Day 21: A Dam Tour and Las Vegas

Sat July 2 

Our hottest day on all our travels so far.  We are in Ls Vegas and Scott decides it’s a good chance to get some work done on the truck; oil change and fuel filters.  He heads out a little after 8am and I stay with the sleeping girls.  The truck work takes a lot longer than we had hoped and wanted but we made the most of it.  The girls and I headed to the KOA campground store to mail some postcards and then we were going to head to Circus Circus Hotel/Casino (the one closest to us) and walk through the lobby.  At 11am it is well over 100 degrees on our walk.  While we are walking Scott calls to tell us he will be returning soon so we only get to the campground store.  As soon as he is home we head to Hoover Dam.  We have heard the weather reports that it was supposed to be record high temperature and we are not happy about that.  Arriving at the dam is so different than the Glen Canyon Dam; Hoover Dam is not visible at all from the road driving in.  We have to go through a vehicle inspection and we have to pull over so an officer can search the bed of the truck.  We decide to park in the parking garage and while the height clearance is not an issue, it is tight going around corners and we have to reach the top and park out in the  sun but at least we finally find a spot to park.  We eat a quick picnic lunch in the heat and then head to the dam.

We sign up for the Hoover Dam tour which will be in about 2 hours.  We watched a movie about the development and building of the dam.  The dam was built to help control the flow of water on the Colorado River, esp to help with flooding along its banks.  Construction of the dam itself was completed in 1935, two years ahead of schedule.  It took about 2 years to build the huge tunnels through the bedrock to divert the water.  The dam itself has enough concrete to make a 4 foot 3 inch wide sidewalk around the equator.  To pour this concrete without any cracking, they made smaller blocks of it and piled them up.  They used cold water piping through the cement to help solidify the cement; it is still curing today.  This allowed them to work continuously at building the dam. 

It's a hot day for a tour.

Part of the tour led us through the tunnels that James Bond ran through in Diamonds Forever and Chevy Chase ran through in Vegas Vacation (although there are no doors leading out the dam).  The tunnels were very narrow and one of them (leading to a lookout spot of the dam) is only 5ft 11inhes tall.  I did not like that area at all.  One tunnel led to a stairwell and it was very steep sloped.  I couldn’t imagine going down the stairs much less up the stairs- they are called the “Stairway to Heaven” after one of the workers climbed the stairs at the end of a shift and saw winged statues at the opening and proclaimed he must have climbed all the way to heaven.  We walked over the dam and then took the bridge on the other side so we could see the impressive Lake Mead.  The lake seemed very low, esp given all the flooding we had seen on the Colorado River. The girls take lots of dam pictures.

By the time we reached the truck after exploring the dam, the truck thermometer reads 122.  Getting out of the parking garage is even more interesting than getting into the garage.  Several times Scott has to reverse and maneuver a tight corner while going down.  Finally we are gone from the garage and attempt to drive over the huge memorial bridge that was just built last fall to get one last look at the dam.  But the road is closed.

Dam

We get back to the camper and packed up for a night on the strip.  When we left the camper after 6pm it was still 115 degrees out!  We walked to the closest bus stop, just past the campground and the Circus Circus Hotel/ Casino.  It was $7 for a $24 hour bus pass (which obviously we didn’t need the full 24 hours) and could board the bus as much as we wanted.  The bus was a double decker bus and we went right upstairs to find a seat.  The bus was very full; mostly college aged kids going down on the strip.  I hoped the girls were not listening to the discussions on the bus; drugs, drinking and one night stands.  We had talked about riding the bus to the end of the strip and getting off at Mandalay Bay but after riding the bus for awhile, we realized how SLOW it was and that our plan didn’t make sense given the time.  We got off the bus near the Bellagio Hotel and walked into the hotel.  It was unbelievably gorgeous.  The casino was to the right, hotel lobby to the left and straight back was a conservatory.  The flowers were brilliant colors and intermixed was a carousel, lit ferris wheel and animal statues made out of flowers.  The hotel lobby had glass flowers of all colors hanging from it and the lobby area had a hot air balloon theme.

We left the Bellagio in time to see the water light show.  The lake in front of the Bellagio started to spray water to music and lit up the water.  It was spectacular but did draw a huge crowd  that was hard to maneuver through.  We walked the strip for quite awhile until we came to the Flamingo Hotel.  Isabella wanted to see the flamingo exhibit so we went into the  hotel.  At this point it is almost 8:30pm and we have not had dinner so we find a burger joint and sit for dinner.  What a slow place.  We should have gotten up to leave but didn’t realize just how slow they were until too late.  We had to walk through the casino to get to dinner and then to exit the hotel and the girls did not like the casino.  They both said it smelled bad (stale and fresh cigarette smoke).  We were happy about them not wanting to frequent casinos anytime soon.

We got to see the flamingos in the dark and some huge fish in the same exhibit and then booked it to the Mirage to see the volcano explode.  It only goes off on the hour every hour after dusk so we rushed to see the 10pm show.  It was a very cool explosion that gave off a lot of heat; even to us 10 rows back in the sidewalk.  From there we went to Treasure Island in hopes of seeing their show.  They used to have a pirate ship that they sunk into the sidewalk (and the ship is still visible from the sidewalk) but changed their show to more scantily clad women fighting pirates, so if we don’t make it to this show, I will not be disappointed.  The show is going on while we walk by but you need to be on a raised platform to see it and its too crowded to see.  There are a ton more shows and exhibits the girls and I would like to see but it is time for bed, so we catch the bus and ride back near the campground. 

Bellagio

We get back to the camper around 11pm and get the girls into bed ASAP.  The air temperature outside is still 95 and even though the camper AC has run nonstop since we got to Las Vegas, the inside temperature is 82.  It was nice but not real great for sleeping.  Isabella chose to sleep on the couch to be cooler and let Lexi use her little fan.  Despite the warmth, we all got a great night’s sleep. 

None of us have great fondness for Vegas.  It was fun to visit for a day (would have been more fun if it were not so hot) but the girls did not like the casinos, thought the city was too crowded and too dirty.  The hotels were beautifully done and I’d love to have seen more of the  exhibits but doubt if I can ever talk Scott into returning.  I am still curious what the price of a regular room at the Bellagio costs?    The guests pulling up were constant.  Which show did we prefer; the Bellagio Lake light show or the Mirage Volcano?  Three of us preferred the lake show over the volcano.