover Dam!
The first stop we made was at the
Memorial Bridge.
I remember seeing it under construction when I came here the first
time. Now we can drive and walk on it. The view of the dam from the
bridge is amazing!
There are many choices of tours at the dam. Nathan and I took the
Powerplant Tour
to go down to the building at the base of the dam and learn about
low-cost hydroelectric power. More than 1.3 million people in Nevada,
Arizona, and California get the electricity generated by these
powerplants.
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| We are on Arizona side of the dam. |
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| The visitor center |
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| The white washout on the mountains show the highest level of the water in the dam. |
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| Nevada side |
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| Arizona side |
After walking around the dam, both on the Nevada side and on the Arizona side, we were ready to drive around
Lake Mead, the biggest man-made lake in the U.S.
