A Tour Of Lake Mead and Hoover Dam

Alchemy the Meerkat and I decided to head out to Lake Mead and then to Hoover Dam to do a little sightseeing and along to way found some fascinating things and some beautiful wildlife too.

For only $29 you can take a helicopter tour of Lake Mead and the dam.

Alchemy said no thank you very much!
We're just leaving beautiful Boulder City and headed straight towards Lake Mead.

A beautiful day and a beautiful view!

Alchemy at the Marina. Because the water levels at the lake are so low the Marinas are forced to constantly keep moving.
Little Alchemy posing bravely high above the dam on the water side. Closest is the Arizona tower side and the further tower is the Nevada side. Both have clocks in the towers showing what time it is in either state.
This is showing just how low our water levels are at Lake Mead just on the other side of the dam.

A gondola ferrying workers high above the already high bridge. If these guys aren't paid very well, they should be.

A couple of incredible shots of the new Hoover Dam bypass bridge.

This is supposed to be completed sometime this year. Can't wait to drive across it and see how incredible a sight it must be from up there.

A bird of prey. Couldn't get a better shot of it to actually tell what kind of bird but he sure made a few of the other residents a little nervous. Alchemy included.

We saw many little Antelope Ground Squirrels here.

Keeping a watchful eye out for that bird and for any treats you might just have on you.

Little Alchemy was in heaven!

And a whole herd of Desert Big Horn Sheep too. These guys, (there was an entire herd of them) were just 50 feet off the main road. This guy kept his eye on me the entire time I was there while the rest of them grazed happily but nervously. Isn't he gorgeous!

Tomorrow little Alchemy visits the strip!

Ever Been To Hoover Dam? Wanna Go?

On Tuesday I had to drive clear across town as I found a less expensive place to take Cooper and Egg in to have some "elective" surgery done and I didn't want to have to drive back home and then turn around and go back again later soooo, I went traveling. I drove into Boulder City and found the most amazing creepy Fortune Teller Zoltar. I paid my money and got my fortune:
"Round and round the ball will spin
Til it draws your good luck in
Ah, I can foretell for you
Good luck in a month or two
"The crystal gazer has wonderful things in store for you. A dear one will return from a long trip and your whole life will be different. You have a very patient disposition and your patience is about to be rewarded. Despair not I say for your days of despair will soon be over. Your calm spirit and your good sense will see you through all emergencies. You have many friends particularly in the armed forces. They are loyal to you and are glad of an opportunity to be of "service" to you."

*My lucky numbers: 47, 41, 25, 35, 43, 33*

Then off to check out the park where the annual Boulder City Arts Festival called "Art in the Park" is held. It is amazing how small this park is when the event isn't taking place. I've never really been here unless the festival was going on. Such a pretty little park.

Then as I was driving out of Boulder City towards the dam I stopped and took this pretty picture overlooking Lake Mead.

Next stop is at the Dam itself.

In this shot you can see the beginnings of the new by pass bridge they are building. This thing is enormous. It will make a very difficult commute over the dam to Arizona much easier for traffic without having to deal with all that dam (hehe) traffic.
This is the Arizona side of the bridge.

And this is the Nevada side of the bridge.

My own daring out the drivers side window shot of the under side of the Nevada side of the bridge. I was only going about 8 miles per hour as I wasn't the only one gawking.

Mostly because of this sight. These guys are nothing short of amazing. If you go look at this next shot of the Nevada side of the bridge and look for the beginnings of the arch underneath the bridge itself you will see "this". Right there in front of the motorhome.

I had to take most of these pictures on the fly as there really is no way or place to stop to take them. I lucked out and traffic wasn't really all that bad. Well, except for that pesky motorhome.

Shot of Lake Mead from the top of the dam. Unfortunately, that white line is how far the water level has receeded.

I couldn't get these little guys to hold still for a proper shot as some German tourists kept scaring them away and they were busy themselves trying to keep all the birds away.