Tuesday, April 19, 2005
Hoover Dam, Not Only Gargantuan, But Amazing!!
Hoover Dam is a perfect stop on your drive from Las Vegas to the Grand Canyon and vice versa. When you are standing on top of the dam and look all the way down at the channeled Colorado River, you will be dizzy. Although it is not the world's largest dam, the scariest part comes in with the fact. The dam has been built one year ahead of schedule and under budget BACK IN 1935 WITH NO SPECIAL EQUIPMENT. It was done by mechanical means and BY HAND!
The Journey
It is summer time again and you decide to take your wife for a road trip. After an exhausting drive you stop by Hoover Dam because your wife wants to see it. Your friends and family has been saying, "You gotta check out Hoover Dam! It is one of seven technological marvels man has ever created!" Frustrated and exhausted you say, "We must keep going on! We have a tight schedule. Why do we have to stop by? It's only a dam!" "Come on honey, do it for me. Please?:(" she says. When she is walking ahead of you, you grumble and say "Dammit! ):{"
It is 107 degrees. The sun bears down all its oven-like, dry radiating heat with no mercy. It's so hot that you decide to slow down to conserve your own energy. The sidewalk, under your shoes, are radiating heat. The wall, which prevents you from walking over the dam also radiates heat at you. No matter what, you can't run and you can't hide. 300 meters from where you parked your car, your wife says, "Honey look at this!" She is at the edge of the dam and points down. You are 500 hundred feet above the narrow portion of the Colorado River and you become dizzy. Super smooth yellow-white concrete covers your peripheral vision. A constant gust of 30 mile per hour wind blows nothing but hot air as if you cranked up your car's heater at full blast! The concrete is built in a steep fashion. However, you sense that it is like a smooth and steep "slide." "I wonder if someone ever committed suicide here?" you say.
You face back to look at the blue and prodigious beauty of Lake Mead. Small grasshopper sized white boats cruise along as if they moved inch by inch. Then you look at your left. There is an intake tower and a huge clock marked, "Nevada time." To your right you see another tower and a clock marked, "Arizona time." You are confused realizing that Arizona and Nevada are both west regions of the U.S. You ask yourself 'Why are there two clocks?' To answer this question, Arizona do not observe day light savings time. If it is 1pm in Nevada, it is 12pm in Arizona. During winter, it would be 12pm on both clocks.
Your wife wants to go on a tour. "Here we go again!" you say with a sigh. After you wait an hour to get the tickets, you and your wife decide to get some water. After all you are getting dehydrated from staying out too long during a heat wave. You and your wife decide to check out the museum. The place is mobbed with tourists all over the world. It is hard to see the showcase for groups of tourists are reading 48 font articles and looking at pictures of the dam's construction 2 feet away.
You and your wife decides to go to a "mini theater" with stadium seating. A film projector shows a 22 minute video of the dam's construction from start to end. You learn that the dam's location had to be moved to its present location(where you are at). Then you learn that the dam was previously named, Boulder dam. When you watch the black and white video, you see a souped up model T carrying 50-60 people as if it was a double decker bus, in London. You also see "cable cars" transporting construction workers from one side of the dam to the other. In addition, you see cranes holding a huge 6 foot bucket and releasing all the cement. The rumor of people being buried in cement is false. However, you learn that most death has occurred as a result of Carbon Monoxide poisoning. What is amazing is you see a huge 160 ton penstar(An aperture of the diversion tunnel) being towed by a bulldozer with a trailer 18 WHEELS.
You now realize that this is no ordinary dam, it is special. Special like your old high school science project that rewarded you a gold medal. Likewise, this dam(you are at) has been mankind's greatest achievement besides the Titanic.
It's about time you and your wife go for the tour. The guide introduces him/herself as usual and you ride an elevator all the way down where your eyes met the "small" Colorado river an hour ago. You are now looking at over 12 green shiny generators. They are like oil containers in an oil refinery and make a steady constant hum like a giant refrigerator. You learn that the purpose of the dam is to create electricity and to use the profits to pay back the interest of the $175 million construction cost. (It would cost $1 billion now). You go outside and you look all the way up to see people small as ants and the clear blue sky above it. The guide says that millions of pounds of pressure are being applied behind the yellow concrete. The guide also mentions that the dam is made of 6'X 6'X 6' cube of cements. Like Legos, the cube of cements created the dam holding the immense pressure of the man made lake Mead. You look at channels of rushing water flowing into the Colorado River. You go inside again and you find yourself, your wife, and 18 other tourists inside a cave lit by incandescent light bulbs. It is cool and damp as a castle. You also hear drips of water and see a tiny puddle on the dark red, shiny floor. Finally you are at the last stop, the diversion tunnel. A channel of water is rushing only 5-7 feet from where your foot is at. There are electronic diagrams showing the path of the flowing water.
