As of today May 23, 2010 Carl and I have been married 15 years!! We did our first road trip in a long time. I wanted to see the new bridge they are building to bypass Hoover Dam so we spent Friday night in Kingman, AZ then took the tour at Hoover Dam. Nice weekend and a couple neat surprises.
Here is the first site of Hoover Dam.
Here is the first site of Hoover Dam.
It is an amazing site. Lots of visitors. We went on the tour and we were so lucky because it was the first one in the morning and there were only 6 in our group including the guide. Once we got inside the dam I could not tell you which way I was facing. I still don't have a clue, but it sure was neat. A couple years ago when my brother, Joe drove back from NY with my oldest sister, Loretta we stopped here. We weren't able to do the generator room due to his defibrillator, but I'm sure he would have been fascinated with all of it.
One of the places we went to while inside the Dam was a vent that faced downstream.
This was looking down at the water.
This is looking up and at the new bridge.
Here is the contraption that helped build this bridge. Our guide told us that when the wind get to 35 miles per hour they shut down construction. It is a long way down that's for sure!
This is one of the generator rooms. Only 3 generators were producing electricity. In the lower right there is another generator that produces all of the electricity that is used at the Dam. There is no public out of pocket monies used to build or take care of the Hoover Dam. The sale of the electricity pays for all of it. What surprised me was that the major reason this dam was built was not for the electricity. It was to control the flood and drought along the Colorado River.
Here is one of the designs in the floor in the generator room. It depicts the water power here. I think it would make a beautiful quilt.
This one depicts the electricity.
How about some exercise?? I have no idea how many stairs are here but these went way down, down, down!
Turn around and you can go up, up, up!
We exited the dam on the walk way over the dam and here is the picture looking straight down.
Carl remembered that there were large fish in Mead Lake and we had to check them out. We were actually able to get some pics of them. Now, you have to remember that the water is a long way down from the top so they look small in the pictures, but these have to be huge!
Then on the way home there is a road that goes down to the Colorado River that is a park. I just wanted to see what it was like down next to the River. As we are winding our way down the side of the mountain I yelled at Carl to 'stop!'. I could not believe my eyes when I saw a flash of this creature standing on the side of the road. Carl stopped and we took a few pictures. He sure wasn't upset that he was getting his picture taken.
We went on down to the river side turned around and drove right back out and he was gone! Not a sign he had even been there except his 'road apples'. Our surprises weren't over with yet. Again I yelled to Carl to 'pull over!' This was our next surprise.
They were so far away that we could not tell what they were until I uploaded them into my computer. Can you tell how many are there? We counted several times and came up with 4, but Carl kept saying that he thought there were more. I'm glad I kept taking pictures.
There really are 5 in this bunch. I have never seen wild Big Horned Sheep before. They knew that we weren't a threat as they just stood there ignoring us!
Our final joy of our weekend was being able to attend the Gila River Valley Temple Dedication. The dedication was televised into all of the Stake Buildings in Arizona and we were able to attend. This was the first Temple Dedication I have attended and I sure hope it won't be my last. What a beautiful way to celebrate our anniversary!
It is so great to be able to look forward to more road trips. Carl and I have missed being able to just take off for a day or two and be able to just spend time together. We are planning on visiting grandkids in California and 'upstate' Arizona this summer. We also want to go back to Old Tucson and Tombstone. We are hooked on the 'wild' west and love to visit these places and learn about the history. I also want to hit Prescott and Jerome. I love the shops and the craft fairs and of course the cooler weather!!
Happy Quilting, Sharon
