The Hoover Dam-a Belated Ho, Ho, Ho post

Hi everyone. I realized that if my mom (who as you know rarely checks my blog) is asking after Christmas pics, then its probably time to get them up. Better late then never.

Over Christmas I went to Vegas to visit my parents new digs. We decided to visit the Hoover Dam since my brother and I have never seen it. If you are into history, architecture, or feets of human creation then I highly reccomend taking the 30 min drive from Vegas to see this. Its really impressive-more so because it was created in the 30's. Here are some pics from our adventure.

This is the view as you drive from Vegas to the Hoover Dam. We were all impressed with this...since its so different from flat Ohio.
So we stopped for the picture opp. Here I am with mom and my brother Shaun. Aside-I think I was having a stellar hair day here:)

And then just mom and I. Note with our height you get plenty of the view in the background.

And then Shaun and I-less view since he might be a giant.

Then you drive in and the first thing you see is the new access road they are building. They are creating a bypass basically which will keep people from driving right over the dam. Terrorism and such is a big concern. We learned that if the dam were to give something like 4 million ppl could be killed in 20 minutes. Scary. These are the cranes they had to erect to build the new road.
Shaun and I in front of the hoover dam sign. Note-this picture was taken by my mom after many failed attempts of pictures of traffic and such. I deleted those-but they were very comical.

Here is a shot of the supports being built out over the ravine for the new road. The picture does not do justice to how high these are. If you look closely you can see the beginning of the arch work that will support the new road-which will be on top of those two towers.

Here is the dam itself. Impressive.

This was interesting. The white mark at the bottom of the rock is where the water was just 10 years ago. Its down something like 60 feet? It might be 80?

More construction pics. These arched things coming from the side will be a full arch support under the new road. As you can see they have a ways to go.