Cumulative Miles: 4,463
Number of Speeding Tickets: 1
Number of states visited: 15
Lesson Learned: Don't believe everything you thought was true at age 4.
I'm nearing the end of the first leg of this trip. I will be in Pasadena by tomorrow afternoon, visiting and staying with my brother and his wife for a few days. I'm ready for a break. However, before getting to California, my route took me to Nevada and Las Vegas.
Now I'm not a big gambler, though occasionally I'll indulge when with friends or family. Call me a "social gambler." However, I have had an interest in seeing the Vegas strip at night--All the lights, the over the top attractions, the street life. I did it last night and it was definitely a display of excess. Fun, but not very special or moving. Now I can say I've been there and don't ever have to go again lol. Have you seen/heard of the giant sphere?
(not my photo, but pretty representative of what I saw)
Much more interesting was Hoover Dam. When I was four, our family visited a park in or near Columbus, I believe, that included a lake with a dam. Somehow in my four-year-old mind, I thought that dam was Hoover Dam. Even stranger, I got in my mind that directional signs, like the one below, pointed toward Hoover Dam.
How is that even an arrow and why did I think it was pointing toward Hoover Dam? I have no idea. Chalk it up to a vivid imagination, I guess.
Anyway, after wandering around 55 years following these signs to get to Hoover Dam, I finally made it yesterday. It was pretty spectacular. It was also 107 degrees and I wasn't feeling quite 100% yet. The visitor center was closed for renovation and the exhibit hall was closed. Grrrrrr! I did walk across the top of dam, which includes walkways on either side and a two-lane road over the top. After that, I retrieved my car (with its blessed a/c) from the parking garage and drove across it and back.
The dam is impressive just because of it sheer size and placement. Also, because it has contributed so much to the development of the whole area. What I didn't realize is that it was so....elegant. The dam itself is clean, smooth and uniform in color. It arcs gracefully between the two rough and rocky sides of the canyon, a real study in contrast in so many ways. Nature vs. Man; Rough vs. Smooth; Static lake vs. Rolling River below the dam.
A couple of things I didn't realize (there were many, but too many to go into here) but I'll highlight a few. The dam spans two states (Arizona and Nevada) and two time zones (Mountain and Pacific). It was named for Herbert Hoover, something that seems obvious now, but, duh, I never connected those dots. It also was built with the predominant styling of the day - Art Deco. Yes, it is a dam, not a fashion plate, but it wasn't without ornamentation. The doors on of the elevators that descend into the dam itself were brass, a metal often part of deco design. The lettering on original signs was very stylized in a deco way, and even the finials on top of the cooling towers were in that same style.
Some people might say that the dam itself is a work of art. I'm not saying it is a work of art, but I'm saying it could be said that the dam is a work of art. I myself would call it a work of art.
Anyway, I'm excited to see family tomorrow and stop being a vagabond, for at least a few days. I'll do a post tomorrow evening then will probably be silent for a few days....or maybe not.
I’m with you, Tim. Had to work in Vegas, several times, between ‘97-‘10 and hope to never ever go back. But I loved the Hoover Dam! Elegant is the perfect word.