Last day in Nevada, and Greg was wondering if it was odd that one of his favorite parts was that he found an RV tank cleaning service that came out and professionally cleaned our black and gray water tanks? Daisy Fresh, the company, did a fantastic job. If you are out in the Southwest in your RV, I suggest you give them a call. It really makes a difference! Greg has been looking for a company to do this for us for a few years. Turns out there are only 5 or 6 in the US. Fantastic opportunity for a hardworking individual.
Ok, so on to more of the traditional vacation activities. We picked up a quick sub sandwich and headed to Hoover Dam for the Dam tour. The Dam tour wasn’t available when Greg and Elizabeth were here previously, but we were dam lucky and the dam tour was being given. We actually did the dam tour that included both the dam and the dam power plant. Lee was one of our dam tour guides and he did a dam fine job.
Dam facts:
o Hoover Dam is one of the 7 modern marvels of the world.
o The dam was completed in 5 years—two years early and under budget.
o Started in 1931, dedicated in 1935 (built during the great depression)
o The Dam spans two states, Arizona and Nevada.
o Type: Arch gravity
o Height: 726.4 feet
o Crest length: 1244 feet
o Crest width: 45 feet
o Base width: 660 feet
o Volume of concrete: 3.25 million cubic yards
o The power plant has 17 commercial generating units and 2 station service units
o The dam was built on the Colorado River. The resulting lake is Lake Meade.
o Lake Meade has: 550 miles of Shoreline with a capacity of 28, 254,000 acre feet, a maximum depth of 498 feet, surface area of 156, 800 acres and a length when full of 110 miles.
o This area of the country has been in drought for 22 years.
o The Hoover Dam area did flood once in 1983 (naturally) since the dam was built, and worked as designed.
o Water for the dam comes from snow melt from surrounding states. Less than 4’ of rain in a regular year.
While we were in the power plant we got to see the employees working on one of the rotors. Each rotor weighs over 600 tons! (?)
Lee told us that just prior to our tour when he checked it was 115 degrees at the dam when we were in the air duct.
Dam informative!
Moving on, we decided to check out the Pinball Hall of Fame (in its new location on the strip). Basically, this is a big warehouse type room filled with all types of historic pinball machines that you can still play, most from $.25 to $1.00. I (Melissa still writing here) really like pinball. Audrey discovered a space themed pinball game that she said would be ok for us to have. Greg and Ryan gave them a few valiant efforts. However, calling this building a Museum may be a bit of a stretch. The idea has a lot of potential, but they could do so much more with it, in my opinion. My first recommendation—hire a pleasant staff to work there. Sadly, I can not recommend a visit.
BUT—the Pinball Hall of Fame IS across the street from one of the historic “Welcome to Las Vegas” signs. Of course we had to stop for pictures. We opted to skip the long line and take the pictures off to the side, but it works for me. Fake Elvis was there (Actually, our second fake Elvis as the first one was riding one of those scooters for those with mobility impairments around the sidewalks of the casinos. Missed that picture, because I was definitely not paying for one, but I do wonder why they are all using orange face paint…) Bonus picture of the “Don’t leave anything in the car” sign.
Dinner took us to an opposite extreme from the bottom of the dam as we finished our LV adventure with Top of the World—the revolving restaurant at the top of the Strat Hotel and Casino. This area of the Strat has an outdoor observation deck at 871’. They have a bungee adventure where people pay money to jump off at 871’ and fall all the way to the ground. Our waiter told us that the speed of descent is controlled so you don’t hit terminal velocity, and they also brake you near the bottom so you aren’t just terminal. NOT for me. Thank goodness he warned us about the adventure as we revolved over that way. I would hate to be eating and some random soul just go flying by the windows. No one did the jump while we were there. Helicopters, however, were all around. It is 1149 ‘ to the very top of the skypod tower at the Strat.
Time to move on down the road tomorrow.
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