Monday we drove down to see the Hoover Dam and Lake Mead. I don't think the pictures do it justice even with a wide angle lens but we tried. The Dam is huge. Here are some fun stats: 726 ft high, 1,244 ft wide, 660 ft thick at the base, 45 ft thick at the top, and 4.36 million cubic yards of concrete.
The dam is on the border between Nevada and Arizona in the Colorado River. Lake Mead is created from the backed up water of the river behind the dam. The above picture shows the inlets of water to the dam and looking back up towards Lake Mead.
We took the longer tour, which takes you down inside the dam itself. This was one of the 30 ft diameter pipes that brings water to the generators. There's enough water flowing through here to fill 2 olympic size swimming pools a second.
This is the line of the big electricity generators.
We got to walk down a tunnel in the middle of the dam that opened to the outside about half way up the dam. This picture was taken looking out a little grate that covered the opening. You can see the new bridge that is being constructed over the canyon. Right now all the traffic on the highway goes right over the dam, but when the bridge is completed next year they will divert all the traffic up to the bridge instead of going over the dam.
N-man was happy we went on the dam tour. He liked the souvenir hard hat!
Love the picture of Nolan! He's so cute! Did he like the keys?
ReplyDeleteHe liked the keys to. I think they are broke. They seem to make noise even when they are lying still.
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