Germar's Monthly Updater

Utah 2002 Day 9 (Last Day) On the eve of our last day we arrived at Hoover Dam, located about 40 miles Southeast of Las Vegas. It is one of the largest dams in the world and blocks the Colorado River. Hoover Dam's reservoir, Lake Mead, is America's largest man-made lake. The dam was built between 1931 and 1935, has a height of 221 meters, a base width of 201 meters, and is a massive block of 2.6 million cubic meters of concrete. It's designed in Art Deco style, like the Golden Gate Bridge, and looks aesthetically quite appealing. Most amazing, it was built well under budget and two years ahead of schedule. Below are two of the four water inlet towers. They look comparatively small, but only a small portion is visible. The rest of the 390 feet high towers is underneath the water line. The next picture shows in the center a part of the dam, the top of three inlet towers, and in the background the visitor center and parking structure. When we were walking across the dam, we were approached by a couple, and the guy asked us to make a picture of them with their cheap card board camera. We accepted his request gladly. When my friend pressed the trigger, the guy proposed marriage to his girl friend, and slid a ring over her finger. Unfortunately the flash of his camera did not work. The girl was completely surprised (about the proposal, not about the flash not working), but finally agreed. We could feel that her heart was at 150 beats per seconds. I was glad that I had my camera handy to capture this important moment - albeit with a bit of delay. I gave the couple my business card but did not get feedback yet. In any case, I wish that their marriage will be a success story, and wish them happiness for the years to come. We stayed over night in Boulder City and returned to the dam the other morning. Below is a view from the dam's rim down to the power station. It's quite a drop! I would not recommend bungee jumping, but it would definitely be a great venue for abseiling. We took the tour for tourists, saw the museum, and finally went down 200 meters with an elevator to visit the power station. It has a capacity of 2000 megawatt, enough to serve 1.3 million people. The lights on top of the generators indicate that they are running. The one in the foreground was switched off for maintenance. I was surprised how quiet it was in the hall despite the large machinery. We left Hoover Dam around noon to finish the last leg of our journey. We soon got stuck in heavy traffic, thanks to the thousands of gamblers that returned from Las Vegas to Los Angeles. We therefore left the freeway and took the scenic route through the Mojave desert. There was no traffic at all.

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