Lake Mead National Recreation Area and Hoover Dam | Grand Trip Out West

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After a delightful couple of days in cooler weather, we headed back down through the desert...and when we arrived at Lake Mead, it was 113 degrees. The humidity was at about 5%, so when we walked outside it felt like being baked in a kiln.

But Lake Mead is so beautiful! And Hoover Dam was INCREDIBLE. Totally worth paying $30 for the full tour.











Las Vegas skyline


So strange to see this in the middle of the desert!





The view out the camper window!




--HOOVER DAM--

The water from the intake towers (see pictures below) runs through these turbines to create massive amounts of power. Hoover Dam also regulates the flow of the Colorado River, which, until the dam was built, would flood annually.





The tunnel through the inside of the dam!


The air vent at the end is in the middle of the front of the dam.





The workers used cedar to build the tunnels- once the concrete hardened and they took it off, you could see the grain of the wood!





Emergency stairs, for if the elevators stop working. (Scary!)











  Go watch this video (starting at 1:02) and see the Marine Corps Silent Drill team in a line across this road! So cool!!!





Intake towers














Oh, no big deal, just four Maseratis going across the dam!














If you ever go to Boulder City, you have to eat at Toto's. It was recommended to us by someone who works at the dam, and it is SO GOOD!


'Cause they serve you food like this!





Lake Mead


(See the campground on the left? That's where we were.)


The water was down about 75 feet, which you can tell by looking at this picture





The next morning we left at 6am (to get across the Mojave Desert before it got too hot)...the sun was already coming up at 5:30.

For the love of travel,
Rebekah