We made it, we’re finally in Sin City!
Unfortunately I’m not sure how much I’ll be able to tell you about this place, because, we all know the rule, don’t we? Right, what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas!
We left Pahrump, NV not too late in the morning and since our wonderful host Matthew in Vegas wasn;t going to be home until late in the afternoon, we decided to take a side trip south to Hoover Dam before even setting foot in the city.
Reaching the Dam is very easy, just follow the signs for Boulder City, and passed the little town, you will only have another 5 miles to go.
We had to wait in line with the car to go through security checks (although they didn’t stop us, maybe because of my pretty face!), therefore everybody was going at a slow speed, but other than that, it’s been a pleasant drive.
You can see Lake Mead from a distance, so that certainly keeps the visitors good company while they wait to finally get to the Hoover Dam Visitor Center.
They’re also building a new Interstate and a new bridge, and you’ll have the chance to drive alongside and see the massive structure from down below. Unfortunately yesterday being Saturday there weren’t any workers, but I would say the structure itself would probably be worth the driving!
Tower on the Nevada side:
Before actually getting to the Visitor Center, we wanted to experience crossing to Arizona on the Dam, and see if we could actually get some good shots from the Arizona side.
And so, that’s what we did! We slowly crossed the border with Arizona, went up a hill and took some pictures of the majestic Hoover Dam.
The drive back to the Visitor Center and the Parking Garage was also very pleasant, as most of the people were driving on the opposite direction and we had a pretty smooth ride.
They charge $7 for parking, but I guess that’s the price one has to pay to contribute to the maintenance and functioning of this gigantic masterpiece.
It was very hot outside, we had to walk from the Parking Garage, roughly 300 yards to the underground Ticket Center, and all of a sudden, we were soaking wet!
The Bureau Of Reclamation offers three different type of tours, with the first one at a set price of $8 that only includes a very basic self guided tour of the Visitor Centre (with various displays explaining how the Dam works), and the possibility to access the Observation Deck.
The second one at $11 offers what I previously described, plus a guided tour inside the Dam to see the Turbines (Nevada side), and also one of the pipes bringing the water to the turbines which is 30 feet in diameter. You actually stand on the pipe, thanks to a platform, and through thick glasses, you are also able to take pictures of the pipe.
Something that was really interesting to experience down there was to feel how the platform vibrates due to the massive amount of water that goes through the pipe underneath; sort of scary if you think the amount of power that water can have.
The third tour includes everything I mentioned before, plus an extra two visits to the thick wall of the Dam for a set price of $30 (which includes one of those yellow helmets workers use in construction sites).
We went for number two, as we know that the truth always lies somewhere in the in the middle…
It was a very nice tour, very informative, and very interesting. The tour guide was also very pleasant and fun to be with.
The observation deck on top of the Visitor Center gives you a different point of view and perspective as to what they real size of the Hoover Dam really is, and that is why I strongly advice anybody to take a tour and not just drive through from Arizona to Nevada or vice versa.
In total we probably spent a good four hours at the Dam, and allow me to say this: “We had a damn good day!”.
We then drove back to Las Vegas, to finally experience firsthand what the strip has to offer. We drove all the way from Boulder City, NV to the beginning of the strip on Las Vegas Boulevard. It was amazing, for a series of different reasons. First because this is one of those places I’ve always seen on television, and never in my life I would have thought about actually being here! Also because of what the strip has to offer to its visitors: Las Vegas is one of those cities that never sleeps, entertainment here is continuous, 24 hours, 7 days/week, 365 days/year (you see, now you know I can also count and use numbers, how clever!).
In order for Mr. Andretti here to take pictures, we had to put the top down. Now, it was 116 outside, not exactly the kind of weather that invites you to drive in a convertible with the top down, but hey, something needed to be sacrificed, and that something is US!
To go through the strip probably took us 25 to 30 minutes, but we saw everything there was to see (at least from the outside), and took a ridiculous amount of pictures that once again I had to skim through this evening.
We saw the Stratosphere (where we’re having brunch tomorrow):
The “golden” Trump Tower (do you think he’s trying to tell us something here?):
The “Encore”, shaped like a boomerang:
Paris-Las Vegas with its half-sized replica of the Eiffel Tower:
And another great shot:
The MGM Grand with its huge golden lion guarding the corner of the block:
The Bellagio, with its incredible fountain show (more later for a night shot of the fountains):
The pyramid shaped “Luxor” with its Sphinx overlooking the strip (Don’t you love Las Vegas?!?!):
New York New York-Las Vegas:
The Mandalay Bay:
And many others I didn’t take a good shot of, like the humongous Caesar’s Palace, the Flamingo’s, etc..
We’re now staying with our good friend Matthew who has been living here for quite some time now and has a beautiful home in a gated community with a golf course.
Tomorrow the three of us are going to the Stratosphere for brunch, another tall tower to add to our collection.
From Sin City I guess it’s all for the night,
Nico
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