Vegas!

We had a long drive from Grand Canyon to Las Vegas. When we got there it was already dark so Nevada welcomed us with bright lights. And it wasn't Vegas. It was Hoover Dam. When you drive at night on the new bridge on Route 93, all yu can see are those bright lights. You don't even know what amazing bridge you are on and what is beneath you. We would go back there next day.

Out new hosts, Joy and Brian told us to park on the street in front of their house. We got there after 11 pm. We passed the Strip on our way, at this time it looks amazing. For some reason on the next day we'll go and see it in the daylight - big mistake. During the day the Strip is not even a little bit of what it is after dark. In the daylight all the dirt and unpleasantness of back alleys come out. When it's dark it's pure magic.

But first things first. In the morning we went to see Hoover Dam. Especially Pawel was really looking forward to it. When he was younger he used to play "Sid Meier's Civilization" all nights long, and Hoover Dam was one of the most important constructions to be built and was giving a huge advantage over other civilizations. And what we saw there did not changed his idea of the place that he got from virtual reality. If you go to Vegas, Hoover Dam is a must-see.

The construction of the dam began in 1931 and was completed in 1935, much earlier and much cheaper than it was planned. But it all started many years earlier. First some smart people said that the Colorado River can be dammed. And once dammed it wouldn't flood California valleys all the way to Yuma (they had a really bad one in 1905), and it would irrigate instead and would let them be a land of cucumbers, tomatoes and whatever else they want to grow there.

Once they decided it's possible, the political bargaining started. Seven states that Colorado River crosses were negotiating how to divide water and electricity. They reached the conclusion in 1922 and started looking for a place to build a dam. It was built in Black Canyon where the river narrows, but at the same time building materials are easily accessible and it was easy to build a town for construction workers - Boulder City.

They started with construction of two small dams below and over the very dam. They dag also four temporary canals to divert the river for a few years. Then the proper construction began. Many elements were manufactured on spot as it would be difficult to transport them by railway or roads. Huge amounts of concrete were used, it'd probably be enough to cover some small state (like Germany or South Korea) by foot or two. To speed up the process the whole system of cooling the concrete was created, but it was still cooling down for many years.

The first generator in the hydroplant started work in 1936, last one - 17th in 1961. Every once in a while they replace them for newer ones. Electricy production is enough for 1.3 milion people (1/3 of Oregon). Almost as much as there are tourists each year coming to the dam. It seems that production of electricity and Colorado river regulation which allows irrigation million of acres in the USA and half a million in Mexico, is only a on the side activity. The main one is tourism.

When coming from Vegas by winding road through the hills you can choose - free parking far from the dam or paid (7 USD) - just by the dam. Tourists were in the back of heads of people in charge from the very beginning - they planned and built view points, visitors center, etc. Our experience from Grand Canyon and Petrified Forest show, that in the very beginning of 20th century it was noticed that tourism is just as important as any other industry and it's possible to make money out of it. Good for us now. We would be charged anyway, but at least it is nice and organized.

So they made money on us too. Entrance to the area is free but to see something more there's a fee. We decided to get an 11 USD (for an adult) trip "Plant". "Dam" trip was almost 20 USD, too expensive. With the one we selected we got to see a room with generators, take a walk through one of the side channels, one of those that the river was redirected to when the dam was being built, and watch one boring movie and one interesting exhibition. Maciek loved the last part. There was some interactive stuff for the kids, he could for example turn a crank to make electricity for virtual microwave or hairdryer. It was the first museum we had to carry him out by force.

The views from the dam are for free. And they are really impressive, even though this dam is classified as "medium". We were simply amazed. Maybe it's because of the canyon and mountains around or maybe it's because everywhere we were told that we have to be impressed. It is written all over the place that it's an engineering wonder without precedent, a true monument of human's intelect. You can hear somewhere words of Joseph Stevens, author of Hoover Dam: An American Adventure, who wrote that "in the shadow of Hoover Dam one feels that the future is limitless, that no obstacle is insurmountable, that we have in our grasp the power to achieve anything if we can but summon the willl". It is really hard not to agree with him.

Dam is not only engineering masterpiece but also a marketing masterpiece. It's shown as an amazing achievement of human's intelect but its pracitical side is of course as much important. Hoover Dam changed huge part of States and was a pillar of its development. After seeing some exhibition, reading a few leaflets and watching a movie or two we have our heads filled with numbers of megawats, acres of irrigated land, we even know that water from Lake Mead would be sufficient to cover Pennsylvania 1 ft. deep. Once again we see American Dream put into reality thanks to detemination and common will. We are already infected by American Dream virus so we put our scepticism away and were happy and amazed by the dam like small kids (and kids, especially Maciek, loved it as well).

Our afternoon walk in Las Vegas and unfinished shopping in one of many outlet malls are not worth writing about, especially that Maciek was getting more and more sick. We spent the evening with our hosts who invited us for delicious dinner, listening to their stories and asking advice on what to see and meeting their vietnamese pig. Very smart, nice and clean animal.

We spent most of the next day dealing with our car. Jeep started having some problems after we came back from the dam. We hoped that the transmission problems would be fixed just by replacing the transmission fluid. We found later that it was just the beginning of a long and expensive story. But this afternoon we spent in different shops and in the evening we hit the Strip.

We parked for free in Bellagio and we went for a long walk. It was almost as much fun as in Disney World. Or even more fun, as there were some cheap Margaritas involved. We watched the fountains show in front of Bellagio (meeting some people who we had met earlier in Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam), sirens and pirates at Treasure Island and volcano at Mirage. As we suck at gambling we managed not to lose anything (and not to win anything), we didn't even try. We came back to our trailer after midnight.

Next day we left before noon to go to Pahrump, which was supposed to be our Death Valley base camp. We hoped the car would cooperate. Unfortunately Jeep started overheating before we even left Vegas. It took us much longer to get to Pahrump than we expected, but we got there. The transmission however needed to be replaced...