Back From Las Vegas

Kay Lynne and I returned home this afternoon from a too-fast, two day trip to Las Vegas. We went there to celebrate the “major milestone” birthday (the one usually associated with "pushing" retirement) of our sister-in-law, Danielle, and to spend time with the Keethler family which includes KL’s brother, Rick, and daughter, Kate. They all flew in from the Chicago area, which right now is colder than Alaska.

A close friend of Danielle’s had highly recommended one of the shows there, and so that became Danielle’s choice for a landmark celebration. Every hour was packed with fun-filled, family activities, the highlights of which were two incredible Cirque du Soleil performances, which I will describe in more detail in a future post.

If you like crowds of people everywhere, bright lights, smoky hotels with zillions of restaurants, crawling traffic on the Boulevard, gambling of every variety, and the desert, then this is your place. However, we did not go to Sin City for the typical reasons that people usually do. We went to enjoy a family gathering.

I drove over to Hoover Dam, about 35 or so miles east of LV, one afternoon while others were shopping. The dam itself is an incredible structure which created massive Lake Mead behind it and was one of the W.P.A. projects under F.D.R. following the Great Deprssion. As spectacular as is Hoover Dam, however, the Bypass, now under construction, totally grabbed my attention and interest (top photo, which I snapped on my phone cam from the car, shows a few of the columns that will support the elevated roadway).

The main highway between Las Vegas and Kingman, Arizona passes right over the dam. It is a slow, curvy and tedious drive through the area. But after the year 2010 you’ll be able to use the new bypass which is being constructed hundreds of feet over the Colorado River from canyon rim to canyon rim just to the south of the dam.



From the ground it looks like an impossible feat to accomplish so high above the river bed. Pictured above is how it will look when it is finished. You can see how the columns are built both on the rock base at the side and then continue over the arch which goes from wall to wall. This is an engineering feat that may exceed that of the dam itself.

They have strung a series of cables across the canyon high OVER the roadway elevation from which workers can drop down to build the spans for the structure. It’s so remarkable that I’m going to have to go back there to see it after it’s complete. Truly a marvel of mankind.