"Wow!" "How did they make this dam without special equipment?" By now you have won a worthwhile fight and apologize to your wife for being cranky couple hours ago. You are baffled as your mind tries to comprehend such marvelous achievement; A man made lake, a man made dam with no one buried in cement, and power generated all the way west as far as L.A.!
The pros
There is a cool museum to revitalize your energy. You will not believe that the dam was never made with today's latest technology. They have literally made this magnificent marvel by hand! There are tour guides to match your budget. The $8 per person. The one I just mentioned above and the $25 hard hat tour. With the $25 hard hat tour, you might have problems with young children because of age requirements. However, you are rewarded with a hard at the conclusion of the hard hat tour.
The cons
Tourists plague the parking space and the museum! If you want to have fewer crowds, it is better to come during winter. During summer, the sun dries all the moisture on your hair. This result with itching scalp and loss of 2-10 strands of hair! To avoid this bring a hat/cap.
Recommended for
Engineers, families, and senior citizens. Engineers will appreciate the mechanical concepts of the dam. Parents and children will have no problem with the $8 regular tour. Senior citizens will truly appreciate the beauty of dam with a great view of crystal clear Lake Mead.
Not recommended for
Small kids. They would get very bored and can't appreciate the challenges that had to be met upon building the dam. They can't be accepted for the $25 hard hat tour due to age requirements. If you hate crowds of people, the parking lot is always full and it is impossible to read the articles, inside the museum, since tourists are everywhere you go.
I enjoyed my couple hours stay at Hoover Dam. It was fun watching the generators pump electricity utilizing hydro power. My grandmother have said, "You did not see Hoover Dam unless you went down where the generators are located at!" Indeed I went down all the way to see the generators, diversion tunnels, and its "caves." Hoover Dam is huge but what makes it amazing is that men created it so long ago with the aid of no "special effects."
For More Information
Paradise Found Tours maintains a website for Hoover Dam at http://www.paradisefoundtours.com. The site provides information for hoover dam tours, special news, fees and other pertinent information.
Other valuable resources
Hoover Dam Tours
Grand Canyon Tours
Las Vegas Tours
The Journey
It is summer time again and you decide to take your wife for a road trip. After an exhausting drive you stop by Hoover Dam because your wife wants to see it. Your friends and family has been saying, "You gotta check out Hoover Dam! It is one of seven technological marvels man has ever created!" Frustrated and exhausted you say, "We must keep going on! We have a tight schedule. Why do we have to stop by? It's only a dam!" "Come on honey, do it for me. Please?:(" she says. When she is walking ahead of you, you grumble and say "Dammit! ):{"
It is 107 degrees. The sun bears down all its oven-like, dry radiating heat with no mercy. It's so hot that you decide to slow down to conserve your own energy. The sidewalk, under your shoes, are radiating heat. The wall, which prevents you from walking over the dam also radiates heat at you. No matter what, you can't run and you can't hide. 300 meters from where you parked your car, your wife says, "Honey look at this!" She is at the edge of the dam and points down. You are 500 hundred feet above the narrow portion of the Colorado River and you become dizzy. Super smooth yellow-white concrete covers your peripheral vision. A constant gust of 30 mile per hour wind blows nothing but hot air as if you cranked up your car's heater at full blast! The concrete is built in a steep fashion. However, you sense that it is like a smooth and steep "slide." "I wonder if someone ever committed suicide here?" you say.
You face back to look at the blue and prodigious beauty of Lake Mead. Small grasshopper sized white boats cruise along as if they moved inch by inch. Then you look at your left. There is an intake tower and a huge clock marked, "Nevada time." To your right you see another tower and a clock marked, "Arizona time." You are confused realizing that Arizona and Nevada are both west regions of the U.S. You ask yourself 'Why are there two clocks?' To answer this question, Arizona do not observe day light savings time. If it is 1pm in Nevada, it is 12pm in Arizona. During winter, it would be 12pm on both clocks.
