Hoover Dam, Lake Mead & Boys From Jersey

March 19 ~ 24

Hoover Dam (usbr.gov/lc/hooverdam) is listed as the fifth engineering wonder of the 20th century world...I have to look the first four up, 'cuz I can't believe there are others that compare to this feat begun in 1931.  And get this, it was completed two years early (in 1935) and well under the $165 million budget.

Neither one of us is particularily scared of heights...I would call it more of a healthy respect.  But a waist-high wall is the only thing that protects you from the 726 feet drop and it gave both of us a severe case of the heebie jeebies!

And I really didn't realize before that you can walk across the entire expanse of the dam and that it's top is a regular road that moves traffic from Nevada to Arizona. It is very cool to see it and the resulting reservoir, Lake Mead, from so many different vantage points....all the while hanging onto the wall!

Loved this view from the back side of the dam...expect to see Flash Gordon or Ming walk out at any moment!

Though Rick had been here a couple of times before, he opted to go again on "The Dam Tour"....a trip down 530 feet to the generatoring system.  I, as a mega claustrophobic, sat in the sun and waited.

The ticket I opted for allowed us in the Visitors Center, another exhibit building and an observation tower that took you a couple of stories higher...those were all fine, but frankly the coolest things to see are all free. 

What I found quite striking were all the beautiful Art Deco touches to the structure.  Doors and brass trimmings that were reminiscent of the Chrysler Building and two towering "Winged Figures of the Republic" representing "eternal vigilance that is the price of liberty".

Much of the traffic congestion( which I'm sure is monumental in the summer) will be alleviated when a new dam bypass that will remove traffic from the dam itself is completed by the end of this year. That construction is fascinating to watch in progress.

Took a brief drive around a loop bordering Lake Mead on our way back to town.  Checking out whether it would merit a separate trip back.  In our opinion, no. We asked the park ranger at the visitors center where to go and what there was to see....he said, not much...it's the desert!  Perhaps if one took a boat around it might be more interesting...to us the landscape looked like a bad paint-by-number painting.

Jersey Boys

Remember when Vegas was a bargain?  Not anymore! Tickets to shows are Broadway prices and fancy chef restaurants are higher than DC.  There are ways to get some discounts....but they really make you work for them.  Reduced price tickets can be gotten for the same evening or sometimes a day in advance at a place called Tix4Tonight (tiks4tonight.com).  There are 12 locations throughout town.  The catch is you don't actually get the tickets then and you can't pick your seats, just theater section....you get a receipt which you take to the box office and then figure all that other stuff out.  Advice...we bought Jersey Boys tickets the day before and went to the box office the next morning when it opened at 10 a.m.  Ended up with good orchestra seats at about $40 a ticket off.  Box office also gave us a coupon for a free drink at Lavo (lavolv.com) an Italian restaurant/bar/club in the Palazzo Hotel (palazzolasvegas.com) where Jersey Boys is playing.

Sat on the terrace on a lovely night, had a couple of appetizers and watched the glammed up Treasure Island pirate boat go down once again.

Pretty good food, though I would stay away from the calamari, very good wine and a great way to kick-off a theater night.

Play was good fun.  Really funny thing is we could have seen the real Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons in Palm Springs for half the price!