My month in Las Vegas: Hoover Dam tour!!

So I will admit. Plans to wake up early and hit the read to the Hoover Dam and Lake Mead were ROUGH. I have this list of “Vegas to-do’s” while we are out here for so many weeks. Living it up before we have a family, as a couple, pre-deployment? What could be better? Oh, well I won BIG at the casino!! We headed out around 930pm to check off “Make Ashley gamble at least once, and not just slots, must try a table!”  I am not a gambler. I would rather just save my money, and get on with life instead of giving it to the casino. House always wins right? WRONG. between my husband and I we were out 285 dollars. He gave me the last $15 dollars, one bet at the black jack table we were playing at and left. He came back to me having a purse full of chips. Black $100 dollar chips. Yep. I practiced/ learned blackjack on an app all day for that night, and I still wasn’t really prepared for the excitement of winning. I am walking away. Saving the money for my Tinkerbell and Princess half marathon weekends, tickets, etc. I will let Disney have all my money. I will not try gambling again to let a casino.

Anyways. So we were rough tough tired and hung-over. I got into bed around 5am, my parents were waking up on the east coast and SO confused why I was texting them at 4/5am my time until I texted them a picture of my winnings.  But we headed out at 10am as we heard the dam can close early ( all word of mouth. I have no idea on facts there) , getting some pumpkin spice lattes at a sweet Vegas McDonalds… Which It was gross. No pumpkin flavor and it tasted like burnt day old coffee with tons of sugar. Blehhh.

Pretty cool drive. About 30 miles from Vegas, but didn’t seem very long – took us under an hour when GPS ETA was over an hour! We stopped at this random parking lot where it looked like people ants were crawling up the side of the mountain from far away. We had no idea what it was. I have really slacked on doing research before going to our adventures lately. So unlike me!! So we park and get out and start climbing the stairs like the rest of the people. Start to see signs it is a memorial bridge.

So we get to the bridge, and the winds are INSANE. I mean hold on to your face it is going to blow off strong. It would like throw people when a gust would come. TERRIFYING WHEN ON A BRIDGE. I am also terrified of bridges. I mean it stems from a fear of heights, but I like roller coasters and things like that. I even try to drive in the lanes furthest from the edge when driving, and when walking.. well I hate walking over bridges and normally just rush across as fast as possible.

I managed to snap a few pictures with the wind fighting me for my phone so I apologize for the pictures now. I also had my body pressed against the concrete that separated the road and the sidewalk. There was no way I was getting near the edge of the railing. It looked pitiful compared to the wind tossing people around. ( It is really thick and safe. I am a HUGE baby and my terror is causing a biased report there.. )

Anyways I practically flew off that bridge so to speak, I have never powerwalked so fast in my life. ( A race on a bridge? I would win! )

Cool view now that I am NOT THERE!

So we get into the car and head down the road to the security checkpoint to head to the Hoover Dam!

It is full of tourists, and from my experience, rude tourist! I am afraid of heights, please don’t push me to get a better picture. I will gladly move my ass for your picture. I was barely going near edges of anything, don’t touch me, just politely ask or motion if you don’t speak English to move.  Trust me. I will do it! In a millisecond. I wanted nothing to do with the edges of things, thanks for increasing the terror for me!

So there are a few different viewing places. All for free on the hoover dam and the side of it . There is however a cool tour you can take down into the actual dam, watch a video, ride the elevator, see the massive pipes, feel and see the generators, just witness one of the most amazing things America did to better the basin area over here. Some of the facts were absolutely incredible. Completed 2 years ahead of schedule, worked 24/7 for 3 years after 2 years of diverting the river. Paid for, no debt, gave work during the great depression to almost 4000 workers, regulated water, created energy, engineering master piece to me!

Now I loved the guided tour ! He made lots of innocent dam jokes, and told us facts and tested us on the really nice video we watched about the Dam in its beginning, construction, and now.

One of my favorite little tidbits They were constantly pouring enormous amounts of concrete every 90 seconds while building. If the concrete would have been left alone it would have taken 100 years to set! So they engineered pipes of cool water to help the process to run through it. The place that pumped and cooled the water could make a 100 ton Iceberg in a day with what it was cooling and pumping through the concrete. Which the Dam was completed to what we see today in just 5 years , 2 under schedule. So. COOL!

So my husband ? Not afraid of heights. Obviously.

What was cool, is one side of the dam is Nevada, and the other side Arizona!! They had clocks to represent each side. I know my photos are not very good. My fear, and the wind increasing my fear caused some issues of actually getting up close and personal. It is definitely a must see, for those afraid of heights or not. A great piece of American history.

What is your favorite thing to do, see, or eat in Las Vegas?