Hoover Dam

So we certainly slacked a bit... we've obviously been in Irvine for a while, and actually today Nicole left, so I'll finally update all you that we care updating, but don't care quite enough to call and say we made it.

But before we display the end of our journey... check out these pictures from Hoover Dam... really an impressive place.

You can see here how low the water is... about 100' down from the high, which is regulated by the spillways on the side of the dam. Damn! that's a lot of missing water. I'm drinking it here in Irvine.... I'll send you a bottle if you want. Interesting fact... when the lake is at capacity it has 2 years worth of water... meaning Colorado could shut off the valve, and the lake could sustain everything downriver for 2 years!

The downriver side... The dam is almost as deep (at the bottom) as it is tall... nuts.

The bottom... the water does not come out at the bottom... it is completely diverted, and actually enters the Colorado sideways, then finds its way downstream again

Hoover Dam.

A room with some of the 17 turbines that spin to generate electricity. I forget the statistic, but each of these suckers are rated at some ungodly power rating in the megawatts (120MWish).

This is a model showing the bridge that will be built to bypass the dam. There was security (that just waved our obviously loaded to the gills compact car) for the route going over the dam. The idea of the bridge is to bypass all non-tourist traffic, especially trucks, so the dam will be much more secure.

The water re-entering the Colorado River.... the swirls are from the angle at which the water is being introduced...

Big dust storm across the lake from our hot humid hot sticky damp awful campsite at Lake Mead. It's not THAT bad, just don't go in August.