Your wife wants to go on a tour. "Here we go again!" you say with a sigh. After you wait an hour to get the tickets, you and your wife decide to get some water. After all you are getting dehydrated from staying out too long during a heat wave. You and your wife decide to check out the museum. The place is mobbed with tourists all over the world. It is hard to see the showcase for groups of tourists are reading 48 font articles and looking at pictures of the dam's construction 2 feet away.
You and your wife decides to go to a "mini theater" with stadium seating. A film projector shows a 22 minute video of the dam's construction from start to end. You learn that the dam's location had to be moved to its present location(where you are at). Then you learn that the dam was previously named, Boulder dam. When you watch the black and white video, you see a souped up model T carrying 50-60 people as if it was a double decker bus, in London. You also see "cable cars" transporting construction workers from one side of the dam to the other. In addition, you see cranes holding a huge 6 foot bucket and releasing all the cement. The rumor of people being buried in cement is false. However, you learn that most death has occurred as a result of Carbon Monoxide poisoning. What is amazing is you see a huge 160 ton penstar(An aperture of the diversion tunnel) being towed by a bulldozer with a trailer 18 WHEELS.
You now realize that this is no ordinary dam, it is special. Special like your old high school science project that rewarded you a gold medal. Likewise, this dam(you are at) has been mankind's greatest achievement besides the Titanic.
It's about time you and your wife go for the tour. The guide introduces him/herself as usual and you ride an elevator all the way down where your eyes met the "small" Colorado river an hour ago. You are now looking at over 12 green shiny generators. They are like oil containers in an oil refinery and make a steady constant hum like a giant refrigerator. You learn that the purpose of the dam is to create electricity and to use the profits to pay back the interest of the $175 million construction cost. (It would cost $1 billion now). You go outside and you look all the way up to see people small as ants and the clear blue sky above it. The guide says that millions of pounds of pressure are being applied behind the yellow concrete. The guide also mentions that the dam is made of 6'X 6'X 6' cube of cements. Like Legos, the cube of cements created the dam holding the immense pressure of the man made lake Mead. You look at channels of rushing water flowing into the Colorado River. You go inside again and you find yourself, your wife, and 18 other tourists inside a cave lit by incandescent light bulbs. It is cool and damp as a castle. You also hear drips of water and see a tiny puddle on the dark red, shiny floor. Finally you are at the last stop, the diversion tunnel. A channel of water is rushing only 5-7 feet from where your foot is at. There are electronic diagrams showing the path of the flowing water.
"Wow!" "How did they make this dam without special equipment?" By now you have won a worthwhile fight and apologize to your wife for being cranky couple hours ago. You are baffled as your mind tries to comprehend such marvelous achievement; A man made lake, a man made dam with no one buried in cement, and power generated all the way west as far as L.A.!
The pros
There is a cool museum to revitalize your energy. You will not believe that the dam was never made with today's latest technology. They have literally made this magnificent marvel by hand! There are tour guides to match your budget. The $8 per person. The one I just mentioned above and the $25 hard hat tour. With the $25 hard hat tour, you might have problems with young children because of age requirements. However, you are rewarded with a hard at the conclusion of the hard hat tour.
The cons
Tourists plague the parking space and the museum! If you want to have fewer crowds, it is better to come during winter. During summer, the sun dries all the moisture on your hair. This result with itching scalp and loss of 2-10 strands of hair! To avoid this bring a hat/cap.
Recommended for
Engineers, families, and senior citizens. Engineers will appreciate the mechanical concepts of the dam. Parents and children will have no problem with the $8 regular tour. Senior citizens will truly appreciate the beauty of dam with a great view of crystal clear Lake Mead.
Not recommended for
Small kids. They would get very bored and can't appreciate the challenges that had to be met upon building the dam. They can't be accepted for the $25 hard hat tour due to age requirements. If you hate crowds of people, the parking lot is always full and it is impossible to read the articles, inside the museum, since tourists are everywhere you go.
I enjoyed my couple hours stay at Hoover Dam. It was fun watching the generators pump electricity utilizing hydro power. My grandmother have said, "You did not see Hoover Dam unless you went down where the generators are located at!" Indeed I went down all the way to see the generators, diversion tunnels, and its "caves." Hoover Dam is huge but what makes it amazing is that men created it so long ago with the aid of no "special effects."
For More Information
Paradise Found Tours maintains a website for Hoover Dam at http://www.paradisefoundtours.com. The site provides information for hoover dam tours, special news, fees and other pertinent information.
Other valuable resources
Hoover Dam Tours
Grand Canyon Tours
Las Vegas Tours
# posted by TourGuru : 10:17 PM
